Whatever Happened To The Leibliss is the first story to be fully set on Beta Delta IV. The first of several, in fact, since I had plans afoot for a temporary exile on that planet. This one actually introduces some incidental characters that I really have to write a story for at a later date,  Julia’s ‘gang’ who she spends her weekends with. The scene in the bowling alley where Chrístõ is declared to be ‘yummy’ by her friends was a short drabble I wrote a long time ago that waited for a place to slot in. It slotted in here very nicely. The decision to reveal Chrístõ as more than just a space corps pilot, was later. The deceit just didn’t seem worth it when I could get so much more mileage out of him as a Time Lord.

The pavilion on Earth Park, where they all meet up to talk and eat pizza is vaguely based on a building that SHOULD be in my local park, Avenham Park, which should be built by this summer.

How Mr Dane fitted into the picture was something that evolved over time. Initially he was going to be the one who had killed the Leibliss and covered it up, salving his conscience with those anonymous donations of land and money for good causes. But it seemed more plausible to have him the good guy who had tried to stop the slaughter. That led to the complicated story of Gacek and his weak heart.

The only problem with that plot is that it left another death for which Chrístõ could consider himself responsible, just like the one in Tears of a Clown. The amount of guilt he is already accumulating is a little worrying. I really need to think a bit about how many people will die around him in the future.