Lives of Christo Mian II – Protection Detail sees Chrístõ Mian’s second incarnation as a young operative for the Celestial Intervention Agency. What his son and his friends mistake as an assassination turns out to be a protection detail – he is supposed to be watching the dissolute ambassador who is enjoying the company of three women just a bit too much.

I really must use the Omicron Psi orbital restaurant again some time. It has some very interesting bits to it, the fish section – for people descended from fish, not eating them – and the observation deck must get a second outing. It seemed to be too good just to have this short story taking place on it.

Chrístõ’s pacifism gets another kicking, here, of course, since he kills one of the shapeshifters just as thoroughly with the sonic screwdriver’s laser as Hext and his father do with guns.

As I wrote this story, though, I realised that I was going to have to come up with a mechanism that meant Chrístõ Mian would not be thinking too much about his future inbetween meeting up with the ‘Fellowship’. A memory trigger that blurs his memory of who they all were and what their mission was, which would be sprung each time they meet up, solved that problem.