Chapter 6: Friend or Foe?

An interesting novel should include elements of conflict or uncertainty to spice up the storyline. That's my purpose for interjecting a short chapter right after a glamorous event that seemingly promised a good start for the main character. But as most average readers know it's never all fair and well in life, real or imaginary.

Within the three-page narrative, I've planted several seeds that will take shape and become evident in the chapters that follow, though not in the immediate sense. So it may be necessary to refer back occasionally for those with short memory, or simply flash back for readers who can recall every single detail with ease. Nevertheless, fret not——I've included a table of content (TOC) to facilitate quick retrieval should the need arise.

Talking about TOC, many readers are aware that not every novel has it, and those that do usually don't bother giving titles at all. So why would I go through the trouble, besides the reason given above?

It's quite obviously, actually. I am first an engineer, then a writer.

Also, I foresee there are concepts that will be mentioned in future chapters that may warrant a second look, so a TOC would definitely come in handy. It's a hard sci-fi novel, remember?