Review – A Chance Encounter in Time
One of the more notable things about A Chance Encounter in Time is that it represents the first appearance of character Sharon Ensley. I grew to really like Sharon, and would love to create a series for her.
I wrote this short story during second quarter 2021. This was a year when I was writing every single day until November, when I switched over to NaNoWriMo.
Background
While I was not exactly looking for another way to use the Obolonk universe, it almost chose me. So, in a way, this story is a way to find other uses for that universe. After all, it’s far too well-developed to just forget about it.
I also was not necessarily looking to write a story about the West Islip Public Library, but here we are anyway. With my mother’s death in 2023, any writing about WIPL is kind of special. It was her last employer.
Plot
Time traveler Sharon Ensley seems to be stuck in August of 2001 when her temporal disc cracks. But when she meets Tim Parker and he offers to try to solder her disc back together, the two start to work together.
But then Sharon uncovers a major change to the timeline which is clear proof that someone has tampered with the events of 9/11.
Characters
The major human characters are Sharon Ensley and Tim Parker. There are some more minor human characters who are Sharon’s colleagues. The only one with any real screen time is Marlon.
Obolonk characters are They Say This One is Very Efficient (her assistant) and They Say This One Holds Time Close. The latter runs the time travel organization.
Sharon mentions a temporal sensitive like Josie James, but never identifies that person.
Memorable Quotes {Sharon Explains Hawhoa to Tim}
“The disc creates the field after I give it a command. And then away we go. But no matter what, I should tell you about Hawhoa.”
“Ha-what?”
Sharon smiled for a second. “We don’t use pure water anymore, not really. We use Hawhoa.”
“Use?”
“Yeah—to drink, bathe, flush, water the plants, you name it.”
“But don’t we need water to survive?”
“We sure do. But see, there’s a ton of space in atoms. And…”
“Excuse me? Aren’t atoms really tiny?”
“Yep. But there’s empty space in them. Hawhoa takes the two hydrogen atoms and the one oxygen atom in regular water, and it crushes everything together slightly.”
“How slightly are we talking about?”
“Smaller than bacterial flagella. To use the technical term, teeny weeny.”
“Technical, heh. Why is that done in the first place?”
“The very slight increase in density makes it possible to use fewer water molecules to accomplish whatever you want to do, like wash your socks.”
“Wait, so this is a form of recycling?”
“More like cutting waste, but yeah. It makes it possible for more people to live in one space or another.”
“So, the future is crowded?”
“Yep. And Hawhoa is a bit more viscous than regular water. Don’t want you to try to take a shower and think it’s just clear jelly coming out of the showerhead.”
Rating
The story has a K rating.
Takeaways
I really love some of the inventions that I came up with to move this story along, including multiphasic glyphs, Hawhoa (pronounced hey-whoa), and the Sapient Timeline Theory. Oh, and Carter Bando’s Rules of Time Travel. There are also a transportation disc (I also call it a temporal disk), a utility disk, and an information disc.
The transportation disc is fitted with a semi-living organism that helps to direct time travel. In a way, it ends up giving more depth to the time travel technology which I showcase in Time Addicts. Since Sharon is from a lot later than Josie (I may change that), it makes sense that the tech would change.
I like Sharon a lot and this is a great story to use as a springboard to maybe an entire series about her. We’ll see.
But the Obolonk universe is a mighty big tent. It would be a shame to waste it.