Timeslingers:

The Online Time Travel Adventure Series

Operation Yamato. A bold step forward in XLS phase travel operations. Complex. Detailed. Ambitious. A strike at the heart of the Union’s future infrastructure…

Buzz. Garbled voices. Static.

…and it was starting with communications issues. Kline tapped the side of his datapad. Eighteen hours since his last contact with Phase Travel Operations. Nothing since.

“You sure about this?” asked the young man. Disheveled clothes and unkempt hair. Suspicious. Misguided enough to be the perfect prey. He was the first cog in the XLS’s fast-growing machine.

He eyed the bolt-action rifle Kline removed from his briefcase.

“The future needs to change,” said Kline. “After today, you’ll be a hero.”

Kline moved to the window. Anxious onlookers lined the streets below. Excitement coursed through the concrete. He didn’t have much time. The motorcade was close.

Still no response from command. The datapad’s transmission strength was spotty and unreliable. Concern was valid. Disrupted transmission strength could mean any number of problems, including molecular teleportation complications. If that were true, Kline was stuck in Dallas.

Outside, the murmur of the crowd grew louder.

Kline pushed the rifle toward the young man. “Load it. Take your position.”

The young man handled the rifle like a trained marksman. A former Marine. The XLS’s background checks, psychological modeling, and brain pattern research had netted a perfect subject. Kline had spent the last three days feeding his paranoia. He was ready.

Kline engaged the datapad, “Command, do you copy?!”

Static.

The hair on the back of Kline’s neck bristled. He listened. Nothing but the beat of his own heart.

And then, his datapad buzzed:

“Mission compromised! Union agents on approach. Abort!”

The young man took a knee at the window. Waited for Kline’s order. Faint thuds came from the stairwell. Kline grimaced. He couldn’t stop now.

“Eliminate the mark!” Kline commanded.

He bolted to the front door and yanked it open. Heavy footsteps on the staircase. His datapad showed no signs of incoming heat signatures.

The Union Subdivision. Timeslingers.