Marcus Kline leapt up the stairs. Two at a time. Black tie fluttering over his shoulder. He reached the sixth floor. Slowed to a quick stride. Stopped at the third door on the left. He pushed it open. Inside the small office, Eric Randolph hovered over a computer terminal. He threw up his hands.
“This is pointless. This stuff’s ancient. We need a different strategy.”
So far, they had managed to circumvent all of LANL’s advanced security systems while avoiding detection. The vacant office on the sixth floor of the Weapons Development Building had served as their temporary headquarters, giving them direct access to LANL’s network, but it wasn’t getting them what they needed.
Kline nodded. “And we’ve got company. Union agents are close. Let’s go.”
Eric shut the terminal down and jumped up. They exited the office. Thunderous classical music pumped through the building’s speaker system. Too loud for pleasure, the booming music proved perfect for security, keeping covert conversations hidden from prying ears and sophisticated listening devices alike.
LANL: Los Alamos National Laboratories. Birthplace of the Manhattan Project. Now, a defense and sciences mecca. Hundreds of the smartest people on earth. Scientists on the bleeding edge. Nut cases in any other setting, but heroes here. Kline and Eric were searching for information from one such scientist—Rahul Banerjee, a physicist tasked with conceptualizing secret weapons for the United States.
They had traveled back through time to 2008. Their objective: steal all of Rahul Banerjee’s files and formulas associated with “cloaking” technology. After searching LANL’s network for three days they had come up empty. The clandestine approach wasn’t working.
Time for plan B.
As Kline neared the stairwell that would lead them down to the ground floor, Eric grabbed his arm. He grinned. A rectangular piece of clay with wires protruding from the top rested in his palm.
Kline shoved the rudimentary explosive back at him, “What’s that?”
“Plan B. Forget Banerjee. Let’s send them a message!”
“We’re not here to make a statement. We’re here for information. Put that away! We’re going to the source.”
Kline hustled down the staircase to the ground floor lobby and rushed to the front door. No sooner had he pulled it open–
eeeeeiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaahhhHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
The alarm meant lockdown. Within a few minutes LANL’s Special Response Team would swarm the building, but they would be too late. Kline and Eric slipped outside.
Eric stuffed his hands into his pockets. “They’re trying to flush us out into the open.”
Kline squinted. “And so they have. Now let’s see if they can catch up.”
Hope you guys enjoyed the first installment of our preview episode. This episode is a little unique because it has 7 installments. Most episodes will have about 3 installments. Each episode has its own unique illustration, so the illustrations are swapped out every 3 installments.
I had fun writing the new episode because it’s based in Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL) in 2008…and I happened to be at LANL in 2008. My wife and I were given a “behind-the-scenes” tour by one of the security guards there. The place is amazing. It sits atop a huge mesa next to the town of Los Alamos. As the birthplace of the Manhattan Project (USA’s nuclear research during WWII), it is brimming with history, including buildings that are closed down because they’re too radioactive for humans to visit.
And, while a third of the US’s plutonium is stored at LANL, the laboratories have grown far beyond nuclear technology (e.g. LANL hosts one of the sites where Human Genome Project work is being done). If you’d like to discover more about LANL, check out their website: http://www.lanl.gov.
Thanks for reading!
One other note…in the opening paragraph I mentioned music being played at a higher volume to block anyone trying to “spy” on one of LANL’s development buildings. That’s also true. They pump music through the building at higher decibles so that anyone pointing a microphone at the building would just hear the music as opposed to any conversation inside the building.
I’m enjoying the new format, guys. Having something “bite-sized” to read twice a week offers excitement without the time commitment of a longer episode. Keep up the awesome work!
By the way 505 fo’eva’!
Thanks, Jessica! We appreciate the support!
PS. For those who don’t know, (505) is the area code for New Mexico, location of LANL. And Jessica is my wife, who toured LANL with me.
There I was riding the wave as I ferreted out a selection of tomes on computer technology when my attention was vamped by the irresistible tow of that magical word…free! Amplify it with the words “Time Travel” (I am, I must confess, a Sci Fi junkie) and yet again with “Online” (I won’t have to figure out what I’m going to do with another paper back added to my collection) and you get the same effect as a squirrel has on a Mountain Fiest.
This is the first time I have come upon anything like this and the concept is intriguing. Nicely designed website too I might add. I concur with Jessica regarding the format. I shall be reading and monitoring this site with interest.
Thanks, Herb! We hope you enjoy everything you find. I would strongly encourage you to subscribe via the RSS feed (that’s the easiest way to keep up-to-date).
New installments begin launching July 6 and will continue to launch every Monday and Thursday. Thanks for stopping by!
Salut,
I just wanted to let you know, your Facebook page and an ad on there drew me here. It works.
On another note, this is really cool and I’ll try to follow it since I don’t have an RSS.
Varon,
Thanks for the comment! And thanks for letting us know the advertising is working. We appreciate the support. Season 1 of Timeslingers is complete, so the RSS isn’t as necessary for right now. We are working on Season 2 right now, and we’re working on the e-book version of Season 1 (which will be available for $2.99 pretty soon). Of course, if you like reading online, you can read all of Season 1 for free right here on Timeslingers.com!
Thanks again!
J
You’re welcome. That’s god, it will give me time to catch up.
Thanks for writing it!
Varon
Awesome piece, but the audio seemed a bit odd. I got here the same way as Varon by the way, and I’m glad I did. I love teh suspense and the thrill aspect of it, especially the cliffhanger ending to each episode. This is going to kill me once I catch up and can’t access the next episode immediately… If you’re willing to listen I might be able to give you an alternate narration, if you’re interested just respond here. Anyways, thanks for the awesome (and free) short story, it certainly was a lot more interesting and engaging than what I was expecting from a free, on-line story.
~Jordan
Jordan, thanks for dropping by! Really glad you like the story! Hopefully you’ll continue to like it! The reason the audio is a bit “odd” is because it’s just me reading. LOL. I’m not professionally trained as a voice actor, just as a writer. So, that’s not surprising.
But, if you’re interested in reading some of them and would like to send us a sample, please do! We can’t pay you (since we don’t make any money off the story at the moment), but if you’d like to send us an audition, we’d listen to it.
Thanks for dropping by!
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