Timeslingers:

The Online Time Travel Adventure Series

The stark, gray image painted across the glass screen seemed almost peaceful—earth’s closest organic satellite floating in the void of space. But its observers were far from tranquil. Impending dread sucked every sound from the room. Silence, like the quiet just before a priest begins the eulogy at funeral, secured every onlooker in its grip. The despair sat so heavy in the air that it could be tasted on the tongue.

The glass panel displayed earth’s moon with near-perfect clarity. The night’s orb rested quietly in the warmth of the sun’s light. A soundless sphere. Even New London, with its energy shielded buildings and tubular transit system, seemed calm. Seconds ticked by. Each time the numbers on the clock changed, hope grew…

And then the nuke exploded.

Serenity shattered. A blinding flash of brilliant white light engulfed the Exodus Project’s production facility. The ultra-pure luminance quickly turned to a sour yellow as a dome of energy burst out into space. Deadly shockwaves in concentric circles sliced through New London. A cloud of black dust overwhelmed the light until only a glowing amber aura was visible. Wisps of pale gray moon dust wafted through the black haze, gradually overtaking everything until the moon’s surface disappeared in the nuclear fog.

Taylor’s head dropped and his hands slipped down to the desk beside him. Jessica tore her eyes away from the monitors and pressed her lids shut with her fingers. Jack’s shoulders sagged, but his gaze remained locked on the screens as if the siren of destruction held him in her grasp. Hector fought back angry tears, gnashed his teeth, and covered his face with his hands. Sorrow snaked through the room, its venom slipping into the Subdivision’s core. Failure. The Exodus ship decimated. Lives lost. And this was just the beginning.

Taylor was the first to break the breathless quiet. “God help us. God help us all.”