On Twitter:

Write the following statement as your status update: @Timeslingers Free fiction isn’t enough! Enter my name in the contest to win signed art from http://www.timeslingers.com!

On Facebook:

Post the following statement on the Timeslingers fan page (make sure it appears on our WALL!): @Timeslingers Free fiction isn’t enough! Enter my name in the contest to win signed art from http://www.timeslingers.com!

Either social networking site works, you don’t have to do both (though we’d love it if you did). Just make sure that you include “@Timeslingers!”

Double Your Chances of Winning

If you want to double your chances of winning, also send us a direct message (on Twitter) or send an e-mail to palidod(at)yahoo(dot)com (for Facebook users) with an answer to the following question: “Which Timeslingers character is African American?” (we just need to prove you’re a true Timeslingers fan!). Send your answer to us and you’ll double your chances of winning!

Details:

Just do what we said above. Family and friends of Timeslingers are all elidgible (because, let’s face it, they are our biggest fanbase). Also, just know that we’ll be printing the art and mailing it to you, so we’ll need to collect an address from you if you win. Contest ends July 30, 2010!

Thanks for participating! Tell your friends! Tell your family!

What’s could you win? How about signed Timeslingers art by Nathan Scheck delivered right to your door!

Details are still being worked out, but check back July 12 for contest rules. Thanks for being a Timeslingers fan!

If you haven’t “liked” us on Facebook yet, we’d love for you to do so! Visit www.facebook.com/timeslingers! You can also follow us on Twitter: @Timeslingers.

How about time periods? Do you have a favorite moment in history that you’d like to see the timeslingers return to? Or maybe you’d like to see us explore more science fiction elements. Maybe you’d even like to see us get really crazy and write about vampires that twinkle (we won’t do that no matter how hard you push us)! Weigh in! Let your opinion be heard! Comment here or join our new Facebook group at www.facebook.com/Timeslingers!

Also, just to let you know, Nathan (@nscheck on Twitter) continues to post art at www.albinokraken.com, and I (J aka @Timeslingers on Twitter) have been posting short stories recently over at www.jsherer.com. In addition to those random works, we’re also creating a comic book! Be sure to stay tuned for more info!

Is there something you’d like to see us tackle in Season 2? Were all your questions answered? Who is Jacob and what does he want with Hurley? Er…wait…wrong story…

Seriously, though, let us know what you think!

PS. There’s more cool stuff coming to Timeslingers.com this Monday! So stay tuned!!!

“What exactly is the problem?” Bashui Lee’s scowl grew.

The two men faced one another across the briefing room’s center table, over which a holographic projection of the XLS’s plans to destroy the Exodus Project floated. Lee had just finished describing the intricate plot to destroy the Union’s hope of colonizing another planet.

The foreman fumbled for words. “Well, I just—it’s just that…you know–”

“I don’t,” said Lee. “Enlighten me.”

“All right, look, it’s the time travel piece, okay? My guys aren’t timeslingers. You want to send a construction team to the 1960s to dig a series of tunnels on the moon. I don’t see how it’s possible. None of my guys are trained for this!”

“If it weren’t possible, you wouldn’t be here.”

“What about materials? How are we gonna teleport equipment to the moon? We’re talking heavy machinery here. Then there’s oxygen, food, a place for my guys to rest…”

“All accounted for—as is protection. No one will set foot on the moon’s surface while you’re there.” Lee squinted. His patience was wearing thin. “The plan is sound. Are you saying you lack the competence to achieve our desired results?”

The foreman held up his hands. “No! No…just give me a couple days to look this over, okay?”

“You have twenty-four hours.”

The foreman’s protest caught in his throat. His mouth dropped open and he backed away from the table. Lee spun around to find a swirl of amber energy that had materialized behind him. He barred his teeth.

A silhouette stepped out of the yellow-brown haze.

“Who are you?” spat Lee.

“Two months from now you’re going to hire me. And then you’re going to lie to me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’ll never know.”

A silver sphere rested in Alexandra’s palm. Lee’s ruthless façade crumbled as he realized what it was. Alexandra pressed a button on the sphere and let it roll off the edge of her hand. As it tumbled toward the ground, lightening-like tendrils of turquoise energy crackled around her.

She disappeared just before the spider nuke exploded.

“That’s why they targeted President Kennedy and the Apollo Program,” said Jessica. She ran her hand wistfully along the inside of Sam’s locker. The pained longing in her eyes didn’t make it into her words. “They had to keep the construction of the tunnels a secret. Once they were finished, the XLS covered them up and waited for us to build the Exodus right on top of them.”

Hector appeared in the doorway. Two guards shadowed him. Jack and Jessica stopped clearing out their lockers and stood.

“Collect your things,” ordered one of the guards. “Make it quick.”

Taylor pushed past them and entered the barracks. “Give us a minute.”

The guards scowled, but relented and left the room. The Subdivision had already been stripped of all machinery, arms, and classified documentation. There was nothing of importance left for the disgraced Union team to interfere with.

A hush fell over the room. All four heads bowed. It was the first time they’d seen each other since the Exodus had been destroyed. Taylor cleared his throat. His deep, booming voice turned soft, “It was an honor to serve with each of you.”

Emotion contorted Hector’s face. He fought back tears. “It’s my fault!” he blurted. “I’m sorr–”

“No!” interrupted Jack. “We failed as a team and we succeeded as a team. Besides, they didn’t get the real prize. Thanks to you, Hector, we rescued the power core.”

“We did what we could.” The former colonel straightened. “It’s behind us now. We can’t wallow in regret the rest of our lives.”

After a moment of silent reflection, Jack inclined his head. “You going after her?”

Hector nodded. “Yes. I have the coordinates she gave Jessica. I leave tomorrow. And you? What are you gonna do?”

“Take some time off,” said Jack. “Reflect a little. Try to live a normal life, maybe, if there is such a thing after being a timeslinger. Sorta weird knowing that history could change at any moment. Makes you think. We messed with a lot of lives in this gig. I won’t miss that.”

Hector nodded. “How ‘bout you, sir?”

Taylor shrugged. “Early retirement, a beach, and a book.”

All eyes fell on Jessica, who shook her head. “I haven’t thought that far ahead.”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! One of the guards pounded on the wall as he entered the barracks. “Let’s go! We’re behind schedule!”

The timeslinger team locked eyes for one last time, and then filtered out of the room.

On the other side of the remote feed, in a dark room with a single monitor focused on Falko’s burdened face, Renton Drier stopped pacing and glanced back at Lara An before addressing Falko.

“Twenty thousand,” he said. “But that’s just the immediate death toll. Losing the Exodus puts us back ten to fifteen years. How many millions more will die in that timeframe? The Exodus was far more than a simple science experiment. It was a tool meant to bring hope to a populace that’s wallowing in fear of the future. You’re failure forces us to play with a different deck of cards.”

“We’re still running scenarios to–” started Falko.

“You’re living in the past, Ethan—trying to solve a problem when you should be hunting for opportunities. That kind of thinking turns a man into a hamster stuck in a little wheel. He runs faster and faster, hoping he’ll reach some unknown destination. But the solution is so much simpler, Falko. You just need to step off the wheel.”

Falko frowned. “I’m not sure I–”

“The Subdivision has been decommissioned,” Lara interjected. Her words cut the air with crisp efficiency. “A clean-up team is en route. They’ll be there within the hour.”

That last ounce of pride drained from Falko’s features. He was about to reply when Lara shut the feed off. The monitor went black.

Renton Drier’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s it? You’re shutting down all time travel operations? That’s not what we agreed to–”

“Relax, Senator,” said Lara. “I said Subdivision operations have been terminated…I didn’t say anything about all our time travel programs.”

The monitor hinted at something far different.

The glass panel inside the Union’s Subdivision displayed earth’s moon with near-perfect clarity. The night’s orb rested quietly in the black void of space. The gray terrain shone brightly, reflecting the sun’s light. A soundless sphere. It appeared tranquil. Even New London, with its energy shielded buildings and tubular transit system, seemed at peace.

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 fell into his hands. Jessica finally tore her eyes away from the monitors and pressed her lids shut with her hands. 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 and gnashed his teeth. He took a single knee and rested his forehead on his elbow.

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.”

Two guards and a team of operatives scrambled down the stairway to the reconstruction room’s lower level. Taylor glanced back over his shoulder at the medics huddled around Falko. They lifted him off the floor and placed him securely atop a hoverbed for transportation back to the medical station. Color was gradually returning to Falko’s face, but his sporadic twitching signaled that the paralytic effects of Alexandra’s shot still clung to his nervous system.

“Subjects acquired in cubes one and two!”

Hector and Jack appeared in the glass cubes amidst flashes of crackling energy. Two guards ordered Hector to step down and yanked the power core out of his hands. One guard tried to place a set of inhibitor cuffs on Hector, but Jack ordered him to step back.

The two timeslingers rushed upstairs. Entered the room where the colonel and Jessica waited. Jack indicated C19H with a tilt of his head, “We got the power core.”

The passing glimpse of relief in Taylor’s expression wasn’t enough to cover the deep-seeded dejection that festered behind his eyes. He gave Jack a curt nod, but his words sounded hollow, “Good work.”

Hector darted to Jessica’s side. In a hoarse voice barely above a whisper, he asked, “Where is she? Where’s my sister?”

Jessica’s reaction told him what he needed to know. His face wrinkled in frustration. Jessica quickly countered, “I know where she went!”

Hector was about to ask another question when Jack grabbed his arm. Without a word, Jack turned his attention to the nearest monitor. Hector’s mouth snapped shut and Jessica’s hand jumped to her lips.

All the screens in the room clicked over to a new video feed. Each head turned in unison to stare at the wide shot of the moon. And everyone started to pray.

Taylor clenched his jaw.

“This is it.”

“You’d betray the Union for her.”

It wasn’t a question, but something in Jack’s tone begged for clarity. Hector shook his head. “I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to betray anybody. We all win if they let her go. They get the power core. I get my sister back—or at least a second chance.”

The loudspeaker interrupted their discourse. “Threat level red! Evacuate the facility immediately! Attention! Evacuate the premises immediately!”

Jack ground his teeth together. Time was running out. If the XLS had managed to set the spider nuke, it was likely to go off any second.

He engaged his communicator, turned on its speaker, and held out the datapad so that Hector could hear. “Colonel! We have the power core.”

“Good. Get back here! Everything is prepped–”

“Sir,” Jack cut him off. “We’re not coming back unless you release Alexandra.”

A brief moment of silence. “She’s already gone. She escaped.”

Hector took a step forward. “What!? Where’d she go?”

“We have a set of coordinates, that’s it.”

The alarm continued to wail with growing intensity. The evacuation warning played on a loop, disorienting them and setting nerves on edge.

“Come on, Hector! This is–”

“No!” Hector clutched the power core tighter to his chest. He spat his words, “I’m not going back until I have full assurance that you will send me after her! She needs immunity! I need immunity!”

“Colonel?” Jack pleaded. “We’ve got to get out of here now!”

“Yes, fine! Immunity! For both of you! But get back here right now! I’m losing my window to make this happen!”

Jack stuffed the datapad in his pocket, took a cautious step toward Hector and held out the teleportation drive Taylor had supplied. His eyes begged Hector to accept it.

Hector grabbed it. “Thank you.”