Walter

"Gentlemen," Sir Walter said, "please be seated. The demonstration will begin shortly."

Several of the group were women but Walter ignored the fact. The world would get used to Atlantis. A mixed group - mostly Air Force and Navy - of officers stood around in front of the array of large screens.

Sir Roger and Sir William entered with several aides.

"Ready?" Sir Roger asked.

"Ready. Shall we begin?"

Sir William moved to the lectern and Sir Roger and Sir Walter stood slightly behind him. Sir William clipped on a mike.

"Colonel Stark," he said, "please take a couple of men to the back and verify that everyone can hear."

An officer detached himself from the group, motioned to a couple of men and walked to the back.

"Can everyone hear?" Sir Roger asked when they were in place. The Colonel signaled affirmative.

"Gentlemen," Sir Roger said, "you represent the most advanced and influential nations on the planet. We invited you here for only one reason. That is to ensure that you understand that any attack upon Atlantis or actions inimical to our interests are unwise. You no doubt have an assessment of our military forces. An incorrect assessment I assure you but even with imperfect knowledge you can see that we are not to be trifled with. Allow us to provide one more demonstration."

Simultaneously all the screens illuminated. A large central screen showed an expanse of ocean viewed from a beach.

"The center screen shows a view of the Atlantic Ocean from an island in the Lerial Chain. A little over two thousand miles south of there a ship is achored. You can see it on the screen left of center. It is an old cruise ship eight hundred feet long. On the right hand screen is one of our naval vessels. It will be launching a hypersonic missile at the ship. At over Mach 8 it will reach the ship in under a half hour. General Simpson, please proceed."

A brigadier general in the group tapped on a commpad.

"Launch officer," he said.

"Yes sir," came the reply.

"Launch."

"Launching sir."

A cloud of smoke erupted from the side of the Atlantean ship and a missile streaked away. Almost immediately it appeared on the center screen, a smoke trail moving away at incredible speed.

"The missile is carrying a 2 kiloton warhead," Sir Roger said. "The screen on the far left shows the target from an aircraft about five miles away."

The guests talked among themselves as they watched. Much of the conversation was animated but some of them sat silent and watched intently. They were the Americans, Russians and Chinese as well as the NATO representatives.

As the missile closed the observation aircraft circled away and then back towards the target so as to be flying directly at it as the missile arrived.

Suddenly the target was obscured by a brilliant white flash ringed by orange which was replaced by a roiling cloud. When the cloud dissipated little of the target remained and the smoking hulk began to sink. Sir Roger returned to the lectern.

"That is all," he said. "Thank you for attending."

The guests rose and were guided out by a pair of captains, all the other brass remained in the room.

"Come with me," Sir Walter said to Matt.

Matt followed him to a door which opened onto a balcony. They were on the third floor overlooking the parking lot. The visitors were standing, mostly in twos and threes, apparently conversing as they waited for their cars.

"The chatter should be interesting," Sir Walter said. "Everything being said down there is picked up by listening devices and recorded. Probably some of them won't be able to wait until they're away to talk, and we'll get some idea of first impressions."

"I would think so," Matt replied. "They watched a missile launched from here travel four thousand miles south and take out a ship. The fact that you have nukes was probably a bit of a shock, and the ability to deliver them..."

"Exactly. That should give pause to any actors considering something rash. The big ones - Russia, China, the U.S. and the EU are inclined to be cautious, not that they wouldn't like to have gotten their hands on it. So it's not likely to be a problem.