Amalfi Echo Read online

  “You want to be an Amalfi warrior? Start acting like one,” Digby said coldly.

  That got through. Tessa took a deep breath, shut up and began pre-op meditation exercises to bring her feelings under control.

  They were very short of time. The ship’s analysis agreed with the FBI’s and was based on a lot more information. Today, the ship would not be running simulations. The learning programs created the briefing room. An animation of the proposed plan unfolded around Tessa who was, by now, fully kitted. The actual attack was straightforward—nothing she hadn’t done before. The ticklish bit was the explosive vests and other explosives the extremists had rigged at the windows and doors which could be triggered by wireless deadfalls held by four, widely separated, terrorists. As fast as she was, she would not be able to neutralise the triggering devices as well as kill the terrorists before the explosives were triggered. Fortunately, the terrorists’ use of wireless technology for the triggers would now work against them because it made it easy for the ship to assume control of the network and shut it down.

  Also in support would be Digby in Jazmine, however Digby neglected to mention to Tessa that his role was to monitor the FBI and other police forces. If they made a move on her, he would kill them without hesitation.

  And the whole operation, slightly delayed, would go out to the entire world through the webcams.

  -oOo-

  Tessa exited the shuttle inside the library. Within seconds all the terrorists were dead. Without pausing, Tessa went to each set of explosives, cutting the wires the ship highlighted for her, with the little light sabre. Then she worked her way along the explosive vests, cutting the wires there too. It was just a precaution.

  Outside, the FBI and police squads stared, frozen, at the webcam feed. The world, too, receiving the electrifying images on a network delay, was similarly transfixed. The FBI response team did not have protocols for a terrorist situation that included Tessa as a white knight and called for instructions from higher up. Not helping, was Jazmine hovering menacingly over the library.

  With the police forces still in disarray, Tessa went to an optional phase of the plan and freed the students, choosing first two girls, Miranda and Casey, because she had been told in the briefing that they were her followers on Twitter. As soon as the others were free she went back to Miranda and Casey, who, like the other students, were still too shocked to move or speak. She embraced them and said, “It’s all over. They’re all dead. You’re safe now.”

  Their faces crumpled and they began to cry. They clung to Tessa, sobbing.

  Her time was up. With nervous glances at Jazmine, the FBI and police cautiously moved in. Tessa extricated herself from the two girls and, in a blurring flick, the shuttle took her from the library. As soon as she was clear, Jazmine was gone in a flash of silver.

  -oOo-

  The rescue threw the world into confusion. Reaction varied from those who, seeing the jellyfish at work again, immediately struck her from their ‘must invite’ list, to others who, possessing a better sense of the way the wind was blowing, quickly added her to their ‘must invite’ list, although she wouldn’t be encouraged to bring the jellyfish even though they would be a stunning party trick. Those engaged in the cover-up had had some success in portraying Tessa as a spoilt D.C. brat. They were unsuccessful in preventing the grateful parents of the Montessori students from publicly thanking Tessa. The two followers, Miranda and Casey, became instant celebrities. Posters and T-shirts with images of Tessa and the jellyfish, taken from the webcams in the library, became the hottest new item on the web. Shocking everyone was the transformation of a teenage girl to a poised, chillingly efficient killer of terrorists.

  “Who’s thuh man?” Tessa demanded, strutting about, filling the room with her triumph and giving Digby a high five. Then she tried to change this to, “Who’s thuh girl?” but it didn’t have quite the same ring although she resolved to work on that.

  “That be you,” Marion said, smiling. It wasn’t entirely in sympathy with Tessa’s success. Or even in her relief that the high school students had been rescued. She was expecting see a massive spike in the numbers of Tessa’s followers in the social media.

  Marion was not disappointed. Within days, Tessa had more than 200 000 followers on Twitter and the communities around tessa.com struggled to keep up with the flood of new members.

  Five days later, Digby created an environment around him and Tessa that had a floor and a desk but was surrounded by limitless starry space. He had given no warning to Tessa of his intentions. Now Digby sat gravely behind the desk appraising Tessa who found herself standing in front of the desk. She created a chair which promptly disappeared.

  “Digby?” she said, uncertain. She noticed, for the first time, that Digby was wearing his combat suit, the ghostly outlines shimmering against a black high-backed executive chair.

  “Stand up straight,” Digby said. “Amalfi warriors do not slouch.”

  Tessa straightened, wondering if she was about to get a medal. That wishful hope was quickly crushed.

  “You’ve done very well,” Digby began. “No one could argue with that. You have a natural ability as a fighter, giving the Amalfi trait plenty to work with. I have no doubt that you will progress to be an outstanding Amalfi warrior.” That out of the way, Digby got to the real subject he wanted to broach this morning. “It worries me that you seem unaware that much of your success is due to the fact that you are using weapons technology which is millions, and I say, millions of years ahead of the pitiful weapons technology this planet has at its disposal. Your successes have been easy, too easy, and it has gone to your head. You have become cocky.”

  Whatever she had been expecting, it certainly hadn’t been this. “I… I…” she stammered.

  “I have not finished yet,” Digby said coolly. “Even on this planet, sooner or later, you will come up against fighters who are much smarter, stronger, and better trained, than those you have met so far. Despite the advanced technology, you are not invulnerable, although one could be forgiven for thinking that you believe that you are. You need to disabuse yourself of that notion straightaway. Moreover,” he continued, gesturing at the brilliant swathe of stars in which they floated, “If we ever have to fight out there, the opposition may also have highly advanced weapons technology and considerable experience in combat against other alien species.” Digby fixed her with a cold, piercing look. “I do not want to bring you home to Marion in a body-bag. I want you to take some time out and think on this. The learning programs have prepared a meditation retreat for you which will occupy you for the next four weeks subjective time. Go.”

  Tessa stood rooted to the spot, her mind frozen.

  “You may go,” Digby said, a little more softly.

  “Yes Sir,” Tessa said, carrying out a clumsy about-face and creating her bedroom around her.

  -oOo-

  I will not cry.

  Tessa lay curled up miserably on her bed, her face feeling hot and tight.

  I will, will not cry.

  Marion found her there and sat down on the bed.

  Tessa turned her head away. “Don’t you even knock?”

  “You don’t have a privacy wall up and I did knock but I got concerned when you didn’t answer,” Marion said. Tessa pointedly ignored this but didn’t throw her out so Marion went on. “Digby insisted that I listen in on his fireside chat.” Marion waited for an explosion. When it didn’t arrive she created a box of tissues and offered Tessa one.

  Tessa ignored this also. “Bite me,” she said.

  Marion started stroking Tessa’s hair as gently as she could. She could tell Tessa was struggling not to cry. She thought it best not to say anything and continued to sit on the bed stroking Tessa’s hair until finally Tessa turned over, putting her head in Marion’s lap. Then she did need the tissues.

  -oOo-

  Tessa did the meditation course and was back three days later, although it had been four weeks for her. She kept h
erself apart from Marion and Digby for a day or two, needing time alone to wind down from the intensity of the meditation course. Marion had now completed her final three months of her studies. The subjective year she had allocated for her studies, which was really only four weeks in real time, was over. She was ready for the ‘Meet the Presidents,’ tour.

  “Do you find it strange,” Marion said to Tessa, “that so much time has passed for us yet the world is still the same? It’s only been four weeks for them. It’s like they’re all moving in slow motion.”

  “Or maybe it’s us who are moving too fast. We’ll burn ourselves out, probably,” Tessa said, absently. She had come back from the meditation course a quieter person, distance in her eyes. In some ways, Marion would have preferred the old Tessa.

  Marion persuaded Digby to allow Tessa tell her fans about her quest to become an Amalfi warrior. “They’re ravenous, Digby,” she said. “They want a piece of their hero. Doesn’t pay to disappoint the fans.” Marion fed out teasers, culminating in a chat session on a hugely popular microblog in which Tessa confirmed the hijacked airline passengers’ testimony about the Amalfi Echo and revealed that she was in training to become an Amalfi warrior. The chat session went viral. Everyone loved the Amalfi tattoos and the marks of an Amalfi warrior. Parents were besieged by their children wanting Amalfi tattoos. The interview was quickly picked up by mainstream media who had been talking about nothing else but Tessa since the Montessori High episode. They were, of course, careful to point out that Tessa was still a fugitive, wanted by the FBI and Interpol which, predictably, greatly enhanced her appeal with her fan base. Her website and social media accounts were flooded with offers of places to hide although, as many pointed out scornfully, superheroes did not need to hide in someone’s attic, possessing, as you would expect, a totally cool alien spaceship.

  -oOo-

  It was time for the Presidents’ tour. Marion Digby and Tessa gathered in the briefing room. Up until now Marion hadn’t been specific about her presentation to the world’s leaders, not wanting discussion or argument about the content. Now she revealed that it was not a presentation nor was it very long, a few minutes at the most. As she explained, “There’s no point in trying to persuade them. These are people who have clawed their way to the top, mostly by not listening to others. I am the last person they are going to take any notice of. Instead I’m going to tell them how this situation gives them an opportunity to achieve greatness in the eyes of their people and I won’t say much else. The real point of my visit with each of them is to bring home to them that we are answerable to no one, that they have no power or control over us but that we can touch them anytime we want.”

  “Hmm,” Digby said. “And there’s me thinking you were learning diplomacy.”

  “But we are still loyal Americans, okay?” Tessa said, alarmed. She had already forgotten her earlier dark threats against the President.

  “Which is why we won’t hurt the President, Tessa,” Marion said. “Not while he remains in office. Right now, the other leaders are safe too. Let’s not make martyrs of them. Instead, we’ll continue to go directly to the people. What we’re doing here is shaking world leaders out of their comfort zone. I want them a little bit rattled. We’re going to get right up in their faces. Make this real personal between us and them. Maybe we’ll start getting a little more respect. We’re going to do this privately so we don’t force them to adopt positions that are unhelpful.” Now she answered Digby. “I would follow the diplomatic route if I could. The learning programs have concluded that we don’t have the time to get the required results. We’re going to try the quick and dirty approach.”

  -oOo-

  It was night-time in Washington, D.C. At the White House, President Newman sat on his bed taking his shoes off. The First Lady was already in bed, reading a book. On the sphere ship, Tessa and Marion waited in a small shuttle for the green light. Digby was already out and about, cruising the stratosphere in Jazmine. The plan called for Tessa to be in close weapons support for Marion, the small shuttle ready to extract them quickly if necessary, and the heavy weapons of the ship ready for back-up. Strictly speaking, Jazmine was unnecessary, however, Digby felt that there was a gap between the heavy weapons of the ship and Tessa on the ground. Jazmine could provide a little extra finesse. Or so he told himself. The reality was, he didn’t like being left out. Why should the girls have all the fun?

  Green light. The shuttle inserted itself into the President’s bedroom, depositing Tessa and Marion and then was gone before the President and the First Lady had even looked up. Because the shuttle had done its job of inserting itself without damaging the facade of the White House, to the President and the First Lady it was as if Marion and Tessa had inexplicably appeared from nowhere.

  Tessa was packing a Revenge of the Gorgons ubit assault rifle because it looked scary. She felt that it was unlikely they were regular visitors at the Revenge of the Gorgons website and would recognise the weapon. She definitely did not want to kill anyone here so if she got into a situation where she had to scare them with weaponry she thought the President and his security personnel would not feel shock and awe if she waved a small ornament at them. Happily, the ship had ensured that the ubit rifle was fully functional. She did not want to deploy the jellyfish. They were deadly killing machines on a hair trigger. In the confined space of the President’s bedroom and surrounding rooms, that could quickly lead to tragedy.

  The President and the First Lady, did, of course, immediately recognise Marion and Tessa. In the subdued lighting of the bedroom, they were nightmare figures come visiting. Both the President and the First Lady looked away, a sad realisation stealing over them that they were about to die.

  Marion said, “Forget the alarms. They have been neutralised.”

  Tessa moved away to cover the doorways. She scanned the surrounding rooms, supplementing the feed from the ship. All quiet. This was a scenario they had run many times. Tessa knew how every person currently in the White House was likely to be spending the next few minutes and how they would react if things went bad.

  “Mr. President, First Lady,” Marion said. “No one is pointing a gun at you. Believe me when I say we are not going to harm you tonight. You are not hostages and we will be gone in a few minutes.” Through the link she said to Tessa, “Bring up the scans.”

  Tessa made the scans of the surrounding rooms visible. They hung in the air in vivid colour and 3-D. On its own it was an impressive display of technology. The President got the point. And, like all politicians, he lived in the moment. As they were still alive he found his voice and said, “What do you want?”

  Marion said, “As you can see, we know the locations of all of your security staff and if they do decide to storm this room they will get nowhere near it before Tessa kills them. She likes blowing holes in stuff.”

  “Okay, we’re impressed. Get to the point.”

  Marion did. She said, “Mr. President, your tenure is drawing to a close. You are unable to pass legislation of your choosing. There are questions surrounding your acquisition of office. There is even talk of impeachment.” He was a lame duck President but Marion made sure she did not use those words to his face. “It doesn’t have to be like that. Some very powerful resources on our ship tell me that under certain circumstances not only could you go out in style but you could even seek re-election with some chance of winning.”

  The President said nothing. Cynical disbelief on his face. Marion created an office chair and sat down, drawing an exclamation from the First Lady. It was the first time she had uttered a sound. Reinforcing the point, Marion created newsreels of the attack on Pearl Harbor. In a more conversational tone she said, “An incumbent President has a big advantage when our nation is threatened with destruction—.”

  “These…Gorgons. Is this what you are referring to?”

  He might not have been to Harvard but he did have a certain shrewdness and knew how to keep an eye on the pulse of the people. Tessa w
ondered if she should have chosen some other weapon. Like the slimy, spitty weapon from the equally spitty, slimy aliens in the ship’s database.

  “The bugs, yes,” Marion said. “It doesn’t matter whether you believe in them or not. There are many Americans who are now uncertain. The numbers who do believe are growing daily. Main Street is becoming afraid and you’re not giving them any reason to turn to you for answers. I believe many Americans would see the sense, at this time, to take some steps towards a better defensive posture for the nation. A few precautionary measures. Where’s the harm in that?”

  Marion was careful not to talk about her ambush plan or nuclear weapons. Ordinary people did not discuss the disposition of the United States nuclear arsenal with the President. At least, not yet. Nor did she press the President for an answer, not wanting to lock him into a refusal. Marion decided to quit while they were ahead. Warning Tessa through the link, she primed the shuttle. As the two of them withdrew, she said, “Good evening, Mr. President, First Lady.”

  Marion’s timing had been impeccable. The President of Russia, Sergei Anokhin, was also turning in for the night. Marion did not make the mistake of trying to coddle the ex-KGB officer. Instead, she presented herself as tough but pragmatic. If Anokhin was surprised at her fluent Russian he did not show it, expecting, no doubt, to be dazzled by technology. Nor was he impressed by the ubit assault rifle, giving it hardly a glance, his face impassive. Maybe he knew about the Gorgons too, Tessa thought. She resolved to change to the slimy, spitty weapon at the first opportunity, although she did need more training on it.

  Marion gave a detailed presentation of the exact disposition of the Russian forces including each and every one of the Russian nuclear weapons. Anokhin managed not to look impressed. He did become thoughtful, his expression hooded and Marion decided to move on and made similar suggestions about rallying the people, this time using animations of the siege of Stalingrad.

  A week later, the Presidents’ tour was finished. Marion went back to her studies. Tessa also went back to school. Digby, well, relaxed mostly but that was a surprise to neither Marion nor Tessa. No one did relaxing like Digby. He did present a small concert in his music room which Marion and Tessa had to admit was a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon.