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Over the next hour, he gave us a tour of the part of the headquarters that would be accessible to us. Several times, we came across young earthlings. Some seemed full of enthusiasm whilst others averted their eyes as they passed us. They were all wearing a uniform similar to that worn by the Efeghis: black trousers and black top trimmed with silver braid. Olden quickly introduced them to us.

I already knew through Lauren that it would be impossible for us to trust any one of them, even – and especially – if they appeared hostile to the invaders. We introduced ourselves to them very briefly before Olden took us to our quarters.

I noticed along the way that the doors in certain zones had been modified, and displayed a strange mechanism attached to the door handles. I didn't get the chance to see any of these doors being opened. At last we arrived at our bedrooms, which were adjacent. Olden turned towards us:

“I will leave you to explore your quarters. You can enter and leave the headquarters until the curfew at 9 pm, on presenting these discs to the guards.”

He handed us two small black discs edged with silver. He also returned our ID cards: “You will also need these to get through the doors. Of course, you will be searched on your way in and out” he added with a slight smile.

“When do we begin classes?” asked Lauren.


Tomorrow morning. Someone will come to take you to the refectory at 7 o'clock this evening and at 7 tomorrow morning. Classes begin at 8.” He then bade us farewell, and left.

We went into our rooms, which were identical: two large bedrooms that were light and luxuriously furnished. It seemed incredibly generous of them to entrust us with such beautiful and spacious rooms, when they could just as well have put us together in one far more modest bedroom. They were clearly seeking to show us all the advantages of collaboration.

I'd have liked to be able to discuss all this with Lauren, but I knew this was impossible. She had been quite explicit: now that we were beginning to infiltrate the enemy, any frank discussion was banned without her prior go-ahead.

5
              
Lauren
 

My stomach gave a lurch when I saw our rooms.

 

I'd already had my suspicions on seeing that we'd been given separate bedrooms, but these were confirmed when I saw the indecent luxury of each of these rooms. They had even installed double beds, just in case the message wasn't clear enough.

I could also see that Auxana hadn't grasped that these were courtesans' rooms. That was best for the time being; she seemed scared enough as it was. Throughout the whole conversation, I'd seen Olden surreptitiously glancing at her. I couldn't work out if he could sense her fear or if he simply desired her.

The
choice of rooms seemed to point to the latter. With her red hair, she must have seemed very exotic to the Efeghis. However, I didn't feel she was ready to go that far to obtain information. And maybe she never would be. As for me, the question remained open. I thought I'd be capable, but was far from certain.

We
remained in our rooms for a little over an hour, during which our discussion was perfectly in keeping with our respective roles: exclamations of amazement at our lovely rooms, impatience and admiration for our invaders on my part, and more hesitation and restraint on the part of Auxana.

Meanwhile,
I was looking for a discreet way of communicating with Auxana. Refusing to live in the HQ would have aroused our enemies' suspicions, but it did make everything more complicated. We could be certain that our rooms were bugged. From now on, it would be far harder for Auxana and me to keep each other updated and compare notes.

I decided to discuss the matter in the only relatively safe place that remained to us: my apartment. I had deliberately omitted to notify the town hall of my change of address when I left my family home. My ID card therefore still showed the address of my dear stepfather.

This harmless little act of rebellion proved very useful right now, for Olden had probably made use of the time we spent visiting the HQ to search our respective apartments. As it happened, I'd arranged my apartment to reflect the image I wanted to project of myself, but it would take them a little while to find my new address, which, of course, Léon didn't know.

We
could safely assume that – for that evening at least – we'd be safe from enemy eavesdroppers. I therefore suggested to Auxana that we move our things that evening, and we duly set off from the HQ for my place.

In my apartment, I immediately went into the living room and placed a classical-music crystal in the player, adjusted the volume and got down to business:
“Well, your thoughts so far?”
“Why did you agree to live with them? It's too risky!”
“I know.”
“How are we ever going to manage to talk to each other? Those bedrooms are bound to be under holo-surveillance.”


I had no choice; you could tell that Olden was testing us.”
“I thought as much.” Auxana sighed.

She looked so terrified. Although I knew full well what her answer would be, I asked: “Do you want to pull out?”

She
merely glared at me by way of reply, then repeated: “How can we communicate with each other?”

My gaze was suddenly drawn to the music crystal revolving slowly in the orange-coloured light beam on the living-room table, sending flickers of light all around the room.

I got up and went to look for some blank crystals. I'd hung on to a few, although that could have branded me as a log pirate if ever they were discovered. But they had cost me a small fortune, and, after all, certain much-respected individuals pirated logs. It had even become trendy in posh schools.


I think I have the answer,” I replied to Auxana, holding out one of those crystals.
“What are you going to do with a blank crystal?”
“Look at them a bit more closely. These crystals will store and release information as many times as you want when they're played through a beam. But with just a minor modification, they can be made to give out the information just once and then destroy it.”
“OK, but that's of no use to us if they need to be passed through a beam player”, replied Auxana. “Even if the player is modified so we're the only ones who can listen to it, the message is still traceable.”
“Not if it's us who're the beam player.”
“I don't understand”.
“That's because you're not a log pirate. Crystals weren't initially intended for use in a beam player. They were supposed to work by direct contact and pass information to the brain. It was only later that they were modified to stop them responding to human contact.”
“So, why use players?”
“Some people said that, in the long run, such usage was damaging to the human brain, although no scientific study has ever corroborated this. I don't know why the use of players became compulsory. Perhaps the suppliers paid a backhander, or maybe the Government banned a mode of transferring information that was completely beyond their control. As you say, beam players can be traced but brains can't.”
“So, you modify blank crystals so they work on contact and then use them for passing messages.”
“Single-use messages, which are destroyed as soon as they've been read.”
“OK, but how do we record onto the crystals?”
“That's the tricky part. If you place a crystal in a player, what happens?”
“The player reads it.”
“Yes. But if the crystal is a blank, what happens then?”
“I don't know. Nothing, I suppose.”
“No. Even a blank crystal gets read. But since it's a blank, reading it sensitizes it just sufficiently for us to be able to record onto it.”
“How?”
“Still through contact. By holding the sensitized crystal and concentrating extremely hard on projecting your thoughts.”
“Wow, that's perfect!” Auxana's enthusiasm was almost childish. “Have you really done that?”
“I've seen it done. For all my scepticism about the government ban, I was nevertheless scared of damaging my brain, and didn't dare to try. But I do have several friends who recorded onto several blanks in front of me, and I know it works.”
“But how do we go about passing the crystals to each other?”
“They must only be passed from hand to hand. In the event of any danger, they must be crushed. There'll be nothing left but a crystal gel, which will flood the nano-processors, thereby leaving nothing that can be used against us.”
“Right. I suppose we should hide these blanks amongst our music crystals.”
“Yes, but we can't risk taking too many. We'll be able to pretend we confused a few blank crystals with music, but not a hundred or so.”
“OK.”

I admired Auxana, who was quite prepared to risk permanently modifying her brain. Even if the risk was minimal, we'd be obliged to use this technique over quite a long period, for it was clear that it would take us months to gain the confidence of the Efeghis.


I suppose this will be our last direct conversation for a long time. Is there anything else I ought to know?” she asked.
“In tomorrow's class, you'd better be on your guard. Your role is to be more sceptical but you mustn't show your contempt for the real collaborators. And beware also of those who claim to be doing what we're doing. We must trust only each other.”
“What should I do if someone comes up to me claiming to be in the resistance?”
“Avoid them and let me know immediately.”
“Are you sure we can't try to recruit like-minded people?”
“It's too soon and far too risky. Even if they are sincere, they might make mistakes and take us down with them. I prefer us to operate alone, and take no risks. Don't forget that we're in the lion's den.”
“Don't worry,” replied Auxana, with a wry smile. “I shan't forget!”

6
              
Auxana
 

            
 
The class for volunteerswas full. All dressed like us, in black and silver, around thirty young men and women were assembled in the colonnaded hall that had previously served for marriage ceremonies
.

             
I hadn't expected so many young people to have responded so soon to the siren call of collaboration. We'd arrived a little late as Lauren had wanted to hang around a little longer in the refectory, where Efeghis and humans were eating in their respective areas.

             
On the evening of our arrival, Commandant Amar was there, surrounded by his officers, including Olden, who had even made a special point of greeting me in particular as I went into the refectory. There was no need to feign my confusion as I replied to him.

             
But the next morning, only the humans were eating there, and Lauren had kept us back to see if the Efeghis would eat after us. I'd finally insisted that we go to class, as it was time, and I didn't want to draw attention to myself on the first day.

             
The class seemed to consist mainly of youngsters from very well-off families. Our city's upper middle class and most of the influential families were represented. I noticed that not everyone seemed particularly overjoyed to be there.

             
Some of them could barely mask their inner anger, and I realised that they'd been forced by their families to collaborate with the current regime. For a split second I felt impelled to move closer to them, but then I remembered Lauren's instructions. In the end, I sat down with Lauren in the second row, alongside a group that seemed particularly cheerful, and who promptly ignored us.

             
The Efeghi lecturer arrived so soon after us that I wondered if he hadn't been waiting for us. The classroom must have been under holo-surveillance. My hands started to feel clammy at the realisation that here too, our every gesture would be watched.

             
“Good morning, everyone,” began the lecturer. “I am Afren, your teacher. I am here to teach you the basics of the Efeghi culture in order to facilitate a better understanding between our two peoples.” 

            
 
The professor spoke softly, in a soothing voice. His outfit was identical to that of the Efeghi officers, with one difference: he was wearing very long white gloves that came up to his elbows. He was good looking, but with a handsomeness that was darker than Olden's, full of reserve and self-restraint. This was a man very well suited to his role, and who commanded instant respect.

             
“I'm now going to ask you to introduce yourselves”, he continued. “As you will have noticed, we rarely use full names when we introduce ourselves. We prefer to state our personal names – which you call first names – and then our function. As you are quite young, and unless you already have a job, your function will be
student
.”

             
One by one, the group next to us began, with a nervous little laugh, to introduce themselves:
“Hello, I'm Irina, student.”
“Hello, I'm Hamel, associate manager of Tex Corporation.”
“Hello, I'm Clarisse, student.”
“Hello, I'm Marc, student.”

BOOK: The Novida Code
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