The Novida Code (9 page)

As I approached Auxana, I couldn't help admiring his capacity to milk each and every opportunity for propaganda. Auxana looked upset. I couldn't tell whether this was an act or whether Stephane's insults really had hurt her. The truth probably lay somewhere between the two.

Amar signalled to his soldiers, who led Stephane away. Then he turned to Auxana: “I am very sorry, Miss. I do hope you will be able to forget this incident.”

I noticed he didn't use her first name. Interesting. She was the mistress of one of his men, yet I was still more important in his eyes. It couldn't be because of Oniar, who made it quite clear that he didn't want to push things any further with me. So, it must be the famous medical check-up. I was becoming increasingly impatient to discover the contents of my dossier. To this end, I signalled to Auxana, and she said: “Thank you Commandant. I'm not feeling very well; I think I'll go to my room.”

“Allow me to lend you one of my men to accompany you.” He glanced at Olden, who stepped forward. But Auxana replied swiftly: “No! Please…” Her eyes filled with tears. “I'd like to go back with Lauren.”

“
As you wish”, he replied.

Amar bowed to both of us, as did Olden, and they then moved away.

I shot a last glance at Oniar, who was watching us leave with a look of concern. I then picked up my holo camera and left the room with Auxana. But as we left the main corridor behind us, we veered off towards the forbidden zone.

I would have liked some time to get over Stephane's attack. But time was a luxury we didn't possess and I did not dare to even suggest it to Lauren. No doubt, she'd thought that I was putting on an act before, but Stephane's insults really had hit home. He was not wrong, even though he'd got the wrong target. My main fear was that he'd pay a heavy price for his actions.

But we had things to do and I resolutely pushed away all thoughts unconnected with our mission. The corridors were practically empty. Just about everybody was at the party. I'd noticed the absence of the two auxiliaries, Afren and Elden, but there was nothing odd about that. They surely wouldn't have been invited to a party. Even the Efeghis were afraid of them, and I could understand this, knowing what they were.

Lauren slowed down as we approached
the last corridor leading to the entrance to the prohibited zone.

This was the only way in: the door with the special security system activated by the Efeghis' bracelets. Along with their arms, this was one of the few of their technologies that they had brought with them to Earth.

I was puzzled by this lack of Efeghi technology, which meant they had to adapt to our less sophisticated devices. Combined with the lack of cultural references that I'd already noticed, this formed a baffling picture that I would have liked to be able to fathom out.

We stopped at the end of the corridor. Lauren waited silently and I realised she was listening for any guards. The door was unguarded during the daytime, but we couldn't take any chances.

All was quiet. She tilted her head forward slightly. One gesture told me the door wasn't guarded, and I followed her without a sound. At the door, she turned toward me. I then removed the bracelet from my bodice and handed it to her. Lauren had watched the Efeghis and knew exactly how to insert it into the identification system. The door opened a little and we were in the prohibited zone.

My heartbeat was so loud in my ears that I could barely hear any other sounds. My hands were shaking but Lauren seemed calm. She moved quickly and silently. I forced myself to follow her, feeling that I was being terribly noisy. She guided me to the infirmary and once again used the bracelet to open the door.

Without a sound, she went inside and I followed her. She didn't switch on the light, leading us to the infirmary's terminal in the dark. She sat down in front of it and activated the hologram, which promptly started flickering and asking for access codes. Lauren didn't know these, but she'd been a log hacker since childhood.

Without a moment's hesitation, she began flicking her fingers over the hologram. I waited, praying she'd quickly find a security loophole, as I was growing more terrified by the minute that we'd be discovered. Perhaps there
were
guards in front of the access door? Had they gone off on patrol just at the right moment? If they came back before we returned, we'd be trapped.

I'd have liked to have carried out more reconnaissance before tonight, but Lauren was against this on the grounds that we'd run too great a risk of being spotted. It was only because of the party that we'd been more or less undisturbed.

After a while, I murmured very softly:
“Still nothing?”
“No…” she breathed.
“There
has
to be a security loophole!” I said.
“Shush”, she replied, calmly. “Obviously, there's no
having to
about it.”

Lauren remained imperturbable and I couldn't resist the urge to tease her:
“What a pity we didn't bring a siphon with us…”

She silently rolled her eyes, and sighed:
“Right, there's nothing else for it; I'm going to have to call in the cavalry.”
“What?”
“I sent a self-replicating Trojan horse to the council offices. I had hoped to use it at a more opportune moment, but I'm going to have to activate it now.”
“You hacked into the council offices?”
“No, I hacked into all the government systems. To be more precise, I've peppered them with little viruses that let me break into their archives.”
“But how did you manage that after the invasion? I thought all the networks were monitored.”
“I did it
before
the invasion.”

I was speechless for a moment, then replied:
“You really are quite insane, you know.”
“It's the duty of every good citizen to keep himself informed of what those in power are up to”, replied Lauren without a trace of guilt. Then she muttered some codes to the hologram, which stopped flickering. We had broken into the infirmary archives.

Just as we'd foreseen, they were unintelligible. I supposed that they were in the Efeghi language but had no way of being certain. Only the names were in our language and Lauren was able to open her dossier and bring it up on to the screen. She then got out her holo camera and took a picture of it, before displaying the files of all the earthlings and photographing them too. This took quite some time and when I asked her why she was doing this, she smiled:
“They're obviously testing all the earthlings who come to collaborate with them; it's always good to have a list of traitors.”

When she'd finished, she rearranged the terminal so as to completely cover her tracks and we left the infirmary. Swiftly and silently we navigated the corridors, stopping at the slightest sound. Suddenly, the access door opened.

Lauren grabbed me by the arm and shoved me into a shadowy recess. Luckily, the people who had just come in didn't switch on the light. As they drew nearer, I recognised their voices. It was Amar, with Oniar and Olden. They were speaking in our language and seemed to be arguing. I glanced at Lauren and caught a gleam of interest in her eye. I found it hard to believe that she wasn't scared to death, hidden just a few metres away from them.

I forced myself to listen, like her. Amar was shouting:
“You don't have the choice; it's an order!”

Oniar said something I couldn't figure out and Amar replied: “Speak in Earthling so Olden can understand!” My heart stopped.
So Olden can understand
, my god!

“
I refuse to do it!” replied Oniar.
“Do not make me repeat my orders, my friend. I want you to seduce that girl and that is exactly what you will do.”
“Why do you not do it yourself”, retorted Oniar.
“She likes you and is frightened of me. You are the only logical choice.”
“No.”
“Oniar…” scolded Amar.
“Why seduce her? She is already dedicated to us!” replied Oniar.
“I do not want her to be dedicated. I want her to belong to us, totally and unconditionally.”
“Why?”
“You know why. So far, she is the only Asaï that we have found on this planet. And the testers indicate that she is very strong.”
“She is too young. I do not want to hurt her!” protested Oniar.
“How very sweet. But you have no choice. Either you do it or I shall. I imagine I can easily turn her fear into desire. But I would not be as nice as you. I could not care less what state she would be in when I finish with her, just as long as she does everything I ask of her.”

I was watching Lauren, the obvious subject of this discussion. A broad grin spread across her face. I wouldn't have placed too much money on Amar's chances.

Oniar sighed, “Very well. But I want you to give me time. I do not want to rush her.”
“Do as you think best; I care only about the outcome. But do not leave it too long. War is inevitable and we shall have need of her.”

Amar turned towards Olden, who remained silent: “Our friend can enlighten you on how to seduce an earthling. After all, his father was an expert.”

Olden grimaced without answering his boss and turned to Oniar:
“I shall explain what you have to do if she is a virgin.”

I started to feel sick. Fortunately, they were moving away and I could only just catch Oniar's reply:
“What does that mean?”

I turned to Lauren, who was still grinning, and signalled that we should leave. She nodded and we set off towards the access door. Once through it, I replaced the bracelet in its hiding place. We were making our way towards the corridor that we'd taken on the way in when a voice stopped us: “Halt!”

We stood transfixed. Then, slowly, we turned round. It was an Efeghi soldier. And by the look of him, he was incandescent with rage.

The soldier had caught us unawares while our backs were turned. There was no way of knowing if he'd seen us coming out of the door to the prohibited zone. I decided to stick to my usual rule:
deny everything until you're blue in the face even if they have proof.
So I smiled innocently at the soldier:
“Good evening”.
“What are you doing here?” he asked brusquely. I adopted a contrite look but inside I was jubilant: he hadn't seen us.

“
I was trying to get into the unauthorised zone.” 

I saw Auxana flinch. She didn't know it was better to admit to a minor misdemeanour than to protest your total innocence. We had no good reason to be by the door and that soldier knew it.
“Why?” asked the soldier.
I acted confused, then murmured: “I wanted to speak to Oniar. About… something personal.”  I managed a blush and saw a slight smile flicker across the soldier's lips. Then, he looked stern again:
“Wait here!” he ordered in a steely voice. He placed his bracelet in front of the Efeghi device on the door and went in. It would take him several minutes to fetch Oniar and I had time for a few words with Auxana:
“Keep your cool next time. You must never look guilty.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Grant Amar's wishes. You, on the other hand, are going to take my holo camera and go back to your room as soon as the guard gets back.” I handed her the holo camera.

“
You're sure…” she began, as she took it. But I shut her up as the door was already opening for the soldier, accompanied by Oniar, who stared at me without a word.

He smiled at me but I could see he was preoccupied. I smiled shyly at him. Auxana touched my arm in encouragement and said to the guard:
“I think Lauren would like to talk to him alone.” She shot him a meaningful look. The soldier raised his eyebrows without a word. Oniar then turned to him and gave him a brief order in his own language. He bowed to him and left the room.

After a final glance in my direction, Auxana also left. I turned towards Oniar without daring to look him in the eye:
“I'm sorry to have disturbed you so late.”
“It does not matter.”His voice was gentle. I gazed silently down at the ground for a moment. After a while, he continued:
“You wanted to speak to me, Lauren?”
“Yes… I spent hours debating with Auxana before finding the courage to come here, but I still don't know whether I'm going to manage it…”
“You can say what you like to me.”

I gave a nervous little laugh: “It's not that simple!”
“I have all the time in the world.”

I treated him to my shy, faltering smile.

“It's just that this evening, while we were dancing, I thought… I imagined…”
“What?”
“It's silly, but I felt there was something between us”, I replied nervously. “But then, you immediately became distant again, and now I don't know what to think.”

He remained silent.

At last, I looked up at him. And, just for a second, I my knees started to buckle when I saw the expression on his face. Then, I gathered myself together.
He is my enemy
, I thought – very hard. Forget his tender expression, and his handsome face lit up by that gentle, sad smile…
This is my enemy.
I pulled myself together again, regained my hard, icy interior. And I gave him the eager look that worked like a charm with him.