Authors: JN David
The Novida Code (7 page)
Lauren
After seeing Olden leaving Auxana's bedroom, I went back into mine. I was in a state of shock. I kept telling myself that it was all my fault. Yet, I had predicted such a situation; I just never imagined that it would be Auxana making this sacrifice. The worst part was knowing that I'd pushed her into it. I had dismissed her without even listening to her and this was the only way she could think of to force my hand.
At seven, I went out to meet Auxana.
We chatted as usual and I tried to behave normally, but I was on automatic pilot. Auxana immediately realised that I knew everything.
We made our way back to the refectory.
As we went into the big dining room, I noted that Olden was already there along with all of the officers' table and Commandant Amar himself. I could tell at a glance that they all knew everything. However, they were discreet and Olden exchanged just one glance with Auxana before she came over to our usual place.
Oniar looked at me too, but I was too flustered to do anything, and pretended not to notice.
After breakfast, we had Afren's lesson. As usual, I ignored his propaganda, focusing instead on any detail of the Efeghi culture that I could glean. But I was racked with guilt and my mind was wandering too much to take in anything at all.
Just one news item caught my attention:
the announcement of a party to be held the following week and to which all the earthlings were invited. Volunteers were required to help organise it.
All the students in our row – whom Auxana and I had nicknamed the
enthusiasts
– volunteered. I noted murmurs of dissent from the back rows, whom we called
the idiots
. They made their opposition so blatant that it was obvious that Amar was only keeping them to use as involuntary lures.
He only had to have them followed out of the general HQ to uncover several pockets of resistance.
Several youngsters had already left the class in disgust, and I shuddered to think about the poor Resistance groups that had recruited them.
At midday I suggested to Auxana that we should walk to the market.
I had to talk to her and this was the only possible place. But just before we set off, Josiane came up to us and asked to speak to me. I followed her, wondering what on earth she could want from me, for she was an active member of the
idiots
, and our two groups didn't mix. At the end of the corridor, she turned to face me:
“Lauren, we all thought we ought to warn you.”
“Warn me about what?” I asked.
“I know you think the Efeghis don't mean us any harm, but you're wrong.” I turned away, but she persisted: “Listen to me! You're smart enough to see that that's impossible. We're in their hands and our only chance is to fight them now, while we still can!”
I was smart enough to see that our dear Josiane was a traitor on Amar's payroll.
There was no other reason why a so-called member of the Resistance should come and headhunt such a staunch Efeghi supporter as me. Amar must want to test Auxana and me. This wasn't necessarily a bad sign as it was perhaps standard procedure for the mistresses of his officers.
But for him to have chosen me in particular meant that my cover wasn't good enough.
Or that Oniar had also showed an interest in me and that he was in fact as highly placed as I had imagined.
I replied vehemently:
“I don't understand you! You're not even giving them a chance to prove themselves!”
Josiane shook her head, “How can you be so blind?”
“If that's what you think, at least have the honesty to leave this class!” I yelled at her. Then I turned on my heels and rejoined Auxana, waiting at the other end of the corridor.
She asked me what was happening and I replied with a look of extreme exasperation:
“It's Josiane! She wanted to set me up against the Efeghis!”
“Why?” she asked.
Fearing she might perhaps overdo it a bit, I just shook my head, changing the subject to talk excitedly about the party.
Meanwhile, my heart sank at the thought of all those that Josiane would manage to lure into her net. Were there other freedom fighters lurking amongst the enthusiasts? Would they fall into her trap?
We left the HQ and set out joking towards the market.
I teased Auxana on how great she was looking and she blushed. I confessed I'd caught Olden leaving her room and begged her to fill me in on all the details.
She began to list all the amazing things that had led her to “falling in love” with Olden.
I deduced from this that she had prepared her coup from the moment I'd dropped her. I couldn't help admiring her for that.
At the market place, I led her to the noisiest corner and said, without turning my head:
“Why did you do it, Auxana?”
“You've nothing to blame yourself for; I didn't do it for you.”
“Why, then?”
Her eyes blazed:
“For the Earth, Lauren! Have you forgotten we've been invaded? Do you want all our children to be subjected to the sort of education Afren is dishing out to us?”
Reckoning that she'd acted rather too vehemently, I went up to a stall and began to enthuse about the fabrics on display there.
Auxana draped one around herself and inspected herself in the vendor's little mirror with a dreamy smile.
She was the picture of the woman in love dressing for her lover.
I would never have believed her capable of acting so well. After what seemed a reasonable time, she bought it, and we carried on walking.
Without turning round she asked:
“Is Josiane a traitor?”
“Yes”
“So, they suspect us…”
“Not necessarily, but we do need to watch our step.” She smiled at my use of the plural.
“
I found out something very interesting”, she said, pressing a crystal into my hand. Its contents made me shudder with horror.
“
Never again will I touch any of those monsters!”
“The Resistance must be told about these auxiliaries!” declared Auxana.
“We can't do anything for the time being”, I replied, firmly. “We still have a lot to find out.”
“Like the reasons for their interest in you?” she asked.
I gazed at her for a moment before replying:
“Yes. We're going to have to do some probing around the infirmary.”
She nodded and I added:
“I want one thing to be clear, Auxana. I don't want you to disobey my orders ever again. If you can't promise me that, I'll work on my own.”
“OK”, she replied. “I promise, but in that case you must promise me never to doubt me again.”
She held my gaze with a tenacity that I would never have credited her with.
“It's a promise”, I said.
“What are you going to do about Josiane?” she asked after a while.
“I'm going to make use of her.”
“How?”
“You'll see.”
We got back just in time for lunch at one o'clock.
The Efeghi table was full and I hazarded a furtive glance in that direction. Oniar was still watching me. Feigning confusion, I looked away fairly quickly. And joined Auxana at our table.
I looked for Afren and spotted him with Elden at a table near the bottom of the refectory.
They were alone, and even the occupants of the nearby tables seemed ill at ease around them. We lingered until the meal was over and the last of the earthlings had left, and then I got up and made my way towards the auxiliaries' table. The whole of officers' table was watching me and I pretended to blush as I made my way towards Afren.
“
Excuse me, Sir?” I said.
He turned towards me and stared at me for a while:
“Yes?”
“I need to talk to you”, I replied hesitantly, with a glance at his companion.
“You need have no fear about speaking in front of Elden”, he replied in that soft voice of his.
I paused for what I considered a reasonable amount of time and then murmured: “Some students are talking of doing certain… bad things.”
His eyes narrowed: “What sort of things?”
“I don't know”, I replied with a hint of panic in my voice. “But I do know that they want to hurt you – I mean all of the Efeghis.”
“Who said this?” he asked.
“I can't tell you”, I replied, somewhat apprehensively.
“Do not worry. I give you my word of honour that they will not be punished. They will only be prevented from doing any mischief and that is what you want, is it not?”
After a moment's hesitation, I replied:
“Yes…”
“Well then, please tell me their name”, he insisted.
After a judicious pause, I whispered, “Josiane…” before rushing from the table with my head down.
I sat down again opposite Auxana, giving her the merest shadow of a smile.
Auxana
Earthlings and Efeghis were bustling about in the big function room. The party wasn't for another two days but Commandant Amar had asked for the preparations to be started early. It was clear that he intended to make the most of this opportunity for earthlings and Efeghis to mingle.
This
approach seemed to be working and I noticed that there was more and more contact taking place between earthling collaborators and the Efeghi soldiers. The most enthusiastic were Irina and Clarisse, chatting with a group of soldiers and dissolving frequently into gales of laughter. I wondered if they were already sleeping with any of them. Obviously, I was hardly in a position to cast the first stone.
This
first party had an earthling theme, and the decor in the great hall resembled that of an end-of-year school prom. It was my job, with the help of two Efeghi soldiers, to hang the bunting up on the walls. From the look they exchanged with Olden, I realised that they too knew I was his mistress; but they were perfectly polite with me.
It
didn't surprise me to see that Olden hadn't kept his promise; I'd soon spotted that he was an arrogant, strutting young fool. It was this very stupidity that made him the ideal source of information; it never occurred to him that I could pose any sort of threat and he talked freely in my bed.
All
the same, I didn't know whether he was stupid enough to enable me to carry out Lauren's request in that morning's crystal.
She
had slipped me her crystal in the corridor and almost immediately given me the signal to crush it. Squeezing it in my hand, I'd been able to listen to the latest instructions… and my heart sank:
Auxana,
the system for opening the doors to the unauthorised zone is in the bracelet worn by the Efeghis on their right wrist. You must steal Olden's bracelet, but it would be best if you were to arrange for it to disappear accidentally before his eyes. I suggest you make it fall into your washbasin. He'll think his bracelet has been destroyed by the waste-disposal unit. It'll be up to you to create an opportune moment. We need that bracelet for the night of the party as that will be the perfect opportunity to go into the forbidden zone and dig around in the infirmary. Good luck!
Since that message, I'd been trying to devise a plausible scenario for dropping that bracelet. I'd also have to set some system in place for recovering it before it fell into the disposal unit's grinding chamber. All this in a room that was under holo-surveillance. And I only had two days to find the solution.
This
brought me out in a cold sweat but it was too late to give up. As Lauren had said, we could at least take comfort in the knowledge that if they did torture us, the Efeghis could learn nothing from us. We'd had no contact with the Resistance and therefore had nothing to reveal. But any information we'd gathered on the Efeghis would be lost.
I
finished hanging up my bunting and went up to the table laid out with the equipment for decorating the hall.
The
sole purpose of my helping with the preparations for the party was that table and the plastex lying on top of it. But every time I got close enough to nick a piece, a soldier or earthling passed close by, and I didn't dare.
This
time I was lucky; there was nobody around. Quickly, I grabbed a laser knife, cut out a circle of plastex and slipped it under my uniform. I left the rest of the strip, as everyone would suppose that the circle had been used to stick some decoration somewhere.
I
'd barely finished when I suddenly felt violently ill. I bent over double and the soldiers who were helping me put up the decorations rushed to my aid. They wanted to take me to the infirmary, but I assured them it was nothing serious and that I just needed to lie down for a while in my room and it would pass. Clarisse came up to me: “Would you like me to accompany you?” she asked.
She
had become particularly friendly with me after word had got around that I was the mistress of an Efeghi. I smiled at her and replied: “Thanks, that would help a lot.”