Free The Novida Code by JN David Page B

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,