need her to tell me that I had embarked on the road to hell. And that, from then on, there would be no turning back.
16 Auxana
I didn't say anything to Lauren when we came back from the park. There wasn't anything to say. I knew she wouldn't lie to me, or pretend to have been just playing around with Oniar. But I couldn't bring myself to force her to face reality. Oniar could never be for her, and she couldn't be his.
The pity of it was that in different circumstances, Oniar would have been perfect for her. He would have been worthy of her love and trust, and allowed her to open up. It was cruelly ironic that such a man had to be an enemy. Obliging Lauren to lie to him, to betray him. But I was in no doubt whatsoever about Lauren. Nothing on earth would keep her from doing her duty.
So I pretended to have seen nothing and gestured to her that I'd got hold of the siphon. I'd used the security procedure she'd taught me, and, as she'd predicted, it had been infected with a tracking program. Our supplier seemed a little too curious about the future use of his gadget.
But I wasn't worried; I knew Lauren wouldn't have the slightest trouble neutralising it. However, this did indicate that he knew one of his men was in the general HQ, within range of his tracking device.
Although this was probably a member of the Resistance, it still worried me. Of course, I knew we weren't the only ones to have infiltrated the enemy, but this meant that someone else now knew we weren't innocent little collaborators. Someone who could be captured and who might talk. But, as Lauren said, you can't win a war without taking a few risks. I only hoped that this wouldn't cost us our lives.
Our greatest problem was finding somewhere to hide the siphon. We couldn't keep it in our bedrooms for any length of time. But I could think of nowhere safe enough to hide it.
We went into our respective rooms to put our uniforms back on. We'd taken them off before going out as Commandant Amar thought it wise for collaborators not to leave the general HQ in uniform.
The majority of the population may well have accepted the invaders with equanimity, but they were less tolerant towards earthlings who collaborated with them. Two collaborators who had been foolhardy enough to go out alone in uniform had already been assaulted. True to his policy of tolerance, Commandant Amar had not taken out any sanctions against the population and had recommended caution to us.
I was beginning to understand why Lauren was so determined to destroy that man. He was too smart by far. He was a master at playing on human weaknesses and cowardice. He provided the population with no reason whatsoever to rebel.
Efeghi doctors had started to move into our hospitals, bringing with them their scientific miracles to treat diseases for which we had no cure. Even the freedom of the press was respected to some degree.
Only calls to arms were censored, but articles criticising the invaders were tolerated. Of course, we no longer had a government. Ours had been replaced by a puppet government run by the invaders, but this didn't seem to bother too many people. We had plenty to eat, schools and businesses were still running, and there were no more wars anywhere in the world.
The only way you could come to any harm from the invasion was if you rebelled against it. In this, Amar proved ruthless: Resistance fighters were imprisoned, and authors of leaflets and newspapers calling for rebellion were publicly arrested and incarcerated alongside criminals and murderers. The Efeghis even indulged in the luxury of helping out the families of their prisoners.
But the great majority of the population didn't rebel. And with time, the resistance fizzled out. There were still some diehards, but these met with little success due to lack of support from the population, who in fact censured them for their most bloodthirsty deeds. My only hope lay with Lauren. I didn't know how she'd
16 Auxana
I didn't say anything to Lauren when we came back from the park. There wasn't anything to say. I knew she wouldn't lie to me, or pretend to have been just playing around with Oniar. But I couldn't bring myself to force her to face reality. Oniar could never be for her, and she couldn't be his.
The pity of it was that in different circumstances, Oniar would have been perfect for her. He would have been worthy of her love and trust, and allowed her to open up. It was cruelly ironic that such a man had to be an enemy. Obliging Lauren to lie to him, to betray him. But I was in no doubt whatsoever about Lauren. Nothing on earth would keep her from doing her duty.
So I pretended to have seen nothing and gestured to her that I'd got hold of the siphon. I'd used the security procedure she'd taught me, and, as she'd predicted, it had been infected with a tracking program. Our supplier seemed a little too curious about the future use of his gadget.
But I wasn't worried; I knew Lauren wouldn't have the slightest trouble neutralising it. However, this did indicate that he knew one of his men was in the general HQ, within range of his tracking device.
Although this was probably a member of the Resistance, it still worried me. Of course, I knew we weren't the only ones to have infiltrated the enemy, but this meant that someone else now knew we weren't innocent little collaborators. Someone who could be captured and who might talk. But, as Lauren said, you can't win a war without taking a few risks. I only hoped that this wouldn't cost us our lives.
Our greatest problem was finding somewhere to hide the siphon. We couldn't keep it in our bedrooms for any length of time. But I could think of nowhere safe enough to hide it.
We went into our respective rooms to put our uniforms back on. We'd taken them off before going out as Commandant Amar thought it wise for collaborators not to leave the general HQ in uniform.
The majority of the population may well have accepted the invaders with equanimity, but they were less tolerant towards earthlings who collaborated with them. Two collaborators who had been foolhardy enough to go out alone in uniform had already been assaulted. True to his policy of tolerance, Commandant Amar had not taken out any sanctions against the population and had recommended caution to us.
I was beginning to understand why Lauren was so determined to destroy that man. He was too smart by far. He was a master at playing on human weaknesses and cowardice. He provided the population with no reason whatsoever to rebel.
Efeghi doctors had started to move into our hospitals, bringing with them their scientific miracles to treat diseases for which we had no cure. Even the freedom of the press was respected to some degree.
Only calls to arms were censored, but articles criticising the invaders were tolerated. Of course, we no longer had a government. Ours had been replaced by a puppet government run by the invaders, but this didn't seem to bother too many people. We had plenty to eat, schools and businesses were still running, and there were no more wars anywhere in the world.
The only way you could come to any harm from the invasion was if you rebelled against it. In this, Amar proved ruthless: Resistance fighters were imprisoned, and authors of leaflets and newspapers calling for rebellion were publicly arrested and incarcerated alongside criminals and murderers. The Efeghis even indulged in the luxury of helping out the families of their prisoners.
But the great majority of the population didn't rebel. And with time, the resistance fizzled out. There were still some diehards, but these met with little success due to lack of support from the population, who in fact censured them for their most bloodthirsty deeds. My only hope lay with Lauren. I didn't know how she'd