[Lauchenoiria]

Student Residences, Usera University, Lauchenoiria
13th February 2020

Leonie Bennett hadn’t slept well last night. She’d been having the nightmares again, the ones about her time in Kerlile. It made her uneasy; they’d been quiet for months now, she was doing well. Except, sometimes something reminded her of that time unconsciously, and then they came back. It tended to happen when she was around Kerlians, but it can’t have been that this time: there were no Kerlians at last night’s party.

Her roommate Darya and her had been joined for the night by their two close friends, Zahra and Veronica after the party, as it had been raining all night and they hadn’t wanted to walk back to their own dorm on the other side of campus. Zahra, who sat on the Young Liberals committee with her for a while, had already left, being an early riser, but Veronica lay on a pile of sheets and towels on the floor, snoring softly. Darya was still asleep herself, as she tended to sleep a long time after drinking alcohol.

Leonie got up carefully, moving around Veronica’s sleeping form as she tried to gather her toothbrush and head off to get ready. However, as she stepped over the sleeping woman, there was a frantic knock on the door outside.

“Leonie! Veronica! Let me in!” called Zahra’s voice from outside.

Veronica and Darya both groaned, being woken by the noise, and the knocking continued insistently. Leonie stepped back as Veronica sat up, rubbing her eyes. Leonie opened the door slightly, and Zahra pushed it open and came in, shutting it behind her, eyes wide and frightened.

“What’s going on, Zahra?” asked Veronica, alarmed.

“There are men in our dorm!” Zahra called, her accent becoming stronger with her obvious fear. “Armed men! They were searching the place, throwing everyone outside in their pyjamas. They’re… I heard someone talking, and they’re looking for you!”

Veronica jumped up immediately, alert. Darya spun around to look at them.

“Why would they be looking for you, V?” Darya asked, suddenly awake.

“I need to leave,” Veronica said, moving to the door, trying to push Zahra and Leonie aside to get out. Leonie stopped her.

“Hey, what’s going on? Can we help?” she asked.

“I very much doubt you’d want to,” she said, cringing slightly almost in embarrassment. “Just let me go, I’m sorry.”

“Not until you explain,” Zahra said firmly. “I don’t like armed men, I’m still not a citizen of this country, and I worry. If you’ve brought them to us, I want to know why.”

“Really, if we get into this, either Leonie or I will end up dead,” said Veronica irritably.

“Okay, now you really have to explain!” Leonie said, alarmed. Darya stood up behind Veronica, so the woman was surrounded. She looked around. She could escape if she wanted to, she knew. But she liked these people.

“Please, please don’t hate me,” Veronica began, directing her comment at Leonie. “I promise, I disagree entirely with what happened last year. We have the ability to have our own thoughts and I, frankly, believed the invasion was counterproductive. The new government are far more on message with what we actually wanted to achieve in the initial project.”

“Oh, please no,” said Leonie weakly, leaning against the wall to steady herself, suddenly feeling sick. She was sure she knew what was coming next.

Veronica nodded grimly. Leonie sat back down on her bed, suddenly dizzy. Darya looked entirely confused. She did not know much of political affairs. Zahra was frowning, working over the words in her head, and then realisation dawned on her.

“You!” she cried, alarmed, and jumped back against the door. “You can’t be one of them! They’re evil!”

“What is going on!?” Darya said.

“I am not Veronica Penners. I am not Lauchenoirian. I came to this country as part of the Aurora Programme, sent from the Matriarchy of Kerlile in order to influence this nation in order to spread the women’s revolution. And,” she said, turning to Zahra, “we are not evil. Although, Charissa Clarke does give us a bad reputation as I rather think she is.”

“No, no, no,” Leonie was muttering to herself on her bed, shaking her head in abject denial of the situation unfolding in front of her.

“You know I can get out of here if I want,” Veronica said softly to Zahra, who was blocking the door. “But I don’t want to hurt any of you. I hoped… I hoped this wouldn’t happen. I’ve come to care for my life here. I don’t want to go home: I’ve disobeyed orders already and nothing pleasant waits for me there.”

“Disobeyed orders how?” Leonie said suddenly, looking up. She recognised something almost subconsciously, some truth in Veronica’s words. She knew how Kerlians behaved, those loyal to the government and those who disobeyed it. Veronica did not act like a loyal Kerlian, and Leonie could see in her eyes that if she had been one ever, it was no longer the case.

“I’ve hidden things from them, things that they would want to know. You, for example. They asked me to report back on you, but I refused because you’re my friend. That’s what people don’t understand, even my superiors. We are not agents of the Kerlian state. We are agents of the Kerlian project.”

“What’s the difference?” Darya asked, seeming unconcerned that a dangerous, well-trained foreign sleeper agent was standing in the room.

“The Kerlian state has become corrupt. Kerlile was set up as a project, to build a women’s utopia in a patriarchal world. The Aurora Programme was set up to spread women’s liberation, to nudge affairs in our assigned countries such that we would come closer to ending patriarchy in a number of target countries. What Charissa Clarke was ordered to do was a perversion of our mission. The invasion made me angry. We are supposed to be better than them! Well, I haven’t followed a single order given to me since the war and I plan to keep it that way.”

“Why should we believe you?” Zahra demanded angrily, her Serrielian accent growing stronger and stronger, her fear evident.

“Because a loyal Kerlian would never say that about her government,” Leonie said suddenly, standing up, and looking Veronica in the eye. “At least, not one loyal to the old regime before this reformist government.”

“Leonie, how can you believe her!? You, of all people!?” Zahra said, her knuckles white where she’d been gripping her hands too hard.

“I don’t know. Maybe because I want to? Maybe because something didn’t add up in this Aurora nonsense. And maybe because-“

Leonie was interrupted suddenly by a knock on the door. Zahra and Veronica both startled, exchanging glances with each other and Leonie. Darya pulled her covers closer.

“Hide. I’ll deal with them,” Leonie said. Veronica hid under Leonie’s cover and Zahra sat on top of the bed. Leonie went to the door.

“Good morning. Are you Miss McCauley, or Miss Bennett?” a man’s voice said.

“Leonie Bennett. You can tell from the scars,” she said casually, presenting her bare arm which still had marks from her time in a Kerlian prison.

“I… I’m… have you seen Veronica Penners recently?” the man asked, caught off guard by her casual mention of her ordeal.

“No, I haven’t. I hear rumours though.”

“Rumours, Miss Bennett?”

“Yeah. Jessica Cassidy. I’d like to speak to her.”

“That…” the man stammered. “That’s… not possible.”

“Well, I’ll only speak to her.”

“Miss Bennett, you’re going to need to let us in,” another voice came.

“No, I won’t,” she said, raising her voice. “Not unless you have a warrant.”

“It’s fine,” came a female voice. “Leave her be, I’ll speak with her.”

The men grumbled and retreated down the corridor. A woman stood in the doorway, smiling at Leonie.

“Jae Chung, but I imagine you know that, though we’ve never met. I can get Jessica on a line for you if you want, but I was hoping the two of us could have a conversation.”

“I know you, yes,” Leonie nodded, her voice guarded. “Of the first leak.”

“Yeah,” said Chung, sighing. “Something I regret these days.”

“Oh?” Leonie said, curious. “What do you mean by that?”

“Your name came up, when we were researching Veronica. As an associate. I recognised it, from reports I read of the war, and from conversations with Jessica. She’d a remarkable woman, it’s such a shame what happened to her. She deserved better. She admired you greatly, Leonie, if I may call you that? It was curious, though. You, someone who spent time in a Kerlian prison, who was probably somewhat traumatised by the affair. Why would you, of all people, volunteer at the Centre for Kerlian Refugees?”

“Wait, you do?” Darya said, getting up and walking over behind Leonie.

“Not all Kerlians support their government,” Leonie said.

“No, they don’t. But it’s curious that you should be so unwilling to cooperate in an investigation looking for agents of their government.”

“Your witch-hunt, you mean,” said Leonie, a hint of anger coming into her voice. “The one that makes women afraid if they don’t have proper papers, even though there’s a million reasons they might not? Of course I won’t cooperate with that. I disagree with it, fundamentally. I don’t want another Charissa Clarke, but hunting down women merely makes us as bad as the Kerlian regime.”

“Veronica, the one you’re protecting,” Jae said suddenly, waving away Leonie’s protest against the allegation, “is she a good person? Listen, I don’t want to detain her. Not like they do. I know you have no reason to believe me, but I’m here to help her, and you.”

“Veronica is my friend, and I have no reason to believe she is a Kerlian agent. But I do not know her location,” Leonie said tightly.

“She’s a wonderful person,” Zahra said suddenly, joining the group in the doorway. “She’s done so much good. She volunteers, she helps others, she’s an upstanding member of the community. Nothing like Clarke.”

“This is curious,” Jae said, then suddenly ducked under Leonie’s arm, and pulled her covers back, revealing Veronica before any of them could react. “Hello, Ms Penners. No need to attack me. You see, I no longer work for Mr. Fleming.”

“I don’t know who that is,” Veronica said, “but if you plan on imprisoning and harming me I have good reason to defend myself.”

“You see, you are friends with Leonie Bennett,” Jae said. “And I think Leonie knew what you were, if only subconsciously. I was speaking with the Prime Minister the other day, and I discovered something disturbing. My superior, Gabriel Fleming, was hunting down and imprisoning alleged ‘Auroras’ without permission – in fact, in express defiance of the Prime Minister’s orders. I was rather angry with him when I found this out.”

Leonie slowly closed the bedroom door behind her. Darya sat back on her bed, grabbing some spare crisps from a packet on the desk and eating them like popcorn, watching the surreal scene play out in front of her.

“You’re an excellent candidate. Leonie Bennett is a good judge of character. And if she knew what you were, and continued being your friend, then you can’t be one of the bad ones. Because I think we misjudged you. Or, at least, some of you. The Prime Minister would like to speak with you. You won’t be detained.”

“Sorry,” Leonie interrupted. “But I didn’t know Veronica was an Aurora!”

“So, all that stalking of her on social media was just friendly research? You checked out everything about her according to your search history, almost obsessively. Why do that when you didn’t have suspicions?”

“That’s an invasion of my privacy!” Leonie said, horrified.

“You stalked me?” Veronica said, somewhat amused, but relaxing somewhat, seeing the sincerity in Jae’s eyes. “So, you did have suspicions?”

“No,” Leonie said, suddenly blushing scarlet.

“Then why?” Veronica asked. Leonie blushed more. “Oh…” she said suddenly.

“Wow, took you long enough!” Darya laughed. “Leonie has clearly had a crush on you for months!”

“Okay…” Jae said. “Um… teenage drama aside… will you come with me and Leonie to see the Prime Minister, Veronica? You will be free to go home afterwards.”

“I’d rather not, if it’s all the same,” Veronica said. “That is, go home after. But I’d love the opportunity to see Alvarez. I need to set a few things straight with your country. I will confess to being an Aurora, because there are things I need to say.”

“Great. Now, how wide do these windows open?” Jae asked the four students. They all looked at her. “The men outside are Fleming’s. He still believes I’m working for him. I needed to intercept you before they could get to you. It’s why I chose today. Jessica saw on social media that you were planning to stay here after the party. Look… I was wrong. About a lot of things.”

“No…” Veronica said slowly. “You weren’t. You’re damn lucky. What you’re doing just now is incredibly risky. I am one of the few of my kind who believe in the project, and not the state. The Programme has been corrupted. But… well, I’d feel better discussing this with the Prime Minister. I don’t want Darya and Zahra hearing anything that would put them in danger. Leonie already knows too much.”

“Um…” Leonie began, and then shrugged. “Uh, quite wide. And I know a way to sneak out. I… don’t like being anywhere without an escape route.”

“Let’s go, quickly,” Jae said. “Jessica is going to get out as well today. We’re all going to Buttercity. Darya, Zahra… you better come with us too. There is something happening here that you don’t want to get caught in the middle of, but I don’t think you have a choice any more. Listen, there are things that have been going on that I think Veronica here knows of, and possibly Leonie too.”

“I think I know what you mean,” Leonie said reluctantly. It was something she hadn’t liked thinking about since she discovered it. But it was what made her trust Veronica. “I didn’t want to believe it.”

There was more knocking on the door.

“No more time,” Jae said, opening the window and gesturing. “We can talk on the way north.”

And with that, all five women climbed out of the window and snuck away, as the men outside began attempting to break the door down. As they left, Darya and Zahra exchanged glances, thinking the same thing – what on earth just happened?