“I don’t believe that. I’ve seen the way you look at her. She has every single man in this camp practically falling over himself trying to get her attention. It’s too bad Vex wasn’t able to finish what he started.”
Her hand flew to her mouth when she realized what she said. She shook her head and whispered, “I didn’t mean that.”
Her words were the last straw. Carl gave her a hard look and asked, “Are you sure about that?”
She didn’t answer. Carl leaned across his desk. “You signed a one year contract with me. That contract is up in two months. Unless I see a dramatic shift in your attitude and you begin treating everyone on this team with respect, your contract will not be renewed.”
Her blue eyes widened in shock at his declaration. “Corsin won’t stay without me.”
“If that’s what happens, so be it. I’m prepared to lose both of you, if that’s what you decide. You need to decide if that’s what you want and if you’re willing to go back to your old life.”
Arlisia swallowed and straightened her shoulders. She placed her hands on her hips and gave him a cold stare. “I understand. Is there anything else you wanted to discuss with me?”
“No, that’s all.”
She started to turn away but he held up his hand to stop her. “Arlisia, I hope you consider this carefully. Your decision will also affect your brother.”
“You’ve made yourself clear, Carl.” She turned on her heels and left his office.
Carl slumped down in his chair and ran his hands over his face in frustration. He supposed his confrontation with her could have gone worse. At least she hadn't tried to take a swing at him.
A beep from his comlink interrupted his musing. Flipping it open, he stared at the message from OmniLab. A representative from the towers was coming to the camp to discuss the situation with Ramiro. He sighed and tossed it on his desk. If it wasn’t one thing, it was something else.
He pushed away from his desk. If OmniLab was coming, he needed to let Kayla know and prepare her. There was no doubt they were going to want to speak with her about the Aurelia Data Cube incident. The representatives from OmniLab would probably be in for a shock when they realized how large of a rift there was between themselves and the so-called ruin rats.
* * * *
The moment he left his office, he heard shouting. Alarmed, he ran down the hall where the yelling seemed to be originating from.
Jinx, Veridian, and Xantham were standing in the hallway outside the medical room. Veridian was leaning against the wall and seemed undisturbed by the noise. Jinx was chewing on her lip anxiously and looked as though she wanted to intervene while Xantham tried to stifle his laughter.
“What the hell is going on?” Carl demanded.
Veridian shrugged. “Leo stopped by to see Kayla. He wanted to see for himself what Ramiro did to her.”
Jinx shook her head in exasperation. “They’ve been yelling at each other for about twenty minutes now.”
“At least they aren’t breaking anything.” Veridian grinned.
“Is this normal?” Carl asked, incredulous at their behavior.
“This is relatively tame. Usually it’s much worse, but I guess it’s to be expected since Kayla isn’t running at full capacity yet.”
“You should hear some of the insults, Boss.” Xantham chuckled. “Kayla’s got some especially creative ones.”
“This is absurd. I’m putting a stop to this.” Carl reached for the door, narrowly avoiding being hit when it swung open. Leo stormed out, his face red and furious. When he saw Carl, his chest puffed up. “Good. It’s you. Maybe you’ll have better luck getting that screeching harpy in there to listen to reason.”
“I heard that, you snot-nosed, scrawny-assed half-wit,” Kayla shouted. “How the hell did you learn to walk on your hands and teach your asshole how to talk?”
“Shut up, you pit-diving, self-absorbed shrew. Your betters are talking,” he shouted over his shoulder, and winked at Carl.
“What betters? You can’t count your balls and get the same answer twice,” Kayla yelled from inside the room.
Xantham burst out laughing. Veridian grinned and Jinx tried unsuccessfully to hide her smile. Carl stared at Leo. The man had to be insane.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Leo?” Carl demanded in a low whisper.
“I should ask you the same question. You take my best scavenger for the sake of protecting her and let this happen?”
Veridian interrupted. “Leo, Carl was the one who saved her. She wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him.”
“Don’t think I don’t know that, boy,” Leo reproved and then turned back to Carl. “I’m grateful for what you did for her. When Veridian called me and told me what happened, I needed to come out here and see how bad off she was. Now that I’ve seen for myself, I know she’ll be okay. She’s still got her fight left in her.”
“You were intentionally trying to provoke her?”
Leo grinned, rocking back on his heels. “Of course. How else do you get through to her? She’s got more spit and vinegar in her than anyone. If she wasn’t bitching and yelling, I’d know it was serious.”
Carl rubbed his forehead, trying to stave off the headache that threatened. “Xantham, can you show Leo out? Kayla needs rest, not…whatever this is.”
Xantham grinned and led Leo toward the exit. One hurdle overcome, Carl took a deep breath and stepped into the medical room prepared to face a bigger challenge. How such a willful personality could fit inside a petite curvy body was a mystery.
Kayla was sitting up looking down at her legs as they dangled off the side of the bed. Her head shot up when he entered.
Her eyes were bright and her skin was slightly flushed from yelling back and forth with Leo. Her dark hair was loose around her face and Carl noticed the bone molds had been removed. Someone had brought her some clean clothes and the bruises were barely noticeable.
“Are you all right?”
“Oh. Hey, Carl. I thought you were Leo coming back to go another round.”
“You seem to be feeling better,” he observed.
“Yeah. I’m tired of sitting here though,” she complained. “Veridian wouldn’t let me get up. Then he stuck Leo on me.”
“Oh?”
Veridian stepped into the room. “Only because you were bound and determined to try to get up and go running around. Kayla, you nearly died! You need to rest. Let your body heal.”
She waved her hand, dismissing his objections. “So you’ve been telling me all day. I get it.”
Carl sighed in exasperation. “Kayla, you’re a piece of work. Veridian, give me a few minutes with her.”
Veridian raised an eyebrow but didn’t object. He left the room, closing the door firmly behind him.
Carl crossed the room to stand in front of Kayla. He gently tilted her head back and studied her. The cut on her head appeared to be rapidly healing, thanks to the OmniLab medicine.
“How do you feel?”
“Other than wanting to drag Ramiro through the district tied to the back of my speeder? Much better, thanks.”
“Don’t worry. He’ll get what’s coming to him,” Carl promised. “You had us worried, Kayla. We thought we were going to lose you.”
“Yeah, I heard.” She glanced away and bit her lower lip. When she turned back to look at him, her face was filled with uncertainty.
“I’m not very good at this, but I…um…wanted to thank you. Veridian told me you were the one who stayed with me and brought me up from the ruins. He said you sat in here with me afterwards for a long time too.”
A small smile touched his face. “Yes, I did, and you’re welcome. I’m glad you’re all right.”
Clearly uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation, she asked, “So did you find out anything more about Ramiro?”
He shook his head. “Not much. I called him last night and told him where to retrieve Vex’s body. I’m sure he’s done it by now.
He was pretty pissed about it. But you don’t have anything to worry about. I contacted OmniLab to escalate the petition and they’re reviewing it now.”
“I didn’t know I killed him until Veridian told me.”
Carl sat down on the edge of the bed next to her. “What do you remember?”
Kayla frowned. “I had just gotten down to the fourth level and I was sitting there, thinking. I remember hearing the motor of a cable and I thought it was either you or Veridian. I figured you guys had come looking for me. When my cable fell down, I realized it was probably one of Ramiro’s goons.”
“Next thing I knew, Vex knocked me to the ground. He kicked me but I managed to get back up. He lifted me up and started choking me. I couldn’t breathe,” she recalled, and rubbed her throat absently. “I didn’t even think about it. I grabbed my knife and lashed out. I must have cut him. I didn’t even realize I hurt him. I think he threw me into the wall. I don’t remember anything after that.”
Carl reached out, putting his hand over hers. “You did what you had to do, Kayla.”
“I know,” she said in a soft voice. “I don’t feel any guilt for killing that bastard. I just wish it had been a year ago.”
Carl squeezed her hand, wanting to reassure her. “You did the right thing.”
“Yeah,” she murmured and let her gaze drop to the floor. She bit her lip and then looked up at him hopefully. “Think this mess with Ramiro will be cleared up and I can go back to scavenging in a couple days?”
Carl shook his head, unsurprised by her eagerness to get back to work. He'd known she was going to be a terrible patient. “No way. You need to stay above ground a bit longer than a couple days. The petition against Ramiro should be resolved soon, but you still need to heal up.”
Her lips turned down into a pout. “What kind of time frame are you thinking? Two days? Three?”
“Why don’t we take it a day at a time and see how you’re progressing. You’re healing rapidly, thanks to the booster we gave you, but you still need to give yourself some time.”
She blew out a breath and he could tell she was frustrated. “Well, can I at least get out of this stupid room? It’s making me crazy. I’m not an invalid.”
“That’s fine.”
“Good. I want to see what Cruncher’s been doing with my security modifications. I also want to get Xantham to show me the com system so I can figure out how they managed to get through to your system.”
Carl chuckled at her enthusiasm. “I’m sure Cruncher would be happy to show you. He was admiring your work earlier. You’re very talented, Kayla. Where did you learn your tech skills?”
She bumped her shoulder against his playfully. “You should know better than to ask. Ruin rats don’t tell traders their secrets.”
Carl raised an eyebrow, pretending to scrutinize her. “Hmm. Now that I think about it, you’re not looking as well as I first thought. You may need to stay in bed for at least a week. I’m not sure you should overly excite yourself by looking at security or communication systems either.”
Kayla’s face fell at his words and she scowled. “Why, you lousy, sneaky….”
“Careful, Kayla,” he warned teasingly. “You might even need two weeks to recover if you get yourself worked up again.”
Her eyes narrowed and she glared at him, clamping her mouth shut.
“So, you were about to tell me where you learned your tech skills,” he hinted.
“You’re almost as bad as Veridian,” she accused and then shrugged. “Well, there’s no big mystery. I’ve always had a knack for it. It sounds kinda’ silly, but I’ve always thought computers were a lot easier to understand than people.”
“What do you mean?”
“They do what you tell them to do and if it doesn’t work, it’s not because they’re mad at you, or feel threatened by you, or think you’re a smart ass. It’s because you didn’t do it right. They’re infinitely patient too. You can keep trying until it’s finally right. They don’t ever give up on you.”
He watched her quietly for a moment. Her head was slightly lowered and she was intently studying the blanket on the bed. The tough exterior she portrayed to the world had slipped away. She looked so uncharacteristically vulnerable that he wanted to take her in his arms and reassure her everything would be all right.
“That makes sense.”
She looked up at him and then blushed when she realized she'd said too much. Carl smiled at her. The light flush on her cheeks was endearing and so unlike the normal façade she presented to the world.
He took her hand in his again. “Well, since you were forthcoming with me, I think we should see about getting you into the tech room. Are you still interested?”
“Hell yeah!”
“And she’s back,” he said, chuckling at her exuberance. He helped her up and put his arm around her waist to steady her. “Go ahead and lean on me. Take it slow.”
She took a few tentative steps and muttered, “Okay, maybe you were right about keeping me aboveground for a few days. This sucks.”
He chuckled and slid the door open to find Veridian and Jinx waiting outside. Veridian gaped at Kayla. “She shouldn’t be out of bed yet.”
“It’s okay, Veridian. I’m taking her into the tech room for a few minutes and then she promises to go to bed.”
“What? No, I didn’t,” Kayla protested.
“Yes. You did. If you’ve forgotten already, maybe you should lie down now.”
“You’re too damn sneaky.” She sighed in resignation. “I guess I did then.”
“Good girl,” he whispered in her ear, giving her a slight squeeze. She laughed at his teasing. Veridian started to object again and then shrugged. “I guess you know what you’re doing.”
Carl walked her into the tech room, impressed with her determination. Cruncher jumped out of his chair, surprised to see her up and moving around. He gave her a gentle hug, careful to avoid her injuries. The two men helped ease her into a chair in front of the monitors.
“Glad you’re okay, kiddo. You had us worried.”
Kayla offered him a smile and then gestured to the monitors. “I’m just glad to be out of the med room. Bring on the goodies, Cruncher. Let me see what you managed to do while they had me locked up all day.”
“You’re gonna’ love this,” Cruncher predicted, and pulled up the security overlay. Kayla’s eyes immediately fixed on the screen.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Carl promised. “And then you’re going to bed.”
“Yeah, sure, whatever.” She waved dismissively, not bothering to look away from the screen.
Carl chuckled. “Mind keeping an eye on her, Cruncher?”
“No problem, Boss.” Cruncher sat down next to her and rested his arm on the back of her chair. He leaned over her to point out some areas of the screen.
Pleased she was recovering well, Carl was still smiling when he left the room and headed to his office.
* * * *
Kayla studied the security images Cruncher pulled up on the screen. She was impressed with how far he'd gotten on her designs since this morning. He'd incorporated a few new ideas into them and she wondered how she could apply it to other programs she'd worked on.
“How does it look?”
Kayla turned at the sound of Carl's voice. “Fantastic. I think we’ve got everything locked down tight. I want to make a few more tweaks, but even I would have a hard time getting through this system now.” She beamed with pride. It was some of her best work. “I haven’t looked at the communication system yet though.”
“Soon. But you need to get some rest now.”
She started to object but fell silent at the look on his face. With a sigh, she stood up. He took a step toward her and asked, “Do you need help?”
“No, I can do this.” She shook her head, squaring her shoulders in determination. “I need to do this.”
Carl kept pace with her as she made her way toward the crew’s quarters. Even though h
e didn't insist on helping her, she enjoyed his reassuring presence. He was quieter than usual though and Kayla wondered about it.
“Is everything okay? You seem distracted.”
“I’m fine.” He darted a quick glance at her. “There is something I need to tell you though. I got a message from OmniLab earlier. They’re going to be sending someone out to talk about the petition against Ramiro. They’ll probably want to speak with you. I’m hoping you’ll be nice.”
Kayla rolled her eyes. Be nice? To a bunch of Omnis? “Are you asking me to be nice or kiss their ass? Because it’ll be a cold day in hell before the latter happens.”
He chuckled in spite of himself. “I suppose I’ll be thankful for nice.”
She winked at him and offered, “In that case, I’ll see what I can do.”
When they arrived at her private area within the crew’s quarters, he followed her inside and activated the privacy settings. She raised her eyebrows and teased, “Don’t tell me you’re going to get frisky with me while I’m recuperating.”
His mouth twisted into a grin. “As tempting as that would be, I’ll try to restrain myself. I wanted to let you know there’s a good chance they’re going to ask you about Pretz. I understand it’s painful for you, but you’ll need to tell them what happened.”
She sat down on the edge of her bed. “Screw that. You want me to tell a couple of pompous Omnis about my personal life? Keep dreaming, pal.”
Carl opened her locker and took out the picture of Pretz. Her heart pounded. Why was he bringing this up again? He tried to hand it to her but she pushed it away.
“Put it back.”
He put the picture on her lap. “Kayla, I want you to look at him. He meant a great deal to you. I’d like you to tell me about him.”
She stiffened. It was bad enough she'd poured her heart out to him before. She didn't need to do it again. “I’m not interested in your games. Take it, Carl. Put it away. Leave the past in the past.”
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