The Two Towers by Jamie A. Waters Page B

this is a pretty big threat.”
    “You wrote this?” Cruncher asked in disbelief as he looked through the complex code.
    She looked at the screen, trying to see it from his point of view. It was decent, but nothing spectacular. “Yeah. I was pissed off that day, so it’s a little sloppy.”
    Cruncher let out a low appreciative whistle. “Why do you even bother going into the pits, girl? You’re a natural tech.”
    She didn't bother to hide her grimace. It might be okay for some people, but she prided herself on her ability to recover artifacts and wouldn't change that for anything. The tech stuff was more of a hobby. “No way. I belong in the ruins.”
    Cruncher shook his head. “Most techs I’ve seen can’t work this level of technology.”
    She shrugged and finished modifying the code. She linked it to the security system and fashioned another layer of security over the existing ones.
    “I’ll need to polish this up a bit later. It’ll provide some basic coverage for the time being. But I need to go stretch my legs or something. I’ve been sitting here too long.”
    “Yeah, go ahead.” He waved her off with a nod. “Do you mind if I check out your code some more?”
    “Not at all.” Kayla rubbed the back of her neck, trying to stretch out the kinks, and headed toward the practice room. She was hoping Corsin was around so she could work on some locks with him. Engrossed with the idea she might be able to talk him into making a small wager, she nearly bumped into Arlisia and Jinx just inside the room.
    Arlisia glared at her. Jinx glanced at her friend before giving Kayla a hesitant smile. “Hey, Kayla. What’s up?”
    “Sorry if I interrupted something. I was actually looking for Corsin. He wanted to work on some locks with me.”
    “Carl wasn’t enough for you?” Arlisia asked coldly. “Now you’re planning on moving in on Corsin too?”
    “Whoa there, kitten,” Kayla said in surprise. “You might want to sheathe those claws before you get hurt.”
    Arlisia turned to Jinx. “I’ll talk to you later. I have things to do.” Without another glance at Kayla, she walked out of the room.
    “Sorry about that.” Jinx apologized, shifting her weight uncomfortably. “I hope you don’t judge Arlisia too harshly over it. She’s a good person, she’s…well, she’s got it pretty bad for Carl.”
    Kayla tried to keep her expression neutral. She wouldn't normally be interested in camp gossip, but given her own interest in Carl, she couldn't help herself. “Carl mentioned they had been involved.”
    Jinx nodded. “Yeah, it was pretty stupid of Carl. He started trying to recruit Corsin about a year ago. Corsin was interested in joining up, but didn’t want to leave his sister behind. They went back and forth about it for awhile. Arlisia isn’t a scavenger and we weren’t looking for more techs. They eventually came to some sort of agreement and Corsin signed up.”
    Her eyes widened, surprised at the news. “Arlisia is Corsin’s sister?”
    “Yeah, I thought you knew.”
    When Kayla shook her head, Jinx shrugged. “Well, when Corsin brought her here, Arlisia sort of developed this hero-worship mentality about Carl. You know how some ruin rats are around traders. At first, I think he was flattered and thought it was cute when Arlisia would trail him. But it got a little intense. He screwed up and ended up fooling around with her. Carl immediately regretted it and tried to call things off with Arlisia.”
    Kayla knew exactly what she was talking about. She'd seen quite a few ruin rats fall all over themselves in an effort to get into a trader's good graces. She couldn't help but feel a little disappointed in Carl that he'd gone along with it. At least he realized his mistake and tried to put a stop to it though. “Did that cause problems with Corsin?”
    “Yeah, some. After Carl told her he wasn't interested, she freaked out and was pretty miserable around here for awhile. But after a few