Carl and Xantham had disappeared and left her with Cruncher, explaining they needed to configure their communication settings to allow her access to their frequencies. Cruncher was in the process of giving her an overview of their system map, and she leaned over to get a closer look. It looked like a security grid around the camp.
Kayla had to remind herself she was playing for the other team now as Cruncher pointed to the screen and launched into an explanation. “These systems track any movement within range. Any guests, invited or uninvited, are picked up. Our bikes have monitors that let us know when it’s one of us approaching or someone else. We’ll install one on your bike tomorrow morning.”
She nodded. The system appeared much more sophisticated than what they had at Leo’s camp, but there were some similarities. She made a mental note to investigate it more fully later on. For research purposes, of course. After all, her contract was only for a year.
Cruncher moved over to another computer that monitored the camp’s UV guard, air flow, temperature, light, and energy. Kayla looked at it and frowned, pointing to some numbers. “You guys are using way too much energy on your cooling unit.”
He looked at her in surprise. “Oh? You think you can do better?”
“Pfft,” she said with a grin, unable to resist a challenge. “Watch and learn.”
He turned over the controls to her and watched as she rerouted the energy fields throughout the camp. After about thirty minutes, she turned the controls back over to him.
“Damn, girl,” he muttered as he reviewed her work. “Where did you learn to do this?”
She gave a small shrug. “Our cooling system is always crapping out on us. I had to get creative. You know, when I was rerouting the power, I noticed some potential conflicts with the new gizmos you’re testing. I think they might be causing a few hiccups in your system. A few months ago, I wrote a program that can help smooth some of these out. Mind if I upload it and run a scan to fix the problems?”
“Not at all.” He pointed to another monitor. “You can set it up over on that screen.”
Kayla scooted over to the far side of the desk and pulled up an additional monitor. Scrolling through the data on her commlink, she found the program and uploaded the file. As she went to put down her commlink, an old video file caught her attention. She’d never been able to bring herself to delete it.
Glancing up, she saw Cruncher was still engrossed with whatever was on his screen. She slipped on her earpiece and watched the video in silence. A soft smile crept on her face, and she blinked back the tears that threatened when the video ended.
With a sigh, she unplugged her earpiece and put her commlink on the desk. If this was going to be her new life, she needed to fully embrace it. The best way to start was with a project. Kayla rolled her shoulders, determined to focus on her task and find trouble spots in Carl’s system.
