Chapter 468
Jake had only planned to ask Catalina’s people for another electrolarynx and then leave imdiately. He wrote a short ssage to the person operating the fabricator, explaining what he needed. The survivor looked confused at first, since Jake didn’t say why he needed another one.
A mont later, understanding seed to dawn on him.
“Did you lose the previous one we made for you?”
Jake simply nodded, and the person turned his attention to the control console built into the side of the machine.
“Alright. I’ll stop whatever the machine is making right now and put your speaking device first in line.”
He pressed a few buttons, initiating a new sequence.
“You know, we’ve upgraded it a couple of tis since your last visit, so it’s much more powerful now. Making your device will take just…” he paused to press a few more buttons, then glanced at the screen before finishing, “less than two minutes. Pretty impressive, isn’t it?”
So, he didn’t have to wait a whole day like he’d the last ti Catalina had her people make such a device for him. While he’d initially planned to leave imdiately after asking Catalina’s people to make another electrolarynx for him, knowing that he only needed to wait a couple of minutes, he decided to stay.
The human kept talking, enthusiastically explaining how much more powerful the fabricator had beco, but Jake wasn’t particularly interested and only half-listened. Even so, he couldn’t help noticing how relaxed Catalina’s people were around him now. They had clearly co to accept him as an ally.
The door to the HQ suddenly swung open, and Catalina’s second-in-command, Thomas, burst outside. He headed straight for the fabricator, calling out as he approached, “Jake! Where have you been? We’ve been looking for you!”
Jake only stared back.
Thomas stopped before him, his eyes locked on Jake’s. When no reply ca from Jake, Thomas said, “Catalina’s looking for you, y’know.”
Jake remained silent, and the lack of response clearly threw Thomas off. Noticing this, the survivor working at the fabricator spoke up. “He can’t reply, boss.”
Thomas raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”
“Must’ve lost his speaking device or sothing.”
“I see.”
“I’m already making him another one. That’s probably why Jake ca here.”
“How long until it’s ready?”
The survivor glanced at the control console. “Almost done. Just a couple more seconds.”
Just as he said that, the machine emitted a cheerful sound, and a panel slid outward, on which lay the newly produced device. The survivor picked it up and held it out for Jake to take. The device looked identical to the previous one.
Jake jamd it against his mandible and said, “Thanks.”
The survivor grinned and said, “My pleasure.”
Thomas turned back to Jake. “I was on a call with Catalina when I saw you entering the base on one of the surveillance caras. Please, co with . She needs to speak with you. It’s urgent.”
But Jake had already seen Thomas’s most recent mories. He knew exactly what Thomas and Catalina had been discussing, so he knew it wasn’t nearly as urgent as Thomas was making it sound.
“No need,” Jake said. “I was planning to visit Catalina right now anyway.”
He turned to leave, but Thomas suddenly grabbed him by the shoulder. When Jake snapped his head to look back at him, Thomas imdiately let go, instinctively taking a step back. But Jake didn’t move. He just kept staring, waiting for the human to say what he had to.
“Catalina really needs to talk to you right away. She has… a bit of a problem. Please, co with . She’s waiting. She’s on the call right now. It won’t take long. I promise.”
Jake figured Thomas was afraid that, if he let him go, he would disappear for a few more days again. But Jake didn’t plan to disappear again. He did plan to visit the Spartan base after his brief visit to Catalina’s base. However, seeing how desperate Thomas looked, he decided to humor him.
“Alright,” he said. “Lead the way.”
“Thank you,” Thomas said, genuine relief in his voice. “Follow .”
They entered the HQ, took the stairs up, and a mont later entered the control security room. Sure enough, Catalina’s face was on the central screen. He saw Jake and Thomas enter the room through the webcam and burst out in an accusing tone, “Jake! Where have you been? You were supposed to show up at the Spartans’ base days ago!”
Jake approached the central monitor and said, “I had a couple of things I needed to take care of.”
Catalina obviously wasn’t happy with such an explanation. “It’s not fair. You should’ve shown up when you promised you would.”
“Why?” Jake asked. “Did sothing happen in the anti?”
“Well, no.” Catalina looked around furtively, as if to make sure nobody was listening in on her conversation with him. Leaning closer to the screen, she said in a low voice, “The Commander and his people are getting nervous, Jake. You didn’t show up when you said you would, and now they’re on edge. They don’t know what to think. They’re starting to believe you’re planning to make a move against them. And… I don’t like the way they’ve been looking at . They no longer consider on their side. They think you’re planning sothing against them and that I’m in with you.”
Thomas stood nearby, not taking part in the conversation. He was just listening with great interest. As Catalina’s second-in-command, he knew she was stuck in Dead City, but apparently, he didn’t know many details.
Suddenly, he lifted a finger to his ear, listening intently to sothing coming through his earpiece.
“What?!” he barked.
Both Jake and Catalina looked at him.
“What’s wrong?” Catalina asked.
Thomas turned his gaze toward the bank of monitors and looked at the one showing the feed from the cara aid at the entrance to HQ. Jake looked that way as well and saw Marcus, Samantha’s second-in-command, there. Jake hadn’t even been aware he was at Catalina’s base.
While there was no sound, his animated gestures made it clear he was arguing with the two guards posted at the entrance.
“Marcus wants to get into HQ,” Thomas said to Catalina.
“He still hasn’t left, huh?” she said. “Why does he want to get in?”
“He wants to know what our business with Jake is.”
“Tell him it’s none of his concern.”
Thomas touched his earpiece and passed Catalina’s ssage along to the guards. Then he added, “And tell him to leave. They got what they ca for, so it’s ti they headed ho.”
Jake and Thomas kept their eyes on the screen. Marcus wasn’t happy with what the guards told him, but ultimately, he turned on his heel and stord off.
“He left,” Thomas said to Catalina.
“It is settled, then?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Catalina returned her gaze to Jake. “So, the Spartans are really getting nervous here, Jake.”
“Well, you can tell the Commander you just spoke with and that I’m on my way to see him now,” Jake said. “Actually, you can even call him, and I’ll tell him myself.”
“He’s not here right now,” Catalina replied.
“Then where is he? Outside?”
“No. Sowhere deeper underground. But I don’t know where exactly or what he’s doing. He’s been gone for about half an hour.”
“Has he ever done that before?”
“Actually, yes. Over the past few days, he’s occasionally left the base’s main cavern, but he never told where he was going or why.”
Jake could tell Catalina wanted to tell him sothing, but the expression on her face made it obvious she was afraid the Spartans might be listening.
He could also see that she wasn’t in the main chamber of the Spartan base. Instead, she seed to be in a much smaller room right now. There was nobody behind her, but that didn’t an no one was nearby.
Mind Reader didn’t work over video calls, so Jake had no way of knowing what was on Catalina’s mind or what she wanted to tell him. But she definitely looked worried.
“Is everything alright?” Jake asked.
“Well, yes. Just get here as fast as you can, alright?”
“I’ll be there in just a few minutes.”
“How will you be able to get to Dead City so quickly?” she asked, surprised. Then she rembered. “Oh, right. You’ll make use of one of your monstrous teleporters, like the one you almost fed to, right?”
“What?!” Thomas shouted, looking at Jake in horror.
“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” Jake said.
“Yes, it is,” Catalina said with a serious look on her face.
Thomas looked at her, then back at Jake. “I don’t understand,” he said cautiously. “Did you really almost feed Catalina to one of your monsters?”
“Well, not intentionally. And I got her out of the way before it could take a bite out of her.”
Thomas just stared at him silently with an appalled expression on his face.
“It’s all good now,” Catalina said to Thomas. “So don’t worry. Jake’s still on our side.”
“Uh-huh.”
“By the way, what are you doing in my base?” Catalina asked, shifting her gaze back to Jake.
“I only ca to kindly ask your people to make another electrolarynx for .”
“What happened to the first one?”
“D broke it.”
Catalina’s eyes widened. “So you actually t D, huh?”
“Who’s D?” Thomas asked, clearly out of the loop.
“Yes,” Jake replied to Catalina, ignoring Thomas’s question.
Catalina stole a glance around and asked, “What about Mad Mick? Did you et him too?”
“No.” It was obvious that Catalina wanted to know more details, but Jake said, “We’ll talk about it later, okay?”
Catalina was clearly disappointed, but she knew he was right. They needed to talk in private, without running the risk of the Spartans overhearing them.
“Alright,” she said.
There was nothing else to talk about, so Jake said to Catalina, “Alright then. I’m coming to you right now.”
“Please, don’t disappear on again.”
“I won’t.”
Jake nodded to Thomas and left the security control room. A mont later, he was back outside.
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