Colt stood in awe staring at the thing that most pirates tried very hard to avoid at all costs. The building was ginormous. It was similar to the outpost in that it was a new-looking building that was blue and white and was likely swarmed with Authority officers. Other than that it was completely different. Rather than being overly tall like the outpost, the base building was long and wide. It covered as far as his eye could see and was likely filled with rooms upon rooms of information, training stations, and holding cells. So basically it was boring, scary, and not at all a place that Colt was excited to enter. But he'd been through hell—more specifically Gold Forest—to get here, so there was no turning back now.
In the distance he could hear faint shouting. He imagined there were probably officers in training outside toward the back of the base, but the building was so large that he'd have to walk a mile to confirm that.
"We're here," Shelly said beside him.
She had also been taking in this fact, and now turned to him with a grin on her face. "We actually made it," she said.
"We sure did," Colt replied in agreement.
Together they took a breath and marched up into the doors of the base.
The inside of the Authority base looked just like the inside of the outpost. It was large and mostly empty, with every surface shining with cleanliness. There were many doors around the lobby that led to all the other rooms in the giant building. And then there was a desk in the corner, manned by a lady that looked similar to the one at the outpost. Half moon glasses, hair curled, and pounds upon pounds of makeup and lipstick.
Colt and Shelly walked over to the desk and the lady peered up at them. Colt sat down his fish barrel, glad to finally be free from the weight. The desk lady didn't seem too happy about it, though.
"Hello dears," said the desk lady. "My name is Nita. What can I do you for?"
"We need to speak to the Lieutenant," Colt and Shelly said simultaneously.
Nita smiled deeply. "I'm afraid I can't authorize that. The Lieutenant is a busy man. But I assure you, anything you two have to say to him you can say to me."
"Ugh," Colt said in frustration, "I've had it with you people. You—"
Shelly placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him. Then she stepped forward and leaned in toward the desk lady.
"Get Ronny over here immediately, or I'll be sure you go back to filing paperwork all day."
The smile faded from Nita's face, which gave Colt a feeling of immense satisfaction.
"I'll buzz him over immediately," said the desk lady. "You must be Shelly."
Colt looked between Shelly and the desk lady, confused. This was a weird interaction. Why was Nita so intimidated by Shelly? Did she have some sort of reputation in Goldtown that he didn't know about?
He shot Shelly a confused glance and she turned to him to explain.
"Oh yeah," she said. "I'm sort of..."
She didn't get to finish, however, because just then a man emerged from out one of the doors. He was older than Colt but still relatively young, with short blond hair and a strict face that was already beginning to be plagued by wrinkle lines. He had familiar-looking hazel eyes and stood rather tall. He wore a standard white authoritarian uniform but had a blue epaulette across his shoulders as an insignia of his rank as Lieutenant.
Finally, Colt thought. He could get down to business.
Then the Lieutenant walked over and wrapped his arms around Shelly in a hug.
Colt blinked in surprise and stepped back a little. He glanced at Nita, who had now lost all interest in the situation and was back to writing something down on a piece of paper, and then back up at Shelly.
"Oh right, sorry," Shelly said. "This is my brother, Ronny."
"Lieutenant Ronald Cotton," corrected her brother, puffing out his chest and offering his hand to Colt. "And you are?"
Colt shook the Lieutenant's hand, still a little shocked.
"Colt," Shelly answered for him. "His name's Colt. He helped me get here. He says he has some business here."
But Colt wasn't focused on that right now. He was still looking back and forth between Shelly and Lieutenant Cotton in awe. "You..." he tried to put his many questions into the form of just one, then continued, "you came all the way here to see your brother? All the way through Gold Forest?"
Lieutenant Cotton stared sharply at his sister. "You did what? Tell me you didn't cross Gold Forest to get here! Do you know how dangerous that is?"
"I do, actually," Shelly replied, "since I just did it. But yes, I came all the way here to see you. They don't let me take the ship here, since I'm not authorized, and I have something important to speak with you about."
Lieutenant Cotton still looked a little mad, but he seemed to drop it as his face slightly uncontorted. "We'll continue this later, then. In the meantime," he turned to Colt, "it seems you've been through a lot of trouble to get over here and see me."
"Yes," Colt said. "I have a couple things to discuss."
"I'm assuming one of them has to do with that barrel you've got there."
"It's from the fisherman who lives at the stack on the western shore," Colt explained. "He wanted me to sell them here. He also gave me this..."
Colt fidgeted around in his pants pockets and then finally found the envelope the old man had entrusted him with. He held it out for the Lieutenant to see.
"He wanted me to deliver this to Edward."
Lieutenant Cotton took the letter and peered at it. "Interesting," he said. "Nita, send for Unit #40016."
"Right away, sir," Nita replied. She scanned through some papers, then pressed a button on her desk.
"I'll give the letter to him personally," Lieutenant Cotton said. "And it shouldn't be too hard to sell some fish around here. These officers would give a limb for something different than the usual rations. But I don't assume you made that whole journey to play mailman and pawn off some goods. There's something else. Am I right?"
Colt nodded and saw Shelly lean in slightly out of the corner of his eye. He knew this is what she really wanted to hear. She'd been curious since they'd met about what he really wanted to do so badly at the Authority base. But Colt was hesitant. Did he really want to do this here? Shelly had to know by now that he wasn't from around Goldtown, so she'd surely get suspicious if he had news all of the sudden about an incoming attack. She'd ask questions, which would make the Lieutenant start to doubt him. Colt couldn't risk that happening, so he needed to get out of the spotlight. If he could give the Lieutenant this news alone it'd be easier to convince him to agree to his terms, too.
"Yeah, there's something else," Colt said. "Look, I wonder if I might have a word in private."
Shelly squinted her eyes in suspicion. She almost seemed hurt too, that he didn't want to tell her why he was there. But she had kept from him the rather large fact that the Authority Lieutenant at Goldtown was her brother, so how much could she really blame him? He'd thought a couple days ago that they understood each other, and each had their own paths that they'd separate and take once they got to the base. But maybe they'd gotten too close. Too close for someone with a secret that could get him killed.
Lieutenant Cotton looked around at the empty lobby. "We can't have a word here? This room is rather private at the moment. We're the only ones in here, which is rare."
Colt cleared his throat. "Is there another place we could go, or..."
"None as empty as the one we're in now," Lieutenant Cotton replied. "The base is packed full with officers, you see. Especially recently, with the new Cadets we got."
Colt wanted to say that he didn't care how many Cadets heard what he had to say, as long as Shelly didn't. But saying that, in itself, would be suspicious. So he had to be careful what he said. Maybe it was better to just go about it here.
"Okay," Colt agreed finally. He took a deep breath, then began. "I have reason to believe that Goldtown is in danger."
"In danger?" Cotton repeated the words. "In danger of what? In danger of who?"
"I have the answers to those questions, and more. I can tell you who, when, where, why, and even how. But before I do I'll need some... assurances."
The Lieutenant narrowed his eyes. "Assurances? What kind of assurances?"
Colt thought for a second about how to word this next part. He needed information about the whereabouts of the lost Captain Finch, but he didn't want the Lieutenant to start asking questions about why he needed this information or what he planned to do with it.
He hadn't yet determined how he was going to word it when a door opened and a group of more than two or three dozen Authority officers marched into the lobby. They all looked the same with their identical blue on white uniforms and short hair and rigid stances. Not a shred of originality between the lot of them.
Colt thought instinctively for a moment that they were there to arrest him, and then remembered that they had no reason to. They didn't know he was a pirate.
Lieutenant Cotton put up a finger to signal the holding of their current conversation. He then turned to the group of officers and held out the envelope. "A message for Officer Hayworth."
One of the officers, tall with dark skin, stepped forward and took the letter from Lieutenant Cotton.
"It's from your father," said the Lieutenant.
The officer, who must've been Edward, just nodded. "Thank you, Lieutenant."
Officer Hayworth put the letter in the pocket of his uniform and got back into formation. If it hadn't been for the letter slightly sticking out of his coat pocket, Colt would've lost him in the crowd entirely.
"You're dismissed," Lieutenant Cotton told the group, and they started to march out just as formally as they had entered.
"Wait!" came a voice. "No one move a muscle!"
Another officer burst through one of the doors and into the middle of the lobby. Everyone stared at him, all except for one looking very rattled and confused.
Lieutenant Cotton did not look surprised in the slightest. "What is it this time, Officer Garfield?"
Colt's heart sank as he recognized the new officer. He should've known the second the short, plump man entered the room that it was Garfield, the officer he'd ran from back in Goldtown. But what was he doing here?
Garfield wasted no time in answering that question. "I'm here to make an arrest!" he announced.
No, Cold thought. No, no, no.
"Go do it someplace else, officer. Lest you intend to arrest me?"
"No can do, sir," replied Garfield, who was still a little short of breath and red in the face. Or maybe he was just always red in the face. "I'm here to arrest the guy standing right in front of you."
And... that was the worst thing that could've happened.
Lieutenant Cotton looked from Garfield to Colt and then back again. "Arrest Colt? And what for? He just got here."
Garfield nodded frantically. "He sure did. I saw him wash up on the island with a pirate's sword. He ran from me some days later when I apprehended him. Now I've tracked him here," he looked at Colt. "I'm arresting you for your crimes of piracy!"
All of the officers in the lobby were still. They didn't rush at Colt like he'd expected them too. Lieutenant Cotton was now watching him like a hawk. And Shelly... Colt glanced over at her. She was just looking at him with an empty look in her eyes.
She had to have known. She had seen him use the sword, and now someone had put together the pieces for her. Even if the rest of the officers didn't believe Garfield, she had to know by now. But maybe she was still trying to deny it, because she said nothing.
Finally, Lieutenant Cotton broke the silence. He turned to Garfield. "Do you have proof of this accusation?"
Garfield nodded. "I will soon enough, sir. He has the sword on him, I know he does. He's probably hidden it in his pants."
Colt turned out his pants pockets, coming up with just the map of the island. He showed it to everyone, then returned it. "See? Nothing," he said.
Lieutenant Cotton wasn't convinced, however. He nodded to one of the officers, who before Colt could do anything grabbed his arms and held him still. Another officer came up and started patting him down.
"Come on?" Colt said, looking between the Lieutenant and Shelly. "Really?"
But then the officers hit upon the cutlass and retrieved it. They brought it over to Cotton, who looked over it a little before coming to his conclusion.
Shelly was looking at her brother with something undetectable in her eyes. "Well?" she asked of him.
He nodded to her, then faced Colt. "It's a pirate's cutlass. You are under arrest for your crimes of piracy by the Infinite Authority."
Colt looked around and locked eyes with Shelly. "Look..."
He started to try and explain, or maybe find an excuse or something, but even he knew that he wouldn't be able to talk his way out of this one. The hole was too deep and he was too small.
Shelly just shook her head. There might have been tears in her eyes but Colt couldn't tell as he was being grabbed by two of the authoritarian officers.
"How could you do this?" Shelly asked shakily. "After all that time! How could you not tell me? How could you let me... you betrayed me! You used me to get you here, you even pretended to be my friend!"
"No, it's not like that," Colt said quickly as the officers started to take him away. "The information I have is true, I promise. Goldtown is in big danger."
Shelly was shaking her head furiously now. "NO!" she screamed at him. "You're evil! Why would we believe anything you have to say? Why would I believe anything from you?"
"Because it's true. Please..." he pleaded with her desperately. "Goldtown is in danger. Pirates..."
"Curse you pirates!" Shelly spat, her face red with anger now. "All of you! Get out of my sight!"
"Goldtown is in danger!" Colt yelled frantically, trying and failing to resist. "You're in danger! Please listen to me, you're in danger!"
Then the lobby doors shut, and he was cut off from Shelly and the Lieutenant. Colt went limp against the control of the officers and they carted him away. He blinked back tears as he faced one simple conclusion.
He had failed. He had failed, his plan had failed, and now it was all over.