Zelnick looked up from his notebook at ZEX's voice. Ah, there he was, sounding... really not good at all.

"Of course I'm here," he said, loud enough for ZEX to hear him clearly, before murmuring a brief explanation to Kenren and his friend, "One of my allies." It took him only a moment to get up off the bed and open the door for ZEX. "You okay? You don't sound so good."