Anonymouse wrote:--CTC, A Rational Response--
The trail is secured without too much trouble! It appears to be normal enough, save the mystery of its creation! That...and a small sign sitting on the edge of the trail some ways ahead. It's a pale pastel white and reads simply 'Welcome'. Closer inspection may reveal that it is made of plastic...and is marking where the path breaks off into three routes.
The CTC team makes their way along the path, moving cautiously and sticking to the vegetation on the sides when they can in order to avoid any potential hazards or traps that might have been laid along the path proper. As they arrive at the intersection, however, the team halts just short of it, gathering together to discuss the situation.
"Well, doctor, what do you think?" Sergeant Meinhard asks, and the doctor's eyebrows furrow as she considers the situation for a few long minutes, finally prompting the sergeant to ask her again. "Doctor?"
"Oh! Sorry..." The woman from the URD frowns. "I'm not quite sure what to make of it. It appears to be plastic..."
"Preliminary spectrographic scan confirms the sign has a polymer construction," the EDU robot confirms.
Doctor Serilde nods. "Anyways, that changes the situation rather dramatically. If this were a 'native islander scenario' like I postulated at the beach, we'd be looking at a sign made of wood with the message carved or burned into it. This... this suggests that whoever is on the island has a certain degree of technological sophistication."
"Is that good or bad?"
"Hard to say. At the very least, the presence of technological equipment increases the chances of us getting a signal back to command, and finding out more about just what that distortion was and how we got here. On the other hand... we're probably looking at a scenario where this is some kind of hidden base."
"A hidden base?" Private Leverett asks.
The doctor nods. "You know, typical technothriller trope... the evil villain/mastermind sets up an island fortress for himself. Conveniently remote and pleasant climate, all in one tidy package."
Sergeant Meinhard nods. "Well, at least that'll be somewhat more conventional, if it's true." He glances at the three pathways. "Which route do you think is best?"
"That depends on what you want to achieve," Doctor Serilde replies. "At least that part's easy to analyze. Any rationally-design complex, whether a native village a hidden superbase, would be designed so that the most vital and essential components are located in the center, both for reasons of practical convenience and for maximum defensiveness. In this case, the central path is the most likely to lead towards anything of critical importance, while the other two paths likely lead to areas of secondary value. Potentially resource or logistic centers."
The sergeant considers the pathways. "The central path is likely to be the best defended, if that's true, and we're best off getting more intel first." He glances at the other two paths for a moment, and then nods. "All right, let's take the right pathway. Keep the same formation, and don't let your guard down. The fact that there's a sign here means we're on the outskirts of whatever society is inhabiting this area... and the fact that it says 'Welcome' means they expect guests to arrive at some point."
With Meinhard's words on their minds, the group starts heading down the pathway to the right...