Colt typically made a great effort to avoid anyone associated with the Authority. Piracy in itself was a crime, and on top of that the Authority seemed to have something personal against all pirates. So, as you might imagine, strolling into an authoritarian base wasn't an activity Colt partook in very often. Or more accurately, ever. He also never typically stayed on land for very long, either, which meant he was breaking all kinds of trends. He'd just have to round it up to the unusual week he was having.
He hoped the Authority base would be easier to find than the fish shop had been. He did a quick look-around of the area, but all he saw was more of the same. Buildings upon buildings, all advertising something different yet all basically the same. So instead of wandering around aimlessly, Colt thought he might try another tactic.
He grabbed the arm of someone as they passed by him. "Hey, do you happen to know where—"
The man he'd grabbed yanked his arm free. He shot Colt a disgusted look before carrying on about his business.
"I guess not, then," Colt said to himself.
Colt tried to remind himself that he wasn't on a pirate ship anymore. He was around people—civilians—who lived a more... comfortable life. He got the feeling that grabbing someone at random wasn't as common here as it was on the Bloody Manta. Most things probably weren't.
For try #2, Colt walked up to a lady who was standing outside her shop, promoting something. Her whole face was smeared in make-up, and she had a unique head of hair that looked suspiciously like a wig. As Colt approached, she held out her sign to him. To be nice, Colt read it.
FORTUNE-TELLER INSIDE! WHAT WILL YOUR FUTURE LOOK LIKE?
"That's what I'm trying to figure out," Colt admitted to the lady.
"Well that's enough for a very detailed answer," the lady replied, nodding at the money still in Colt's hand.
Colt shoved the notes in his trousers. "That's okay," he told the lady. "I'm planning on finding the answer elsewhere. On that note, do you happen to know where the Authority is located?"
"The Authority? Well the headquarters is in Finite City, and there's a base and an outpost in Goldtown. If you want a more specific answer, you'll need to ask a more specific question."
"Okay. Where do I go if I need to make contact with the Authority? It's urgent."
The lady just nodded like she knew exactly what Colt was talking about. "Always is, isn't it? You'll definitely want to go to the outpost. That's on the south shore of the island."
"Perfect, thank you."
But the lady wasn't listening anymore. Someone else had just walked by, and so she'd resumed her duty of shoving her poster in peoples' faces.
Cool, Colt thought as he turned away from the lady. The south shore of the island.
Then he realized he had no idea where the south shore of the island actually was. He considered going back to the lady, but a whole crowd had gathered around her and he didn't feel much like wading through them. Plus, he wasn't sure if he even wanted to strike up another conversation with the lady. She kind of freaked him out.
Colt wandered around a little more, walking down city paths full of shops and making random turns. He knew he was still heading in the opposite direction of the old man's cabin, but other than that he was pretty much lost.
He was about to just turn around and try to head back to the cabin when he made it out of the maze of shops. He came out upon a clearing of sorts, in which he could actually see past the endless roofs of the shops. Before him was an absolutely massive circular lake. The main path of the town extended around the lake for convenient passage, and all around the lake was—you guessed it—more buildings. This was, Colt supposed, just in case you by any odd chance still had any money left over after making it out of the first maze of shops.
The lake fit in well with the town. It seemed to be a landmark where everything was sort of centered around, and it served to give the eyes a nice break from the abundance of large structures.
Colt forced himself to focus on more important things. Like finding his way to the Authority outpost.
He spotted someone riding a horse headed his way. He figured this person would be as good as any.
"Hey!" he called out to the person. "Can you point me in the direction of the south shore?"
The horse rider didn't answer, and didn't even so much as alter his trajectory. As he passed by on the horse, he threw something at Colt which hit him square in the forehand and fell to the floor.
"Rude," Colt muttered. The thing that was thrown, whatever it was, hadn't hurt any, but the audacity! If only that person had known that Colt was a pirate! They wouldn't have dared. Especially if they didn't know that Colt was only a cabin boy.
Colt glanced at the ground and saw that it had been a piece of parchment that was thrown at him. His eyebrows furrowed as he leaned down to pick up the paper. There seemed to be something written on it, and his curiosity was getting the best of him.
He uncrumpled the piece of paper, then walked over to the side of a building and used it to smoothen it out. It was then that he noticed that the paper was actually a map, of none other than Goldtown itself.
That was lucky, he thought.
Or maybe the horse rider had meant to give him a map. He really couldn't tell whether the people in Goldtown were nice or not. It seemed like an odd place, but then again it was the first time he'd been off a pirate ship in a long time so who was he to judge.
He began to study the map and discovered that it was incredibly easy to find his bearings. Thanks to the giant lake (portrayed by a big circle on the map) he was able to place exactly where he was almost instantly.
And he'd been right. Everything did center around the lake. Every path on the map led back to it, and the lake itself was positioned in nearly the exact center of the piece of parchment. There were lots of markings around the lake area of the map, indicating all the different buildings and such. Then as you got further from the lake the markings became more scarce. The only markings past a certain distance from the lake were small things such as homes and trees.
Except for one big marking that was near the northeast corner of the map. The east side of the map as a whole seemed to be mostly trees, which Colt assumed to be a forest. Then up north of that area was what seemed to be a peculiarly big structure. This intrigued Colt, but since there didn't seem to be a legend to the map, he didn't figure he'd find out much more about it any time soon. So he turned his focus on the other parts of the map.
He found where the fisherman's cabin was located, although it was marked by a mere dot. According to the map his hut was on the western shore. That meant...
Colt turned around until he was sure he was facing the right direction.
...the south shore was straight ahead.
Colt slid his finger down the map until he landed on a marking that looked like the drawing of a half-castle. He was sure that it must be the outpost. All of the landmarks he'd identified supported this theory. He finally knew where he was going.
After one last glance at the map, he folded it up neatly and stored it away in the inside of his tunic. He had the feeling that the map would prove invaluable to him, so the last thing he wanted to do was drop it somewhere or accidentally use it as toilet paper.
Once it was safely tucked away Colt was off on another journey in Goldtown.
It took him no time at all to find the outpost. He simply walked in his set direction for as far as he could go, and then he came upon it. A tall but not very large building. It was blue and white, and also looked to be freshly cleaned and polished. It was a stark contrast from most of the other buildings Colt had seen in Goldtown, which were mostly made out of old wood and stone. The thing practically screamed: I'm an Authority outpost! Stay away from me!
The building was also oddly out of the way. From what Colt had seen while wandering through the town and studying the map, all of the shops and the average houses were on the western side of the island, the one Colt had come from. The richer-looking houses were on the other side of the island, shielded from the far-east forested area by some sort of gate. Then there was the Authority outpost, which was the only thing this far south of the island. He supposed it was so the outpost could be close to the shore, and see potential threats coming out at sea from almost all directions. It did seem too far separated from everything else, however.
Colt didn't care much about any of this, though. During the time he'd laid in the fisherman's bed, he'd come up with a plan. A plan not only to get off the island, but to achieve his goal. That plan was centered almost entirely around the Authority, which meant he was going to have to dive straight into the fire. Metaphorically, of course. Or at least so he hoped.
After running all of this through his head, Colt approached the outpost. He saw that the building was made of a blue and white stained wood material. There was a sign beside the entrance of the outpost which said: GOLDTOWN AUTHORITY OUTPOST. The sign also showed the Authority's logo, an infinity symbol with a star in one loop and an anchor in the other. That symbol was known by everyone on the seas, and struck fear into the hearts of many pirates when seen. Even the pirates who weren't afraid of the Authority didn't track them down or walk straight into one of their outposts. But here Colt was. A mere cabin boy, on the doorstep of his enemy.
Before he could talk himself out of it he pushed the door open and stepped inside of the base.
It wasn't like what he'd expected. In his mind he'd pictured authoritarian bases as being dark, nasty places of torture. He'd figured there'd be at least one pirate being dragged unwillingly across the floor at any given point in time. Maybe some constant shouting or just the general feel of utter chaos.
But Colt wasn't met with any of that. The inside of the outpost just seemed like a normal place of business, which surprised him immensely. He'd stepped out into one big room—the lobby, he expected—that led out into several other rooms. The lobby was pretty empty other than a desk in the corner and some chairs scattered around for waiting. The floors and walls were also shining clean and looked relatively brand new.
Colt was about to make his way over to the desk in the corner when all of the sudden he froze. An Authority officer had just walked into the lobby. The officer wore the signature dark blue Authority uniform. It had the same symbol on the back that Colt had seen outside the base, and had the words INFINITE AUTHORITY written above and below it. It was a uniform that all pirates were very much familiar with. Colt felt himself back up automatically, out of habit, as he mapped out his escape. When the officer caught his eye, Colt was ready for a fight.
But the officer just nodded to him. "Good day."
Colt felt his head nodding back as the officer passed him and continued on into another room. He realized that he had forgotten for a second that the Authority officer would have no reason to raise alarm. As far as he knew, Colt was an ordinary citizen coming to report an issue. And Colt wanted to keep it that way.
After taking a deep breath to recollect himself, Colt continued toward the desk in the corner. A woman in white was sitting there at attention, no doubt a receptionist. He figured that was as good a starting place as any.
"Hello, hon," said the woman when Colt approached. "My name is Rita. What can I do you for?"
"I need to speak to the Commander," Colt said.
"I'm afraid that's impossible," replied the woman. "Commander Lawson is at sea, following a lead at the present moment."
Of course. Colt ran the Authority hierarchy through his head. "Well, then the Lieutenant or whoever's in charge here."
"I'm afraid that is also not possible."
Colt threw his hands up. "Is everyone in charge just gone or something?"
Rita smiled grimly. "No, with the Commander gone, the Lieutenant has currently taken charge of the base. But I assure you, anything you have to say to him you can say to me."
"No, that won't work." Colt shook his head and thought for a moment. "Look, I need to see the Lieutenant directly. It's important. It has to do with the safety of Goldville."
"Goldtown?"
"Yes," Colt said, mentally kicking himself. "That's the one. It has to do with the safety of Goldtown."
Rita let out a sigh. "Well like I said, hon, the Lieutenant is not here. I can take a message for him for when he returns."
"And is there any chance you know when that will be?"
"As soon as Commander Lawson gets back, so—"
"So no," Colt guessed, "you don't know. Look, lady, this is urgent. I need someone who is in control to hear this directly from me. Just point me in the direction of the base."
But Rita shook her head. "You can't go there," she said.
"Let me guess," he said sarcastically. "I'm not authorized?"
"Well, yes, but also because it's impossible to reach. It's at the far northeast side of the island."
Ah, Colt thought. So that was the building he'd seen.
"Okay," Colt reasoned, setting his arms down to rest on Rita's desk. "So I'll have a bit of a trek. I had one to get here too. Why are all of the Authority buildings on the edges of the island?"
Rita sighed again. "It's not that easy, honey. To get there you have to navigate a dense forest full of animals, thieves, and other threats. It's called the Gold Forest, and everything in it is very dangerous. Then you have to climb a very steep hill to even make it to the building. It's a journey that not even certified officers make by themselves. Hardly anyone takes that way anyway. Most just sail around the island to get there, however to do that..."
"...you have to be authorized."
The lady nodded. "Additionally, ship rides there and back happen only once a week. So the earliest you'll get to the base is next week, and that's if you've somehow managed to become part of the Infinite Authority by then."
Colt frowned. The lady seemed too smug, telling him all this.
"So you're telling me, that even though I have information that could save this entire town, you won't let me see the Lieutenant?"
Rita narrowed her eyes. "One, no one can see the Lieutenant right now. He's at the base, which means that if we need him we have to send a letter or send someone on the next ship there. Two, you won't even tell me what this urgent information is."
She was right. And Colt couldn't tell her. His whole plan had been to trade the information that the Bloody Manta pirates were coming in exchange for the Authority's archives and intel on the lost Captain Finch. He'd then sail out and do what no one else has ever been able to do: he'd achieve his childhood dream and find the lost captain and all of his riches. But he couldn't give the information to the receptionist, who had no access to the archives at all, because then the information would be out and his leverage would be gone.
He needed to talk to the Lieutenant directly. And his options for doing so weren't looking too great. One, he could wait for the Lieutenant to return. That wasn't an option, since he had no idea how long that would take. Two, he could send a letter. That wouldn't either, since then the leverage would be gone. Plus, who knew how long it would take to get there? Three, he could sneak onto the boat himself the next time it came. It would be a week before that happened, however, which was still too long. The Bloody Manta could be here by then. Four, he could take matters truly into his own hands, and make the journey himself through the dangerous forest.
After considering all of his options, Colt made a decision.
Option number four it was.