Follow the signal

 is a storyline task which may be featured in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Lost Alpha standalone mod.

"You made it after all stalker. You turned out to be much stronger than we initially thought. Well, the time for us to talk has come. Head towards the signal. We'll be waiting for you."

- Follow the signal

Endings
Just to confuse the issue further, "enlightered_doc3" and "enlightered_doc6" are not items found on any obsolescent PC.
 * Once the player completes the Deactivate generators task and leaves the Warlab via Teleport to Generators 2, this task may be assigned depending upon previous actions undertaken.
 * It will run concurrently with Talk to ghost at the cemetery but take precedence.
 * That task is easily completable but will not of itself lead the player to Freeplay, instead, the door in the illustrated basement must be approached to complete the task.
 * This task is more elusive to acquire; the player needs to collect ALL of the Enlightered documents seen on the various PCs (and elsewhere) during the game. The gamefiles refer to these items internally as "enlightered_docs1" through to "enlightered_docs7", but the player sees these on the PDA as data entries under more cryptic headings "transactions.txt" through to "Mailbox". These actions includes collecting ALL the secret enlightered documents whatever forms the data comes from, and a strange psy-helmet.
 * Completion transports the player (or at least the player's "fake actor") for a showdown in the Oso, where there are two possible outcomes dependent upon the player's inventory items. Both play similarly up to the point where the Marked One attempts to shoot the opponents.

"Enlightened" ending

 * As seen in the first video below, after the initial volley is deflected by a 'force field', the Sin Spy attacks and overpowers the Marked One, at which point the Oso Boss offers an explanation of events.
 * This ending results in the player's actor "dying" prior to being reanimated in Freeplay.
 * This cutscene may be subverted as noted in the subversion section for the Oso level.
 * But there are other factors that will cause problems to initiate the "Follow the signal" : joining duty and/or killing any faction leader, either intentionnaly on a mission (e.g. Veles killed if you join duty and accomplish the side mission of attacking the Sin Base), by accident, or by murder. You have to play the game as a true stalker that is only looking for the truth and will not take part to any conflict and not kill innocents (Initially the faction's name was LONERS...enough said). Kill only people that attack you and stay by your actions in the stalkers faction.
 * Anyhow and truely unfortunately, in DC 1.4007, the OSO cutscene will not appear EVEN if the "Follow the signal" is accomplished correctly, which lets the player in this version not understanding the true origin of the zone; the dream of the spy in front of the sarcophagus with all the beast charging at him, and someone screaming "Streloook!!", which occur almost every night to Strelok after some gameplay; not knowing the true name of Strelok (Anton Padarojniy - not sure of the spelling), nor having a chance to kill the real master of the conspiration if we can survive the spy attack. Instead, we got a video of Strelok destroying with an AK-74U some cocoons, the same cocoons that Strelok goes into if you answer "yes" to the C-entity when asking to join the "project" and also used in the various labs of the game to apply genetics mutations in "controlled environment".

"Victory" ending

 * As seen in the second video below, if the player has acquired a Strange psi-helmet, in addition to the various documents, the cutscene plays out differently and the counter attack by the Sin Spy fails (Only in early versionson LA).
 * Control of the player's actor is returned to the player, but it is ill-advised to actively perform any act of aggression. Much better to wait.
 * After some slightly flaky gameplay, Vadja Berman is either killed by the player's actor or takes his own life.
 * The Sin Spy informs the player of serious consequences pending for the future and teleports away from the level.
 * The scene ends shortly afterwards and the player (still alive) is then transported to Cordon and Freeplay.
 * It is unclear whether the explosive charges that destroy the Oso are placed by the player's actor or the Sin Spy.

"Broken" ending

 * A third, broken ending exists if the player joined Duty (v1.3003)
 * Under these circumstances no official visit is made to Rostok Factory or Lab X-14, so this is necessarily performed on the player's own cognizance.
 * Since there was no provision to go there (although spawning of area specific missions still occurs if visited) - there is no provision to remove the DocumentforSin (or Borov's Documents if obtained) since the originator for the relevant missions (Veles) is long dead.
 * This appears to affect scripting resolution later, as well as provide the player with a total of 1.5 kg of "dead weight" if both documents have been recovered.
 * The Follow the signal mission is still spawned if all precursor parts are satisfied and Ghost still fobs the player off when concluding the Talk to ghost at the cemetery mission (The player can't accomplish the two missions in DC 1.4007, he has to choose between talking to Ghost or going to the Oso - initially in early versions, and also like mentionned in the "message from unknown" which initiate the mission when just going out of X2 warlab, to obtain the answers).
 * Approaching the basement also satisfies the Follow the signal mission but the player is teleported to the Swamps Oso at a point immediately after the Sin Spy teleports away from the "Swamps cutscene". No monologues or dialogues are given and there is some vestigial panning between the entities there.
 * The scene concludes and the player is teleported to the Swamps next to the Outskirts transition.
 * Freeplay is not given. This may be verified by returning to Escape or Bloodsucker village where Freeplay missions would otherwise be available.
 * If Ghost was 'met' and both end missions on Generators 2 satisfied, then there is no further possibility for a 'good' ending and the player will have a broken (but completed) game.
 * Completing Follow the signal without Talking to ghost at the cemetery in the hope that a second visit to Generators 2 will permit completion of the latter are also fruitless. Here, the passage from Generators to Generators 2 is direct and Warlab is not revisited. Speaking to Ghost will indeed complete the mission, but he again gives the 'wave-off'. Approaching the basement transition will again transport the player via the Oso to the Swamps (v1.3003)

Trivia

 * There is nothing else to do on the Generators 2 level, Ghost is short on conversation and there are NO mutants or artifacts on the level.
 * There is no actual movie of the associated ending since it takes place as a scripted cutscene within the Oso level files.
 * Rough video files are provided for reference in the gallery below.