Military organizations ranging from the People's Liberation Army to 
the Global Occult Coalition will find ANAs to be well-trained, utterly 
loyal, adaptable, maneuverable, expendable troops. ANAs will prove 
highly useful in various military operations from general combat, 
scouting and clearing booby-trapped zones, performing explosive 
ordinance disposal, to combatting paranormal entities. 


As ANAs derive much of their genetic heritage and anatomy from 
humans but should not be considered as human, they will be perfect 
candidates for research and development applications such as 
cosmetics testing, drug testing, and weapons testing. 
Pharmaceutical and containment organizations such as Sandoz AG 
and the SCP Foundation will find ANAs to be compliant, easily 
maintained, hardy, genetically varied test subjects for use in day-to- 
day operations. 


The ease of handling ANAs, coupled with their low cost of 
maintenance, tolerance for dull, dangerous, or difficult work, and 
unmatched problem-solving abilities makes them perfect for labor 
forces in any environment, from digging railway tunnels, to mining 
precious minerals deep underground, to fighting fires at nuclear 
power plants. 


Although the use of All-Natural Automatons has the potential to also 
destabilize economies by putting many unskilled workers out of 


employment, this poses a second lucrative option: world 
governments can be convinced to incentivize Prometheus Labs to 
limit the production scale of ANAs, whether through guaranteed 
contracts or direct monetary infusions. 


USE OF FUNDING 

All-Natural Automatons can be manufactured at any Prometheus 
Labs facility with the capability to use Replication Gel, reducing the 
average cost of manufacturing one ANA to $60 (assuming 20 
kilograms of Replication Gel per ANA). The bioprinting facilities from 
Project Lilith can be reused. This limits the cost of construction to 
$100,000 per facility using standard Prometheus Labs Fast-Build'™™ 
facility construction methods, allowing one facility to be built every 
12 weeks. 


The genetic sequencing techniques used to isolate useful traits 
requires only standard equipment used for traditional genetic 
engineering projects, which will cost approximately $100,000. 


It will take approximately 36 weeks to grow the first batch of ANAs to 
allow uninterrupted development of the brain to take place. A further 
12 weeks will be necessary to allow the ARBMI training to take 
place. However, if the initial test runs are successful, new ANAs can 
be manufactured each day, such that ANAs can be rolled out every 
day as soon as forty-eight weeks have elapsed since the production 
of the first batch. 


KNOWN ISSUES 

As the scientific basis of this work is already well-documented and 
commonplace in both fringe and mainstream research institutions, 
the only concerns are how human users and the labor organisms 
will interact with each other. The primary issue with widespread 
adoption of All Natural Automatons is that they would be perceived 
as nearly-human by the general public, and there is no clear legal 
precedent on how to deal with nearly-human organisms. Naturally 
the closest parallels will be drawn to humans, which could result in 
the labor organisms becoming protected under human rights, thus 
defeating the purpose of their existence. 


The first part of the solution is an aggressive marketing and lobbying 
campaign that focuses on classifying All Natural Automatons as 
organic, natural robots that have been given human and animal 
features to make them more familiar and friendly to use. This 
campaign may also endeavor to change the legal and operational 
definition of robot to ensure that ANAs are classified under that 
umbrella. 


The second part of the solution is engineering clearly defined 
inhuman features to both ensure that the All Natural Automatons 
cannot be mistaken for humans and enhance their function. For 
example, implementing characteristics of the European honey bee 
(Apis mellifera) into a group of military-focused ANAs would clearly 
denote that they are not human, with the added benefit of enhancing 
their parallel computing and simultaneous operational ability. Yellow- 
black skin pigmentation would further indicate that they should not 
be considered human, while replacing hair with fur emphasizes 
exciting and friendly animal-like qualities. 


The second key issue is that the ANA's learning algorithms could 
decide that disobedience or direct harm towards its users would 
enhance its functional capabilities. ARBMIs have only a 97.9% 
success rate. Therefore, the easiest way to test the efficacy of the 
ARBMI training and weed out malfunctioning ANAS would be to 
deploy programmed ANAs into various Prometheus Labs facilities 
and observe their interactions with PL personnel. This preliminary 
testing has the added advantages of lowering personnel costs within 
said facilities and, given the isolated nature of most Prometheus 
Labs facilities, minimizing the chance of a rogue ANA's escape. The 
constant surveillance present in most Prometheus Labs facilities will 
ensure that any ANAs in which the conditioning fails can be quickly 
identified and scrapped before they can enter the real world. 


However, it is possible for a trained ANA to suffer brain damage in 
the field and malfunction. To prevent malfunctioning ANAs from 
escaping into the wild and potentially disrupting the local 
ecosystems, all ANAs will be genetically sterilized during fetal 
development, rendered unable to survive without consumption of 
Prometheus Labs All-Natural Enhanced Liquid Food 
Supplements! each day (the Food Supplements can also be 


voices cannot be distinguished. 


If a subject or item is present within SCP-739 when the door is 
closed, said door will be impossible to open for a varying period of 
time during which the booth shakes violently. After this shaking has 
ceased the door can be re-opened, and any objects placed subjects 
within will have undergone a one-dimensional, lateral inversion. All 
asymmetrical aspects of the subject become reversed, including 
internal organs and asymmetrical molecules. This change occurs on 
the molecular level, with L-amino acids becoming D-amino acids. 


Subjects capable of communication will claim that they are 
unaffected, and will maintain the perspective that their surroundings 
are inverted instead. Exposing the subject to the anomalous effect of 
SCP-739 a second time will revert their lateral inversion, however 
some subjects still report minor discrepancies in their environment 
afterwards. When questioned, subjects will be unable to identify any 
specific discrepancies, attributing it to an instinctive feeling. 


After being affected by SCP-739 several times, subjects will begin to 
display prominent physical and mental divergence from prior to 
testing. Physical characteristics that are considered undesirable to 
the test subject! will gradually diminish until absent or replaced by 
favourable characteristics. Altered subjects are unaware of these 
changes and are insistent that no changes have occurred. 


Affected subjects will also progressively develop divergent 
memories of their history prior to exposure to SCP-739. These 
memories will become more prominent with each time the subject 
utilises SCP-739, eventually resulting in a history that the subject 
would consider more favourable than their true history, however 
universally result in the subject being inducted into the Foundation's 
D-Class regimen for testing with SCP-739. Subjects will lose 
familiarity with individuals who become increasingly absent in these 
false memories, and will claim familiarity with individuals that they 
had never encountered - in most cases these individuals are purely 
fictitious, or are portrayed in a stereotyped manner. 


If the door of SCP-739 is closed without any objects or subjects 
present within, the item will initially function as though such was 
present. After unsealing, an entity of unknown physical appearance 


rebranded as Prometheus Labs All-Natural Automaton Fuel and sold 
at a higher markup), and have their lifespans capped at 15 years so 
that they cannot exist outside human environments. Use of the Food 
Supplements and capping the lifespan has the added benefit of 
rendering all customers reliant on Prometheus Labs for continued 
maintenance and replacement of ANAs, further enhancing the 
bottom line. 


Footnotes 

1. Wallen J., "The history of the industrial robot", Linképings 
Universitet, Linképing, Sweden, LiTH-ISY-R-2853,May 1988 

2. Lewis McCartney, et. al, "Project Lilith Technical 
Specifications",Prometheus Laboratories 1981 Technical 
Specifications Dossier, April 7, 1981, p.23-34 

3. Calvin, S., Daisuke Serizawa, and Roy Hinkley. 19 December 
1985. Using Noncoding DNA to Code for Naturally Nonexistent 
Traits. Nature. 318(95) 689-702. 

4. Bashir, J. 1976. How Improper Fetal Development Hinders the 
Nature of Consciousness. Prometheus Laboratories Cognitive 
Neuroscience Research and Development Journal. 168(4)67-70. 
5. Rearden, H. and Waldo Schaeffer, "Project Delphi Technical 
Specifications",Prometheus Laboratories 1984 Technical 
Specifications Dossier, July 16, 1984, p.45-50 


GRANT REQUEST FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF AN 
INTERSTELLAR SCIENCE VESSEL 


GRANT REQUEST FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF AN 
INTERSTELLAR SCIENCE VESSEL 


PROBLEM 


Currently, study of extra-solar objects is limited to those large 
enough and bright enough to be detected with telescopes. The 
information that can be gathered from telescopic readings is limited 
and vague, and therefore of minimal value. Additionally, there exist 
several objects which pose a direct threat to humanity, such as PSR 
B0531+21, which is known to be accelerating towards Earth. It is 
possible and likely that many more of these objects exist, but are 
currently undetectable due to limitations of our instrumentation. If 
other star systems could be studied up close, our knowledge of 
extra-solar objects would be greatly improved. 


SOLUTION 


We propose the construction of a spaceship capable of carrying a 
crew of 300 to 500 humans on an indefinitely long voyage between 
star systems. 


Propulsion would be achieved using the Darius-Semiz singularity 
drive proposed by Prometheus Labs scientist George Darius.[1] This 
drive uses the Hawking radiation! from a subatomic Reissner- 
Nordstrém black hole? to generate thrust. The drive consists of three 
primary structures: the Reissner-Nordstrém black hole, the 
superconducting blades used to contain the black hole and redirect 
the charged particles it emits, and the parabolic reflector used to 
focus the emitted gamma rays. (See Figure A.) The superconducting 
blades also have the ability to use the charged particles emitted by 
the black hole to generate electrical power for the rest of the 
starship. 


A black hole with an initial mass of approximately 675,000 metric 
tonnes would be suitable for use in the Darius-Semiz drive. A black 
hole of this mass has a life expectancy of 5 years, a power output of 
~130 petawatts, and a radius of 1 attometer.[1] A starship using this 
drive could easily use a 1g brachistochrone trajectory? to travel the 4 
lightyear distance from Earth to Proxima Centauri. Due to the effects 
of special relativity, this trip would take less than 3.5 years from the 
perspective of the starship, and slightly over 5.6 years from the 
perspective of Earth4. Faster travel times could, of course, be 
achieved through higher accelerations, but the effects of special 
relativity quickly impose diminishing returns. 


Remassing the black hole would be required upon arrival in a 
destination star system. This could be accomplished by harvesting 
small celestial objects such as asteroids and comets and feeding 
them into the black hole. In this manner, the lifespan of the black 
hole, and therefore the potential duration of the starship's voyage, 
could be made practically infinite. 


Due to the extended duration of any voyage made by this starship, it 
is recommended that the majority of the crew be kept in hibernation 
during transit, both to reduce strain on the life support system, and 
to keep morale from deteriorating due to boredom. A modified 
version of the Long Sleep Stasis System™, manufactured under 
contract for Marshall, Carter and Dark, LLP, could be used for this 
purpose. 


Life support for the non-hibernating crew would be handled by a 
closed ecological life support system built using technologies 
developed as part of Project Castle Keep. Food and oxygen would 
be provided by specially engineered algae, using Spirulina 
platensis® as a base, with the possibility of "gourmet" meals being 
provided by small fish or crustaceans fed on this algae. Recycling of 
water and solid waste would be performed by a supercritical water 
oxidation unit, which sterilizes and breaks down any organic material 
fed into it. Additional water would need to occasionally be added to 
this system to replenish the small losses inherent to it. This 
replacement water could come from ice mined from comets and 
asteroids in destination star systems. 


A vast array of sensors and scientific equipment would be carried by 


the proposed starship to allow it to fulfill its intended purpose of 
performing close-up observations of extra-solar objects. The full list 
of carried equipment can be found in Appendix B, but some of the 
more notable ones include: 


* A Kafka counter, used for measuring reality flux. 

¢ An EVE imager, derived from the technology used in the 
COLLICULUS system manufactured for the GOC. 

« A Randall detector, used to detect high-energy particles 
indicative of inter-universal travel. 


Collected data would be transmitted back to Earth using a tight- 
beam laser communications system. Due to the communications lag 
imposed by lightspeed delays, real-time two-way communications 
would be impossible, making a rectenna for receiving transmissions 
from Earth pointless. 


In order to create any replacement parts required for repairs, the 
starship would be equipped with a highly capable production 
workshop. Using asteroid processing technologies developed for 
Project Locust, this workshop would process raw materials gathered 
from asteroid belts and use them to fabricate any necessary parts. 


In the course of its exploration, it is possible that the starship will 
encounter planets or moons of sufficient scientific interest that it 
would be desirable to land members of the crew on its surface. To 
accomplish this, the starship could carry a number of Valkyrie 
nuclear thermal landing vehicles created by Project Valhalla. The 
Valkyries are capable of performing single-stage landings and 
returns to orbit on Earth-sized planets with an atmosphere and 
Ceres-sized moons and asteroids without an atmosphere. This is 
possible through the use of a trimodal nuclear thermal rocket, 
capable of using atmospheric gases, liquid water, and atomic 
hydrogen as reaction mass. 


Many of the subsystems of the starship would make extensive use 
of paratechnology. Of particular note are the superconducting 
blades, which would need to be constructed from an extremely high 
temperature superconductor. Other areas where paratech would be 
extensively utilized include much of the more exotic instrumentation, 
and the process for creating the Reissner-Nordstrém black hole for 


the Darius-Semiz drive. 


The estimated mass of the starship upon completion is 
approximately 900,000 metric tonnes. The majority of this would 
come from the Darius-Semiz drive, which would mass approximately 
725,000 metric tonnes. Construction would, by necessity, take place 
in space. 


BUSINESS CASE