“This is going to be very, very, painful at first, Aaron,” Mrs. Saker 
warned. “I’m afraid there is no getting around that. However, it will 
only last a few minutes. During that time, | want you to close your 
right eye and think of something that makes you very, very happy. 
Can you do that?” 


Aaron nodded. He then held his right eye shut as tight as he could. 


Sitting on his dad’s shoulder, a foam pirate sword in one hand and a 
box of candy in the other. His dad wearing a captain’s hat and eye 
patch. His mom alive, her hair done up in a red skull-and- 
crossbones bandanna. 


“Integrate!” Mrs. Saker said sharply. He then felt thousands of tiny, 
red hot tendrils spread through his arm, leg, and eye socket. He let 
out a deafening scream as they burrowed deeper and deeper. He 
could feel them worming their way through him, each second more 
painful than the last. Finally they stopped moving. All the tendrils 
heated up even more, reaching such intensity Aaron thought he was 
going to catch on fire. 


“Stop!” he shouted as he writhed on the bed. “Stop! Stop! Stop! 
STOP! 


Eventually his voice gave out, and Aaron faded into 
unconsciousness. 


“It will take a few weeks for him to get used to the new parts,” Mrs. 
Saker sternly spoke to Aaron’s father. “The white fabric on the new 
leg and hand is specially treated, and in about a month his skin 
should have completely grown over them. By that time the iris of his 
new eye should change to perfectly match his natural eye color. 
Your brother-in-law specifically requested that Aaron have as normal 
an experience as possible after receiving these prosthetics, so 
they’re programmed to match the strength of his natural limbs. No 
super strength, no x-ray vision.” 


Mrs. Saker then looked down at Aaron. His breathing was heavy as 
he slept soundly on his bed. 


“I’m impressed that this went as well as it did,” Mrs. Saker 
continued. “Anderson usually doesn’t integrate his systems with 
biological material. That being said, we are not outside of the realm 
of side effects...” 


“Thank you so, so much,” Mr. Howell interrupted as he 


enthusiastically shook Mrs. Saker’s hand. “You have no idea what 
this will mean to him.” 


“Oh, | think | do Mr. Howell,” Mrs. Saker said as she quickly pulled 
her hand away. “But if anyone deserves your thanks, it would be 
your brother-in-law. From what | understand this whole thing cost 
him a pretty penny.” 


Mr. Howell nodded in understanding. Mrs. Saker handed him a large 
packet of papers. 


“Please read these documents thoroughly,” she said. “If you have 
any questions, there are instructions on how to contact my 
employer. Don’t try to find us. Things work out better if we come to 
you.” 


Without another word, Mrs. Saker took her leave, vanishing into the 
night. 


Mr. Howell then sat back down on Aaron’s bed, and silently watched 
his chest rise and fall. After several minutes, he lightly clasped his 
son’s new hand. 


“Good as new.” 


Four months following the integration, Aaron found himself sitting 
alone in the dark at the kitchen table, dressed in his pajamas. A 
steady stream of tears trickled from his right eye. He tightly gripped 
a bloody steak knife in his right hand as he sawed away at his left 
elbow. 


“Get off...” Aaron said between whimpers of pain. “Get off...” 


For every piece of flesh Aaron removed, the white fabric of the 
prosthetic would quickly spread to fill in the gap. This only caused 
Aaron to cut faster. The white fabric coated his arm at a matching 
pace. 


“What the hell...” Aaron heard Mr. Howell’s groggy voice coming 
from the hall way. The lights to the kitchen flicked. Aaron watched as 
his dad rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Mr. Howell then noticed the 


steak knife. His mouth fell open as his face simultaneously drained 
of color. 


“Jesus-fucking-Christ!” his dad shouted as he swiftly crossed the 
kitchen and yanked the knife out of his hand. “Holy hell, what the 
fuck are you doing!?!” 


Aaron could tell his dad was only now able to see the full extent of 
the damage. What had started as a prosthetic hand was now up to 
his left elbow. His new leg was now halfway up his thigh. Tendrils of 
white fabric surrounded his left eye. Aaron tried to pull away, but his 
dad held him tightly by the shoulders. 


“Why?” Mr. Howell asked. 


“Let me go!” Aaron shouted at the top of his lungs. He began to 
squirm and beat on his dad’s chest. The grip did not yield. 


“Aaron,” his dad yelled between the blows. “You're not going 
anywhere!” 


“Let go!” Aaron shouted again. He bit down hard on his father’s 
forearm. His dad let out a scream of pain and retaliated with a full 
blown slap across Aaron’s face. The room then filled with silence. 


“’m so, so, sorry | did that, buddy,” Mr. Howell now held him tightly 
in a bear hug. “But what the hell are you doing? Why?” 


Aaron remained still, his face buried into his dad’s chest. He felt his 
dad run his fingers through his hair. He then sucked in a mighty 
breath and began to violently shake as he cried. 


“| can’t take these things any more, dad!” Aaron said between sobs. 
“Please take them off! They’re not me!” 


“What?” 


“They don’t feel like me! Every time | move them, or open my left 
eye, | can feel the tendrils inside me. They don’t feel like me! Its like 
gluing a bunch of broken toys together, but | can’t take them apart.” 


Aaron held up his left arm. 


“I cut, and | cut, and | cut, but they only get bigger! Dad, please get 
them off!” 


Aaron felt his dad tighten the hug as he began to rock back and 
forth. 


“Oh, buddy,” he said with a sigh, “We'll get this sorted out. I'll call 
Mrs. Saker right away. We'll get you good as new.” 


Mr. Howell sat in his favorite armchair, phone in hand, as he dialed 
the number he found in Mrs. Saker’s documents. The phone rang 
several times before switching over to what sounded like an old dial- 
up modem. The line then went silent. 


“Mr. Howell?” said Mrs. Saker’s voice from the other side, “How may 
| help you? 


“We have a problem, Mrs. Saker,” Mr. Howell whispered. 
“Oh... no.... What’s the problem?” 


“Aaron says that he can feel the hook-ups of the prosthetics inside 
him all the time,” Mr. Howell answered. “It’s driving him insane. It’s 
gotten so bad that | caught him trying to saw his own arm off. What’s 
happening to my son? What the hell did you do to him?” 


Mrs. Saker fell silent for a few moments. Howell could eventually 
hear her mumble “Oh... god...” under her breath. 


“What is it? What’s going on?” 


“I’m sorry Mr. Howell,” Mrs. Saker began, “but your son’s 
consciousness has rejected the prosthetics.” 


“What the hell does that mean?” 


“Normally after integration the prosthetics hard wire themselves into 
the nervous system,” Mrs. Saker explained. “At that point, the 
subject’s consciousness is unable to differentiate the prosthetic from 
a natural limb. In Aaron’s case, however, his consciousness actively 
recognizes the parts as foreign objects.” 


“So... how do you fix it?” 

Mrs. Saker fell silent again. 

“We don’t. The problem isn’t the tech. The problem is Aaron.” 
“Christ, can you at least remove them then?” Mr. Howell pleaded. 


“I’m afraid not,” Mrs. Saker sighed. “The components are integrated 
to his nervous system. There is no way of physically removing them 
without causing extensive damage to the rest of Aaron.” 


Mr. Howell sank deeper into his chair. He held the phone away from 
himself as he closed his eyes and did all in his power to keep from 
breaking down. As he sniveled he could hear footsteps in the 
hallway. Without even looking he could tell that Aaron was most 
likely peering into the room. 


“Mr. Howell?” Mrs. Saker asked. Her voice was faint. 
“So that’s it then?” Mr. Howell asked. 


“Not necessarily,” Mrs. Saker replied. “Given enough time, Aaron’s 
body might eventually synch with the new components or...” 


Mr. Howell hung up, allowing the phone to fall to the ground. He 
then placed his head in his hands. 


“Good as new, Dad?” 


Mr. Howell felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Aaron 
grasping him with his prosthetic. Mr. Howell gave a sharp nod. 


“Yeah buddy,” he said. “Good as new.” 


BEGIN | Anderson Robotics Hub | Series 1: Peregrine » 


Project Heimdall 


FROM: O5-7, on behalf of O5 Council 

TO: General William Pendergast (Deputy Director of 
Foundation Contingency Planning Operations) 

RE: Proposed CPO 83910301 


Contingency Planning Operation approved. Codename 
designation "Project Heimdall". Research potential 
means by which extraterrestrial intelligence displaying 
vigorous, active hostility to human life and/or civilization 
might attempt to conquer, enslave, or exterminate 
humanity. Analyze likely outcomes. Develop 
countermeasures and contingency plans. Report findings 
to O5 Council when complete. 


Project Executive Summary 


Contingency Planning Operation #: 83910301 
Codename Designation: Project Heimdall 
Project Lead: General William Pendergast 
Overseer-in-Charge: O5-7 

Date Authorized: / / 

Involved Facilities: 


* Overwatch HQ 

¢« Research Sector-15 

¢ Site-11 

° Site-19 

« Armed Research Site-45 


Involved Task Forces: 


Mobile Task Force Gamma-5 
Mobile Task Force lota-10 
Mobile Task Force Kappa-6 
Mobile Task Force Omega-4 


Project Mission: Project Heimdall is a cross-disciplinary High- 
Impact, Low-Probability contingency analysis with three primary 
objectives: 


ts 


2. 
3. 


Research potential means by which extraterrestrial 
intelligence displaying vigorous, active hostility to human life 
and/or civilization might attempt to conquer, enslave, or 
exterminate humanity. 

Analyze likely outcomes. 

Develop countermeasures and contingency plans. 


Key Assumptions: 


1 


2. 


Extraterrestrial intelligence will display vigorous, active 
hostility to human life and/or civilization. 

Hostile Extraterrestrials (HEs) will possess no technology 
forbidden by the laws of physics. (While numerous SCPs exist 
which operate in manners that are forbidden by the laws of 
physics, these are less-than-completely-understood 
exceptions, and have accordingly not supplanted the generally 
accepted laws of physics, even among Foundation 
researchers. Speculations of impossible technologies make 
for entertaining "soft" science fiction, not good analysis 
grounded in scientific fact.) 


. Unless their goal is simply to destroy civilization and/or life 


(human or otherwise) on Earth, any attempt by HEs to attack 
the planet will necessarily be limited in the level of damage 
that it will cause to the biosphere. 


. Attempts by HEs to conquer, enslave, or exterminate 


humanity can be either overt (exempli gratia armed invasion) 
or covert (exempli gratia infiltration). 


. Knowledge of any overt attempt by HEs to conquer, enslave, 


or exterminate humanity will be impossible to contain from the 
world at large. 


. "Simple" solutions to attempts by HEs to conquer, enslave, or 


exterminate humanity will prove insufficient. 


FROM: General William Pendergast (Deputy Director of 
Foundation Contingency Planning Operations) 

TO: 05 Council 

RE: CPO 83910301 ("Project Heimdall") 


Attached, please find my team's compilation of materials 
related to Project Heimdall (CPO 83910301). It is my 
hope that this report will prove sufficient should the high- 
impact, low-probability event described herein occur. 


Project Documents 


¢ Project Heimdall - Prologue 

* We Have Dismissed That Claim 
¢ ADANA Protocol 

* AYDIN Protocol 

¢ To What Purpose An Invasion 

¢ Lessons from History 


Related Documentation 


* SCP-1342 
* SCP-1822 
* SCP-2669 
* SCP-2722 
* SCP-3320 


More Information 


+Show Information 


So what is this anyway? 
"Project Heimdall" is a collaborative writing project. 


Okay, got that. ...What about? 

Ah, yes, right. The Foundation would have contingency 
plans for just about everything - after all, it's all about 
maintaining normalcy for humanity in general. In 
contingency planning, there are events which are 
considered low-probability, high-impact (sometimes 
colloquially called "wild card events"). In other words, 
events which are not very likely, but would be a really big 
deal if they happened. Historically speaking, if you'd 
considered the reunification of Germany or the breakup 
of the Soviet Union prior to their actually happening, 
they'd have been considered low-probability, high- 
impact. 


Project Heimdall is the Foundation's planning for one of 
the major wild cards of speculative fiction - an invasion of 
Earth by hostile extraterrestrials. 


Uh, hold on - an alien invasion is science fiction, not 
horror. 

That comes down to a difference of execution. There's a 
big difference between the titular Alien and the Vulcans 
in Star Trek. Some scifi is light and optimistic - scifi/ 
horror tends to be a lot heavier on humans losing (often 
bloodily) than on aliens coming in peace. 


What are the rules? 
Of course all the usual site rules apply. That said, Project 
Heimdall has a number of key assumptions, listed above. 


Okay, those are in bureaucratese. Care to put them 
in English? 
Sure. 


Extraterrestrial intelligence will display 
vigorous, active hostility to human life and/ 


shoots out the minivan's left rear tire just as the 
minivan is driving over a patch of ice. The minivan 
spins out of control, goes through the guardrail, 
and falls over the ledge and into the ravine. 
SCP-694-2, SCP-694-3, and SCP-694-4 are killed 
in the fall. 


Time index: 27:45 - 34:00: SCP-694-1 parks his 
car, gets out, and climbs to the bottom of the 
ravine. Once he has reached the wreckage of the 
minivan, he pulls open the driver's side door, and 
shoots the bodies of SCP-694-3 and SCP-694-4 in 
the head, once each. SCP-694-1 then carefully 
extracts the body of SCP-694-2 from the wreckage 
and examines the body for signs of life, while 
weeping; SCP-694-1 then pulls a notepad out of 
his back pocket, draws an intricate pattern on its 
cardboard backing with a stick of chalk, and 
speaks to the pattern. 


Transcript of SCP-694-1's speech 

"It's me. | want a repeat of the last thirty- 
eight minutes. ... No, a full repeat. ... 
You heard me! ... Well, make it happen, 
dammit! ... EXACTLY LIKE IT JUST 
WAS! YOU FUCKING OWE ME AND MY 
BOY IS DEAD! [several seconds pass] 
Good." 


This apparent conversation finishes at time index: 
37:15; at time index: 38:00, SCP-694-1, 
SCP-694-2, SCP-694-3, and SCP-694-4 all 
dematerialize, as do both vehicles, and all bullets 
fired by SCP-694-1. The chalk-on-cardboard 
designs have not been found to manifest any 
anomalous properties. 


> Show SCP-694-3 and SCP-694-4 transcript 


or civilization. 


The aliens do not come in peace. At least, that's what 
we're assuming. Why? Well, first, the Foundation would 
probably assume hostility first and shake hands in 
friendship later. Second, this wiki is for scary things. 
Friendly aliens who drop by for tea (probably) aren't 
scary. (Of course, if you want to write a dissenting 
opinion, arguing to the Foundation highers-up that 
Heimdall is misguided fear-mongering which fails to 
consider a reasonable possible occurrence, I'd 
personally upvote that if you did it well.) 


Hostile Extraterrestrials (HEs) will possess 
no technology forbidden by the laws of 
physics. (While numerous SCPs exist 
which operate in manners that are 
forbidden by the laws of physics, these are 
less-than-completely-understood 
exceptions, and have accordingly not 
supplanted the generally accepted laws of 
physics, even among Foundation 
researchers. Speculations of impossible 
technologies make for entertaining "soft" 
science fiction, not good analysis 
grounded in scientific fact.) 


Basically, this means we're aiming for "hard" 
science fiction. Why? (Especially when so much of 
this wiki is "soft" science fiction?)