She focuses on the screen again. Her stomach twists 
into a knot. It’s a full-color video with security feed 
timestamps, clearly showing her 22-year-old son sitting 
before a panel of three people. The clip’s markers 
display 00:23:34 | 13:30 May 10 in the bottom right. She 
feels like she’s going to pass out as she reads the 
caption text of her son being asked to specify something 
about frequency of visits to someone’s room. Amanda 
states that the video can be viewed in full on YouTube 
and provides a QR code onscreen. Instead of reaching 
for her phone, River stands and walks into her bedroom 
with tears in her eyes and hands shaking. 


Site-42, Seabreeze, North Carolina 
May 10th, 2022 


“...And records are rolling,” a young technician behind a 
camera says into their radio. 


“Let’s begin,” says one of the three gray-suited 
councilmembers sitting across the conference table from 
a curly-haired, nervous-looking man clad in the standard- 
issue security uniform. “Officer Jacobson, please state 
your full name, clearance level, and position for the 
record.” 


Reggie clears his throat quietly, trying not to avoid eye 
contact. “Uh, Reginald Jacobson, Level 3 clearance, 
Euclid-level containment wing security officer.” 


“Okay, now please confirm or deny the accuracy of this 
summary of why you are here. You have been called into 
a hearing by the Ethics Committee because you 
knowingly engaged in repeated sexual contact with the 
human anomaly SCP-4427 from March 20th through 
May 5th, with full knowledge of the fact that these actions 
were completely in violation of the Foundation’s sexual 
conduct policy. Is this accurate?” 


His breath catches in his throat. “Um, yes. | guess, yes.” 


“Noted. Furthermore, the Committee has reason to 
believe that most if not all of these interactions were of 
dubious consent and were likely not wished for at all by 
the anomaly in question. What is your response to this?” 


He feels a bead of sweat run down his face. “I believe 
that is an inaccurate assessment and | request to know 
the source of this misconception.” 


“Very well. The source is the context of sexual activity 
witnessed on full-color security feeds of the anomaly’s 
containment chamber. We have reviewed feeds from the 
dates of March 20th, March 23rd, March 26th, March 
30th, April 3rd, April 6th, April-” 


“l- Fuck, | mean- God, sorry. Okay, sorry to interrupt, but 
you have full-color security feeds of-” 


“All the times the two of you engaged in sexual activity. 
Yes. A total of seventeen times between the dates of 
March 20th and May 5th. This should not come as a 
surprise to you, Officer Jacobson; we make it no secret 
that our department has unrestricted access to any and 
all security feeds and research recordings organization- 
wide. Are we clear on that aspect?” 


Black spots are creeping in on the edges of his vision. 
“Okay.” 


“Very well. Now, to continue, we have reviewed all 
seventeen instances and determined the context of 
sexual contact to appear heavily nonconsensual in all but 
one of the instances. Recordings clearly show the use of 
physical force toward and manual restraint of the 
anomaly on your part despite their clear attempts to 
resist. As you know that these feeds are very real and 
could be shown to you at any moment upon request, 
what is your response to these facts?” 


It takes him a good ten seconds to force words out of his 
mouth. “Okay, this is the most embarrassed I’ve ever 
been, but no, that’s not what it looks like.” 


“Would you rather talk to only one of us at once, or state 
your comments for the record into a microphone in an 
isolated room?” 


“No, no, | just- The thing is that that’s not nonconsent. 
That’s just BDSM. Consensual BDSM. Unless something 
has changed between us that | don’t know about, the 
anomaly would confirm this. Look, | fully understand that 
| broke the sexual conduct policy by engaging with an 
SCP object. | know that, and I’m accountable for that. 
But I’m not a rapist and 4427 would tell you the same 
thing. There's a big difference in what happened and I- 
God, can | put my head down?” 


“Yes, you can put your head down as long as you can 
still soeak and hear clearly.” 


Reggie crosses his arms on the table and buries his 
forehead in them. “Okay,” he tells the floor. “What do | do 
now? | swear to God that’s the truth. | don’t care how 
creepy or weird it sounds because it’s the truth. It wasn't 
rape. Not ever.” 


The three men mutter amongst themselves for several 


metallic implants are denied access to the facility. Inspection 
personnel are encouraged to carry secondary chemical light sources 
as a precaution against total lighting and power failure. 


Description: SCP-938 is a predatory electrical entity. The entity 
appears to exist as electrical potential of intensity similar to that 
which accompanies a moderate electrical storm; SCP-938 frequently 
travels with such storms. It enters electrical grids through lightning 
strikes, often causing a temporary loss of power. Upon infiltrating an 
electrical grid, SCP-938 typically selects a single occupied structure 
to monitor. While dormant within power grids, the only known 
indication of SCP-938's presence are anomalous readings by 
devices sensitive to electromagnetic fields (see below). 


SCP-938 becomes active upon an electrical storm entering within 
approximately five kilometers of its current location. Its behavior 
during this period of activity is characterized by interference with the 
function of electrical devices (see below) aimed at attracting the 
attention of individuals within the building. Individuals which attempt 
to interact with affected devices are electrocuted; in all but two 
recorded instances, this has resulted in the immediate cessation of 
all neural impulses. In the aforementioned two instances, only the 
victims' hearts were stopped; both were successfully resuscitated, 
and both experienced long-term deleterious effects attributable to 
SCP-938's assault. See Addendum 11-16-1987 for further 
information. 


Shortly afterward, SCP-938 returns to the atmosphere as lightning, 
rapidly dissociating to electrical potential and returning to its free 
state. SCP-938 has on at least one occasion vacated an occupied 
structure without attempting to attract the attention of its residents or 
visitors, and twice after (successful) efforts which appeared aimed at 
attracting the attention of singular individuals. 


Analysis of high-precision electromagnetic field readings indicate 
anomalous, highly localized intensity fluctuations consistent with 
human neural activity in the vicinity of SCP-938. Conservative 
estimates place the lower bound of distinct neural patterns at 
approximately 100,000. Of the twelve successfully isolated, five 
indicate average levels of conscious thought, four indicate levels of 
activity above the norm, consistent with elevated stress levels, and 


seconds. “Okay, Officer Jacobson, please rate the 
accuracy of this summary. You are stating that you 
acknowledge the existence of video evidence of your 
sexual activity, and cite that actions appearing violent or 
nonconsensual are in fact consensual and were agreed 
upon as the preferred type of sexual activity between 
yourself and SCP-4427.” 


“Yes. Yes, that’s accurate. And you know what? Now 
that | think about it, there’s proof in the videos 
themselves. Every time | come in on another day after 
we had sex, they approach me normally and not with 
fear or hatred. Medical records would show and video 
feeds would prove that 4427 was never amnesticized 
during this period, either. Thus, it’s clear from context of 
evidence that it’s not rape.” 


“As sound as that logic may seem, in our experience it is 
not that simple. Because of SCP-4427’s status as an 
SCP object and your status as Foundation personnel, 
the anomaly is by default not capable of informed 
consent, based on power discrepancies in the 
environment alone. You know that this is the reasoning 
behind our sexual conduct policy, which you admitted to 
knowingly breaking.” 


He bites his lip. “Okay. Let me try to explain.” 


“Foundation personnel control every single factor of 
SCP-4427’s environment. This is the nature of 
containment. SCP-4427 is not permitted to make 
decisions for themself because they are incapable of 
controlling their effects without our assistance. They 
quite literally do not know what’s best for them; we do. 
When they were originally contained, their effects flareup 
had been so bad and so public that they themself were 
on life support in the medical bay for the first 96 hours of 
containment and the six people who had been present at 
the scene of the accident were killed or maimed.” 


“That was three years ago. They’ve gotten better now. 


They’re a normal person now.” 


“They will never be a normal person, Officer Jacobson. 
Even personnel at your level should comprehend this.” 


He scoffs under his breath and feels tears welling in his 
eyes. 


"How do you know that SCP-4427 would not have — had 
you ever asked — said no to your advances? They do 
everything we tell them to do. They submit to us by 
default. Using that submission in an unapproved, sexual 
manner is indeed nonconsensual, ethically speaking." 


"My- my advances? lf you actually bothered to look at 
the details of this case, then, you'd notice that they're the 
one making advances. They started this. | may be at 
fault for engaging, don't get me wrong on that, but 
nothing | did was the catalyst. At all." 


The leading councilman glares over his glasses. "As 
previously explained, Officer Jacobson, SCP-4427 is not 
in any psychological state to consent to sex, especially 
sex with the people carrying out their containment 
procedures. Containment and emotion are not supposed 
to mix, except in rare cases where emotional 
components are necessary for containment. 4427 is by 
all means not within those parameters. Thus-" 


“Okay, look, just tell me what to do, please. My only 
request before you settle anything is to interview the 
anomaly about it.” 


“Hold tight, please. The issue with that is that we could 
not interview them about this without revealing that we 
are filming everything that happens in their living space. 
Revealing this would cause immeasurable psychological 
damage and potentially undo our three years of work — 
which you yourself referenced — in getting them stable 
again. 4427’s biology makes amnesticization inherently 
dangerous. We cannot just reveal this, interrogate them 


about it, and then erase the memory of the interview. It 
simply wouldn't work. Not without brain damage. We 
could do that to you, for instance, and any other 
biologically typical human, but not an anomaly like 4427.” 


Reggie swallows bile. “Okay. Fine.” 


“There is one video that stands out from the rest and 
gives us reason to potentially believe you about the 
engagement being consensual in the short-term, 
surface-level meaning of the word. On April 20th, you 
enter SCP-4427’s chamber carrying a folder. You 
proceed into the bathroom where you are then seen 
showing them the contents, which are out of frame. 
Analysts from Information Security did note when 
reviewing feeds that the two of you are both clearly seen 
smiling, talking, and embracing. Following that, a short 
conversation is witnessed, and sexual activity follows. 
However, this instance is what caused us to deem you 
worthy of interviewing and not just stamp the demotion 
approval form your Site Director delivered to us, to be 
frank.” 


“Okay.” 


The chairman presses a button on a remote and 
gestures to a projection behind him. “With this in mind, 
please review this feed of the events in question and 
answer our questions throughout, with all answers being 
transcribed for your case’s record. You may ask to stop 
the video if watching sexual activity becomes 
uncomfortable. Are these parameters clear?” 


“ ” 


... Yes. 


“Alright. Technician, please roll the feed excerpt from 
April 20th at 8:45 PM.” 


Room 35, Euclid-Level Containment Wing B4, Site-42 
April 20th, 2022 


Reggie peeks his head through the door before fully 
opening it. “It’s just me,” he calls out. 


“I’m in the shower,” a voice responds, bouncing off of 
painted concrete in the quiet, empty room. He keeps 
trying to remember to put in a request for a couch and 
table. 


“| can come back later if you want.” 


“Why don’t you join me instead?” they call out after a 
beat. 


He winces and looks over his shoulder, stepping inside 
the door and closing and locking it behind him. “Shh, | 
still had the door open,” he says with a laugh, slowly 
walking across the room to stand by the half-open 
bathroom door. “Do you still shower in near-boiling 
water? Because no, if so.” 


“I'll turn it down if I’m able to have something equally hot 
in here with me.” 


His face reddens. “I actually, uh... | just brought 
something to show you.” 


“Well, come show me, then.” 


He pushes his glasses up his nose and slips inside the 
door, opening the folder. 4427 makes no effort to hide 
behind the opaque sections of the shower curtain, and 
greets him with a smiling face and a visible erection. 
Reggie looks downward with an awkward smirk and tries 
to divert their focus. “I told you that I’d show you pictures 
of my mom and baby sister. | finally remembered to bring 
them. Here, you can hold them. We switched to 
waterproof printing a while ago anyway.” 


They reach out and take the biggest picture, shooting 
him a flirty glare as he steps a few feet closer and comes 
to stand beside them. “Aww, your sister is adorable. How 


old is your mom, again? She doesn't look older than 35.” 
“She’s 42. Lucky number.” 
“The Answer, even.” 


He chuckles. “Yes. Yeah, she had me when she was 
20.” 


They hand the picture to him and slowly back up against 
the tile wall. “Do you want kids?” They start braiding their 
hair as it hangs against their chest. 


“| don’t think so.” He sits on the toilet lid and shakes 
water off of the photos. "I have a German Shepard at the 
house and sometimes | feel like | can barely take care of 
him." 


"You do alright taking care of me." 


He looks up with sad eyes. "| never feel like I'm taking 
care of you. Hell, | bet I'm not even supposed to say 
anything like that to you, let alone- ugh." 


"| keep telling you that you won't get caught." 


"| want to believe you. | like you, really, | do. | just wish 
this wasn't our situation. And God, you've got it so hot in 
here.” 


“Then take off that sticky uniform and get over here.” 
Ua eee 


“Come on, we've talked about this. There’s room for five 
in here, practically. And who’s judging us, God?” 


“Probably something similar,” he mutters, beginning to 
unlace his boots. 


They laugh and walk over to the water spicket. “Here, I'll 
turn it to less-than-boiling for you.” 


He stands and takes off his shirt, making sure to leave it 
and his pants neatly folded on the counter so that he 
doesn't walk out into the hallway later with wet hair and 
wrinkled clothes. 


4427 watches him pull his undershirt and boxers off with 
a focused stare. Reggie licks his lips and steps into the 
shower, pulling the curtain closed behind him. 


“Feeling naked without all your little gizmos?” they tease, 
pulling him toward the showerhead by the wrist. 


“Maybe. Yes.” 


“Mmm. Don’t worry, | assure you that you still have all 
the power over me you need.” They place his hand softly 
around their throat. 


He feels his cock twitch. “Yeah. ... That’s what bothers 
me so much.” 


They snort. “Oh, don’t ruin it. | like it. You know that.” 
“| do know that. Just... well, you know.” 


“| won't tell,” they whisper, lips brushing against the side 
of his face. “Now, you wanna bend me over right here, or 
you wanna go properly contain me in those cuffs of 
yours?”