Strauss: Think about that from an operational perspective, 
though. Miscarriage, you just sneak a baby out and file 
paperwork. Easy and awful. Now? You gotta make sure you 
lie about every... | can’t remember the word right now, but 
that thing where they put the gel on the mother’s stomach and 
you can see the baby? Yeah, you gotta make sure they only 
go to Foundation doctors who are willing to help and fake it, 
then you gotta make sure only Foundation personnel are 
present for the delivery, no family, and the mother’s 
unconscious... Just so you can still steal an innocent kid to 
murder. 


Borges: It’s less traumatic for the parents, certainly. 


Strauss: It’s a logistics nightmare just to justify doing the 
same goddamn thing: Stealing a baby from its parents. And 
you can make it junkie teens who never deserved the kid, or 
only steal from below the poverty line, or justify all you want 
that it was a baby ‘worth less’ than other babies, but you’re 
still doing the same goddamn thing. 


Elliott: Deep breaths, Strauss. Stay objective. Your words. 


Sinclair: We'd be minimizing victims. Right now the parents 
are unnecessary casualties. 


Tennyson: And the babies the Circle... manufactures? Are 
entirely non-anomalous. Which means they’re just a normal 
baby as much as any other. 


Strauss: I'll cut you a compromise. Standard procedure as it 


currently stands, but only on twins and above, so the parents 
keep their consolation prize. Anything more than that’s 
infeasible, logistically. 


Tennyson: | could be forced to live with that. Table it as plan 
B for now? 


Elliott: Sure. 

Borges: Strauss and | talked a bit too. 
Elliott: Gentlemen, please. 

Strauss: Sorry, ma’am. 


Borges: We have major problems with this, ethically. We 
can’t justify volunteers. Forcing people into this would be even 
more abhorrent. We can’t use pain relievers. The surgery to 
get that best-case-scenario is... intensive. There’s the issue 
of terminology, and dehumanization. 


Strauss: What we need are non-people. Or as close as we 
can get. 


Borges: The living brain-dead. Women in deep comas. 
Essentially? Body donors. 


Elliott: I’m listening. 
Sinclair: Oh my god... 


Strauss: If we’re harvesting from hospitals either way... 
Transporting vegetables, telling the families they passed, it’s a 
much easier process. 


Borges: Some families might honestly be relieved, by sharp 
contrast. 


Tennyson: | hate that you're not wrong. | hate it so much. 


Sinclair: You can’t count on that, though. 


Borges: That’s only in direct comparison to your plan B, 
which would be, again, stealing babies instead. 


Tennyson: Jesus... 


Borges: We make it clear they’re not people. We can use all 
the dehumanizing language we want in the report to make it 
as easy as possible on the people who have to follow the 
procedure. The babies that result exist only to be culled, and 
are made-for-purpose. 


Strauss: At a full term of eight hours? We've basically made it 
a nine-to-five veal farm. 


[Tennyson dry heaves. Sinclair turns her kettle on.] 
Elliott: Was that a necessary remark, Strauss? 


Strauss: | want there to be no illusions as to what we’re 
suggesting, Ma’am. 


Borges: We agree it sounds absolutely abhorrent. Honestly, it 
is. 


Strauss: But the Foundation eats babies. 


Elliott: Informally, it seems we’ve formed two teams. Sinclair, 
Tennyson, can you find any holes in their logic? 


Sinclair: Theirs is better. 
Tennyson: Skye! 


Sinclair: It just... it just is. To me. Producing eight to twelve 
babies from a single braindead mother against that many 
individual kidnappings? Eight-hour turnaround instead of nine 
months and abduction? It’s incomparable. 


Borges: A single body donor should survive multiple 
pregnancies. Pain and survival are no longer factors. So more 
like sixteen to thirty per body donor. One braindead woman, 
against up to thirty individual kidnappings. 


Tennyson: It’s such ‘shut up and calculate’ ethics. 
Borges: Do you disagree with it? 

Tennyson: No. 

Borges: Dr Elliott? 


Elliott: There can be no dispute. It is unanimous that this is 
favoured over current alternatives. Which just leaves the 
questions of who will write the report- 


Sinclair: | volunteer. 


Elliott: | agree. The second question is; What do we name 
the proposed procedure? 


[Borges chuckles] 
Elliott: Do you find the issue laughable, Borges? 


Borges: No, Ma'am, but it’s that or crying, and crying looks 
unprofessional. 


Elliott: So you have a reason to cry, then. 


Borges: Yes, Ma'am. | think | might have a good name for 
this. Have you ever read A Modest Proposal? The Foundation 
eats babies, Ma’am. We’ve just proposed The Modest 
Procedure. 


Sinclair: It’s honest. I'll give it that. It’s brutally honest. 


Tennyson: No. Absolutely unacceptable. We can joke here, 
but none of that can show up in the official documentation. 


Strauss: Joke? I'm sorry, | don’t get it. 


Elliott: Sinclair, try to think of a more formal name in the 
meantime. Because | see Borges bringing the article in 
question up on his laptop to show Agent Strauss, I’m going to 
call this meeting to a close. End recording. 


Tales Of The Ethics Committee: 5 Reasons The 
Foundation Wants A Robot Army 


Wednesday afternoon was best; it was the only day that week that 
one could reserve the Cordelia Royale Hotel’s conference room, 
another could to fly into and out of the country without missing work, 
and another didn’t have cheer practice. 


The afternoon was crisp and the clouds were peeled off the blue 
sky. The hotel's design was a rigid performance of professional 
colors and sharp geometry. Violet Mesmur stood in the executive 
conference room. Grey crept up the roots of her hair and age was 
beginning to crack through the layers of makeup. Dark brown eyes 
looked down to where a car pulled in. The agents beat the valets to 
the door and let two people out. A voice in her earpiece said: 
"Michaels and Young have arrived." 


They were in the conference room soon. The wiry Young walked in 
first. Blonde hair was suffocated into a bun, and nature 
accomplished the job of makeup. Sleepless nights provided the 
eyeshadow, and exhaustion was already at work sculpting the face. 
She took her seat. Michaels followed, the soldier with a buzz-cut. He 
wore a jacket in Spring, and he folded his aviators up, slipping them 
into his pocket, as he took his seat besides Young. Another voice in 
the earpiece: "Lee is here. Kim is a no-show." 


Soo-Yun Lee appeared to be already occupied with another meeting 
— as she entered, she came with a phone to her ear, arguing 
vehemently with someone in Korean. She was short, long-haired, 
bespectacled and growing more upset by the second as the 
argument continued. Another voice over the radio, more uncertain: 
"Greene has arrived." 


The girl who stood at the conference room's open door wore a 
pleated skirt, jacket and tie colored to match the colors of Dawes 
Prepratory School. She had red hair tied into a ponytail and 


glistening green eyes. She flashed a white smile to every uneasy 
gaze as she walked in, carrying with her a wispy, noxious look. 
Greene, although the name-tag read Cassandra, and Mesmutr's file 
had no less than 5 other names, took their seat and slid her 
backpack under the table. She set a water bottle and two pink 
tablets on the tabletop before sitting back and looking at the others, 
grinning. 


Lee’s phone call ended, security locked the doors and took their 
positions, and Mesmur took her seat at the head of the table. The 
recording device sat before her. She reached over and pressed 
‘record.’ 


Ethics Committee Negotiations with Groups of 
Interest on OK Scenario Solutions 


<Begin Log> 
Dr. Violet Mesmur clears her throat and speaks. 


Mesmur: | appreciate you all coming to this meeting. 
You especially, Dr. Young, as you've apparently been 
taking on a fair few projects involving OK. 


Young: Many thanks, Dr. Mesmur. 
Michaels: Happy to be invited. 


Dr. Mesmur adjusts herself in her seat and brings out a 
briefcase. As she opens it, she continues to speak. 


Mesmur: For those of you who are unfamiliar with 
everyone at the table, my name is Dr. Violet Mesmur, 
and | am a member of the Ethics Committee. 


Dr. Mesmur gestures to Dr. Emily Young. 


Mesmur: This is Dr. Emily Young, a prominent doctor in 
the OK scenario with which I'm sure we're all intimately 
familiar. 


Young: Thank you. I've worked extensively with OK, 


including researching under the title SCP-3984, and want 
nothing more than to contribute to a long-lasting solution. 


Dr. Mesmur nods. She removes a few pieces of paper 
from the briefcase and continues to speak. 


Mesmur: Right, yes. The man on the end with the 
cybernetic enhancements is Captain Eric Michaels, a 
decorated war veteran and one of the first to... 
experience Ok's effects, at least by our records. 


Michaels: I'm not all that important. Just here for securi 


Greene: —| like greek letters as much as anyone but 
could you please familiarize us outsiders with that fancy 
term you've been throwing at us? 


Dr. Mesmur sighs to herself as she continues to remove 
the final few papers from the briefcase. She turns to 
Greene. 


Mesmur: Well, as you should have remembered from 
the Societal Census Program surveys you got, OK is 
what we call the scenario that we're all forced to live with. 
The immortality one? I'm sure you know what | mean. 


Dr. Mesmur turns to everyone else. 


Mesmur: The person who just interrupted everything is 

Gregory Greene, though I'm sure they go by a different 

name now. They are the spokesperson for Full Body 
Transplants from Prometheus Labs. 


Greene: | haven't heard 'Greene' in years. Cassie's fine; 
new nickname I'm trying to break in 


Greene smiles and waits for a response. No one replies. 


Greene: Anyways, many of you are already on our 
customer lists, so I'm sure you're all familiar with the 
service | oversee. 


Young: Yes, I've... undergone the procedure. 


Dr. Mesmur doesn't let Greene continue their comments 
as she continues her introductions. 


Mesmur: And finally, we have a representative from 
Marshall, Carter and Dark, Ms. Soo-Yun Lee. Though we 
were expecting Mr. Ji-Su Kim to arrive. 


Soo-Yun Lee pulls out a note card and begins to read. 


Soo-Yun: Ms. Soo-Yun Lee is unable to make any 
binding agreements associated with the product 
Hypnotraline. She is unable to make any statements 
on Marshall, Carter and Dark's behalf and anything that 
is spoken by Ms. Soo-Yun Lee is to be considered an 
opinion. 


Soo-Yun puts away the notecard. 


Soo-Yun: Mr. Ji-Su will not be coming as he does not 
speak English. 


Michaels: Not surprised they'd send us the diplomatic 
equivalent of a middle finger. (aside, to Soo- Yun) No 
offense. 


Young: | don't think that's quite appropriate? 
Mesmur: No need to be crude, Captain. 


Greene: This is actually good. We can tear apart Marshy 
Carty and Dicky's newest product right here. 


Young: Please, | was of the understanding that this was 
going to be a serious discussion. 


Michaels: My bad. Was just hoping we'd actually make 
something come of this. Not just complain to the 
underlings. 


Michaels is silenced by a glare from Dr. Mesmur. 


[REDACTED] and could be of use during interrogations. Subject 
was warned that this would be highly unlikely, but a request was 
submitted and is pending a determination. -Dr. 


| didn't really want to waste anyone's time on this, but just saying it 
would make the poor bastard stop crying. Watching him crying while 
looking like [REDACTED] really made me feel ill. -Dr 


Document 959-1a: Experiment Log 


(Subject and SCP-959 placed in a two-cell chamber 
walled off from one another with a 10 cm thick sheet of 
shatterproof Plexiglas. SCP-959 was told to sit in a chair 
and not speak.) 


Subject: D- 

Result: Subject stared and shook his head and muttered 
for approximately 5 minutes before being asked what he 
had seen. Subject replied, "He looks just like my dead 
brother, | wasn't able to [REDACTED]." Subject was 
escorted from room without incident. 


Subject: D- 

Result: Subject began to apologize profusely, apparently 
believing the manifestation to be her mother. Subject 
made promises that she would [REDACTED]. Subject 
had to be forcibly removed from the testing chamber and 
sedated. 


Subject: D- 

Result: Subject immediately began screaming in a high- 
pitched, incomprehensible tone and started clawing at 
the door and tried to attack the guard when it was 
opened. Subject was terminated. Lip-reading specialist 
on-site believes what was being screamed was 
[REDACTED]. 


Subject: Agent 

Result: Subject stared at SCP-959 for approximately 5 
minutes before being asked what he was looking at. 
Subject suddenly began crying and confessing to [DATA 


Michaels: I'll drop it. 


Dr. Mesmur straightens the papers in her hand and 
begins to read the first page. 


Mesmur: The meeting here today is to actually address 
both Prometheus Labs' and Marshall, Carter and Dark's 
arguably immoral practices regarding their... long term 
solutions to involuntary immortality. 


Mesmur: Dr. Young and Captain Michaels are present to 
provide alternative solutions from both a professional 
and a civilian point of view. 


Soo-Yun: ‘Arguably immoral?’ That— that thing is a 
human trafficker and butcher. 


Ms. Soo-Yun points towards Greene. 


Greene: Please, apart from Mr. Michaels we're all 
decent women here. 


Michaels: Yes. He's wearing another person. Your 
people give people inescapable nightmares. We'd like to 
figure out a way to put an end to both of those things. 
And since our... usual methods haven't exactly worked, 
we were hoping to make a deal. 


Soo-Yun: And | have to reiterate. | am no longer 
responsible for, nor capable of, affecting Hypnotraline 
marketing and distribution. 


Young: Then with all due respect, Ms. Soo-Yun, why are 
you here? 


Dr. Mesmur passes along a pair of pages to each of the 
members present, detailing the potential fallacies in 
Marshall, Carter and Dark's business plan. 


Mesmur: | would like to show everyone some 
information regarding Hypnotraline and its bootlegged 
competitors. It's quite obvious that MC&D benefits when 


their competitors fail, and while that may mean that more 
people have access to a safe alternative to eternal life 
and the closest equivalent of death, this does leave 
millions trapped in their bodies in some form of torture 
after having been exposed to faulty products. This not 
only leaves large portions of elderly and unhealthy 
populations unable to recover in any form, but it also 
causes them to become a further burden than they were 
in "life". 


Dr. Young briefly reviews the article. 
Young: Oh, fuck. | was not aware of this. 


Soo-Yun: Well, | am aware of this. | will also state that 
until Hypnotraline was moved to Mr. Ji-Su Kim's control, 
there were no manufactured competitors. 


Young: What's the prognosis for these people? Do they 
wake up? 


Soo-Yun: | cannot disclose that information. 


Mesmur: If you take a look at the files | just handed to 
each of you, they detail the various ways these 
competitors torture their customers in the long term. Of 
course, the most famous defect is permanent sleep 
apnea, however other issues include sleep walking, 
which as you might guess is far more dangerous when 
you're unable to awaken from it; and of course, 
permanent vegetative states rather than comatose ones. 


Mesmur: While defects in medicine is something 
common enough in the pharmaceutical industry, the rate 
and extent of these defects is detrimental to both people 
who purchase and use these drugs as well as society as 
a whole for needing to simply adjust to their new burdens 
as their family becomes much more difficult to care for.