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Abstract mapping of ideatic points via SCP-2275.

MEETING TRANSCRIPT

Date: 6/08/2028
Subjects: Ethics Committee Chairman Dr. Victoria Fitzgerald (EC-4), Sr. Researcher Lancer Bohm

«BEGIN LOG»

(Bohm walks into the conference room. Fitzgerald sits at the center of the table, looking out the window. Traffic can be heard on the street below.)

Bohm: Excuse me, can I help you?

Fitzgerald: Take a seat, Lancer. I want to talk about 2275.

(Bohm nervously takes a seat and inches it closer to the table. Fitzgerald wheels her chair around. She turns over some papers, revealing the documentation to SCP-2275.)

Fitzgerald: Specifically, I want to make a proposal. Or for you to make one. Whichever comes first.

(Bohm reviews the documentation with a confused look on his face.)

Bohm: Do you mind introducing yourself? I'm sorry, but I have no idea who you are.

Fitzgerald: Of course! Victoria Fitzgerald, the fourth member of the Ethics Committee.

(Fitzgerald reaches out to shake Bohm's hand. Bohm sits paralyzed, looking her up and down. Finally, after a few seconds, he nervously shakes her hand. His palms are sweaty.)

Bohm: Is there a problem? Ethically, of course.

Fitzgerald: Quite the contrary, I'm here on behalf of the rest of the committee about the potentials of 2275..Bad.

(Bohm visibly relaxes.)

Fitzgerald: Unless there is a problem?

Bohm: No, no! No problem here, I'm just nervous, is all.

Fitzgerald: Good. Our AI construct noticed your work here and forwarded it to us. A form of objective morality. And, according to these testing logs, it seems like its accurate. Is this correct?

Bohm: Uh, yes! What's on the file is only an abridged version. As you can see in the attached image, we were able to—

Fitzgerald: Map out core ideatic points throughout the noosphere. We would like to offer you and your team an opportunity to broaden its use to the entire Foundation. You see, the Ethics Committee has had… trouble in the past when it comes to enforcing our rulings. It's gotten especially difficult in recent years, with O5 Command simply disagreeing with our ethical concerns.

Fitzgerald: It's our hope that a more objective approach will be able to remove the certainty that comes with having to define our gray areas. That's where 2275 comes in. Our very own objective morality.

Fitzgerald: We'll help you acquire the funding you need to continue testing and developing your processor— your -A, I believe? — and get that project up and running. We just need you to draft up a project proposal and submit it to us for review. That should get the ball rolling.

Bohm: Well, that's going to be difficult. Thinking of issues, just off the top of my head, I don't know how we're going to get that many brains to make a better processor. Ethically, that is.

Fitzgerald: Well, remember to include that in your proposal.

(Bohm uncomfortably hugs his forearms with his hands. Fitzgerald takes notice and reflexively hides her lips.)

Bohm: Well, why are you coming to tell me this alone? This meeting could have easily been a text.

Fitzgerald: (smirking) Bold for you to say. We can't have this meeting on the books. Part of the checks and balances of the administrative branch means that the Ethics Committee can't open up new projects. Only review, modify, and cancel them. Which usually isn't much of a problem, but when it came to this, we had to reach you in a way that wouldn't… arouse suspicion.

Bohm: (chuckling) From who, the Ethics Committee?

(Pause.)

Fitzgerald: What was that?

Bohm: Nothing, it's just something we say around the—

(Pause.)

Bohm: Continue.

Fitzgerald: Thank you. There are penalties we'd have to face if we broke our own guidelines. So it'd be best if we weren't caught. Watching the Watchmen and such.

Bohm: So this is an illegal move on your part.

(Fitzgerald scrunches her face in a flash of anger before returning to a more relaxed position. She leans back into her chair, which makes an audible groan, and crosses her arms.

Fitzgerald: I don't know what you're trying to insinuate, but that isn't going to work. Any report you file might fail to make it up the chain. I'm wearing an antimemetic chain, so none of this would appear on camera without a heavy dose of mnestics.

Fitzgerald: And besides, why would you refuse this offer? It'll be your first major cross-site project you'll have in the Foundation. Your security clearance will get bumped from Level 3 to Level 4, and as the Project Manager, for what would be an indefinite project, you'd have a pretty safe role within the Foundation Command Structure. I mean, you wouldn't want to pass this opportunity up.

Bohm: I certainly won't.

Fitzgerald: Good.

(Fitzgerald gets up to leave. Right before she opens the door, she turns to address Bohm.)

Fitzgerald: Oh, and in case you think you're hot shit walking out of this room, I know about Marie.

(Dread falls over Bohm's face. He slowly turns towards Fitzgerald.)

Bohm: You… what.

Fitzgerald: Of course, it's just me. None of the other members know about it. I'm the one who proposed the proposal of this proposal in the first place. Of course, I did my due research.

(Bohm's fingers dig into the plastic armrests of his chair.)

Fitzgerald: It's quite despicable, honestly. But you don't get to where I am without stomaching a little disgust. And you wouldn't be where you are without…

(Fitzgerald stares at Bohm in contempt. Bohm avoids eye contact, opting to focus on the patterns on the carpet.)

Fitzgerald: I suggest you get to drafting that proposal now..Good.

(Fitzgerald leaves the room, swiftly closing the door behind her. Bohm crunches over, resting his head in his hands. He stays in this position for the next fifteen minutes before exiting the room.)

«END LOG»

The car swerves, parallel parking perfectly. The police officer walks up to the car and shakes their head in comfortable disgust.

"You know you're never going to reach it? Right?"

The golden ticket was brown, but I wasn't always this way. I just don't see color.

I look up to him and groaned in disgust.

"Listen, man." I say.

"The horizon isn't something you touch. Going faster doesn't change anything."

They pause to breathe, looking down at their watch. It's half past μ.

This conversation was getting us nowhere. "So, is moving a bad thing?"

The cop thought for a moment before diagonally moving their head.

I groan to myself, reaching into their holster and fired their gun between my eyes.

The splatter of blood and organs splurt onto the car ceiling. The cop just shrugs as my brain begins to crawl back to the hole where my skull should be.

"You can keep going if you want, just don't get pissed when you lose your way."

The car starts to move. Now we're getting somewhere.

The line is a fine one. It's a very fine line between the light and not the light. It's all easier to see if you cross it. Do not do the line. Being on the wrong side of judgment day only makes the mess harder to clean up. All is bad.

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