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SCP-1693 / Discussion
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This is the discussion related to the wiki page SCP-1693.
Okay, let's NOT close my browser out mid-post this time.
I rather liked this. It had good tone and writing, as well as a hook. Just one detail bugs me:
Since it is highly infectious (and has the potential to, if it were to spread in the slightest bit, wipe out practically all human thoughts (since it is orally infectious, it would spread faster than 008) and then, with that, end human life as we know it, shouldn't it be Keter?
I dunno, might just be me. I'll reread this again once I've had a nap.
It's dangerous, but they've got it contained (with, presumably, no known cases loose in the wild), so that's why it's Safe. If it got loose, it'd get a bump up to Keter no doubt.
If it even exists, of course.
My main criticism of this is that apparently no research is being done on these subjects. Nothing is known about this thing, and apparently no one is even trying to find out. What happens if someone who already has early Alzheimer's comes in contact with 1693-1? Why don't we just cut out their vocal cords so they are no longer infectious? Or use speech-to-text software to find out what the infected are saying in a safe manner? Why haven't we been examining their brains once they die? Alzheimer's is very easy to confirm post-mortem, and the whole charade would be broken after one or two D-class were found to be fakes in autopsy.
I like the idea that the d-class are pulling a fast one on the Foundation, but i just can't see how this would possibly trick them.
The reason they don't do any research is because the containment procedures prohibit it. They don't know why the containment procedures say that, because the documentation was lost in the mentioned unrelated breach, but they trust that they must have had a good reason to prohibit it.
There'd be researchers in the Foundation coming up with reasons why they should reopen research, but the higher ups will ask: why? We have it safely contained, at minimal cost, and we gain little and risk a lot by breaching the procedures we must have had a very good reason to put in place.
Remember also that the only reason we know that the skip is potentially non-existent or neutralised is the document that they can't even view (our peeking at it by overriding the seal is a necessary OOC thing…within the SCP universe you could expect a bullet in the back of your head from the guard alerted to the containment breach of you reading the document. Imagine that as a headfuck actually: "Oh my god, this SCP doesn't exist! I've got to tell ever-" BLAM!) ostensively written by a D-Class; it may not be accurate, it might not even have been written by a D-Class, it might even be that reading it infects you, as they suspect it might.
The point is, they don't know, so they err on the side of caution. Would you want to be the one to risk it?
I like that; the bureaucracy looped around and left this little pocket of sunshine. But why would that message have been added to the containment procedures in the first place?
The reason got lost. If it helps, the Foundation doesn't know that it's a message from a former D-Class. They don't know what it is, and they're unwilling to take the risk of finding out.
That makes me think that some bleeding heart researcher was in on this whole thing, and probably staged the breach to preserve this thing. And maybe is still around, keeping the D-Class they deem most deserving alive by recruiting them for use in 1693.
"Fret not, my love, I will keep you safe. We cannot be together, but I will always be there,. I will be the walls…keeping you safe, protecting you. I love you. I've always loved you, ever since we met, when they brought you in for the first time to help me test. Just a prisoner, like all the others, destined to die. Who could have known that you would be the one?"
Sirens sound, loud and urgent. Clamorous footfalls in the corridor. Muted explosions, distant but troubling.
"Go now! Get inside. I've taken steps to hide this from them all. I let it out. Be safe for me! Be safe, and I'll die with a light heart!"
He lifts his sidearm and checks the chamber, and with a final, lingering look, he turns and runs out into the smoke and flame and screams.
I wish I could up-vote comments, because I would definitely up-vote that. Pretty nice for a quick comment.
Yes, i would like to volunteer to design an experiment which uses d-class personnel to better understand this anomaly. Even without knowledge of what the document is.
Next time an instance of 1693-1 dies, someone involved in the project is going to realize: "Hey, this guy took way too long to die if this is like alzheimers. Something is wrong with our understanding of this object. When things are unknown about anomalies, problems occur. Request permission to run an autopsy on former instance (which are understood to be non-infectious). Find out there's no degeneration of tissue. Inform O5 there is something seriously wrong with our containment procedures, as instances of 1693-1 are not being properly infected. Request permission to perform further experiments with mute (natural or artificial, doesn't matter) D-class. Perform experiments with speech-to-text. Determine none of the d-class exhibit the infection by PET scan. Entire SCP falls apart."
Scientists despise the unknown, and Bureaucrats don't want things sneaking up on them (that's why bureaucracy exists). This charade would be discovered within 4 months.
Imagine it this way. Someone gives you a small cardboard box and tells you that opening it would kill you. They can't tell you why or how. They just tell you not to open it. So you put the box away somewhere safe and don't open it. From that point on, so long as you leave it alone, it doesn't matter if the box actually will or will not kill you; it's rendered harmless by you leaving it alone.
So…you have no reason to poke and prod at it to find out whether the box is actually dangerous, and every reason to not investigate further, just in case it does actually turn out to be dangerous.
This skip is basically Pascal's wager. It might be harmless, but it might be an dangerous disease that could wipe out humanity if it got out into the wild. Why take that risk when it's not costing all that much to keep it contained?
What if testing got approved, and in the process of testing it was confirmed that the disease is real and infection got into a researcher, and from there into more Foundation staff, and perhaps even further? Would you expect the higher ups to sign off on that risk when there's nothing to be gained from it except for a small cost saving?
Scientists may despise the unknown and want to study what the Foundation gets hold of, but my personal headcanon is that they take backseat to the mission: Secure, contain, protect.
And this thing is secure. It's contained. It's protected. The job is done. Further study can't make it safer, but could only potentially make it more dangerous. I don't think they'd ever sign off on further study unless compelling evidence came to light to make the risk justifiable. And as further study is needed to get that evidence, it makes it a Catch-22. You're absolutely right that if the researchers were allowed to study this, they'd discover the truth about whether it is or is not a ruse (remember, it could be either: the document written by the D-Class might not be accurate)…but they are being prevented from doing the studying.
That's my thinking anyway. There'd be a lot of frustrated scientists and researchers being told "no, concentrate on why you're here" by those in charge.
In short, I imagine the guy in charge of signing off on your request will say: "No…and I strongly suggest you instead focus your efforts on trying to contain the flock of radioactive eyeball-eating geese that are loose in Shropshire."
(and I think I've just got the idea for my next skip :P)
I'll do the autopsy in my spare time! Please, Mr. Site Administrator, it's highly likely that this disease has either escaped and left behind decoys or has changed to the point it might breach containment in ways we aren't prepared for.
And then he tells me no. And I am driven to the point of obsession over this and then…
Actually I think I might go write a tale about this.
*looks over the rims of his glasses*
Request denied, as per Foundation Operational Safety Guideline Index 4, Section 29, revision 1974. But I will, as per Regulation 72023-B, pass your request on to the Divisional Secretary to be raised in the Quarterly Review for approval to be discussed in the Annual Agenda meeting for inclusion in the Annual Site Director's Meeting discussion agenda.
*checks his watch*
Assuming you get budget approval for that, of course. But thank you for your time, Doctor Hotdog. It's much appreciated. Please see yourself out.
(A tale would be amazing!)
Really enjoyed this one, refreshingly new. Had a few doubts about weather it should be considered safe seeing as the foundation knows very little about the object, but I believe your point regarding its easy containment does indeed justify it as safe.
Top job, keep it up. +1 from me.
I like it. One small thing bugging me though:
It's a prison for much worse things; diseases.
In proper format, that should be a colon not a semi-colon.
All in all though, +1
Good point, and well spotted. I'll correct that. Our 68 year old D-Class had a lot of time to work on his grammar after all.
It's been a long time since I've read the article that could be 'loop-holing' the Foundation and the system essentially tricking itself into the situation of, in my own words: job's done, waste of resources to handle further based on calculations, lock it in the vault now!
I'm left wondering if it's just some class D's working the system in which the system failed in it's observational/handling protocol.
It could be that all of the fear in the CDC is worthwhile and behind that box's confinements is a single man(/woman) who's escape/'displacement' could result in a titanic use of/loss of resources just to repair the damage of the suggested pandemic scenario.
And another thought that I didn't envision until re-reading the article…what if the original strain was stolen, and the class Ds are working the system…at the same time…Double-Wammy. The skill required of someone getting through the securities required to obtain it must have had to be perfected, and I mean that. So if they did, whoever stole it would already have a benefitting player on the board who gets a lifetime of well…life since they made the good doctors believe in forgetfulness. The class Ds. So entertaining that extremely unlikely yet still probable case in this list of what the hell is in that box, I want to know, best effect in this article, I WANT TO KNOW.
I loved this article, the message pasted from generation of class D to D was amazing as well, a lot of great work put into it, and a seriously gripping trail of possibilities. +1! Again I'm sure that many will not believe such feats could be accomplished…but then again…
Thank you so much for your time spent writing your comment. I've swelled about thiiiiiiiiis big in happy pride! I'm very glad I've managed to get in your head and set fire to it! Yours is the kind of response that I hope and dream of getting when I write an SCP, or anything. It's the kind of response that tells me I did something well!
In my mind, the Foundation is full of things like this. With so many past breaches and damaged records, and flat out reality-shifts, they're probably rife with procedures they keep doing because it's safer to stick with what they know works rather than risk experimenting and making things worse, even if it might turn out to be needless.
Oh! Know what I'm reminded of? That computer terminal thing in the bunker in Lost! That's precisely the sort of thing this is.
But not plagiarised, honest!
Here's my take on it:
The skip's proper class is Thaumiel. It was created by the 0-5s as a meme that will cure all infected of all other memes as well as being a "vaccine" for other memes. If a Keter-class meme gets loose, they will fake a containment breach on 1693. The secrecy is necessary because the meme can't infect people who know it's real effects. The class-D who wrote the document of course didn't know this, so not getting Alzheimer's he assumes the meme isn't infectious.
a meme that will cure all infected of all other memes as well as being a "vaccine" for other memes
So, it removes all culturally learned information from your brain and prevents you from learning anything more?
if your reading this your gay
All anomalous memes.
(My headcanon says that anomalous memes have a single cause- given that no RL meme can effect a delusion in absolutely everyone who knows it, but many SCP-memes do, SCP memes have one psychological basis, give Occam's Razor.
Why not all memes, though? Maybe O5 are preparing against the day when there might be something so catastrophic that losing the ability as a species to ever again form and hold cultural ideas would be an acceptable cost for survival.
That's also not taking into consideration that they might have an "antidote" weapon stashed away somewhere to negate this chemo for the mind once they've used it.
Certainly an interesting idea!
A loophole, a ray of sunshine.
Easily one of my new favourite articles.
Oh, thanks for acknowledging me :)
And, +1 for this wonderful mindfuckery and future classic to come IMO
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page revision: 2, last edited: 15 Jan 2023 15:06