Elliott: And we are live, ladies and gentlemen. The subject we will be discussing today is SCP-4494, or as it has been known to call itself, "The Specter."This is therefore the formal ethics committee for SCP-4494, on its potential uses and potential consequences of said uses. I am chair of committee going on ten years, Danielle Elliot. Going to the left of me, please state your name and occupation for the record.
Simone: Penny Simone, former researcher.
Borges: Former researcher, Julio Borges. Logistics.
Sinclair: Former researcher, Skye Sinclair.
Travis: Active member of MTF Pi-1, Lucas Travis. Specialized in retrieval of anomalies in urban environments.
Elliott: Now, I'm sure you know why you're here, Agent Travis.
Travis: I believe it's because I have had my boots on the ground during a containment breach in a populated area, and know what people do when they're panicked and hysterical.
Elliott: That is the exact reason, Agent Travis. Now, we were all called today to decide on what the people in R&D are calling "Operation Calme Noire," or "Operation Calm Night." I'm sure you all read the briefing.
Simone: Yes, and make note that I am completely against this idea. Controlling people's minds? Erasing any notion of agency or free will? This goes opposite of everything I was trained to do.
Elliott: Duly noted, Penny. First things first, we need to recap the briefing provided to you all before the meeting. This proposed operation is classified by order of the O5 command, and will remain so for the estimated lifetimes of the people here. Is that clear to all of you?
[Various forms of affirmation are heard]
Elliott: Then let us begin. SCP-4494 is a ontokinetic entity that claims to be the physical embodiment of the concept of law enforcement. It's anomaly is partially infohazardous in nature, which is why the record will show that any mention of the entity's name is a different font, and the reason why I am whispering to you all. This entity, which calls itself The Specter, comes to the aide of law enforcement around the globe, but if contained or detained by personnel, will basically erase the concept of law and order from the minds of people. If contained for more than an estimated 12 hours, the erasure of the concept of law will become permanent, and no existing governmental structure, organization, or force will retain cohesion. Is this how SCP-4494 was described to you all in the dossier?
Borges: You also forgot the part about how it looks and acts like a cartoony detective ripped straight from a pulp magazine, and how it wears a fucking fedora of all things. You'd think the literal embodiment of justice would know that those went out of style around the time the Prohibition ended.
Elliott: I didn't see how it was relevant to the task at hand.
Borges: I'm just saying it's ironic that the concept of justice is disturbing the peace with his bad fashion sense.
[Travis talk over Borges]
Travis: And what exactly is the "task at hand" here?
Elliott: This is the task at hand.
[Elliott clicks to the next Powerpoint slide]
Elliott: This is a theoretical device, developed by Anna Lang and her team, called the Lang Reality Amplifier, or LRA. In short, it is the inverse of the Scranton Reality Anchor. Instead of equalizing a Hume abnormality to aligned with baseline Hume levels, it gives an anomaly a boost in power, increasing the range and radius of the anomaly's effect. Think of it as a speaker, whereas the SRA is a soundproof room.
Simone: It's just theoretical, right? There are no actual concept models in production right now?
Elliott: No, there is not. Once Lang proposed her plan, the O5 Council shut it down due to the obvious dangers inherent to the device. We still have the blueprints, obviously, but if even the weakest tier of Type Green got its hands on this…
Borges: That would be a pretty fucking bad scenario. I'm guessing even a normal human could get some effect hooked up to this, shoot off a few fireworks maybe.
Travis: If the O5 Council shut down the project, why are we even discussing it now? Can't there be some other alternative to trying to "weaponize" SCP-4494 than using an untested, probably dangerous piece of anomalous engineering that could potentially destroy us in the wrong hands.
Elliott: A research team in Site-20 dug up the blueprints from the archives, and came up with the idea of using SCP-4494 alongside the LRA to effectively wipe the concept of crime out of the consciousness of the global population. The O5 Council decided that it was an interesting enough usage of the LRA to open up development again.
Borges: I may not have heard you correctly, but did those idiots in R&D really suggest that we try to weaponize a literal cornerstone of society. Please tell me you did not say that.
Simone: These are the decisions we have to make here, "the good of the many outweighs the good of the few" and all that.
Borges: I cannot see how potentially destabilizing the fucking foundation of civilization really benefits the many in this situation. In what possible universe could tampering with a essential part of humanity result in a good outcome?
Simone: Its not like we haven't messed with the minds of people on a scale this large before. But the real question is, if this device really amplify's an anomaly's powers, what's to prevent SCP-4494 from just teleporting out of the containment chamber and ruining the project? And couldn't the LRA just speed up the decay of the concept of crime fighting?
Travis: I mean, if we're going to ruin civilization, I'd much rather prefer a Mad Max world to a zombie apocalypse. We are better off with no rules than with a global pandemic.
Elliott: According to the document, a containment breach only really starts if SCP-4494 is prevented from helping law enforcement. And as it considers the Foundation as law enforcement, we could potentially stage "crimes" until SCP-4494 comes to our aid, where we could just trap it with reality anchors until its needed for the project.
Sinclair: Logistics aside, should we really be doing this? Preventing people from doing crimes at all would really free up the government to do some really shady stuff, and they could modify laws to where the population can't even think about certain things, and the people would, and could, do nothing to stop them.
[Laughter is heard from Borges]
Borges: We would make wrongthink a reality, and we would turn the world into a literal Orwellian apocalypse.
Simone: But if we implement this right, what laws would the world be forced to follow? Would everyone obey laws local to their region, or national laws, or international? Could we develop away to input SCP-4494 with laws that he could then enforce across the globe? What happens when laws contradict each other?
Elliott: It is decided then. We will deploy Operation Calme Noire in an isolated town as field test to observe the potential effects of the usage of SCP-4494 in a civilian population. If, upon the beginning of the experiment, any unintended side effects occur, the experiment will be immediately aborted and shelved indefinitely.
Travis: Ten bucks says this will backfire on our asses.
