The SCP Foundation was hard at work ensuring the world remained both safe and ignorant of the threat of the anomalous. As February rolled over into May, they could proudly report that the progress of recontainment was going strong.
Having now been nine months since the CK class event, work was finally starting to pick up. At first the few SITEs around hadn't had much to do at all. Now, though, they often found the clue to some object or had reports sent down from above.
It was both a blessing and a curse for the agents and scientists of the Foundation to once again have SCP objects to secure and contain. On one side, they didn't like the idea of those things being out there; they felt better knowing than not. On the other side, the fact that they had SCPs to work with did mean that there were SCP objects in the first place.
The world would for sure be much saver without the objects, yet the knowledge about them was enough to ensure that many within the Foundation felt a desire to have them contained; just the idea of those objects being possible without them knowing where they were was worrying.
Not that they didn't have plenty of other work to do as well. With Shield being a constant annoyance and even the many governments out there suddenly taking a far too keen interest in their work.
Alex, as one of only two members of O5 currently in this new world, was naturally at the center of most of all this, though the burden on his shoulders was far greater than anyone within the Foundation could possibly know.
The amount of extra worries he had to deal with was staggering; after all, he knew about the many dangers of the Marvel universe. One danger that was pressing right now was the Eternals.
[SCP Foundation
Internal Communication: Confidential Report
Subject: Confirmation of Anomalous Properties in Individual "Kingo"
To: Anjali Rao, SITE Director of SITE 311
From: Arjun Patel, Field Agent
Date: 27/2-2009 - 2/27-2009
SCP Designation: Pending Classification
Reference Number: Pending
Investigation and Findings:
The subject of the investigation first came to the attention of Foundation personnel after they investigated a name and description provided by some Foundation personnel who were redacted from the file. Knowing where to look, agents were put to work after connection was reestablished with Foundation SITE 311.
It quickly became apparent that there was indeed something suspicious about the subject, and after further investigation into the story and official documents surrounding the subject, these suspicions were confirmed.
While a considerable effort was made to hide the clues, Foundation personnel were able to confirm that it was all doctored and falsified. The subject had indeed, under the working of some still unknown anomalous powers, been unageing for at least 127 years.
So far no further actions have been taken other then the initial observation which have been easy due to the public nature of the subject.
Requesting further instructions.]
This was a report Alex as found due to the Keyword Kingo he had tagged as important. It was just one of many such keywords he was actively tracking. Making sure that he could intervene in events conserving the Marvel universe.
He had to admit that the Eternal movie wasn't one he had watched, though he had seen enough recaps and Easter egg videos to know the rough outline of it. Kingo was also the only Eternal he knew where to find.
Finding him had been something he had wanted to do for no other reason than to confirm if they existed at all. Which he could now confirm that they did, which meant he now needed to figure out how to deal with them.
Leaning back in his chair, his hands together in front of him and his fingers tapping together like a bond villain. "What to do, What to do… With the Eternals being real…. That means there is also the Celestials to worry about…"
The Celestials were what he was really worried about. The Eternals themselves were no big challenge to contain, except maybe one or two of them. Though he was sure that his Foundation was up for the task.
No, the real challenge and danger came from their masters. Those were, without a doubt, XK-class Keter objects.
Even at its full power, he couldn't think of a single SCP object he could use to deal with a celestial. Which meant he couldn't afford to have one come knocking, yet that didn't help when one was sleeping in the center of the earth.
Killing Tiamat was also impossible, he was fairly sure the celestial didn't have a large physical form right now, if any at all. The seed could very much be in a non-corporeal form until its emergence.
Even if he did have a physical form, it wasn't one he could reach, given the location it was at. Be it the liquid or solid core. Neither was something he could reach. Not to mention that even if he could he wouldn't dare, not with the risk of a fully grown celestial coming by to take revenge.
That meant that the only way to deal with the situation was to delay, delay for countless years, and ensure that by the time the emergence did happen, it wouldn't matter for the earth anymore. Which meant thousands of years, if not millions.
"But to do that… I would need to ensure the population never reaches the point of no return…" Alex mumbled as his thoughts swirled chaotically.
He knew well what this kind of plan entailed, the only way to be 100% sure that the population didn't reach that point was by taking decisive action. Something that really wouldn't go over well with the Ethics committee.
From what he knew and could guess, the emergence wouldn't happen unless the amount of living intelligent beings on earth passed the ten billion mark. Should that ever happen, it was all over.
Which meant that he couldn't allow that to happen, ever. However that was bound to happen, unless something happened, something which would cull the population down to size from time to time.
"The Foundation can't really be considered the good guys… not with the kind of hard decisions we have to make…" Alex whispered to himself as his heart slowly grew firmer and colder.
Sitting up straight again, he began drafting up a protocol.
[SCP Foundation Internal Document - Confidential
Protocol Designation: Codename: Threshold Emergence
Document Type: XK-Class End-of-the-World Contingency Protocol
Purpose: To delineate the SCP Foundation's protocol for preventing an XK-class end-of-the-world scenario, hereby referred to as "The Emergence," triggered by Earth's human population reaching 10 billion individuals.
Introduction:
The SCP Foundation has identified a significant threat in [SCP Designation Pending], "The celestial Tiamat," an anomalous object/entity with the capability to initiate the catastrophic event (The Emergence) directly linked to Earth's human population levels. This protocol details a multi-tiered approach for pre-emptively managing global population growth to prevent activation of The celestial Tiamat and, if necessary, implementing measures to reduce population levels in a controlled, ethical, and humane manner.
Ethical Consideration:
Given the profound ethical implications of enacting population control measures, Codename: Threshold Emergence prioritizes the least intrusive methods of population management. Direct intervention will only be considered as a final recourse, subject to the highest level of ethical scrutiny and approval by the O5 Council.
Stage 1: Monitoring and Early Intervention
- Establishment of a global surveillance network to monitor population growth rates, with predictive modeling to forecast potential Emergence scenarios.
- Engagement with international bodies under non-disclosure to subtly implement policies and initiatives aimed at sustainable population growth, including health, education, and economic development programs.
Stage 2: Reduction and Stabilization Initiatives
- Family Planning and Reproductive Health: Enhance global access to family planning resources and education, aiming to voluntarily reduce birth rates through informed personal choice rather than coercion.
- Public Health Initiatives: Promote public health policies that emphasize quality of life over quantity, including support for aging populations to balance global demographic profiles without resorting to harmful measures.
- Economic and Educational Incentives: Develop and implement incentives for smaller family norms through economic benefits and comprehensive education programs, focusing on long-term sustainability and environmental stewardship.
- International Cooperation: Work with governments and NGOs to address root causes of high fertility rates, such as poverty, gender inequality, and lack of education, aiming for holistic and sustainable demographic management.
Stage 3: Direct Population Control Measures
- Induced Sterility: Introduction of reversible, medically induced sterility measures, distributed under the guise of routine vaccinations or medical treatments. Consent may be bypassed under extreme circumstances, with the understanding that reversibility will be maintained.
- Conflict Initiation: As a controversial and last-resort measure, the Foundation may clandestinely instigate regional conflicts to indirectly reduce population numbers. This strategy will be employed sparingly and only in situations where it is projected to avert the greater risk of The Emergence. All efforts will be made to minimize civilian involvement and suffering.
- Economic Manipulation: Deliberate destabilization of key economic systems to induce lower fertility rates through increased economic hardship. While this measure is severe, it is considered reversible over the long term compared to the permanence of The Emergence.
- Enforced Birth Control: Deployment of SCP objects capable of causing temporary infertility, administered on a wide scale without direct consent. These measures will prioritize reversibility and the minimization of long-term health impacts.
Stage 4: The Emergence Prevention Measures
- In the critical event that population levels near the 10 billion threshold, and after exhausting all non-intrusive measures, more extreme measures are to be taken. To ensure that the population is quickly reduced back down to more manageable levels.
- Any action under this stage requires explicit authorization from the O5 Council, following a comprehensive review by the Ethics Committee, though the use of none-anomalous means of population reduction can be taken without the Ethics Committee's approval should the O5 Council reach a unanimous agreement.
Deactivation Criteria:
Codename: Threshold Emergence will be deactivated and re-evaluated under any of the following conditions:
- Stabilization of global population below the critical threshold through non-lethal measures.
- Significant advancements in SCP research or technology that enable other options for dealing with The celestial Tiamat.
Documentation, Review, and Approval:
- Comprehensive documentation of all protocol stages and actions will be maintained and subjected to ongoing review by the Ethics Committee.
- Final approval for Stage 4 actions resides with the O5 Council, contingent upon unanimous agreement and only after public consultation with a cross-section of the global population, conducted through covert channels.
Note: This document is highly classified and subject to the SCP Foundation's strict information security and confidentiality protocols. Unauthorized access, disclosure, or failure to comply with this protocol's guidelines will result in severe repercussions.]
Looking over the work he had made, he couldn't help but sigh; this hadn't been easy. Yet he knew it was necessary. After all even in the movie the world had only been saved due to the Eternals themselves decided to help, and it was a close thing indeed.
However, the plot hadn't been fully resolved since that big celestial had shown up, and they decided to question the Eternals being passing judgment, something that could still lead to the end of the world.
There simply wasn't any way he could allow the chance for that to happen, which meant this was something he would need to have implemented. Though it was only a first draft, no doubt once he got the ethics committee and the rest of O5, they would all want adjustments of some kind.
Even now, he would need O5-2 to approve of the plan before he could put it into effect. Though that might take some time given how busy he also was. After all he still hadn't finished his work on SCP-2000, something which didn't please Alex one bit.
He had hoped for some rather big reward for such an important SCP, yet until O5-2 was done with securing it, he wasn't getting that reward. Not that he could overly blame him, that SCP was important enough to warrant a whole new level of security.
"Damn, I really did got sidetracked there, didn't I?" Alex whispered to himself as he remembered how he started this whole thing, the confirmation that Kingo the Eternal was around. 'The question is what should I do about him…'
A/N
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