他們最終找上她，不是在深夜里用黑布袋兜頭把她套住，也不是派MTF在她回家的路上把她擄走，更不是咖啡里的鎮(zhèn)靜劑，或者工作電腦上的潛意識(shí)指令，甚至不是一名站點(diǎn)警衛(wèi)，戴手套的雙手一只指引她走向拘留室，另一只輕輕擱在皮套里的電擊槍上。當(dāng)他們最終找上艾倫·奧康納Ellen O'Connor時(shí)，是一個(gè)禿頂、微微駝背的男人，近乎抱歉地敲響她辦公室敞開的大門。

“奧康納特工，我是布萊恩·帕克斯Brian Parkes博士。我們想跟你談?wù)劇?，你使用基金?huì)訪問代碼時(shí)的一些違規(guī)行為。”

這姿態(tài)是如此無害，以至于她的第一個(gè)想法是，誰(shuí)還會(huì)戴棕色的領(lǐng)結(jié)??？第二個(gè)則是，等等——“我們”是誰(shuí)？

“也許我們可以到我的辦公室去談，奧康納特工？”

在電梯里，帕克斯博士刷了他的門卡，然后同時(shí)按下最底部?jī)蓪拥陌粹o。電梯開始緩緩下降，艾倫的心也沉了下去。她早就知道會(huì)有這么一天——可能是任何時(shí)候，而且只會(huì)早不會(huì)遲。你不可能一直窺看基金會(huì)的秘密而指望他們不會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)。但她還是沒有罷手。她需要找出答案，需要知曉。

電梯停下了，敞開的門背后是一個(gè)陌生的樓層。這里的走廊看起來比較舊，裝潢風(fēng)格略有些過時(shí)。但是艾倫可以聽到辦公室的門內(nèi)傳來處理器的冷卻風(fēng)扇的嗡鳴聲，透過其中一扇門，她瞥到了服務(wù)器堆棧——幾百層薄薄的服務(wù)器堆成的幾十座高塔。不管這是什么地方，他們顯然不缺技術(shù)。

帕克斯博士停下腳步，轉(zhuǎn)身引導(dǎo)她走向一間小辦公室里的一把椅子。這不是辦公室，在門關(guān)上時(shí)，艾倫意識(shí)到，這是審訊室。

“那么，奧康納特工，我們是不是該從你的工作經(jīng)歷開始說起？為了記錄，你懂的?！?/p>

“呃，好吧。你要我從哪里……”

“你在FBI工作時(shí)就展現(xiàn)出了高超的分析技能，但你漸漸執(zhí)著于那些只有你才觀察得到的規(guī)律。最終，你在向副部長(zhǎng)報(bào)告時(shí)堅(jiān)稱某些恐怖組織在通信時(shí)肯定使用了某種超現(xiàn)代技術(shù)，就連國(guó)家安全局都無法對(duì)其進(jìn)行攔截。這件事的收?qǐng)霾惶每?，你的名聲也一落千丈。幸運(yùn)的是，有位新的部長(zhǎng)找上了你，這個(gè)人來自一個(gè)你從未聽說過的部門?！?/p>

帕克斯博士低頭看著面前的文件，這個(gè)馬尼拉紙信封在房間里的熒光燈映照下呈現(xiàn)病態(tài)的黃色。

“你剛到UIU那段時(shí)間同樣表現(xiàn)非常優(yōu)秀，但還是同樣，你做得太過頭了。你看見調(diào)查被打入冷宮，各種看似合理的解釋湊到一起就出現(xiàn)漏洞。這不光發(fā)生在你的案子上，還有其他特工的案子，以及歷史卷宗。你收集到的證據(jù)開始勾勒出另一個(gè)組織的存在，這個(gè)組織干涉著UIU的管轄權(quán)，為自己的目的抹消你們的證據(jù)。你推測(cè)你的上級(jí)一定知道這個(gè)組織，并擔(dān)任了它的聯(lián)絡(luò)人。但你還沒來得及完成報(bào)告，F(xiàn)BI就找理由開除了你——你我都知道那理由是瞎編的?，F(xiàn)在，你已經(jīng)在為當(dāng)時(shí)你調(diào)查的那個(gè)組織效力?！?/p>

帕克斯博士迎向艾倫注視的目光。

“你看出這其中的規(guī)律了嗎，奧康納特工？你的技能總是會(huì)讓你在工作的地方陷入麻煩?！?/p>

“我可以解釋的，”艾倫開口。

“不，你不能，”帕克斯博士打斷了她?！拔襾斫忉?。你只需要回答我的問題。告訴我，在這里工作了這么久之后，你覺得基金會(huì)的目的是什么？”

“呃，它的目的是……呃，收容異常的物品和實(shí)體，確保它們被控制住，保護(hù)公眾免受它們的異常效應(yīng)的影響。”

“別裝天真了。放下培訓(xùn)視頻的那一套，奧康納特工——基金會(huì)的目的是什么？”

艾倫不清楚該怎樣回應(yīng)。為什么要問這么籠統(tǒng)的問題？如果他們已經(jīng)知道她干了什么，為什么不立刻處罰她？這場(chǎng)審訊有種不真實(shí)感，就像在做戲。但既然她已經(jīng)注定完蛋，那就沒什么理由隱瞞自己的看法了。

“它的目的，”她說，“是確?，F(xiàn)實(shí)維持常態(tài)?！?/p>

“‘維持常態(tài)’？”帕克斯博士顯然并不信服。“很多異常存在的時(shí)間遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)長(zhǎng)于基金會(huì)本身。由誰(shuí)來決定什么是現(xiàn)實(shí)，什么是常態(tài)？”

“基金會(huì)來決定。也就是說，我想大概是O5議會(huì)吧?！?/p>

“他們又憑什么有權(quán)決定？”

“呃，不憑什么。這個(gè)權(quán)利不是誰(shuí)授予基金會(huì)的，而是我們自己承擔(dān)起來的。沒人給過我們?cè)S可，也沒人控制我們，除了我們自己?！?/p>

“讓某些完全難以理解的人物來定義你的現(xiàn)實(shí)，你對(duì)此沒有意見嗎？”

“不完全是。但我明白基金會(huì)是怎樣工作的，也知道它的益處。我支持O5試圖實(shí)現(xiàn)的目標(biāo)?！?/p>

帕克斯博士揉了揉鼻梁，把眼鏡向上推了推，又轉(zhuǎn)回來望著桌子對(duì)面?！澳闼^的‘支持’指的是以違背信息安全協(xié)議的方式訪問了幾百份收容文檔？”

艾倫感到手心在冒汗，心跳在加速。她努力集中精神。

“首先你要知道——”

“不。我們知道你不是一個(gè)人干的。你在信息安全部的內(nèi)線已經(jīng)受到了處罰。我們知道你是怎么做的。我們有興趣的只是你為什么要這么做?！?/p>

“好吧。”艾倫深吸了口氣?！澳阒牢沂悄莻€(gè)MC&D特遣隊(duì)的，是吧？”

“你的檔案上說你和另幾位分析師曾經(jīng)成功地預(yù)測(cè)過幾次他們的行動(dòng)?！?/p>

“我在研究我們從他們那里回收的一些物品，有些地方不對(duì)勁。865和1571都是MC&D的物品，但那把槍是我們最近幾年才收容的，而錢包早在八十年代就收容了。為什么它們的編號(hào)卻是反著來的？”

就算是在這樣的房間里，對(duì)象是這樣一個(gè)人，談?wù)撨@個(gè)問題還是給她帶來了早晨第一杯咖啡般的沖擊?！斑@是個(gè)微不足道的細(xì)節(jié)，但卻沒人能給它一個(gè)恰當(dāng)?shù)慕忉尅麄兏嬖V我，SCP編號(hào)是由系統(tǒng)分配的。但是系統(tǒng)也應(yīng)該講道理——它應(yīng)該按照某種法則來運(yùn)作。我需要知道那是什么樣的法則?！?/p>

“你了解到了什么呢？”

艾倫突然想到了什么，臉色一沉?！暗纫幌?，薩姆Sam沒事吧？你剛才說‘處罰’，那到底是——”

“奧康納特工，回答我的問題。”帕克斯博士不為所動(dòng)。

“好吧。我發(fā)現(xiàn)事實(shí)跟他們想的不一樣，并沒有那樣一個(gè)系統(tǒng)。薩姆幫助我看到了文字背后，看到了頁(yè)面的源代碼，編輯歷史，等等等等。我發(fā)現(xiàn)基金會(huì)里還存在著另一個(gè)部門——但我見過的任何列表里都沒有它。我想，你一定就是替這個(gè)部門工作的。”

桌子對(duì)面的男人緩緩地眨了眨眼，臉色仍然平靜。“你是說，有一個(gè)專門為SCP分配編號(hào)的部門？”

艾倫可以感覺到想法擴(kuò)展的熱流沖入腦中。她繼續(xù)推進(jìn)這個(gè)想法。

“不只是編號(hào)。看來他們——你們——可以給數(shù)據(jù)庫(kù)中的SCP文檔重新歸類，支配它們的研究?jī)?yōu)先度，甚至改變D級(jí)人員和研究員的工作分配，將他們派至特定的物品或?qū)嶓w那里。你們肯定也能追蹤訪問記錄，并進(jìn)行交叉參照，就是因?yàn)檫@樣你們才會(huì)知道我在看什么，我離查明真相還有多遠(yuǎn)。辦公室里那些強(qiáng)大的處理器表明你們肯定在某些大型數(shù)據(jù)庫(kù)上運(yùn)行著算法。O5知道這事嗎？”

“他們當(dāng)然知道我們的事。就是O5-10創(chuàng)立了我們的部門。你現(xiàn)在在分析學(xué)部的辦公室里。但你能不能走出這里就要看你怎么回答我的下一個(gè)問題了。我想，你應(yīng)該能夠預(yù)判到這個(gè)問題是什么吧。”

艾倫緩緩點(diǎn)頭。真相已經(jīng)近在咫尺——她需要的只是冷靜地把它慢慢說出口。

“你早就知道我做了什么，又是如何做的，但你還是把我?guī)н^來問話，而且沒帶警衛(wèi)，所以不論你有什么計(jì)劃，你都不打算留下記錄。你問了我一些關(guān)于基金會(huì)的哲學(xué)性問題——那一定有某種目的，但不是為了了解我為什么要違反安全協(xié)議。啊——你是想要更多地了解我本人。你想知道我對(duì)你們部門了解到了什么程度——我能調(diào)查到什么程度。”

艾倫的頭腦在飛速轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)，她的聲音不自覺地興奮起來?！八赃@是個(gè)測(cè)試！你想知道我能不能調(diào)查出來，能不能理解究竟發(fā)生了什么。至于你說的規(guī)律，不僅僅是指我工作做過了頭就會(huì)陷入麻煩。關(guān)鍵在于我陷入麻煩之后會(huì)發(fā)生什么。所以你說我‘能不能走出這里’并不是在威脅我。你是要問我是否愿意為你們效力。”

帕克斯博士的眼角浮現(xiàn)出笑紋?！昂芎?，艾倫。那么，你對(duì)我們有什么問題要問嗎？”

“薩姆怎么樣了？”

“會(huì)沒事的。記憶刪除當(dāng)然免不了，但除此之外沒有受傷。還有別的問題嗎？”

“我猜對(duì)了多少——關(guān)于你們的工作？”

“很接近了。我們確實(shí)在追蹤你的調(diào)查——我們通過類似的方式招收過不少人。和你說的一樣，我們可以管理數(shù)據(jù)庫(kù)，但還不止是這樣?；谖覀兊臄?shù)據(jù)，我們可以確定收容突破發(fā)生的概率，有時(shí)甚至是具體的時(shí)間，這樣我們就能采取行動(dòng)，加以阻止。我們分析異常交互實(shí)驗(yàn)的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)——在我們的建議下進(jìn)行的一部分實(shí)驗(yàn)給我們帶來了新的收容方法和實(shí)戰(zhàn)技術(shù)?；饡?huì)里知道我們的人不多，但我們與倫理委員會(huì)關(guān)系密切——我們推薦的D級(jí)分工方案使得最近兩年的人員死亡率下降了四個(gè)百分點(diǎn)?！?/p>

帕克斯博士似乎早就等著要發(fā)表這番演講。他的聲音變得更溫和，肩膀也不再緊繃?！拔覀儞碛泻Ａ康男畔?，艾倫，但是我們需要的是能夠解讀它們的人——能夠質(zhì)疑自己眼前所見，找到意想不到的答案的人——也就是像你這樣的人，如果你愿意加入我們的話。”

“謝謝你，帕克斯博士。我很樂意。不過還有一件事?！?/p>

“請(qǐng)講?！?/p>

“不好意思，這也許沒什么意義，但我就是因?yàn)樗艜?huì)來到這里。異常到底是通過什么方式編號(hào)的？”

“你自己也說了，并沒有系統(tǒng)?！?/p>

艾倫皺起眉頭?！暗钦f不通。如果你們的數(shù)據(jù)真的有看上去的那么多，收容措施有合理排序管理起來才會(huì)更方便?！?/p>

“艾倫，這不是什么非要道理上說得通的事。實(shí)際上這是早期基金會(huì)的歷史遺留問題。”

“對(duì)不起，但真的是這樣嗎？毫無疑問你們是可以修正它的。那么，我們假設(shè)這種不連貫的編號(hào)確實(shí)有合理的理由……”艾倫突然停了下來，她感到突然爆發(fā)的腎上腺素使她的頭腦開始飛速運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)。

“艾倫?？峙逻@個(gè)信息是4級(jí)機(jī)密，”帕克斯博士的笑容已經(jīng)消失了?！拔覀?cè)撜務(wù)勀愕男鹿ぷ鞯拇隽税桑俊?/p>

“因?yàn)槟銈冊(cè)趧h除它們。對(duì)嗎？你們?cè)趧h除文檔。我不知道刪了多少，但根據(jù)MC&D物品編號(hào)的間隔來看——肯定得有幾千份了。”艾倫難以置信地瞪著他。

“聽聽你說的是什么話。我們是要和RAISA合作的。刪除收容協(xié)議文檔的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)我們可承擔(dān)不起。”

艾倫一拍桌子。“不對(duì)。不對(duì)，你說的沒錯(cuò)——你們不會(huì)刪除文檔。你們是直接銷毀了那些skip?！?/p>

“奧康納特工！”

“這是最合理的解釋。一開始你們按照收容時(shí)間順序來給物品編號(hào)，但后來你們解密了一部分skip——大概幾百個(gè)——在編號(hào)中留下了空隙，就把比較新近的收容物填了進(jìn)去。但你們不僅僅是從記錄里移除了收容協(xié)議，你們還銷毀了那些物品本身。”

帕克斯博士長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)地嘆了一口氣，他的肩膀又佝僂起來?！敖裉煳也幌胝勥@個(gè)話題?！?/p>

“但這違背了基金會(huì)的一切宗旨?！?/p>

“是嗎？你自己也說過，世界上其他人對(duì)現(xiàn)實(shí)的認(rèn)知是由基金會(huì)決定的。如果我們認(rèn)定某些異常不應(yīng)該存在，我們無需獲得任何人的許可?！?/p>

“但為什么要銷毀它們？”

“因?yàn)樗鼈儗?duì)我們沒有用處?！迸量怂共┦康穆曇麸@得很厭煩——就好像他已經(jīng)解釋過這件事太多太多次?！拔覀円呀?jīng)收容了數(shù)千個(gè)物品和實(shí)體，而且我們正在越來越快地發(fā)現(xiàn)新的異常。它們中有很多從本質(zhì)上來說只是我們已有的東西的復(fù)制品，還有一些則是不夠異?；蛘卟粔蛴腥?。對(duì)研究沒有用的東西只會(huì)浪費(fèi)金錢和時(shí)間，而我們需要這些資源來應(yīng)對(duì)那些可能毀滅掉這顆星球的噩夢(mèng)。如果我們無法利用一個(gè)異常，那么我們能銷毀就銷毀它?！?/p>

“這樣我們跟GOC還有什么區(qū)別？等一下，O5議會(huì)知道你們?cè)谧鲞@種事嗎？”

“很抱歉，奧康納特工，你的問題我不能每一個(gè)都回答。我告訴你的已經(jīng)比我該說的要多了?！?/p>

“你想怎么樣？記憶刪除我？”

“那已經(jīng)不可能了。你看，我們不光只會(huì)銷毀物品——有時(shí)我們也會(huì)銷毀人。不合適的人——那些打亂組織安排，事事以自己為中心的人。這不僅僅是一場(chǎng)工作面試。我們需要了解你的技能對(duì)我們是否有用，但我們同時(shí)也想知道這些技能帶來的麻煩是否比它們的價(jià)值更多。現(xiàn)在，我的上級(jí)需要投票決定是否還允許你留在這個(gè)站點(diǎn)了?！?/p>

“我不相信你?！?/p>

“艾倫，恐怕不管你信不信都——”

“不，我不相信你?！卑瑐惖穆曇糇兊糜l(fā)響亮而堅(jiān)定?！澳阏f的完全是一派胡言。基金會(huì)不可能安排一場(chǎng)失敗就會(huì)死的升職面試。你在說謊，而且這不是一個(gè)高明的謊言。”

“奧康納特工——”

“不！讓我說完。你講了這么多，我才剛剛明白過來。一個(gè)如此機(jī)密的部門不可能沒有內(nèi)部問責(zé)制，也就是說，像這樣的一場(chǎng)面試不可能只由一個(gè)人來主持。你所說的‘上級(jí)’一定正在監(jiān)視我們。不僅僅是監(jiān)視我：而是我們兩人。所以他們已經(jīng)看見了你無法阻止我發(fā)現(xiàn)銷毀skip的真相，而且在壓力下無法說出令人信服的謊言。對(duì)一個(gè)要保持不為人知的部門來說，這可不是他們需要的技能。我簡(jiǎn)直有點(diǎn)懷疑，薩姆為我搞來的那些文檔保密性能差到這程度，其中是不是有你的原因？”

帕克斯博士站了起來，雙手撐在桌上。“我要叫警衛(wèi)了?！?/p>

“叫吧。我就先和你的上級(jí)談一會(huì)兒。”艾倫找了一會(huì)攝像機(jī)，然后放棄了尋找，向前傾身，對(duì)著整個(gè)房間說話?！拔蚁肽銈円呀?jīng)沒有別的圈套可以讓我鉆了。這是一場(chǎng)工作面試，但面試的工作不是別的——正是他的這份。那么，我將會(huì)改變一些他的策略，但是……是的，我接受這份工作?！?/p>

沒有回答。

帕克斯博士走向門口，邊走邊朝艾倫搖頭?！疤^頭了，奧康納特工。你以為我自己會(huì)不知道——”

在他向門把手伸出手的時(shí)刻，隱藏?fù)P聲器發(fā)出的聲音讓所有的墻壁震顫起來?！皧W康納特工，歡迎來到分析學(xué)部。你的新安保權(quán)限很快就會(huì)送到?！?/p>

艾倫長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)地松了一口氣，癱倒在椅子上。帕克斯博士楞了一秒鐘，然后轉(zhuǎn)過身來，像是要找到那個(gè)聲音的來源似的。

聲音再次說道：“謝謝你，帕克斯博士。到此為止了?！?/p>

門開了。

當(dāng)他們最終找上布萊恩·帕克斯時(shí)，是一個(gè)身穿白大褂的研究員，帶著C級(jí)記憶刪除劑的注射器。

When they finally came for her, it wasn't a black bag over her head in the middle of the night. It wasn't an MTF snatching her off the street on the way home. It wasn't tranquilizers in her coffee, or a subliminal command through her workstation. It wasn't even a Site Security officer, one gloved hand guiding her to the holding cells, the other resting lightly on a holstered taser. When they finally came for Ellen O'Connor, it was a balding, hunched man knocking almost apologetically on the open door of her office.

"Agent O'Connor, my name is Doctor Brian Parkes. We'd like to talk to you about some, uh, irregularities in the use of your Foundation access codes."

It was so innocuous that her first thought was,?who wears a brown tie??Her second was,?wait - who is 'we'?

"Perhaps we can talk about this in my offices, Agent O'Connor?"

In the lift, Dr. Parkes swiped his access card and pressed the buttons for the two lowest floors simultaneously. The lift started a slow descent, mirroring Ellen's sinking feeling. She'd known that this was going to happen - one day, any day, soon. You can't look for the Foundation's secrets and expect them not to notice. She had kept going anyway. She'd needed to find out. To know.

The lift stopped, doors opening onto an unfamiliar level. The corridors seemed older, the decor slightly behind the times. But Ellen could hear the hum of processor cooling fans through the office doorways. Through one she glimpsed the server stacks - hundreds of slim layers, scores of towers. Whatever this place was, they had plenty of tech.

Dr. Parkes stopped, turning to usher her to a chair in a small office.?Not an office, Ellen realised as the door clicked shut,?an interrogation room.

"So, Agent O'Connor. Shall we begin by recounting your employment history? For the record, you understand."

"Uh, sure. Where do you want me to…"

"Your time in the FBI showed a high degree of skill in analysis, but you became fixated on patterns that only you perceived. Eventually you gave a briefing to your Assistant Director in which you insisted that certain terror cells must be communicating with ultra-modern technology, beyond even the NSA's ability to intercept. This did not go well, and your reputation was shattered. Fortunately a new Director approached you, from a department you hadn't heard of before."

Dr. Parkes looked down at the file in front of him, the manila folder a sickly yellow in the room's fluorescent lights.

"Again, your early days at the UIU were characterised by strong results. But once again, you pushed too far. You saw investigations going cold, explanations that sounded convincing until you looked at them in concert. Not just yours, but other agents' cases, historic files. You started outlining the evidence for another organisation interfering with UIU jurisdiction and removing evidence for its own purposes. You speculated that your superiors must know of that organisation, and be liaising with it. But before you could finish your report, you were dismissed from the FBI for reasons we both know are false. Now you work for the very organisation you were investigating."

Dr. Parkes held Ellen's gaze.

"Are you seeing a pattern here, Agent O'Connor? Your skills, such as they are, have a history of getting you into trouble in your place of work."

"I can explain," Ellen began.

"No you can't," said Dr. Parkes, cutting her off. "I will explain. You will answer my questions. Tell me, from your time here, what do you see as the Foundation's purpose?"

"Uh, its purpose is, uh, to obtain anomalous items and entities, to ensure that they remain secured, and to protect the wider public from their effects."

"Spoken like a true naif. Drop the training video act, Agent O'Connor - what purpose does the Foundation serve?"

Ellen wasn't sure how to react. Why such general questions? If they already knew what she had done, why not sanction her immediately? The interrogation felt unreal, like play-acting. But if she was done for already, there was no reason to hide her opinions.

"Its purpose," she said, "is to ensure that reality stays normal."

"'Stays normal'?" Dr. Parkes sounded incredulous. "Many anomalies have existed for far longer than the Foundation itself. Who decides what is real, what is normal?"

"The Foundation decides. Which I guess means the O5 Council does."

"And what gives them the right to do that?"

"Well, nothing. The Foundation wasn't given the right, we assumed it. No-one gives us permission, no-one controls us except us."

"Are you comfortable with this - having someone else, someone utterly unaccountable, define your reality?"

"Not entirely. But I can see how the Foundation works, the good it does. I support what the O5 are trying to achieve."

Dr. Parkes rubbed the bridge of his nose, pushing his glasses up, then looked back across the table. "And your idea of 'support' involved a breach of information security across hundreds of containment files, did it?"

Ellen could feel the sweat on her palms, her heart rate increasing. She tried to focus.

"The first thing you should know is -"

"No. We know you didn't act alone. Your contact in InfoSec has already been disciplined. We know how you did it. We are interested in why."

"Okay." Ellen took a slow breath. "You know that I am on the MC&D taskforce, right?"

"Your file suggests that you and the other analysts have had some success in predicting their activities."

"I was looking at some of their items we'd recovered, and something didn't fit. Eight sixty-five and Fifteen seventy-one are both MC&D objects, but we didn't obtain the gun until a few years ago, and we've had the wallet since the eighties. Why number them that way around?"

Even in this room, with this man, just talking about the problem was like the first hit of caffeine in the morning. "It was such a small thing, but no-one could explain it properly - they told me that SCP numbers were assigned by the system. But a system should make sense - it should operate to a set of rules. I needed to know what the rules were."

"And what did you learn?"

Ellen's face fell with a sudden thought. "Wait, is Sam okay? You said 'disciplined', but what -"

"Agent O'Connor, answer the question." Dr. Parkes was implacable.

"Okay. I learned that there isn't a system, not like people think. Sam got me the access to look behind the text, at the page sources, the editing history, all of it. There is another department within the Foundation - not on any of the lists I've seen. And I think you must work for them."

The man across the table from her blinked slowly, his face placid. "You're saying that there is a department that assigns SCP numbers?"

Ellen could feel the warm rush of an idea expanding. She pressed forward with the thought.

"Not just numbers. It looks like they - like you - can re-categorise SCP files within the database, influence their level of research priority, even alter the re-assignment of D-Class personnel and researchers to particular items or entities. You must be able to track access and cross reference it, which is how you knew what I was looking at, how close I was to figuring it out. The processing power in the offices here means you must be running algorithms over some pretty huge databases. Does the O5 even know about this?"

"Of course they know about us. It was O5-10 who established us. You are currently in the offices of the Department of Analytics. Whether you leave, however, depends on your answer to my next question. A question which I think you might be able to anticipate."

Ellen nodded slowly. Understanding was tantalisingly close - she just needed to talk it out slowly and calmly.

"You already know what I did, and how I did it, but you brought me in for questioning anyway. And not with security, so whatever your plans are, they're off the record. You ask me philosophical questions about the Foundation - that must have had a purpose, but it wasn't to understand why I breached security. Ah - you wanted to know more about me. And you wanted to know how much I'd learned about your division - what I'd been able to work out."

Ellen's mind was racing, and her voice started to betray her excitement. "So it was a test! You wanted to see if I?could?work it out, whether I knew what was going on. And the pattern you talked about, it's not just that I push too far in my job and get in trouble. It's what happens?after?I get into trouble. So when you say 'whether I leave', that's not a threat. You're going to ask me whether I want to work for you."

Traces of a smile were showing at the corners of Dr. Parkes' eyes. "Very good, Ellen. Now, do you have any questions for us?"

"Sam?"

"Will be fine. Amnestics, of course, but otherwise unharmed. Anything else?"

"How close was I to the truth - to what you do?"

"Fairly close. We were tracking your investigation - many of our recruits start in a similar way. And we can manage the database as you suggested, but it's more than that. Based on our data, we can determine the likelihood, sometimes even the timing, of potential containment breaches, and act to prevent them. We perform risk analysis on potential cross-testing of anomalies - some of the tests we've suggested have given us new containment methods and field tech. Not much of the Foundation knows about us, but we're closely engaged with the Ethics Committee - our recommendations on D-Class assignments have reduced casualties by four percent over the past two years."

It felt like Dr. Parkes had been waiting to give this speech. His voice was warmer, his shoulders less tense. "We have huge amounts of information, Ellen, but what we need are people to interpret it. People who will question what's in front of them, and find counter-intuitive answers. People like you, if you'll join us."

"Thank you, Dr. Parkes. I would be delighted. Although there is one more thing."

"Of course."

"Sorry, it's so pointless, but it's how I got here. What?is?the process for numbering anomalies?"

"You said yourself, there is no system."

Ellen's brows furrowed. "But that doesn't make any sense. If you have the amount of data you seem to, it would be easier to manage if the containment procedures were rationally ordered."

"Ellen, it's not something that has to make sense. It's actually a holdover from the early days of the Foundation."

"Sorry, but can that be right? Surely you would have overhauled it. So if we assume that there is a rational basis for numbering non-consecutively…" Ellen stopped cold, and she felt her brain start to spin with a sudden kick of adrenaline.

"Ellen, I'm afraid that information is classified Level 4," Dr. Parkes' smile was fading now. "Should we discuss your new terms of employment?"

"You're deleting them. Aren't you? You're deleting files. I don't know how many, but based on the gaps between the MC&D items - there must be thousands." Ellen was staring, disbelieving.

"Listen to what you're saying. We have to work with RAISA. We would never take the risk of deleting containment procedure files."

Ellen's hands slumped to the table. "No. No, you're right - you wouldn't delete the files. You're destroying the skips."

"Agent O'Connor!"

"It's the most rational explanation. You number the files in sequence as the items are brought into containment, but then you de-classify some skips - hundreds of skips - leaving gaps in the numbering which are filled with more recent acquisitions. But you aren't just removing the containment protocols from the records, you're destroying the items themselves."

Dr. Parkes sighed, a slow exhalation that left his shoulders hunched. "This is not a subject I wanted to discuss today."

"But this goes against everything the Foundation stands for."

"Does it? You said yourself that the Foundation manages the rest of the world's perceived reality. If we decide that some anomalies shouldn't exist, there isn't anyone to ask permission."

"But why destroy them?"

"Because they are of no use to us." Dr. Parkes sounded exasperated - like this was something he had explained too many times. "We have thousands of items and entities in containment, and we're finding them more and more quickly. Many are essentially duplicates of things we already have. Others aren't sufficiently anomalous to be interesting. Anything that isn't potentially useful for research is just taking up money and time. We need that resource for the nightmares out there that could wipe the planet clean. If we can't use an anomaly, we have to destroy it if we can."

"Then how are we different to the GOC? Wait, does the Council know about this part of your work?"

"I'm sorry, Agent O'Connor, but I can't answer all of your questions. I've already told you more than I should."

"Then what? Amnestics all round?"

"That won't be possible. You see, we don't just destroy items - we sometimes have to destroy people. The wrong type of people - those who will disturb the organisation, who make everything all about them. This isn't just a job interview. We needed to see whether your skills were useful to us, but we also wanted to see whether those skills would be more trouble than they are worth. And now my superiors will be taking a vote to see if you should be allowed to remain in the site."

"I don't believe you."

"Ellen, I'm afraid that it is of no consequence whether you -"

"No, I?don't believe you." Ellen's voice was louder, more confident. "What you're saying is nonsense. The Foundation wouldn't set up promotion interviews where the second prize is death. That's a lie, and not a very good one."

"Agent O'Connor -"

"No! Let me finish. You've been talking so much that I've only just realised. A Department operating with this much secrecy needs internal accountability, which means there's no way an interview like this would be conducted by a single person. Your superiors, as you call them, are watching us. Not just me: both of us. So they've just seen that you weren't able to keep me from the truth about destroying skips, and that you don't lie very convincingly when you're under pressure. Not really the skills required for a Department that no-one is meant to know about. I wonder whether you're responsible for the lack of security on the files that Sam accessed for me?"

Dr. Parkes was standing with both hands on the table. "I'm calling security."

"Go ahead. I'll just talk to your superiors for a minute." Ellen looked for the cameras, then gave up and leaned forward to speak to the room at large. "I think you're all out of hoops for me to jump through. This was a job interview, but not just for any job - it was for?his?job. Well, I'm going to be changing some of his policies, but yes, I accept."

There was no response.

Dr. Parkes moved towards the door, shaking his head at Ellen. "Too far, Agent O'Connor. Don't you think I would have known if -"

His hand was half-way to the door handle when the walls reverberated with the voice from the hidden speakers. "Agent O'Connor, welcome to the Department of Analytics. Your new clearance will be sent to you shortly."

Ellen let out a long exhalation of relief, collapsing into her chair. Dr. Parkes froze for a second, and then spun, as if he could find where that voice had come from.

It spoke again. "Thank you, Dr. Parkes. That will be all."

The door opened.

When they finally came for Brian Parkes, it was a white-coated researcher with a syringe of Class-C amnestic.