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Agent ██████████, prior to Incident 973-Alpha
Registered Phenomena Code: 973
Object Class: Neutralized (Previously Beta-White/Utility)
Hazard Types: Incorporeal Hazard, Memory Alteration Hazard, Sapient Hazard
Containment Protocols: All instances of RPC-973-A (designated -A1 through -A57) have been given provisional Level 3/973 security clearance. All non-Authority personnel included in this designation are to be kept in Site-061. They are to report any possible communications from RPC-973. All Authority personnel that this encompasses are allowed to continue their employment with the Authority but must give regular updates on any communications made by RPC-973.
Update (2049-04-11): With the death of RPC-973-A58, the final living instance of RPC-973-A, RPC-973 can be considered effectively neutralized. In the unlikely event that new instances of RPC-973-A are identified, the previous Containment Protocols are to be reinstated.
Description: RPC-973 is former Authority Agent Martin ██████████, a member of MST Lima-17 ("Canaries") who was reported MIA during explorations of RPC-████ in 1963. Currently, it is believed that RPC-973 exists as a self-aware memotic entity, grounded in all individuals who knew it personally while it was alive. These individuals are designated RPC-973-A. RPC-973 is able to communicate by altering the memories of RPC-973-A instances. These alterations cause RPC-973-A instances to remember certain events in ways that do not reflect objective reality, such that RPC-973’s actions in said memories reflect responses to present circumstances. How RPC-973 can perceive the experiences of affected individuals is unknown; RPC-973 itself has proven unable or unwilling to provide meaningful data on its current existence, and its behavior indicates that it is most likely not a memotic feeder.
Interviews with RPC-973-A instances have irregularly allowed them to access messages from RPC-973 that have proven useful to Authority operations. These messages have included information on hostile Groups of Interest, uncontained humanoid anomalies, and security gaps in Authority facilities. RPC-973 can apparently access these memories via its connection with the Infoplane. However, RPC-973 has also been unable to recover specific information when instructed to; all information it has collected has apparently been absorbed at random.
The fifty-seven instances of RPC-973-A encompass thirteen other members of MST Lima-17, twenty other Authority personnel, seven current and former Authority employees of biological relation to Agent ██████████1, nine civilian members of the ██████████ family2, and eight unrelated civilians3.
Interviewed: Dr. Leroy ██████████
Interviewer: Dr. Howard Dale
Foreword: Forty-eight hours after Agent ██████████'s disappearance, several of his former acquaintances began to report abnormal experiences relating to their memories of him. Dr. Leroy █████████, Agent ██████████'s older brother, was one of them.
<Begin Log>
Dr. Dale: Alright Leroy, now that we're recording, I think we'll begin by asking for a little detail about you and Agent ██████████, just so it's on the record.
Dr. ██████████: Well, I—My name's Leroy ██████████. I've worked for the Authority for about nine years this October. Marty was my younger brother; I had three years on him. We were—we were always fairly close, I would say.
Dr. Dale: And recently, you've noticed something going on that’s related to him.
Dr. ██████████: Well, he's been on my mind a lot because—it was about two days ago when they called me and told me about how—about how he'd gone missing during the expedition.
Dr. ██████████: So, I'd been thinking about all the time we spent together, about growing up and everything. And as I was thinking about this one time when I was about…fourteen, I think I would have been, so he would have been eleven.
Dr. ██████████: We were out fishing at the lake by our house. Now, Marty, he was always a pretty goofy kid, and I don’t think there was anything he took seriously until he started getting into girls when he was in high school.
Dr. Dale: Leroy, I know how things have been, but is this relevant?
Dr. ██████████: Just wait a minute; I'm getting to that. As I was remembering, it just came to me: In my head, he turned to me all solemn-like and said, "Lee, you need to report to your site director or somebody, I think something really bad happened."
Dr. Dale: This happened, what? Fifteen years ago, and you're only finding it strange now?
Dr. ██████████: Exactly. And the thing is, I remember that day, that was the day we found out our sister Jane was being born, we were both kind of excited we were going to become brothers again, so that's what I remember the rest of the conversation being about.
Dr. ██████████: It's as if he just… said that to me, and we just went on talking like that was nothing out of the ordinary.
Dr. Dale: And that's when you realized something was happening?
Dr. ██████████: …Yes, but what really sealed it was that, right after that, I was just sitting there in silence when I spotted his picture on my mantle. It was of Joy and me on our wedding day.
Dr. ██████████: Marty was there, he was my best man. And the memory of him giving our toast just popped into my mind.
Dr. ██████████: And all of a sudden, I remembered how right in the middle of the toast, he just grabbed me by the shoulder, and he said to me, "Lee, please, I'm serious."
Dr. ██████████: He said, “I don't know what's happened or how I'm doing this, but you need to report this. Someone might be able to get me back.”
Dr. ██████████: “It’s really me, my serial number back in Korea was 10734624." And just like when I remembered the day we were fishing, that was the moment I realized that I should have thought that was strange; if that was what happened, what actually happened.
Dr. ██████████: And then I realized I couldn't remember reacting to that or anything. So I reported it as soon as I could, like he said. And, well, that's how we ended up here.
(Dr. ██████████ pauses here for five seconds as Dr. Dale continues writing notes.)
Dr. ██████████: I realize you must think—must think I just can't handle what happened to Marty like a man, and I'm just going crazy.
Dr. Dale: Leroy, we don't think that. As a matter of fact, you're not the first person to report this. Some of Marty's team members said something similar.
Dr. ██████████: What?
Dr. Dale: Leroy, I know that you must be—
Dr. ██████████: — Look, Howard, tell me straight. Is there anything we can do for him? He— he still had so much to live for. I mean, his kids, his oldest isn’t even in high school yet! They can't go through life without him!
Dr. Dale: We need more information before we can determine if that's possible. We don't know what's happened.
Dr. ██████████: No, don't you dare—don't you dare give that to me, Howard. He's my brother, we have to—
Dr. Dale: Leroy, I promise we will do everything we can.
Dr. ██████████: To help him, or just to study him?
(Dr. Dale does not respond)
<End Log>
Closing Statement: Further interviews with other members of MST Lima-17, other professional associates of Agent ██████████, and with Agent ██████████'s family indicated that all of them had experienced similar events to those described by Dr. ██████████ above. With this information, containment protocols for RPC-973 were implemented, and a research team was formed.
Incident Report: 973-1
| Anomalies Involved: | RPC-973 | RPC-973-A3 reported new information, received from RPC-973 |
| Incident Type: | Mike Bravo | Anomaly displayed new properties |
| Incident Location: | Site-002 | Personnel Quarters |
| Cause of Incident: | Uncertain | N/A |
| Status: | Ongoing | Investigation opened |
REPORT DESCRIPTION:
RPC-973-A3 reported to RPC-973 research team that RPC-973 had begun communicating new information, specifically related to an espionage operation being conducted by the GKIV4.
EVENTS TRANSPIRED:
0915: RPC-973-A3 arrives at the office of the site director, demanding to speak with him immediately.
0917: On-site security personnel respond, RPC-973-A3 repeats demand to speak with Site Director. Security personnel refuse, and RPC-973-A3 becomes agitated; a minor altercation breaks out.
0930: RPC-973-A3 is escorted to site medical facilities to receive treatment for nosebleed and black eye. Dr. Brown arrives to interview and attempt to determine RPC-973-A3's motives.
0937: RPC-973-A3 explains that RPC-973 had, in a memory of their time working together investigating RPC-███, given information about three GKIV agents that had been embedded in the Presidium, all of whom were engaged in an ongoing mission to both relay information to the GKIV and sabotage Authority operations.
DEDUCTIONS:
Personnel Casualties/Injured/Lost:
- Authority Security Force:
- Two Personnel received minor injuries
- RPC Objects:
- RPC-973-A3 received minor injuries
Assets Compromised: None
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Dr. Brown passed on the information provided by RPC-973-A3 to ACI despite several other members of the RPC-973 research team expressing skepticism. Upon investigation, the claims were verified and the three GKIV agents were apprehended. RPC-973 was, in later interviews, unable to provide a coherent explanation for how it was able to discover this information; one possible source may have been the then-recent death of GKIV officer [REDACTED] who was determined to have been overseeing the embedded agents prior to his death. [REDACTED]'s knowledge of the operatives likely became ungrounded by his death and eventually came into contact with RPC-973.
After this incident, ACI requested that RPC-973 be made available for future information gathering purposes, resulting in the installment of the present containment procedures.
Interviewed: RPC-973-A37
Interviewer: Researcher Vernon Shaw
Foreword: The following interview was conducted with RPC-973-A375 as part of the routine procedures to determine if there had been any new contact with RPC-973.
<Begin Log>
Researcher Shaw: Mrs. ██████████, we'll just begin now. I believe you've been reading over some new papers we sent. The ones on new methods of recovering and retaining memories, correct?
RPC-973-A37: Yes, I've been reading them and practicing them as often as I can.
Researcher Shaw: That's very good. Of course, the first question is whether we’ve uncovered anything new. Has your husband attempted to contact you with new information or anything that might concern the Authority?
RPC-973-A37: No, I— all he's offered recently has been…nothing. Nothing I need to share.
Researcher Shaw: It’s not really your job to decide what’s vital and what isn’t. There’s really no way of knowing without you sharing.
RPC-973-A37: No, don't—don't try to feed me that nonsense! RPC—No, my husband wanted to share something with me—his wife—and that is something that I don't have to share with anyone. So you can just— (RPC-973-A37 pauses for three seconds, followed by the sound of a cigarette being lit.)
Researcher Shaw: Veronica…
RPC-973-A37: No, just, just let me breathe.
Researcher Shaw: I understand what this must be like; I don't want you to think—
RPC-973-A37: Damn it, Vernon, you don't understand!
Researcher Shaw: You're a widow, I'm a widower. Of course I understand.
(RPC-973-A37 laughs)
RPC-973-A37: That's right, I suppose.
(RPC-973-A37 pauses for seven seconds.)
RPC-973-A37: It's just—you're right, I'm a widow. In just about every way that matters, I'm a damn widow. But you can't understand because he's not really gone. I still have to live with him in my head. He's dead, or might as well be, but I can't mourn him or move on because he's still here.
RPC-973-A37: My nieces and nephews, they're children, and they have to deal with him there. And what about ██████? She—she's so young.
RPC-973-A37: She doesn't get to have a father, but the rest do! Only because they're his nieces and nephews, they have to spend the rest of their lives here locked up with the rest of the freaks! So maybe ██████'s lucky she's half an orphan!
(RPC-973-A37 pauses for six seconds.)
RPC-973-A37: God, he just, he just now gave me a new message, I think, because I just remembered when ██████ was born, and he told me, 'Vicky, I know it feels like you're drowning right now, but ██████, she'll grow up strong, she was a fighter from the moment she was born, just like you are. She's not going to break, no matter what.'
Researcher Shaw: He knew—knows you pretty well then, I would say.
RPC-973-A37: He had a way with people. (RPC-973-A37 pauses for two seconds.) I'm sorry about what I said earlier. Somehow— somehow, I'd completely forgotten about Nancy.
Researcher Shaw: It's alright.
RPC-973-A37: I hope you'll understand when I say I'd like to call it a day.
Researcher Shaw: Of course.
<End Log>
Closing Statement: Following this interview, Researcher Shaw submitted a proposal that RPC-973's nieces and nephews be offered low-level positions within the Presidium when they came of age, allowing them to maintain relatively normal lifestyles while still allowing the Authority to monitor them and RPC-973. This proposal was approved. All of these offers were accepted.
Interviewed: ██████ ██████████
Interviewer: Dr. Donald Gilmore
Foreword: The following is an excerpt from the interviews conducted during the recruitment process of ██████ ██████████. This specific portion covers an attempt to determine definitively whether ██████████ was an instance of RPC-973-A, which was still uncertain at the time.
<Begin Log>
Dr. Gilmore: Now, there is one more thing we wanted to know about before we finish for today. I'm sure you know by now that you’ll be joining the family business, so to speak.
██████████: You mean my dad, I'm sure.
Dr. Gilmore: I realize this might be a delicate subject.
██████████: I'm a big girl. I mean, on some level, it's hard for me to feel sad. I barely knew him. I think it's more the absence itself that is worse; I can't really be sad over someone who's essentially a stranger.
Dr. Gilmore: I assume you don't remember him that well.
██████████: I would have been about, oh, three years old, I think? Couldn't have been older than that. My memories, they're there, but they're fuzzy. A smile there, a hug here. Maybe. I sometimes think I remember a kind word, or encouragement. But they're just shadows at their best.
Dr. Gilmore: I apologize for even bringing this up, but we sometimes like to get an idea of whether a person in a situation such as yours might have some sort of… resentment, I suppose? I realize that might sound callous—.
██████████: No, no. Trust me. I was raised in this world, and I know how it works. Honestly, I think it's sort of the opposite. I know he died, but he died in the service of something important and greater than himself. It's like I'm just the latest in the line. It's like my legacy.
Dr. Gilmore: (chuckles) Well, that's certainly a good way of looking at things. But on to a happier topic. There are some other security-related questions we need to ask, of course. Now, there are some names and groups I’ll read off here. We'll gauge your reaction to them to see if they're groups you have connections with——
<End Log>
Closing Statement: This portion of the interview indicates that ██████ ██████████ did not possess strong enough memories of her father to serve as a ground for RPC-973. Therefore, it was decided that her recruitment would continue, and she officially joined the Authority after completing her first doctorate in 1987.
[Update 2049-03-06: Some of the information in the preceding paragraph has been determined to be inaccurate. See Interview 973-1714 for more information.]
Interviewed: RPC-973-A516
Interviewer: Dr. Ann Fletcher
Foreword: RPC-973-A51 was regarded as the primary source of information from RPC-973, as he possessed an eidetic memory and could recall messages in much clearer detail than other instances. RPC-973-A51 was 89 years old and was undergoing experimental treatment both to extend his life and preserve his memory through the Biomechanical Module; the purpose of this interview was to determine how he was adjusting to these treatments.
<Begin Log>
Dr. Fletcher: It's good to see you've been feeling better, Charles.
RPC-973-A51: You know what they say; you're only as old as you feel. (coughs)
Dr. Fletcher: Have you experienced any unusual or adverse health effects from these new treatments?
RPC-973-A51: Not one. (coughs)
Dr. Fletcher: Are you certain? You don't exactly sound like you're—
RPC-973-A51: I'm an eighty-five-year-old chain-smoker. Trust me. I know adverse health effects when I feel them.
(RPC-973-A51 leans back in his chair and groans.)
RPC-973-A51: Though let me tell you, these implants aren't exactly comfortable.
(RPC-973-A51 rubs implants in the side of his head.)
Dr. Fletcher: You'll want to avoid doing that as much as possible. They're still healing.
RPC-973-A51: Can't help it. I've always been a bit compulsive about things like that. Used to have to be careful of pencils when I had a cast. Otherwise, I’d try to use them to scratch some imaginary itch.
Dr. Fletcher: We can consider upgrading them later to be less intrusive. But for now, we want to be sure they work at all.
RPC-973-A51: I wouldn't worry. Silicon knows his stuff. This is child's play compared to some of what he's done.
Dr. Fletcher: If you're certain you're responding well to the treatments, we can move on to asking about any updates or information you've received.
RPC-973-A51: There are no updates. Why would there be? It's been, what, a year since we got anything useful? God damn it.
(RPC-973-A51 lights a cigarette.)
Dr. Fletcher: Charles, you know we have regulations—
RPC-973-A51: Ann, right now, I don't care. Really. I don't care.
Dr. Fletcher: Do you want to talk about this? Has your cousin given you any information you find troubling?
RPC-973-A51: No, for god's sake! It’s not that. It's just—do you know that I was one of the proteges that old Harris7 recruited?
RPC-973-A51: He always told me I would be one of the big shots, that I would leave my mark on the Authority. And then? My cousin dies, or disappears, or fucking ascends to who knows where. And suddenly, I'm not an up-and-comer. I'm an experiment.
RPC-973-A51: I'm maybe lucky enough to be a useful asset on a good day, but I've been stuck as a researcher since 1963, and half the time, I've just got glorified busywork, all because we're happy to get information from Marty, but we won't accept that he's probably not some demon trying to bring the Authority down from the inside!
Dr. Fletcher: I realize you would find that troubling.
RPC-973-A51: Troubling? Hell, I have it pretty good. Most of the others only ever got to be paper pushers at some site in the Sahara because, of course, they're not going to let them go, and they're not going to put them in charge of anything important.
RPC-973-A51: So now of course, you're going to try and keep me alive for maybe another twenty years–and you never asked my opinion of that of course. (RPC-973-A51 pauses for seven seconds)
RPC-973-A51: Did you know that I've met ██████ maybe… three times in my entire life? Don't want to risk me getting possessed and bumping off the big-shot Site Director. I don't even know how much she knows about her old man; I don't know if you even ever let anyone tell her anything about him..
Dr. Fletcher: We hardly kept her away from her family. Her mother raised her, after all.
RPC-973-A51: God. I know, I know. Deep down, most of what we've had to do with Marty's family makes sense, on some level. But, damn. I've spent most of my life as just one more anomaly, haven't I?
Dr. Fletcher: You and I both know you're more than that. You've done a lot for the Authority.
RPC-973-A51: Yeah… but I could have done as much as ██████ if I'd had the chance.
<End Log>
Closing Statement: After this interview, further experimentation and fine-tuning with RPC-973-A51's treatments and implants continued.
Interviewed: GD-ARCH ("Sculptor") (Retired)
Interviewer: Dr. Silla Sigfinnsdóttir
Foreword: One week after the death of the final RPC-973-A instance, RPC-973-A51, GD-ARCH requested an interview with Dr. Silla, the Head Researcher of RPC-973.
<Begin Log>
Dr. Silla: Ma'am, before we begin, I want to say I'm very sorry for your loss. Charles was a good man.
GD-ARCH: Thank you, Silla. He talked a lot about you. Said you were his finest protege.
(Dr. Silla pauses for eight seconds)
Dr. Silla: I'm… very happy to hear that, ma'am. Now, I understand you had something you wanted to add before we officially reclassified 973 as Neutralized?
GD-ARCH: I'm sure you realize that given my connection with this project, I want to ensure it's as complete as possible. Which is why I’d like it on the record that Charles wasn't the last -A instance.
Dr. Silla: Who else would there be? Everyone else who knew your father well enough to have strong memories passed long before Charles did, and you—
GD-ARCH: —Didn't always tell the Authority things that they didn't need to know.
(Dr. Silla pauses for two seconds)
Dr. Silla: You? You mean for the past sixty years—
GD-ARCH: —And the years before that, of course. The whole time. The whole time.
Dr. Silla: How? I was told I understood it. You weren't even three years old at the time of your father's death.
GD-ARCH: You'd be surprised what you can remember when you have the motivation to. It's always just been this one memory of him, holding me up in the air, smiling at me.GD-ARCH: But that warmth—that love I felt was strong enough. It could anchor him, even as everything else I'd ever seen would fade and pass on in time. And it was enough to carry him to me. And enough that he was right there beside me my whole life, with advice and encouragement.
Dr. Silla: Yes, but why? You had to have known that it would be risky. Not just for yourself, but for the Authority.
GD-ARCH: Yes, I’m aware that there was always concern about infiltration and malign influence–but he’s my father. I know you researchers could never be sure of that. But I could. I know.
Dr. Silla: But why even risk it at all? You could have just stayed as a mid-ranked member of Containment, then you would never have had to worry about being discovered.
GD-ARCH: What would I gain by living in hiding all my life? If I did that, it would be like I was wasting everything my father taught me, and all of the talents that I got from him. I’d be letting him die all over again. Having him in my head the way he always was, well, I couldn’t disappoint him. He always used to tell me, ‘We ██████████’s aren’t quitters, we’re fighters.’
Dr. Silla: Feels like that was a lot of risk just to make your father proud.GD-ARCH: ‘Just’? I wouldn’t say it wasn’t valuable. Of course, I suppose he had his reasons for helping me whenever he could. Frankly, I think he was never too happy about what the Authority had to do to everyone who remembered him. I suppose getting one over on us by helping me out however he could sounded like a good idea. The fact that I ended up in a position to influence the ways the Authority did business was certainly something we could both be happy about.
Dr. Silla: Keeping it a secret all these years couldn’t have been easy.
GD-ARCH: I always regretted that I was never able to tell my mother that I could remember my dad. She always felt so heartbroken, thinking that I'd never be able to know him.
Dr. Silla: I was thinking more of having to spend your entire career hiding secrets, after all of your promotions–and then of course, joining the Directorate about ten years ago.
GD-ARCH: (laughs) I'll admit that there were times that I had some difficulty. Always a little afraid of what would happen if anyone found out. But it didn't matter. I had to do it. From the moment I was recruited, I knew I would leave my mark here. And I've had a hell of a life.
Dr. Silla: Not many people can say they've helped save the world more than once.
GD-ARCH: I've been blessed. And I've managed to give back. But at the end of the day, I grew up with my father's love. And that's something I'm truly grateful for.
<End Log>
Closing Statement: GD-ARCH died in her sleep three weeks after Interview 973-1714. RPC-973 was officially reclassified as Neutralized two weeks later.