SCP-7865-1

Link to article: SCP-7865-1.

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```
margin: 2em 0;
```
```
margin: 2em 0;
```
```
margin: 30em 0;
```

:scp-wiki:theme:basalt [info]

```
blockquote
```

[[include :scp-wiki:theme:basalt hidetitle=a| wide=a]]

[[module CSS]]
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[[/module]]


[[div class="blockquote"]]

= **TERMINATION ATTEMPT 7865-1 VIDEO TRANSCRIPT**

------

**DATE:** 01/14/1981

------

**[BEGIN LOG]**

[[div style="margin: 2em 0;"]]
[[/div]]

//[Footage opens with Overseer Representative Latoya Williams calibrating the camera. Focus adjusts to the door to SCP-XXXX’s containment chamber, and once satisfied, Williams enters center frame.]//

**[WILLIAMS]:** Overseer Representative Latoya Williams, January fourth, nineteen eighty-one. SCP-XXXX termination attempt number one.

//[Williams checks her wristwatch.]//

**[WILLIAMS]:** Eleven minutes left.

//[Williams exits frame and the sound of clicking can be heard. Bright lights begin to shine directly at the door. Williams calibrates the camera again, before returning to view.]//

**[WILLIAMS]:** Termination method…

//[Williams pulls a pistol from her holster, displaying it for the camera.]//

**[WILLIAMS]:** Gunfire.

//[Williams checks the gun’s magazine. She reholsters the weapon, then moves to snap the rusted chains on the door with a bolt cutter. The snapped metal is kicked out of the door’s path. After, she checks her wristwatch again.]//

**[WILLIAMS]:** Six minutes.

//[Williams readies her pistol, heaving the door open with her other arm. On the other side, an emaciated middle-aged woman is revealed, curled up on the floor, turning away from the lights. She has both of her arms raised, covering her eyes.]//

**[WILLIAMS]:** Alexandra Hovsky?

//[The woman slowly lowers her arms, shivering and squinting at Williams.]//

**[HOVSKY]:** //[hoarsely]// You know, when the door opened, I kind of just expected a bullet to come flying through.

//[A moment passes.]//

**[WILLIAMS]:** You could’ve cleaned yourself up.

//[Hovsky laughs, but breaks out into a cough.]//

**[HOVSKY]:** I actually did. This is my funeral, after all.

//[Hovsky’s stomach growls loudly, as she presses her hand against her mouth, tensing her shaking body while she retches. Nothing comes up. Williams does not react.]//

**[HOVSKY]:** A few minutes, I guess. You’re waiting ‘til two forty-seven sharp, huh?

//[Williams pulls out the pocket watch.]//

**[HOVSKY]:** //[quivering]// I figured. You know, I've been waiting for this moment for a long time. Looking forward to it, even. Being face to face with someone again, finally. Even if it's the reaper.

//[Williams’ attention is diverted to a noose of bedsheets in the back of the chamber. Hovsky notices her surprise and chuckles.]//

**[HOVSKY]:** It hung itself, really.

**[WILLIAMS]:** I didn’t think you’d surprise me.

**[HOVSKY]:** Well, I never would've expected it to go down this way either. When the room started flooding, I was terrified. I almost thought that was it… that maybe the machine had been off by a few months. But, it wasn't. You guys even dropped off my breakfast on time the next morning, despite whatever the hell happened out there.

**[WILLIAMS]:** You caused quite the mess.

**[HOVSKY]:** Thanks. //[grins]// Good to know I got ‘em good.

//[Silence.]//

**[WILLIAMS]:** Don’t you have any last words?

**[HOVSKY]:** Not really… I can’t honestly say that I've come to terms with this. I’m fucking terrified. Besides, I've never been that good with words.

//[Hovsky sighs.]//

**[HOVSKY]:** Maybe I should say something about Husik? He's the one that got us in this mess… but you know what they say. The first thing you forget is a person’s voice. And nowadays, I can barely remember his face.

//[Hovsky clears her throat.]//

**[HOVSKY]:** Though, even now, I remember everything he taught me. You… you couldn't begin to understand. There are equations that encode everything. There are no anomalies, just statistics.

//[Williams cocks her head.]//

**[HOVSKY]:** I remember the first day we met. Back then we worked together in Almaty, and our jobs were still normal. He brought me to a bakery during our lunch break. I got this pastry with raspberries when he asked me if I had chosen it. And I was so confused by that kind of question, I didn’t even know what he was asking. But he clarified, and told me that he was wondering if I had freely chosen the pastry.

**[HOVSKY]:** Of course I had, it was my favorite. Then… he laughed. I was taken aback, even more confused. He asked another question, whether I //chose// for it to be my favorite. At that point he seemed childish, pedantic. I replied, a little defensive, that I hadn’t chosen my favorite, but I had chosen my pastry. Would I have chosen any other pastry? No, but I //could// have.

**[HOVSKY]:** He laughed even harder, and said matter-of-factly: “I see. Nine times out of ten you would have chosen the same pastry, yet somehow, it becomes a free choice that tenth instance, once you’re knowingly aware of your predicament.”

**[HOVSKY]:** I think about that moment more often than I should. The next day I bought poppyseed pastry, and I regret it.

//[Hovsky crawls forward until she is within the door’s archway.]//

**[HOVSKY]:** I had misunderstood freedom so dearly. After everything, I think it’s fair to confess: I was happy down here. I learned how to do it. I never needed any other choice.

//[Williams makes an expression which is not visible to the camera, prompting Hovsky to react.]//

**[HOVSKY]:** I know you disapprove. I did too. But everything you know and love is reducible to a calculable set of probabilities. //[snorts]// I used to fight with Husik over it all the time. All those petty arguments over some shitty rebranding of nihilism…

**[WILLIAMS]:** For fuck’s sake. You're saying you never had a choice? You made every decision, all the way up until you chose to let that machine decide your death. You decided to die.

//[Hovsky smiles.]//

**[HOVSKY]:** Like I said, you couldn't begin to understand. Husik was right. And yes, I made that choice. I loved-

//[Gunshot.]//

[[div style="margin: 2em 0;"]]
[[/div]]

**[END LOG]**

[[/div]]

[[div style="margin: 30em 0;"]]
[[/div]]

SCP-7865-1

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