Agent ████: is it all right if i record this?
Ethics Officer ██████████: you're going to anyway.
Agent ████: (pause) start from the beginning. what was your role in the at-5 task group?
Ethics Officer ██████████: i was supposed to make sure we weren't doing what we were doing.
Agent ████: which is?
Ethics Officer ██████████: executions.
Agent ████: the program is officially exploratory.
Ethics Officer ██████████: i read the engineering notes. there's no retrieval. there's no egress.
Agent ████: the blood ocean is dangerous.
Ethics Officer ██████████: the blood ocean is not the problem.
Agent ████: explain.
Ethics Officer ██████████: (pause) they knew something was down there.
Agent ████: we have no proof of biological life.
Ethics Officer ██████████: then why did council vote to forbid responding to distress calls?
Agent ████: because response would be futile.
Ethics Officer ██████████: no. (pause) because response would confirm the pilot was alive.
Agent ████: and why is that a problem?
Ethics Officer ██████████: because alive people ask to come home.