FoggedThought

"You're serious, aren't you? Like that movie with—"
"Yes, like the movie." Mason stared at Freeman openly. He didn't look like someone who ever watched movies, much less enjoyed them.
"So, whenever the Archival records show that someone was dosed with amnesiacs—"
"Correct. We don't use something as clumsy as drugs. If there were such a miraculous thing, an amnesiac drug would have to be calculated with exacting precision for differing body weights; differing metabolisms; differing tolerances. Everyone has some level of tolerance to a given drug, even if they've never been exposed to it. And, out of every thousand people, you can find at least one who has an atypical reaction."
"Immunity?"
Freeman nodded. "That's one possibility. Death is another. Or some sort of complication, immediate or delayed. We used to use drugs, of course. We calibrated the doses as precisely as possible, but someone did die once in a great while. Worse, from the perspective of containment: some people retained memories, whole or partial. They'd pass careful interrogation, but some or all of their memory would return sometime after they were released back into the general population. That's just not acceptable; especially if you're trying to rearrange the memory of someone who, for instance, holds a position of power in a government antithetical to the Foundation."
He paused, and looked introspective for a moment. "Post-breach surveillance had to be extended. More and more personnel had to be tasked. The cost was astronomical."
Mason risked a guess. "You?"
"Not quite. I didn't start the first applied memetics research. I knew her, though."
"And… well, where is the research now?"
"Oh, it's mostly wrapped up."
"After all breakthroughs they must have made?"
"Well, yes. Once we hit the point of diminishing returns in '69, funding was reduced. People went on to other things. Some of the old guard are still researching memetics for the love of it."
"And all the memetic SCP objects we have?"
"How many of them are Keter-class?"
"Well, there's…"
"Exactly so. Most of them are under lock and key. Of the more troublesome ones, most are extranormal—for the Foundation—and can't be contained or neutralized by application of memetics."
"How do they work?"
"The amnesiac-class memes? Very simply. It turns out that it's relatively difficult to 'undo' or 'erase' memory. On the other hand, it's quite easy to place barriers around memory. The target of an amnesiac meme is merely encouraged not to think about what they know. It's not that they can't remember; it's that they're left with a deep-seated aversion to knowing. It's like a traumatic past, without the trauma. The memories would occasionally resurface in dreams, but we found a few simple tweaks to get past that."
"How long does it take to do this?"
"Originally, when we were doing manual work with memetics? Hours. After a lot of research, we were able to achieve memetic 'compression', using very simplistic universal symbolism. Pre-recorded memetic delivery systems take root in the limbic system."
"Universal symbolism?"
"I can give you more details later."
Mason began to say something, then stopped.
"You may as well ask."
"Have I ever… am I hosting an amnesiac meme?"
"I wouldn't know. I have access to your basic personnel records; psych profile and so on. No one's told me that you are. Do you ever have numbness in your nose?"
"Say again?"
"It's rare, but some of the class-B amnesiacs cause a mild disturbance in the piriform cortex. It usually manifests as a loss of sensation in your nasal passages, or some deadening of your olfactory nerves."
Mason suppressed a sneeze.