They told the mother she was doing the right thing as she handed over her two week old baby.
There was no time for testing. If this didn't work, they were all going to die. Part of him didn't mind that so much. It just wasn't right that this child should have to pay for their mistakes, their sins. Otherwise they learned nothing.
In a rare act of mercy, the scientists sedated the infant before attaching electrodes to her tiny skull and siphoning the innocence from her pure mind. She was too young to have been corrupted by this world yet.
"Transfer complete," one of the lab techs announced. "Activating Morality."
The core's optic lit up at the exact moment the infant's heart stopped beating. That was no coincidence. She now lived inside a metal shell, just like Her.
They were perplexed by the fact that Morality didn't speak, and for a moment they thought that it was a failure, but then it occurred to them: the mind had been a child's, not yet capable of speech, so of course the core could not either.
"Transfer successful," Henry concluded.
God forgive us all.
The mother picked up her baby's body, carried it to the incinerator, and gently gave it to the flames. Soon all that would be left were ashes. Maybe she preferred to forget she ever had a daughter in the first place.
It made him sick.
Doug bolted into the nearest restroom and vomited. He stayed on his knees in the stall, shaking and retching, until he could breathe normally again. Then he just stared at himself in the mirror for a while; it was becoming increasingly difficult to face his own reflection lately without being reminded of what a horrible person he was.
What would Caroline say to all this, if she was even still in there somewhere? Was it justified because it might save their lives?
All in the name of science, huh? Well look where that got you.
The stench of burning flesh haunted him.
This just had to work. It had to. The cost was too great for it to fail. Yet he couldn't bring himself to believe what Henry said. Giving GLaDOS a conscience wouldn't be enough. People could always ignore their conscience. What he'd seen today was proof of that.
Despite Aperture's policy, human lives were a valuable thing.