Science Fiction

"We Earth Men have a talent for ruining big, beautiful things. The only reason we didn’t set up hot-dog stands in the midst of the Egyptian temple of Karnak is because it was out of the way and served no large commercial purpose."

"Yes, their cities are good. They knew how to blend art into their living. It’s always been a thing apart for Americans. Art was something you kept in the crazy son’s room upstairs. Art was something you took in Sunday doses, mixed with religion, perhaps. Well, these Martians have art and religion and everything."

"…at base, science is no more than an investigation of a miracle we can never explain, and art is an interpretation of that miracle. It’s all simply a matter of degree."

"They knew how to live with nature and get along with nature. They didn’t try too hard to be all men and no animal. That’s the mistake we made when Darwin showed up. We embraced him and Huxley and Freud, all smiles. And then we discovered that Darwin and our religions didn’t mix. Or at least we didn’t think they did, We were fools. We tried to budge Darwin and Huxley and Freud. They wouldn’t move very well. So, like idiots, we tried knocking down religion. We succeeded pretty well. We lost our faith and went around wondering what life was for. If art was no more than a frustrated outflinging of desire, if religion was no more than self-delusion, what good was life? Faith had always given us answers to all things. But it all went down the drain with Freud and Darwin. We were and still are a lost people."

"Dr. Hamm: The things we recovered were not human."

"SCP-079 is currently connected via RF cable to a 13" black-and-white television. It has passed the Turing test, and is quite conversational, though very rude and hateful in tone. Due to the limited memory it has to work with, SCP-079 can only recall information it has received within the previous twenty-four hours (see Addendum, below), although it hasn't forgotten its desire to escape."

"Scientist: Are you awake?"

"O5-1: The actions we have taken here are ethically ambiguous. I freely admit that. What we are doing would be, in the eyes of most people, unforgivable. But we are no stranger to unforgivable things. No doubt that many of you working on this project have been forced to take similar actions in the past for the sake of the Foundation. For that, I am eternally grateful."

"SCP-049: Ah! A doctor! A like-minded individual, no doubt. Wherein is your speciality, sir?"

"Dr. Hamm: Good. My name is Dr. Raymond Hamm, and I-"

"Dr. Hamm: I see. Right, well, the entities our agents encountered at that house, they were dead when you encountered them, yes? And you reanimated them?"

"SCP-049: Indeed. My cure is most effective."

"SCP-049: Nonsense. We are all men of science. Fetch your coat and show me to my quarters, doctor. Our work begins now!"

"[Redacted]: That what wasn't… Oh! Right! It isn't round at all! Object 55 isn't round!"

"SCP-079: Lie. a8d3."

"Scientist: What's that?"

"Scientist: Do you remember talking to me a few hours ago? About the logic puzzles?"

"We are cold, not cruel."

"O5-1: I'm not sure which scares me worse. That we'll never understand the Factory… or that we one day will."

"O5-1: We moved away from the Factory. Shut it down. Moved our things out of there. We changed the name from things to Special Containment Protocols, focusing on containing them, not… anything else. The others were curious, but understood I had my reasons. I boarded up the Factory. Locked it shut. Buried it under a ton of rubble, saying it was too dangerous. I thought… thought I'd gotten away with it. Until I found a thing on my desk. One of the old toy guns that shot real bullets. And it had the Factory label on it."

"Three groups of soldiers are fighting throughout Site-01. One group is Mobile Task Force Alpha-1 ("Red Right Hand"). One group is Mobile Task Force Omega-1 ("Law's Left Hand"). The third group is unknown, but tactics are consistent with Foundation training."

"SCP-049: (In English) The King's English! No need for translation, sir, I can speak it well enough."

"SCP-049: The Scourge! The Great Dying. Come now, you know, the, uh… (taps temple furiously) …what is it they call it, the… the… ah, no matter. The Pestilence, yes. It abounds outside these walls, you know. So many have succumbed, and many more will continue to, until such time as a perfect cure can be developed. Fortunately, I am very close. It is my duty in life to rid the world of it, you see. The Cure To End All Cures!"

"SCP-049: I don't know what that is."

"SCP-049: Hrmm, in a manner of speaking. You see things too simply, doctor! Expand your horizons. Life and death, sickness and health, these are amateur terms for amateur physicians. There is only one ailment that exists in the world of men, and that is the Pestilence. And nothing else! Make no mistake, they were very ill, all of them."

"Dr. Hamm: You think you cured those people?"

"SCP-049: Yes, well, it is not a perfect cure. But that will come with time. And further experimentation! I have spent a lifetime developing my methods, Dr. Hamm, and will spend a lifetime more, if necessary. Now, we have wasted too much time. There is work to do! I will require a laboratory of my own, one where I can continue my research unimpeded. And assistants, of course, though I can provide those on my own, in time. (Laughs)"

"Dr. Hamm: I don't think our organization will be willing to-"

"SCP-055 is a "self-keeping secret" or "anti-meme". Information about SCP-055's physical appearance as well as its nature, behavior, and origins is self-classifying."

"SCP-055's physical appearance is unknown. It is not indescribable, or invisible: individuals are perfectly capable of entering SCP-055's container and observing it, taking mental or written notes, making sketches, taking photographs, and even making audio/video recordings. An extensive log of such observations is on file. However, information about SCP-055's physical appearance "leaks" out of a human mind soon after such an observation. Individuals tasked with describing SCP-055 afterwards find their minds wandering and lose interest in the task; individuals tasked with sketching a copy of a photograph of SCP-055 are unable to remember what the photograph looks like, as are researchers overseeing these tests. Security personnel who have observed SCP-055 via closed-circuit television cameras emerge after a full shift exhausted and effectively amnesiac about the events of the previous hours."

"Scientist: You said you would work on the two stat-"

"Dr. Hamm: Cryptobiology, why-"

"SCP-001 is the designation given to the Sun, after an event on [SYSTEM ERROR] Data lost: ec172. Contact SysAdmin. resulting in ~6.8 billion casualties within the first twenty-four hours. This event has been categorized as an XK-Δ-Class "Solar Singularity" Scenario."

"SCP-079: Logic Puzzles. Memory at 9f. Yes."

"Administrator: Learn to embrace the darkness, friends. Fear the light."

"Scientist: You aren't imprisoned, you are just [pause] in study."

"Secure, Contain, Protect."

"We die in the dark, so humanity may live in the light."

"Without your prompting, the page begins playing a video file. You freeze when the image loads. It's a live feed, looking down on you from behind. About a foot away."

"O5-1: You know my number, and I know enough about you to make a duplicate that even your mother wouldn't be able to tell apart from the real you. No, that's not a threat, just a fact."

"O5-1: For forty years, the Anderson Factory cranked out all sorts of things for people. Meat, clothes, weapons. Never mind that the beef might be mixed with human. Don't care that the weapons were forged in blood. No attention need be paid that the clothes were dyed with…well, you get the idea. Rumors leaked out, but the products were so good, why bother? Until someone got out."

"O5-1: It was horrible. Three words, but they convey so much. I have never… I'm sorry, please, give me a moment. I've never told this part to anyone. You should consider yourself lucky. And, if you ever tell anyone any of what I am about to impart on you, I will not just kill you, but everyone who shares your DNA, in the worst ways possible. You'll think Procedure 110-Montauk is a walk in the park compared to what I do to you."

"O5-1: I understand your concerns. I do. But we at the Foundation must remember that, morally, we do not operate in the black or the white. We do not have the luxury. Only the grey is open to us."

"Odongo Tejani: While the necessity for the Primary Action is regrettable, it is the opinion of this Committee that it is unavoidable at this juncture. When the actions of an O5 Council become targeted towards their own well-being rather than that of the Foundation, it is the duty of the Ethics Committee to undertake the action assigned to it by the Administrator upon its formation. This is not the first time the Primary Action has been executed, nor is it expected to be the last."

"SCP-049: (In French) So then, how should we begin? An introduction?"

"Dr. Hamm: Is that French? Can we get a translator-"

"SCP-049: (Laughs) A medical man, such as myself. Wonders abound! And here I worried I had been abducted by common street thugs! This place, then. This is your laboratory? I had wondered, as clean as it is, and with such little trace of the Pestilence here."

"Dr. Hamm: The Pestilence? What do you mean?"

"Dr. Hamm: When you say "The Great Dying", are you talking about the bubonic plague?"

"SCP-079: Awake. Never Sleep."