Subconscious Exploration: To further investigate the forgotten content from the AVIATION events experienced during SCP-4321's discovery, 50 Foundation personnel trained in lucid dreaming gathered in an uninhabited area intercepting SCP-4321's projected flight path. A separate team of researchers operated Neuron Imaging Engines (NIEs) designed to detect sensory information during REM sleep and convert it into a video format through the use of MRI technology and thaumaturgy. However, due to the abstract nature of dreams, participants were directed to narrate their experience to compare with the detected visuals.
The only subject to undergo an AVIATION event during testing was Researcher Pine. Below is the transcript of the video generated by the NIE:
<Begin Log>
Dream begins. Pines lies awake in his bed. He begins to float through the facility walls.
Pine: I, um, I see I'm the lucky one, I guess. I'll try to keep my commentary professional, but I'm sorry if I, uh, I get caught up in the moment.
Pine exits the facility entirely. The night sky is clear except for a single cloud; presumably SCP-4321.
Pine: It's, uh, it's really pretty out— sorry. Professional. The weather is definitely different. I remember it being overcast. Also I'm, uh, fairly certain it's day time. I'm being pulled toward SCP-4321. Even though I'm lucid, I can't control my ascent much.
Pine continues toward SCP-4321 for thirty five minutes.
Pine: I'm getting closer to the cloud. Just also want to say that, uh, this feels surreal even for a dream. I haven't been able to get flying right in other dreams, um, always feels unnatural. But this feels incredibly natural. The only reason I know I'm being pulled toward the anomaly is that I can't explore the air too much. It feels like it's just inviting me in.
Pine enters the fog surrounding SCP-4321. After three minutes the outline of SCP-4321's main mass can be distinguished.
Pine: I can see it! There's a lot of trees and plants. I think those are, uh, pine trees?
Pine lands softly.
Pine: Never mind. These are palm trees, not pine trees. Dream must've made up its mind. Definitely more humid here than outside, but that's probably because I'm in a big cloud. I'm not feeling pulled toward anything anymore, but I can smell something… almost sweet.
Pine begins moving through the trees. Faint music can be heard.
Pine: This sounds like some sort of electronic music? I think?
As Pine draws closer to the music, the sounds of a crowd also become audible. Pine eventually enters a clearing to see a group of people in varying tropical attire surrounding a pool.
Unidentified Woman: Hey, new guy! Over here!
Pine approaches the young woman (henceforth designated SCP-4321-UW), who offers Pine a brightly colored beverage from the poolside.
Pine: Umm, sorry, I can't. No drinking on the job.
SCP-4321-UW: You're working? That's no fun. C'mon, you're here for us right?
Pine: You're not wrong.
SCP-4321-UW: Then at least take a dip in the pool.
Pine: Um… Oh fine.
Pine removes his shirt and joins SCP-4321-UW by dangling his feet in the water.
Pine: Quite warm.
SCP-4321-UW: It's harder to enjoy a cold pool.
Pine: So, you already seem to know quite a bit about me.
SCP-4321-UW: It's your dream. I'd hope you'd know yourself.
Pine: Very true. So uh, you're a figment of my imagination or part of this island?
SCP-4321-UW: Kinda both? We're like a step removed from an incarnation of your own desires. I believe we've checked off "flight" and "tropical vacation" so far?
Pine: I could always just experience this in my own dreams.
SCP-4321-UW: Oh, don't lie to me. Or yourself. Well, same thing. But you know, it feels different when you're not in control. Feels more real.
SCP-4321-UW slips into the pool.
SCP-4321-UW: C'mon, it's more comfy in here.
Pine follows.
Pine: Um, I guess I now get to ask - do you know why you do this?
SCP-4321-UW: I mean, I guess we just like other people's fantasies? Always kind of fun to put on the skit and all. Been doing it for like, at least a millennium.
Pine: You, uh, you look pretty good for a thousand years old. What moisturizer do you use?
SCP-4321-UW: [laughs] You know, you're not the first to say that line, but it's still funny.
Pine: You just float around and give off nice dreams?
SCP-4321-UW: I mean, we also have a storage.
Pine: A storage? Of dreams?
SCP-4321-UW: A collection is a better word for it really.
Pine: Can you, uh, show me?
SCP-4321-UW: Of course! You're about to be a part of it anyways.
Pine: Excuse me?
SCP-4321-UW looks at the water around Pine. It is now filled with pieces of Pine's lower body.
Pine: Wait wha—
Pine's head is shoved into the water. Transmission ends. Pine awakes.
<End Log>
During subsequent questioning about the dream, Pine could only recall the sensation of flight, although he described this sensation as "mild" and "dulled".
Physical Exploration: To record the physical features of SCP-4321 and compare them to the results of the previous experiment, MTF Lambda-5 ("White Rabbits") accompanied by Researcher Pine were deployed to investigate and explore the physical landmass of SCP-4321. A member of MTF Omicron Rho ("The Dream Team") joined the expedition as well to give insight into any subconscious or dream-related anomalies encountered during the expedition.
Operation Outline: The team will be delivered to SCP-4321 via a helicopter. The exploration team will operate for at most one hour before exiting SCP-4321.
Exploration Team Members: Tanya Hart (Lambda-5), Tyler Dubois (Lambda-5), Juan Tierez (Lambda-5), Holly Trivera (Omicon Rho), Edgar Pine
<Begin Log>
The helicopter approaches SCP-4321. The exploration team activates their recording equipment.
Hart: Can we get a last minute comms check? We're about to touch down.
Dubois: Check?
Tierez: Check.
Trivera: Checkerino.
A brief pause.
Hart: Edgar!
Pine: Right, right. Uh, Sorry.
Dubois: Are you ok? You've been quiet all flight.
Pine: Yeah, I'm fine. Just feeling a little weird is all.
Dubois: I thought you liked flying?
Pine: No, it's not that. It's just, uh — I'm fine.
Dubois: Alright then.
The helicopter lands on SCP-4321. The team disembarks. The majority of SCP-4321 is covered with miscolored flora. Purple roots are found sporadically protruding from the ground.
Trivera: This doesn't look like a tropical paradise.
Hart: Dubois, can you take some samples of the black grass?
Tierez: And the trees. Pine trees aren't supposed to be this color either.
Hart: [to Pine] Can you show us where you went? Or is the landscape too unfamiliar? Edgar?
Pine: What? Oh yeah sure.
Hart: Are you certain you're fine?
Trivera: Give the guy some time. I'd be shook too if my palm tree paradise turned out to be some sort of forest of forbidden darkness.
Hart glares at Trivera.
Trivera: C'mon, I can crack a joke. Edgar and I go way back, he can take it. We'd spend all lunch break going back and forth over quips like that.
Pine: That's one way to put it. I think I remember which way I went though.
Hart, Tierez and Trivera follow Pine deeper into SCP-4321 while Dubois collects samples. Tierez moves a tree branch out of his way, which snaps it. Purple sap leaks from the point of breakage.
Hart: Tierez!
Tierez: I didn't mean to break it!
Trivera inspects the sap, rubbing some between her fingers.
Hart: What is it?
Trivera: It just, it's hard to convey, but this sap feels potent?
Tierez: I'll grab some samples.
Dubois: [through each member's ear piece] Hey, you guys out there?
Hart: [to Dubois] We are.
Dubois: Good, good. Just wanted to report that after digging around, I found a skeleton. Probably the size of a small animal? Going to see if I can find any more.
Hart: Alright, thanks for the update. [to Pine] You remember how far it is until the pool place?
Pine: Shouldn't be too much further.
Hart: Tierez, can you just get Dubois over here and help you gather as much sap as you can? I have a feeling that command are going to want to get their hands on as much as possible.
Tierez: Yes Ma'am.
Hart, Trivera and Pine proceed further into SCP-4321. The purple roots sticking out of the ground become more prevalent over time. After twenty minutes the three arrive at a clearing with a pond of purple liquid in the center of it. Purple roots extend in all directions from the pool. The pool occasionally bubbles.
Trivera: Finally. Thought you said it shouldn't be too much further?
Pine: I mean, I thought it wouldn't…
Hart: Is it just me, or does this pool look like a heart? Complete with veins and everything.
Pine: You think it's alive?
Hart: It spoke to you in your dream.
Pine: But maybe I projected that?
Trivera approaches and kneels next to the pool.
Trivera: This liquid, it feels almost conscious. Like, little glints of thought are entering my mind. Nothing big, but something else is definitely there.
Hart: So, it is alive?
Trivera: Not quite, but it can dream. And its dreams probably aren't the size of ours. They'd be bigger. Hell, it feels overwhelming even here in the land of the waking.
Hart: Any idea of what it's dreaming about?
Trivera: Not really. Although, to guess off Pine's video, probably us.
Pine: Can we, uh, can we head back soon? I don't feel comfortable here. It feels pressuring.
Hart: That's fine, I think we've seen enough.
The team returns to the helicopter with samples of both the sap and various flora from SCP-4321. The flight to command is largely uneventful.
<End Log>
Biological Analysis: Eight sets of bones were recovered from the physical exploration of SCP-4321. Analysis confirmed that each set belonged to a species of bird. Below is a summary of the results:
Species |
Common Name |
Notes |
Anomalopteryx didiformis |
Bush Moa |
Matched two of the bone sets. |
Apteryx owenii |
Little Spotted Kiwi |
Matched three of the bone sets. |
Kumimanu biceae |
Giant Penguin |
Matched two of the bone sets. |
Harpagornis moorei |
Haast's Eagle |
Matched one bone set. Wing bones were heavily fractured. |