SCP Foundation

June 8th, 2020:

First day on the job as acting HMCL Supervisor for SCP-5041. It's a Keter, unlike my previous assignments (all Safe) — guess that it's being treated at a lower level than the Object Class would indicate. Previous HMCL Supervisor had been on the job for nearly forty years, it looks like, before retiring. It's a stable job — some might say a dead end.

I do find it troubling, however, that there isn't any proper information about the anomaly itself. That's a little worrying, if you ask me. This thing has apparently been in Foundation containment since the beginning, and we don't know anything about it. Containment Procedures forbid almost any kind of testing, so I'll have to be digging into the archives for the investigation. Won't be able to get an amendment if they're stable (as it would appear).

Let's see what I can scrape from the Con Procs and Description:

• Hazardous to perceive? Extends to all forms, apparently — sight and sound both potential vectors. Cognitohazard or memetic likely.
• Notes can be read, but only once — effect extends to materials produced by the entity, but not significant? Not automatically lethal or not that dangerous
• Immortal, 300+ years old. Unclear if this property relates to main sensory anomaly.
  • Look into specific times for initial containment. Contained in oldest building at first French site.
  • Still requires food/drink to live? Is food actually necessary or has other purpose — as suggested by dessert/wine privileges. Why does it get those?

June 9th, 2020:

Investigation starts at the beginning. Information about SCP-5041 from the time before it came into the Foundation is sparse, but we do know a little. It was originally contained by the Estate noir (French Foundation precursor, although more of an Insurgency precursor in all honesty), beginning in 1713. We've got this document from them:

There was evidently a second page/more to this letter, but it was completely absent from the records. Unclear if it was lost before or after the Foundation formed, or if the Estate noir lost it in the past. Possible it was destroyed in the Foundation Civil War. Either way, we don't have it, and only have the first half of the letter.

Salient points:

• Estate noir didn't expect the prisoner to be able to be released. Implication that this is distinct from the reason it's in containment/any sense of justice/punishment for actions.
• Killed(?) a lot of people in the south of France, almost totally — antimemetic in some capacity, it seems? Not certain about that (can still remember it myself).
• It looks like most of the food provisions are because the Estate noir were being polite, and the Foundation simply kept up the traditions when they inherited the object. No real reason to have them, most likely.
  • Sunlight is set apart from the rest and called out as being more important. Seems key?
• Reference to the historical Man in the Iron Mask — some of the containment might be a reference to that, not because it was specifically tailored to 5041 itself? Need to review the history of that case, see if there's any reasoning I can't scrape out of it.
• Interesting note that stories can't have people in them. Weird that's the biggest/only concern (although exceedingly broad).
• Key points as I see them here are the mental state of the prisoner — keeping him alright — and making sure he has almost no contact with the outside world. Not just about making sure we don't know about him, but that he doesn't know about us either.

June 12th, 2020:

Was digging late last night into old records and the like (lead about the Man in the Iron Mask didn't go anywhere — that case is too much of a mystery itself). Lots of old records, most of it unhelpful. Almost passed out from low blood sugar — feel like I might be putting myself on the line here. Warnings about infohazards are also in that vein. But still! I have to do this for myself the Foundation.

Went for a review of more information, and was able to find the following interview log from 1988. It's the work of old Doctor Lebeau (now retired with a dose of amnestics) and was buried under a mountain of paperwork (what he had to go through to get it approved). Took him over a year to do that — I'll start the processes but it'll take a while to do it myself.

He deleted the actual audio but left this translation lying around. Not sure if that was intentional, but I have it now. I'm not sure what to make of it other than the emphasis that the prisoner wants to be left alone (can't have that as a standard and unchallenged practice). It rejected/denied any attempts to learn anything about it, and just told Lebeau to fuck off. That's not the way anomalies talk to us.

I feel like I'm getting close to cracking this thing. I can imagine where it might take me. Nice reward for all my troubles.

June 15th, 2020:

The following note was dropped out of the dropbox today, into the antechamber.

Translated from the original French: "Please cease your current course of action, sir."

Decided not to listen to this warning (has to be a warning, given effects). Too close to stop now. I'm almost there. I'm getting to the bottom of this, even if it kills me. We need to know.

One scrap of information I realized from this: it's been aware of me investigating. There's been no contact with it in the slightest since I started this whole investigation. It has to have a precognition of the outside world somehow… And it somehow learned that I was a man? Could just be an assumption, can't make any assumptions based on that.

June 17th, 2020:

I've got it!

I figured it all out, every last bit. A theory that explains just about every last detail of the anomaly. I've written up a new draft of the description, and I'll be submitting it to the Site Director tomorrow. It's flawless, and we should be able to test it without much consequence.

And like I expected, much of the current containment routine is unnecessary! So we'll be able to make some significant revisions to that (no need for all the expenses that we're currently dealing with) to bring it in line with the standards for humanoids. Nothing too special about this one that needs to get dessert on a weekly basis. That's way out of line.

So not only am I the one to figure out an anomaly that's had us stumped for three-hundred years, I'm the one who refines the containment procedures for it! This is perfect, I couldn't have asked for a better assignment. Doctor Lebeau was a "genius" but he never even came close to figuring this thing out. (Guess I'll have to thank him for what little research I got from him, but whatever.)

So much for a dead-end career — I'll be able to leverage this hard. Promotions, advancement, it's all opening up now for me.

June 20th, 2020:

Well.

I've had a rough few days.

Thursday — I woke up to find out that SCP-5041 wasn't taking breakfast in the morning. Nothing too unusual and no alarm was raised — it had done that before. But then it didn't take lunch either, and I began to suspect something was wrong. It took until nearly dinner time (also rejected) before I got a solution in place.

Lowest grade .aic we have, installed into the automated roof cleaner. Scan the containment cell for signs of life, tell us on the status of SCP-5041. Got the following result back:

I didn't make up the mind to break containment and enter the cell until a few hours after that. Sent a low-risk D-Class (former medical practitioner — rare resource) into the cell to give an autopsy and verify the death. Came back to confirm the .aic's conclusion (and no sign of infohazardous contamination either).

Got the body extracted from the containment cell and sent it to the morgue for a full inspection. Didn't hear back from them until yesterday, when they processed the autopsy. Cause of death was diabetic ketoacidosis of all things, dated to occur around the time of evening on the 17th. Incredibly bizarre — it must have developed that recently since it hadn't been treated in the past and made it this far. Makes me worry about myself.

I spent today trying to clean out the cell and perform a thorough investigation of the contents, or at least planning to do so, when my clearance got abruptly shut off. Locked out of nearly everything, and my office door isn't opening. I've been trapped in here, remotely. But there's one thing that really worries me.

There's an unopened email from the Ethics Committee in my inbox.