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| SCP-1138, currently in the shape of Friedrich Niezshe's letters |
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Item #: SCP-1138-RU
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: The object should be stored inside a safe in Dr. █████ office in Sector ██. For the purpose of research, employees with Level 2 clearance or higher may use the object if authorized by Dr. █████. Handling and reading SCP-1138 is not recommended for employees who have difficulties changing their philosophical convictions. Employees should not argue with the object and question the correctness of the information contained within, even if said criticism is perfectly justified and true.
Every month a researcher studying philosophical concepts (either by duty of service or for personal education) should compose an article containing at least █ references to the object. At least ██ other employees should familiarize themselves with this article; it should be archived afterwards.
Description: SCP-1138 is a book that can take the shape of different philosophers' and/or writers' correspondence. Even though the writing style always corresponds to a given author, vast majority of the letters turned out to be forgeries; only a minor part of them were found to be genuine unsent drafts which took great effort to find. The book seems to choose its author based on the scientific and personal interests of the reader, and its contents depend on reader's beliefs regarding that author's ideas. SCP-1138 always creates information that contradicts the reader's current beliefs (see addendum). In other words, the reader, thinking that a philosopher he knows adhered to a specific opinion, will find letters that explain ideas that directly contradict his beliefs, written out passionately and in great detail. If the reader has no concerns for any philosophical concepts at all, he'll find SCP-1138 to contain letters from people he or she respects (up to his or her parents), criticizing his life position.
Handling and reading the books has various effects. Readers who completely share "their" philosopher's views, fall into a prolonged depression that they compare to being betrayed by a close friend. People that can change their beliefs easily, rejoice at first, sometimes lapsing into euphoria and stating that they "finally found the truth", then become absent-minded and are unable to concentrate on their work. This condition lasts for about a week. Professional researchers who have definite proof of the falsity of SCP-1138's information, experience a strong desire to start a discussion. Should they start it, [DATA EXPUNGED] followed in 24 hours by a stroke which is always lethal. The reason for that may be [DATA EXPUNGED].
Currently there is no way of finding SCP-1138's "neutral" form. In the presence of humans and/or animals the book keeps its previous appearance. Handling SCP-1138 with a remote-controlled robot manipulator led to the book transforming to a tome of Isaac Asimov's letters in which he gave proof that Three Laws of Robotics should not be used in robot creation. First, adherence to that laws will lead to those laws being broken, hence they are useless. Second, robots are more perfect than humans and should not be restrained in their actions regarding humans. The attempt was stopped; the robot and the remote controller used in the experiment were examined. Results of examination showed [DATA EXPUNGED].
If there is no scientific article written about SCP-1138 in a month, the object disappears and reappears in the closest library or a book store that can theoretically contain publications of letters. Therefore, if the book breaks containment, researchers assigned to SCP-1138 should monitor the news and investigate each and every "sensational breakthrough" in philosophy and history.
History: SCP-1138 attracted the Foundation's attention in 19██ when █████ ███████, the leader of the Communist Party of Hungary came out with a harsh criticism of V.I. Lenin, claiming that he had found a collection of letters in which Lenin defined Marxism as a fallacious and harmful theory and proposed cooperation with the Capitalist West. Everybody who spoke against his criticism died in 24 hours, making the situation especially suspicious. █████ ████████'s house was searched; the only anomalous item found was a book that changed its appearance and contents when passed from one person to another.
Later it was found that the object disappears if there isn't an article that references it written in a month. Employees responsible for SCP-1138 got lucky, as the book always reappeared in Sector ██ library and was easily found. There are no known cases of the book's appearance before it attracted the Foundation's attention.
Addendum: Some of the most interesting instances of SCP-1138 are listed here:
- Marcus Tullius Cicero's letters in which he claims that every conflict should be resolved through brute force; the search for compromise based on laws and morality was deemed unnecessary. "Cedant arma togae" was claimed to be "a stupid joke"
- Niccolò Machiavelli's letters that explain negative economical, political and cultural consequences, should the medieval Italy become a united state. He also claims that a ruler should act within the law and ethics and never break these rules.
- Blaise Pascal's letters, describing Christianity as a faith most vile, false and abhorrent to human dignity.
- Friedrich Niezshe's letters, claiming that Christianity and Buddhism are the reason for all humanity's achievements. He also harshly denounces some people's aspiration to "be themselves" and not belong to the social mass.
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky's letters in which he claims that a decent and happy life can only be achieved through denial of the existence of souls and lack of compassion and beneficence.
Dr. █████'s preliminary conclusion: Currently we cannot determine if the object is sapient or not. Maybe it is sapient and creates information that contradicts our beliefs in order to provoke us to argue and become its victims. If that's the case, killing is a way of sustaining its life and the object's behavior is the way it hunts. Maybe the object is not sapient and simply retranslates thoughts from another reality in which philosophers and thinkers came to different ideas. Further study is necessary.