 |
|
| An image of SCP-Φ, in the same condition it was retrieved. |
|---|
Item #: SCP-Φ
Object Class: Safe Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-Φ is to be kept in a small chest under lock and key at Site ██. As SCP-Φ does not pose any immediate threat, it requires no additional security. The permission of one (1) Level 4 personnel is required before SCP-Φ is allowed to be removed for testing.
Addendum Φ-1-9856
All extended testing on SCP-Φ is to be postponed until further notice. No on-site personnel are to have access to SCP-Φ for short-hand testing unless specifically allowed by O5-█. Agents wishing to do research on SCP-Φ must have permission from two (2) separate Level 4 personnel before removal is authorized, and must submit to a voluntary ingestion of a Class A amnesiac after testing, in the event that they grow attracted to SCP-Φ.
"Necessary precautions." - O5-█
Description: SCP-Φ was discovered in an abandoned warehouse in ███████, Switzerland in 19██. The SCP was found located on a single pedestal amongst the remains of thousands of burnt books, next to the newly-deceased body of Dr. Jonathan ████████ (cause of death determined to be suicide by asphyxiation, though the noose he had supposedly used was never located). The local police force had received multiple distress calls over the past █ days about "a series of disturbing screams of 'I solved it!' and 'This is a breakthrough!' coming from the manufacturing plant", wherein they found the corpse and retrieved the book without incident. After the local police chief of ███████ was discovered dead in the same fashion, the book was placed into Foundation custody for further research.
SCP-Φ appears to be a small, 15cmx3cmx25cm book of indeterminable age, bound in leather. Though the front cover of the book appears to have once bore a title, it seems to have faded into non-readability with age. The book contains approximately ███ pages, front to back. Almost all of these pages have been filled entirely with a scrawled handwriting, in a seemingly-archaic language. To subjects who have just been exposed to SCP-Φ, the writing seems like nonsensical jargon, but those who have spent time reading the book claim to be able to decode some of it.
Subjects who are exposed to SCP-Φ express a desire to remain in contact with the book, to keep reading it, and to "continue their research", even in early stages of development. Subjects who spend increasing amounts of time (the exact duration of time is as of yet unknown) with access to SCP-Φ claim that they have "deciphered the hidden code", and are working hard to "find the secret." Subjects claim that the book is full of incomplete equations, and express extreme devotion to completing these equations. When asked what the equations are for, all subjects have unanimously responded in saying "they're the key to unlocking the secret." Upon asking what the "secret" is, subjects falter in speech and become unresponsive for a short while afterwards.
After long exposure to SCP-Φ, subjects become hostile and confrontational when disrupted from reading the book. Subjects will stop bodily functions entirely in favor of reading SCP-Φ, and if action is not taken to sustain these subjects, they may starve themselves to death. Subjects at this point have been observed to stop referring to SCP-Φ as its Foundation name entirely, instead opting for names like "my book", "the book", or in some cases, "my research". Subjects have been reported to mumble these words to themselves, even if nobody else is in the room.
SCP-Φ slowly changes its victims over time, as they become more encompassed in the book. Changes are minor at first, and signs include slight loss of vision, weakness, and apathy in subjects. The book seems to have a corrosive "decay" effect on the subjects that are attracted to it. In some extreme cases, instead of the body decaying away over time, the subject will begin to grow [DATA EXPUNGED].
In the event that any subject undergoes [DATA EXPUNGED], any and all personnel who participated in the testing of the aforementioned subject are to be taken off-site and administered a Class A amnesiac. Any resulting debris is to be removed from the testing room immediately.
SCP-Φ Test Log
Test Subject: Personnel D-9845, two weeks exposure
The following is a recorded conversation, taken on █/██/████.
[Agent ██████ enters the room. D-9845 is sat at a table in the middle of the testing room, eating a sandwich over a plate, as was requested by the personnel.]
Agent ██████: Hello, D-9845. How are you today?
D-9845: Pretty good, actually. You guys got some dry-ass turkey, but at least it's tasty.
Agent ██████: …Noted. Alright, well, enjoy that sandwich. You don't get many privileges like that around here. [Agent ██████ turns to leave, but as he does so, picks up SCP-Φ.]
D-9845: I will… Hey, man, what are you doing?
Agent ██████: What do you mean?
D-9845: What are you doing with the book?
Agent ██████: You mean, SCP-Φ? We need it for testing.
D-9845: SCP-whatever, the book, I don't give a damn, it's my book. What do you mean you "need it for testing?"
Agent ██████: Just that, we need it for testing purposes.
D-9845: Yeah, but it's my book.
Agent ██████: SCP-Φ is Foundation property, D-9845. You should remember that.
D-9845: I don't fucking care, it's my book! I have research to do!
Agent ██████: So do we. That's why I'm taking the SCP with me.
D-9845: N-No, you can't take my book, man. I'm so close. I swear, I'm gonna make a breakthrough on it soon, I swear!
Agent ██████: Sorry. [turns to leave room]
D-9845: Goddammit, give me my fucking BOOK!
[D-9845 stands up, seizes the plate from the table, and throws it at Agent ██████. It hits the back of his head and shatters, leaving him with multiple lacerations. D-9845 runs to Agent ██████ and takes the book back from him.]
D-9845: I… I need it for just a little longer! I need to find out! I need to know!
[Agent ██████ stands, pulls out his issue pistol, and shoots D-9845 in the neck. He falls clutching the book. Agent ██████ is given a demerit for unnecessary use of force.]
Test Subject: D-9856, seven and a half weeks exposure
At 3:██ P.M. on █/█/████, the cameras installed in D-9856's testing room picked up a series of anomalous notes of indeterminable origin, in either an extremely high or low pitch. The subject begins to speak to the cameras in an unknown language (presumed to be of the same language of SCP-Φ), before suddenly switching back to understandable English for a few seconds:
D-9856: I hear them, the voices in the walls, scurrying about like little critters.
D-9856: You don't hear them. You hear with your ears. Your human bodies are… broken. Incorrect.
D-9856: I have seen the words. I know what it means to die.
D-9856: I know the secrets. They told them to me.
D-9856: And you can't hear them.
[At this point, subject D-9856 resumes speaking in an ancient, archaic language, for approximately ██ more seconds, before the cameras cut to static. Seismographs near the area record an intense spike in activity at around the time the cameras short out, reporting a magnitude of █.█ on the Richter scale. Upon manual inspection of the room, Foundation agents concluded, from the nature of the increased radioactivity levels, that the subject had undergone [DATA EXPUNGED], resulting in approximately ██ casualties (it is difficult to determine exactly how many were lost, due to the nature of [DATA EXPUNGED]). Instead of burning paper for fuel, the process seems to work much the same by burning human flesh. Again, as in the original two cases, the noose (supposed method of asphyxiation) could not be located.]
Addendum Φ-1-9856:
"We need to be more careful in how we go about this. Remember, the Foundation motto is to Secure, Contain, and Protect, not… this. All long-term testing is postponed until further notice. We need to be prepared in the event that something like this happens again." - O5-█