#is there even an SCP that is a train? i am curious now

[sigridhawke]

Transport is not my forte with drawing but I feel I have to share the strange SCP (me reading this on a document in dream at the end she was an SCP whoops) train noodle dragon looking kaiju from my dream this morning. She had been contained (hah) in a very small cube for centuries and I let her out *wheeze* she was like a bullet train, completely black save for glowing reds/orange at the windows. Her tail used to be much longer but now its just crumpled trainwreck of carriages. Big horns in place of eyes and she was actually super friendly/grateful to be freed (what did dream me do omg). You could even climb in her mouse which was like the inside of a train carriage as was the rest of her body it was really trippy and cool and I can't stop thinking about her.

[brophyblam]

BLAM Oct. Writing Contest Runner-up

Congratulations to Charlie Judd ‘24 on winning second place in this month’s literary contest with his piece, titled “The Lethe Protocol”!

“Where am I?”

“This is a secure containment facility. For security reasons, I can’t tell you exactly where, but rest assured that nobody will accidentally stumble upon it.”

“Why am I here?”

“Test results show that you have been infected with a pathogen that, if released, could bring an end to Western civilization. You are to be under quarantine until the pathogen has been eliminated.”

“Why don’t I remember anything?”

“That may be a side effect of the treatment. Some slight damage to long-term memory is to be expected. You will likely gain back your memory within the week.”

“And I assume you’ll mark the days somehow? I think I read something about how keeping the lights always on messes up sleep cycles, and-”

“Unfortunately, the lights will not be turned off throughout the quarantine period. Preliminary tests suggest that the effects of the pathogen are heavily linked with circadian rhythms, so the procedure will call for a disruption in that way.”

“How long will it take?”

“That is unclear at this time.”

“Do you know what this thing is? A virus? Bacteria?”

“That is unclear at this time.”

____________________________________________________________________________

The man went to sleep at about 18:00, five hours after he woke up. 

“He seems to be adjusting well.”

“That’s just the first few hours. Give it time, he’ll begin to show signs of mental degradation.”

The first scientist smirked. “I never thought I would get the chance to observe such a fascinating case. How long until you think he... breaks?”

“Now, Emily, this is science. We’re going to find out in due time. No sort of gambling or personal interest should be in play here,” the second researcher carefully enunciated. His colleague couldn’t say those sorts of things, not when they were being recorded. He leaned in closer to her and whispered, “I’ve got twenty bucks that say it’s a week.”

“Deal.”

“I’m actually quite hungry. Could you get us some food from the cafeteria?”

“I did it last night!”

“Really? Oh, that’s right. My mistake.” He made his way over to the door.

“Wilson? Remember to get the-”

“Yeah, the paleo option, I remember, I remember.”

“Just making sure.”

____________________________________________________________________________

The man woke up in the bed. It was completely white, as was everything else in the room. That was the most unremarkable night’s sleep he had ever had.

His eyes scanned the room, taking note of everything that was in there. A sink, a toilet, a closet full of white medical robes and nutrient-rich liquid.

He chose to have breakfast. The liquid wasn’t tasteless, but it was entirely unremarkable. Slightly sweet, with an aftertaste of… mango? No, that wasn’t it. His sense of taste was thrown off. It was some sort of fruit, he decided. 

He spent the next few hours trying to remember anything. His job, his name, even just a face. Absolutely nothing came to the surface. The time slipped by with no meaning, rhyme, or reason to it, and still nothing. The only thing he could look at were the four blank white walls, which seemed to be a reflection of his own state of mind.

“Are you going to take a blood sample now? Or a mouth swab or something? I’m just curious how you’re going to study the illness.”

“We’ve already obtained samples. It’s just taking a while to determine what they are.”

“I would imagine that the type of the pathogen would be identifiable pretty easily. This is a particularly special case, I take it?”

“Yes, it certainly is… special. The Foundation has the best epidemiological and pathological resources in the civilized world available, and all of those are being put towards this cause.”

“The Foundation?”

“I’m sorry, what foundation?”

“You just mentioned a-”

“You must be experiencing slight auditory hallucinations. That seems to be the first stage of the disease.”

“Oh.”

____________________________________________________________________________

“Emily, what was that?”

“What was what?”

“The foundation thing. You can’t try to flex your false-narrative creation skills here. If you contradict yourself, he’ll get wise and there goes the entire experiment. We’d have to wipe his memory again, and you know it’d be a heck of a time getting the grant money for that.”

“Come on. You really think the higher-ups would risk him getting out there? It would be such bad news for this whole operation if even one person escaped with the truth. Frankly,” she sighed, “I don’t think they’d care about the expense of the mind-wipe if the future of the organization were at risk.”

Wilson sighed. “I just feel like it’s reckless nonetheless. You’d still be blamed for it and you’d probably never get a promotion again.”

“I like my current position.”

“Why’d you do it, though?”

“It’s kind of embarrassing…”

“This isn’t something to be shy about.”

“Well, I’ve always just been a fan of the idea of top-secret science experiments and stuff, you know…? There’s this horror creative writing website that centers around that idea called SCP and… I guess I accidentally channeled my inner nerd for a second.”

“Well, I don’t want your insatiable love for SCP roleplay to get in the way of your growth.”

Emily smiled. “Well, if I weren’t into that sort of thing, I probably never would have come here in the first place. Or stayed.”

“You’re here because they asked you to be.”

“I’m here because I said yes.”

The man chuckled. “Well, I’m going home for the night. Just don’t do anything stupid, okay?”

“Scout’s honor.”

____________________________________________________________________________

“What’s going to happen to me? You said this disease could end the world. I take it that it’ll also end me?”

“We’re not sure. As you know, this is still an incipient situation, so we don’t have much information about the effects of the pathogen upon individuals. The information we do have access to, however, indicates that it is highly contagious and possibly dangerous for the world at large.”

The man ruminated on this for a while.

“May I ask your name? I don’t remember anything about anything right now, so it would be nice to know something about this situation.”

“Doctor Angela Johnson.”

“Pleased to meet you, Doctor.”

The man stared at the wall for another few hours and went to sleep again.

____________________________________________________________________________

“Good morning, Emily.”

“Wilson, so great to see you! Last night, I had some rather riveting conversation with our… patient, here.”

“You didn’t let anything slip, did you?”

“Only my amazing fake name. Angela Johnson, M.D. at your service.”

“You use that for every experiment! Would it kill you to be a little more creative sometimes?”

Emily laughed. “You know how Einstein wore the same outfit every day? If I wore myself out creating a new name for every case, that would detract from the energy I can spend on actually helping with the experiment.” She lowered her voice even though only Wilson was around. “Besides, it’s not like this guy could ever report Angela for malpractice.”

“They also couldn’t report, say, Eve O’Deorian.”

“I can’t do an Irish accent! It always just sounds like Crocodile Dundee in an immense amount of pain.”

“Well, it’s time for you to get some rest, guv’na. I’ll take it over from here.” Emily stared at the man through the one-way glass window. “Alright,” she said, “but just so you know…”

She walked over to the silver lab door. “That was Cockney.”

“Ah. Right.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Wilson watched the man sleep. This was the first time he had been given such a large role in this kind of experiment. His official title was “Data Collector and Containment Overseer,” so his job was to monitor the subject, record data, and head the post-experiment data analysis.

Before this, he had been working with Emily as an aide to an analyst who was studying rodent behavioral patterns. Their work in this capacity had been praised as exemplary, so they were accelerated through the ranks more quickly than any other researchers had ever been. This was their first day as “DCCO”s.

The man stayed entirely quiet, without even moving a muscle. He must be in denial about his situation, Wilson decided. This was different from stimulating pain receptors in mouse brains or studying the behavior of infant gerbils separated from their mothers. This is a person, he thought, who can feel true psychological agony beyond simple pain response. Is this really right? He remembered the ethics training from when he joined the organization.

They were given a booklet to go along with the oral presentation. When skimming it, he found a paragraph under the “Ethics of Human Experimentation” section that read:

Many of our researchers grapple with the idea of subjecting human beings to unpleasant experiences for the purpose of scientific advancement. However, within this organization, we choose to go beyond the values of society at large in some cases so that we can gain scientific knowledge unobtainable through conventional methods. This scientific knowledge, in turn, is covertly released back into society. Fear of the law is also a factor in many researchers’ problems with these experiments. However, we assure all our scientists that every action taken within this building is completely exempt from federal and international law. The studies of this institution have been fully and totally approved by the United Nations, so long as the knowledge gained is shared with the world in some way. 

This was just words on a page to him when he read it at orientation. He was never one for the philosophy of ethics. As a general rule, he never thought much about whether his actions were acceptable to some unseen force that supposedly ruled the universe. However, now that he was looking at a real human being subjected to total isolation, he felt… dirty. Sinful, almost. 

This subject was going to be in this chamber for… how long? The higher-ups never informed him or Emily about when this man would be mind-wiped and released back to his old life. He decided to ask when his shift ended and Emily took over. 

____________________________________________________________________________

“Is anyone there?”

A long pause filled the air until a man’s voice responded.

“Hello, sir.”

“Oh. I just wanted to talk to Doctor Johnson a little bit.”

“Oh, well, I guess you are.”

“I mean Angela Johnson.”

“Ah. Well, we share both a last name and an assignment.”

“Okay. That makes sense. Are there any updates on the whole… pathogen... thing?”

“Unfortunately, no. This thing is quite hard to pin down. Top scientists are working on it, though.”

“Good to know.”

“For some… data… would you mind responding to a few questions about your overall health, mentally and physically?”

“Sure.”

“How would you describe your current state of mind?”

“I think I’m just in shock right now. My life, if it goes on from this point, probably won’t ever be the same. It’s just a lot, you know?”

“Yes, yes. I understand. Any physical pain?”

“Not pain exactly, but a lot of… discomfort and grogginess. I feel like I’m at least twenty pounds heavier than I really am.”

“Okay, thank you.”

____________________________________________________________________________

“Wilson, you didn’t fall asleep while checking his vitals, right?”

The scientist found himself with his head resting on a reflective steel desk, being woken up by his partner’s voice.

“Maybe…”

“You’ve got to try to stay awake, man! This is potentially groundbreaking stuff. Nothing to snore at, you know what I mean?”

Wilson groaned. “Emily, we talked about the puns. Please, for the love of all that is holy, stop with the puns.”

“I can’t help it.”

It took a while for the scientist to stand up. When he did, he walked over to Emily.

“Um, can I ask you a question?”

“Fire away.”

“Do you ever think about what we’re putting this guy through? I mean, he’s all alone in there except for our voices now and again. I wouldn’t say that’s exactly a humane thing.”

Emily smirked. “Oh, you tease, you!” She noticed her colleague’s stern, serious face. “Oh, you’re not joking. Well, I wouldn’t have expected you to get all touchy-feely, but I guess I don’t really think about that. Even if he doesn’t particularly enjoy this, the whole world will benefit from this much more than he suffers.”

“We’re destroying his life here! I know this is groundbreaking research and all, but you can’t ignore all the data! Look at Harlow’s Pit of Despair! Look at what that did to people! Don’t pretend like that’s just not particularly enjoying something!”

“Woah, I didn’t expect you to go all Boy Scout on me. Look. You’re not you right now. You’re not acting like yourself. I think the night shift got you all up in your head. Go home, get some rest, and we can continue this conversation when you’re thinking straight.”

Wilson marched out without saying goodbye.

____________________________________________________________________________

“Hello, ma’am?”

“Ah, Doctor Gregory. Sit down, sit down. Have some peppermint.” She handed him a hard candy from the jar on her desk. “How can I help you today?”

“Well, I just wanted to ask for some more information about the isolation experiment I’m performing with Doctor Bueller.”

“Of course. You know, of course, that I can’t provide you with any information above your position.”

“Of course.”

“Good. I just wanted to make sure. What’s your question?”

“What’s the projected timeline for how long this experiment will last? A week or two?”

“Well, if everything goes smoothly, there should be enough resources to keep the subject in the chamber indefinitely.”

“So he could spend the rest of his life in there?”

“Yes, I suppose so. This truly is an amazing opportunity for scientific advancement, no?”

Wilson’s face went pale. “Yes. Truly… truly amazing.”

“Doctor? You seem sick. I think the night shift might have been a shock to your system. Go home, rest up.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

____________________________________________________________________________

The man woke up for what seemed like no more than five minutes and then went right back to sleep. The next thing he knew, he was being shaken awake by a strange man in a white lab coat.

“Come on, we don’t have much time.”

“Okay.”

The man wearing the lab coat pulled him by the arm out a door that seemed to have materialized in the wall. 

“Is the pathogen spreading? What’s happeni-”

“There was never a pathogen. This is all a cruel experiment designed to keep you in isolation for the rest of your life. I’m busting you out.”

The man recognized his voice. “Wait, Doctor Johnson?”

“Not really my name. Come on, we need to go.”

The strange man led him down a pristine white hallway lined with the same lights that adorned his isolation room. After a few seconds, another person in a lab coat came out a door.

The first man in the lab coat jerked him to the side, quickly opened a door, and closed it again. They found themselves in a storage cabinet, with ample amounts of medical masks, thermometers, test tubes, and the like. 

“I’m keeping the door cracked so I can see. I’ll give the all clear, and then we go that way.” He pointed to the left. “We’ll have to run like all get out, okay? Be ready.”

“Uh, okay.”

Time stood still until the man whispered, in the same hushed tone, “Go.”

They busted open the door and ran as fast as they could. Finally, they reached an elevator at the end of the hallway. The man in the lab coat frantically pressed the up arrow again and again. They were greeted by an elevator, just as white and spotless as the rest of the building. 

An old woman wearing that same lab coat was waiting in the elevator, and she cheerily greeted them. “Hello, dears. What floor?”

“Ground level, if you please,” the strange man said. The words were interspersed with heavy breathing and they had a surprising tension to them.

“Excellent choice, dears.” The woman paid no mind to the man’s attire, and acted as though she dealt with things like this every day. She punched in the button with a G on it. The door closed.

Suddenly, she grabbed a pearl-colored walkie-talkie from around her waist and spoke into it.

“Escaped test subject on level B-5, coming to ground floor right now. He seems to have been aided by one of our own.”

The two men looked at each other, all hope dashed within the span of two sentences.

____________________________________________________________________________

“Well, well. How ironic that our best and brightest would betray the organization like this. You knew what you were getting into when you accepted the offer, correct? Why, after all that time and hard work, would you throw it away for… morality?”

“What you’re doing here is wrong! Any decent human person can see that.”

“Only foolish people would think that. In any case, I trust you’ve inferred what the procedure from here would be.”

“You’ll erase my memory, I imagine.”

“That’s just the first part. You see, the Institute has been presented with a problem in recent years. With the omnipresence of the internet in human lives, it’s become increasingly difficult to find people whose absence nobody would notice. As per your agreement from when you started here, you have cut all ties with friends, family, and social media, correct?”

He didn’t respond.

____________________________________________________________________________

“Where am I?”