Report 4699-1, 19/12/2018: Initial Research Findings for Director Summers
We conducted a series of several tests on the object; the usual standards for this kind of thing. Two D-classes were sent through, fully manned with tethers and cameras, but the cameras cut out and the tether- well, it seemed as if it had been broken off at the point of entry. But our scans are all consistent- there's definitely something behind it, we just have no way of breaking through.
Dr. Jimenez would like to engage in further D-class testing, with your approval. He would also like additional funding for the acquisition of the new Hollis-Meyerson Autocams, due to their successful trial at the Unreality Division last month in exploring conventionally unreachable transdimensional anomalies.
~Junior Researcher Holloway
Director's Response: Request granted, but inform Rafael that we're not made of money. I've already had to go begging to Unreality for their new toys once this month, and I'd rather not owe anyone money over the Christmas break.
I would also like one of you to investigate potential origins for this thing in more detail than the initial taskforce. I recommend Dr. Tabrizi, as he has expressed an interest in manifestation tracking work in the past, but ultimately I'll leave this at Rafael's discretion.
Extract from the personal journal of Husayn Tabrizi, 21/12/2018
I've been looking into the origins of this thing for Dr. Rodrigo (apparently Summers herself recommended me- no idea she even knew I existed). It's exciting to be put on this kind of detail, but I wish I had more to go on. The taskforce's notes were pretty useless- last time that part of the archives had been checked was '06, and with the differing filing systems they had no way of knowing when it arrived.
I've really wanted to work here, to do stuff like this, for so long. I'm glad to have the opportunity, but it's so frustrating. I'm sure it's just my lack of experience, but this is a major breach and I really hope I can do it justice. Gotta keep moving, that's what my parents always said. We're only the sum of our actions, after all.
Haven't seen Joaquin around recently. He's a good cat- I'm hoping if he likes the food I've been leaving for him, he'll be a more permanent presence. None of it's been eaten for a few days, though.
Interview 4699-1
Interviewer: Senior Researcher Rodrigo
Interviewee: Researcher Sarah Jones
Date: 24/12/2018
<Begin Log>
Dr. Rodrigo: Hey, Sarah.
Dr. Jones: Hi, Raf. Sorry about, well, all of this.
Dr. Rodrigo: It's quite alright. I know how hard it can be, a project as baffling as this. I remember when they got me to piece together 3005's files before my promotion here- it was a nightmare, trying to figure out everything that was going on, when we didn't even know what it was. I sometimes think the sites are too autonomous- more immediate data sharing beyond the database entries would be so much more convenient.
Dr. Jones does not respond.
Dr. Rodrigo: Anyway… can you tell me what happened last night?
Dr. Jones: I- I just wanted to see it.
Dr. Rodrigo: Sarah, we have procedures for this. If you want to do a bit of work on your off-time, nobody's going to mind.
Dr. Jones: It wasn't that, I… what do you think is behind it, Raf?
Dr. Rodrigo: Me? I don't know. There are innumerable possible-
Dr. Jones: Not what you know, Raf, what you think. It's just a door. We know something's behind it, a real, physical place. What does your gut tell you?
Dr. Rodrigo: I don't know. Someone's own private retreat, maybe? Some pleasure place? Would explain why the D-classes are so reluctant to return…
Dr. Jones does not respond.
Dr. Rodrigo: Why, what do you think it is?
Dr. Jones: I don't know. That's just it. Shouldn't I have some idea? Isn't that what most people do? I used to. I've just been so… under the weather recently.
Dr. Rodrigo: It's OK. It's natural. Happens to all of us. But I need you sharp, Sarah. Wandering into containment lockers at 2 in the morning is cause for concern, and clear evidence you're not getting enough sleep.
Dr. Jones: It's just- I'm so tired, all the time, like I never get any time off, and I was scheduled for leave, family leave, over Christmas-
Dr. Rodrigo: Ah, of course. I remember. Look, I sympathise, I really do, but you've got to stay with me, here. I need you to help mentor the juniors, and I need that analytic brain of yours, OK?
Dr. Jones: O-ok.
Dr. Rodrigo: Good. You can take the rest of the day off, but I'll need you again tomorrow. Thanks for coming.
Dr. Jones: Of course, Raf.
Dr. Rodrigo rises and exits the room.
Dr. Jones: Any time.
<End Log>
Report 4699-5, 27/12/2018: Regular Report for Director Summers
Still no progress on the report; however, of notable concern are the repeated nightly visits we have seen by several members of site personnel to the anomaly's chambers. I am afraid I contravened Dr. Rodrigo's orders by testing the door for cognitohazards or infohazards, but nothing came up; it's completely clean, by all accounts.
Dr. Rodrigo is hopeful, however, of continued success- the arrival of the Autocams today should improve things greatly, we hope.
~Junior Researcher Holloway
Director's Response: This is simply not good enough. None of you seem to understand the seriousness of this anomaly; I have a personal interest in seeing it through. I'll be coming down tomorrow to talk to you all, and inspect the anomaly personally. This will not do.
Note by unknown research team member, 29/12/2018
It stares at you. It has no eyes, and still it stares.
There's no cognitohazard I can feel, just the desire to know. It's a fragment of a hair away. I put my arm in it yesterday, and I felt nothing, and I pulled it back out again and it was fine. But the tethers don't work that way. So there must be an intelligence behind it.
But what if there isn't? Four researchers and director looking at it, and none of us can discern a thing. Maybe it just doesn't like the tether material. Maybe we should alter it.
Seven D-classes. I don't know where they went. Do we have blood on our hands? I don't know. I can't even tell if we're evil or not any more. It's just… there, all the stuff we're meant to find, and we're bashing our heads against the frame and not understanding anything. It's so fucking noisy in my head.
Maybe it's quieter in there.
Extract from the personal journal of Husayn Tabrizi, 30/12/2018
It happened, like we all knew it would. Someone went inside, voluntarily.
Kirk Douglas, part of the janitorial staff. I liked Kirk. "No relation", he'd always say, a terrible joke but something that made him human. Old, plump, greying hair. A smile.
How many D-classes did we send in there? How much blood is on our hands? We're never going to figure it out. We should lock it away and never look at it again.
Still got nowhere on the origins. Checked the cameras, the shipping transcripts, the air in the damn room for thaumaturgy. All I've got is boxes and orders that could be it, test results that are ambiguous. It's so predictable and so unknown, I love it and I hate it.
No sign of Joaquin. Did someone let him into the containment areas?
Note from Director Summers, 05/01/2019: Foundation computers are not meant for personal use, Husayn. I took a risk when I assigned this sub-project to a junior like you, and I expected results. Obviously I was mistaken. You are hereby removed from the study of this SCP with immediate effect; report to Personnel for reassignment at your earliest convenience.
The door is my project. Mine. I know you've been spying for Unreality. I'm not going to stand for this. We are Site 189, and we will get to the bottom of this mystery without their help.
It's probably you, isn't it? You're the reason they've been going in droves.
Incident Log 4699-43
Date: 12/01/2019
<Begin Log>
Dr. Jones is standing in front of SCP-4699. She reaches out a hand to touch it, but is interrupted by the facility door abruptly opening and Dr. Rodrigo walking in.
Dr. Rodrigo: Sarah. Stop, please.
Dr. Jones: You don't want me to stop, Raf. Not really.
Dr. Rodrigo: Madre de dios… this has gone too far. This is absurd. We are scientists. We're not going to be defeated by this mystery, or- or sucked into this fucking hole. There's clearly a cognitohazard going on here-
Dr. Jones: We tested it. Turned up nothing.
Dr. Rodrigo: We could have been mistaken. We've been mistaken before. Tests aren't always accurate.
Dr. Jones: Maybe. It's like the stuff Husayn was doing, before Summers… everything he found was ambiguous too. Is that what this thing is? A thing that drives you mad with being so fucking banal and maddening?
Dr. Rodrigo: This- no. The tests were right, they must have been. This is just a door, Sarah, a door to another world, and we'll pierce the veil without losing anyone else. The site… I should have done something sooner. Summers has gone mad, keeps insisting nothing wrong when three quarters of the staff have poured into that thing? None of them are happy, all so tired…
Dr. Jones: Maybe that's what happens when you don't give them holidays.
Dr. Rodrigo: This has nothing to do with me. And this isn't how it happens. Three dozen people don't just choose to go away.
Dr. Jones: We're stuck here, Raf, in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by dull anomalies, without having seen our families for months. We're tired, lonely. I just… I just want a little rest, and maybe, in the door…
Dr. Rodrigo: No- no, look, okay, I admit I've been harsh, Summers too, but you're talking about entering some unknown, fucking, veil-thing! Anything could be behind there! You could be dead! I'm-
Dr. Jones: You're going to follow me. It's what happens, Raf. There's nothing left out here. I just want to rest. Just let me rest.
Dr. Rodrigo: Sarah- Sarah, no, no, please no, SARAH-
Dr. Jones enters SCP-4699.
Dr. Rodrigo: Sarah… Sarah…
<End log>
Report 4699-54, Unknown date mid-January: fucking read this already summers please
Rodrigo's gone, you're holed up in your office, we're dropping like flies. I don't know what you did but please, please, open up the blast doors. I'm stuck down here with Husayn and he's babbling away about failure or something, I don't know.
I have a theory- a working theory. This thing was placed here by someone, somewhere, to fuck with us, lure us, whatever. We're under its spell. We can't keep acting like everyone's being normal. We've got to try. Preserving normalcy's what we do, right? It- it has to be a cognitohazard, or something. We've faced mysteries before that didn't do this!
You're like a mother to me, Carol. You helped me here, you helped me improve, you can't just break down now. I want to know what's on the other side as much as you do, but I want to get out of here, I want to breathe the air again. I just want to feel something. Open the locks. Open the locks, Summers. I just want to get out.
~Junior Researcher Holloway
Director's Response: Okay, Olivia, I opened the doors. It seemed you'd already found another way out. What a shame.
You're a spy. You're all spies. I have to get out of here, where they won't follow me. It's all so grey, and the lights are blinding.
Beryl Liamsson. Captain John Kirby. Clement Tortuga. Veronica Noches. Malcolm Lloyd. Anne Doggett. Tai Eisenstein. These were the D-classes we sent before us. Thought I'd look it up, since nobody else would.
Extract from the personal journal of Husayn Tabrizi, Unknown date.
I hear them upstairs. They're coming to save us, coming to reap what's due. Olive wiped the drives, and I'm the last one left.
And they'll take me back, like the others, like the anomalies. And they'll put me in a cage and poke and prod me and let me out and I'll be smiling, normal, happy, and they'll never understand, and nobody will ever understand, and it'll all be just as empty.
They'll never understand.
Joaquin came back. He'd just been hiding. I gave him some food, and stroked him on the head.
Were we ever really people at all?