INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT IVT-5424-05
DATE: 15-05-2019
NOTE: Interview conducted by Doctor Hannah Rubin, research assistant at Site-06-03 HUMCON. In accordance with containment procedures, Doctor Rubin was not physically present within SCP-5424's containment chamber. The interview was conducted via HC-5424's internal comms system.
[BEGIN TRANSCRIPT]
Dr. Rubin: Hello, Doctor Weaver. If you don't mind, I have a few questions for you.
SCP-5424: Well, it's not like I have anything better to do. Even if it still is a bit weird talking to a voice from thin air.
Dr. Rubin: I understand. However, considering your… condition, we have determined it to be best for me not to enter your quarters.
SCP-5424: *snorts* Quarters? Is that what you're calling it? Nevermind… how can I help you?
Dr. Rubin: I would like to hear your account of events leading up to incident IN-5424-01.
SCP-5424: "Incident IN-5424-01"? You're talking about the time I smacked that medical tech over the head with a flower pot and headed off to the NAAD? (Note by Dr. Rubin: The non-anomalous artifacts depot at Site-81)
Dr. Rubin: The incident report states you were found in a gymnasium.
SCP-5424: *sighs* I was. Well, I've lost count of how many times I've told this story, but why not. It started off when the Zetas (Note by Dr. Rubin: MTF Zeta-9 "Mole Rats") brought in that metric crapton of potentially anomalous artifacts from that op in Chiapas. You know, that pyramid where those deranged cultists were trying to summon Quetzalcoatl? Anyways, it was mostly junk.
Then I opened up another crate and there it was. PAA-35927. That number. I've handled hundreds of potential anomalies, and not one of the numbers stuck. Not even my first one, that silly little doll from New Orleans. But that one, PAA-35927, I'll remember that number until the day I die.
Dr. Rubin: What was it? Can you describe the artifact?
SCP-5424: A stone tablet. Circular. Kind of like one of their calendars. You know, the ones everyone got so crazy about in 2011? Except this one definitely wasn't. It wasn't segmented the way Mayan calendars are.
Anyways, I open the box and lift it out. There's this flash. It was like I could see an enormous anthropomorphic hummingbird, holding a snake. And something else. A mirror, maybe?
Dr. Rubin: And you didn't report this at the time?
SCP-5424: I did. I filled out an SA-342 and reported the incident. We ran the extra tests and found exactly zilch. They did a scan on me too, same result. Nequa put it down to stress. Somehow, she always did. So, we marked up PAA-35927 as non-anomalous and went on with our lives. Then, for about a week, nothing happened.
Dr. Rubin: That's when you started… not remembering things?
SCP-5424: *chuckles bitterly* You still think I'm crazy, don't you? Look, you've undoubtedly read my file. Nequa called it "confabulation". I've read up on the condition. It doesn't fit the symptoms. People who confabulate produce narratives that are incoherent. Their stories change as their damaged brains try to process their memories. Do I sound brain damaged to you?
Dr. Rubin: Dr. Hammerschmitt believes your memory has been corrupted by the anomalous…
SCP-5424: I don't give a rat's ass what some Doctor so-and-so believes! I remember… everything. The way it's supposed to be…
[approximately 20 seconds of silence]
Dr. Rubin: We can continue at a later time, if you would like.
SCP-5424: Oh, keep your phony pity to yourself. You wanted to hear my story, so here it is: So, you've obviously read the interview transcripts. You know that things started… changing. My quarters, Nequa, Frank, my… kids. I decided I wasn't going insane. Something was screwing with reality and I was going to stop it. But I had no idea what. That's when the translations came back.
Dr. Rubin: The translations?
SCP-5424: Of the inscriptions. On the artifacts. I remember each and every word: "With each inhale lives are extinguished, with each exhale tales are snuffed out. For them, it is not of consequence. They distort the earth and heavens without a care. Lives and memories forever lost. With this, you shall be their witness."
Dr. Rubin: So you decided it was PAA-35927 causing the changes to your reality?
SCP-5424: At the time, I didn't care what exactly it all meant. That inscription sounded enough like what was happening to me that I decided to wreck it. It may have been as much about revenge as anything else. That fucking thing had taken everything, I was going to hurt it back. And maybe, just maybe… So I broke out of medical, headed for the NAAD and hurled it against the nearest wall.
Dr. Rubin: Then why did you go to the gymnasium?
SCP-5424: I didn't. When that thing shattered against the wall, there was that flash again. That image of the hummingbird with the snake. Next thing I know, I'm in the gym. The only part of the NAAD still there was the floor around me. The more I think about it the more convinced I am, that though my destroying the artifact didn't stop what it was doing, I must have damaged it somehow. The effect was no longer contained to me, but stretched out to the space around me…
[approximately 10 seconds of silence]
Dr. Rubin: What happened then?
SCP-5424: You know the rest. I was picked up by SITESEC and locked up in the brig. After that, they shipped me here.
Dr. Rubin: So, to summarize: An ancient Mayan artifact with undetected powers started changing your reality, and after you destroyed it, it began changing the space around you, to?
SCP-5424: You're not listening, kid. PAA-35927 wasn't changing reality. It was preventing it from changing. But only for me.
Dr. Rubin: That's a very interesting hypothesis, Doctor Weaver. Now, I think this concludes the interview. Would you mind if we spoke again tomorrow?
SCP-5424: Sure, if you still exist.
Dr. Rubin: I have every intention of continuing to exist, Doctor Weaver.
SCP-5424: That's precisely what Doctor Eisenhower said.
Dr. Rubin: Who's Doctor Eisenhower?
SCP-5424: Exactly.
[END TRANSCRIPT]
ADDENDUM: Inquiries to the inventory of Site-81 NAAD has shown that item PAA-35927 is a Cheyenne war bonnet confiscated by MTF Beta-777 on 02-11-2014 with no registered anomalous properties. No item matching SCP-5424's account has been processed by Site-81 SAMAD to date.