People Turning into Bicycles

Item #: SCP-4899

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: The northern New England region spanning north of Manchester, New Hampshire and east of Burlington, Vermont are to be monitored by Foundation agents for spikes in childhood disappearances. This region includes the area south of Houlton, Maine. Communities affected by these disappearances are to be patrolled by Mobile Task Force Omicron-25 “Chain Snatchers” and any potential Night Ride events are to be intercepted so long that they haven’t reached their final stage. Additionally, any new instances of SCP-4899-1 are to be detained and destroyed with their remains disposed of outside of the active zone. Areas where confirmed instances of SCP-4899-1 have been recovered are to be tagged and monitored for further anomalous activity. The total removal of bicycles from a community with multiple confirmed Night Ride events in the past year has been authorized. These removals are to be facilitated by robberies staged by MTF Omicron-25 and bicycle buy-backs or donations funded by local Foundation front companies or charities. Children recovered by the foundation from successfully intercepted Night Ride events are to be treated with Class-A amnestics and monitored for signs of behavioral disorders. Children who develop ADD, AD-HD, generalized anxiety or severe insomnia within the following six months of an intercepted Night Ride event are to be considered extremely at risk for a repeat event and monitored appropriately.

Description: SCP-4899 refers to a phenomenon in north-eastern New England that affects children, usually between the ages of six and eleven years old. SCP-4899 will manifest in the form of a bicycle, designated SCP-4899-1, deposited in areas accessible to the general public such as front lawns, beside a road, or in a park. Instances of SCP-4899-1 are physically indistinguishable from a normal child-sized bicycle that vary in color and brand. SCP-4899-1 can be distinguished from a non-anomalous bicycle only by their creation from and role in a Night Ride event. During these events, an instance of SCP-4899-1 will be claimed after nightfall by a child whose age falls within the specified range and is physically capable of riding a bicycle. They will then begin the first stage of the Night Ride event riding SCP-4899-1 on a route that circles back on itself for the next twenty to thirty minutes. During this time, the child will make multiple passes around on the looping route, usually circling the block or neighborhood closest to where they found SCP-4899-1. After continuing to ride for twenty to thirty minutes, the child will then deviate from the route and ride on a direct path before reaching a secluded area. These areas thus far have included back alleys, empty lots, forest clearings and jfjghdj, and are no more than 1.4 Kilometers away. When the child has reached this area, they will dismount SCP-4899-1 and place it on the ground. At this point, the Night Ride event is considered to have reached its Second Stage and it not to be interrupted by Foundation agents. (See Addendum 4899-A) After approximately two minutes of standing above the instance of SCP-4899-1, the child will fall to their hands and knees and their body will begin undergoing rapid physical changes. These changes include an elongation of the torso, arms and legs and the curling of bones and connective tissue. The cranium will split and elongate to laterally while the torso thins and splits into an upper and lower portion. The skin will harden and transmutate into aluminum or steel. Any clothing or accessories worn by the child at the time of the Night Ride event are also consumed during the transformation, including anything carried on their persons. The process will continue until the child has taken the form of a bicycle, complete with a padded seat and rubber tires. At this point, the child is to be designated an instance of SCP-4899-1. Once this process is complete, the new instance of SCP 4899-1 will fall to the ground. At this point, the Night Ride event is considered to have concluded.

MTF Field Report 4899-D1-2:
Foreword: This report summarizes a Night Ride interception attempt made by MTF Omicron-25 14th Squad on 8/23/1999 in Portland, Maine. Available audio logs, video footage and agent reports were used to provide a timeline and description of events.

MTF Omicron-25 14th Squad was deployed following the identification of a potential Night Ride event. The child was located approximately 10 minutes into the first stage of the Night Ride event and was trailed. During the time, the child was unresponsive to non-threatening verbal commands to cease riding. After trailing the child around the city block for 3 minutes and 37 seconds, all members of the 14th Squad momentarily lost surveillance while a car chase involving one pursued vehicle and three Portland police squad cars concluded in the middle of the Night Ride Stage 1 route. 14th Squad was forced to recall their drone and relocate as a firefight broke out between Portland police and the driver of the pursued car. During this time, 14th Squad was unable to regain sight of the child and potential instance of SCP-4899-1. An emergency surveillance handoff with MTF Omicron-25 5th Squad was attempted 1 minute and 38 seconds after the interference and one member of 14th Squad was wounded in the crossfire. 5th Squad attempted to position themselves further down the route but instead waited for the child to pass along a different road. Audio recordings from this time confirm a miscommunication between agents. Fifth Squad was able to locate the child via drone four minutes and fifty-five seconds later. The child had deviated from the previous path and a probable destination was deduced from a list of documented secluded locations in that direction. 5th Squad arrived at the location three minutes and two seconds later. They witnessed the child place the instance of SCP-4899-1 on the ground and proceed to stand in place. While the members of Squad 5 attempted verbal communication with the child, Agent Dorian of Squad 5 approached on foot. Camera footage confirms that Agent Dorian came within four meters of the child before immediately halting and standing in place. At this time, neither the child nor Agent Dorian responded to verbal commands. This carried on for one minute and twenty two seconds before Agent Dorian and the child dropped down to their hands and knees and began to transform. The child underwent changes consistent with document Night Ride Second Stages while the body of Agent Dorian only transformed from the upper chest downward including his arms below the elbow joints. Available footage showed that, unlike the child, Agent Dorian had regained consciousness at the start of the transformation. A full instance of SCP-4899-1 formed but with the rest of the agents upper body attached to the top. When both transformations were complete, the two new instances of SCP-4899-1 fell to the ground with the top of Agent Dorian separating from the bicycle. Autopsy on the body of Agent Dorian revealed that his lower body and arms had been separated at a perfect horizontal angle. Additionally, the separation of the spine, rib cage and humeri were cleaner cuts than would be available with conventional surgery equipment. The cause of death was mass hemorrhaging from the open blood vessels.

Interview Log 4899-21-G

<Interviewed: Kathie Bergeron>

<Interviewer: Dr. Birch>

Foreword: Kathie Bergeron, 7 years old, was taken into custody with a potential instance of SCP-4899-1 by MTF-Omicron 25 after an intercepted Night Ride event on 9/2/2009 in Franconia, New Hampshire.

<Begin Log, 5:24 PM, 9/3/2009>

Dr. Birch: “Hello Kathie, are you feeling any better now?”

Kathie: “…..I want to go home.”

Dr. Birch: “Of course, you’ll be going home soon. Back to Franconia, back to your parents. I was just hoping you would be able to talk to me about your bicycle ride last night?”

Kathie: “Well…I rode my bicycle with my dad before we ate dinner.”

Dr. Birch: “I was really hoping we could talk about the late night ride on that yellow bicycle you found.”

Kathie: “Oh…that one.”

Kathie is silent for 6 seconds.

Kathie: “I don’t really remember where I found the bike.”
Dr. Birch: “It was on Front street, remember? Do you normally ride bicycles that don’t belong to you?”

Kathie: “No, I never take things that aren’t mine. But this bicycle felt like it was mine. Like it already belonged to me.”

Dr. Birch: “Have you ever rode at night before without your parents? Weren’t you afraid?”

Kathie: “No, I’m not allowed outside after dark. But I don’t think that my dad would have been angry. He would have wanted me to go get my bicycle before someone else took it.”

Dr. Birch: “But you had never seen it before. It was just laying out in the road, how did you know it was yours?”

Kathie: “I really can’t remember…I’m sorry.”

Dr. Birch: “That’s ok, don’t worry about it. Can you tell me where you were going?”

Kathie: “No…”

Kathie becomes visibly distressed

Kathie: “It was like when I follow my dad, I always go where he goes. I never go in front.”

Dr. Birch: “You’re doing really great Kathie. Just one more question please. Do you think you will ever go riding at night again.”

Kathie: “No…unless my bicycle comes back. Then I think I would have to go back to get it.”

At this point, Kathie bursts into tears and refuses to respond to further questions.

<End log, 5:31 PM, 9/3/2009>

Closing Statement: Kathie was treated with Class-B amnestics and returned to Franconia police department following her interview and Foundation processing.
Observational Log 4899-25-ROE

Forward: The following notes were taken during the monitoring of an un-intercepted Night Ride event on 3/7/2001 in Burlington, Vermont by MTF Omicron-25.
3/7/2001
8:27 PM - Possible Night Ride candidate identified in Carriage Heights neighborhood with ground and aerial surveillance established. Night Ride candidate designated as “Subject”.
8:41 PM - Subject deviates from established path, headed away from neighborhood.
8:55 PM - Subject reaches a secluded wooded area and unmounts suspected instance of SCP-4899-1. Night Ride Second Stage protocol is in effect.
8:58 PM - Subject begins transformation sequence.
9:01 PM - Transformation sequence complete, subject is now an instance of SCP-4899-1, designated SCP-4899-1-A. The instance that the subject rode during the Night Ride event is now designated SCP-4899-1-B. Both are now under surveillance.
3/8/2001
10:04 AM - Two children arrive approach the Second Stage area. They continue until they reach the SCP-4899-1-A and SCP-4899-1. Both are taken by the children and ridden outside of the former Night Ride Second Stage area. The children proceeded to ride back into an urban area in Burlington.
11:15 AM - The children discard SCP-4899-1-A and SCP-4899-1-B on the front lawn of 558 Gordon Road before leaving the scene.
Post Op: The children were interviewed by MTF-Omicron-25 plainclothe agents following their departure from the SCP-4899-1-A and SCP-4899-1-B. The children were able to recall their activities during the hour after making contact with both instances but insisted that they had been riding their own bicycles. Both children expressed confusion when asked why they would have left their bicycles at 558 Gordon Road and both asserted that they had left their bicycles at home. Both instances SCP-4899-1 were contained and destroyed following the interviews. The child that rode SCP-4899-1-A was involved in a Night Ride event that was intercepted 21 days afterwards. The one that rode SCP-4899-1-B was involved in a Night Ride that could not be successfully intercepted 50 days afterward.

Memo 4899-R6-13
Dear colleagues, comrades and staff,

I would like to start off by acknowledging and applauding the progress we’ve made together in continuing to refine the containment of SCP-4899. What I am about to write is in no way a critique of Dr. Bagley or of the hard working agents of Mobile Task Force Omicron-25 who continue to demonstrate their excellence on a nightly basis. I’ve yet to see a more elegant implementation of the Gravemind proto-A.I. in scanning and identifying travel patterns of individual people across such a large distance and feeding it directly to our boots on the ground. It feels like we’ve tailored every new Foundation scientific breakthrough over the recent years to intercept more and more Night Ride events and it’s impossible to argue that our success rate isn’t impressive.
The point of this letter is to condemn the attitude that this success has fostered and the complacency that could manifest as a result. I cannot support Dr. Bagley’s proposal to downgrade the Object Class of SCP-4899 to Euclid because I believe it would be irresponsible to overlook the warning signs that there is more to come from this phenomenon. It has been 31 years since the SCP-4899 special containment procedures were put into action and we documented the first Tandem Night Ride event only six years ago. Now I’m aware that they’re nearly as easily intercepted as the vanilla event and still somewhat rare but this demonstrates a change, an evolution in SCP-4899. We also cannot ignore the frequency with which Night Ride events are now taking place as far south as Nashua. What I find most concerning, however, are how Night Ride event survivors are demonstrably more at risk to become repeat Night Riders. How can this statistically be possible when the rate at which we’re destroying instances of SCP 4899-1 is taken into account? Where are they getting the damn bikes? My upcoming write-up on this data offers several theories for critique and consideration but I assure you, all of them are alarming and very much indicative of a Keter-level entity.
I would implore Dr. Bagley to continue his research into the proactive containment of SCP-4899 as now is not a time to rest on our laurels. We should be bracing ourselves for what comes next instead of declaring victory over a phenomenon that we fundamentally do not understand. We cannot afford to let our guard down for even a moment as being caught flat footed by this phenomenon could undo all of our hard work if we aren’t prepared.

Best,
Dr. Lancaster