SPC-5436-A instance captured during Exploration Log-01
Item #: SCP-5436
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-5436 is contained in a standard item storage unit in Site-17. Readings of SCP are only allowed during experiments, and no photos may be taken. Only personnel with positive feelings in regard to exact sciences may handle SCP-5436 unless otherwise specified for an experiment. Access to SCP-5436’s file is restricted under a Level 2 security clearance, and every test needs to be authorized by the project’s Head Researcher, currently Elisa Borges.
Experimentation with SCP-5436-A and SCP-5436-B is to be conducted in a standard medium security testing chamber. Test personnel must include at least two armed guards and one researcher skilled in mathematics, engineering, or physics. No D-class personnel are allowed to enter SCP-5436 regardless of their background. All researchers chosen to enter SCP-5436-1 must be strongly invested on their current projects and be highly loyalty to their work and to the Foundation.
Any non-Foundation personnel that come in contact with SCP-5436-A or SCP-5436-B are to be administered amnestics and released. All objects affected by SCP-5436 must be apprehended by the Foundation to be stabilized and later returned to where their place of apprehension. Stabilization procedures are comprised of exposing the affected book to subjects with positive feelings towards exact sciences until SCP-5436-A instances stop exiting SCP-5436-1.
Every person seen exiting SCP-5436-1 is to be given amnestic treatment and released as close as their last location as possible.
Basic supplies containing noodles, grain, fruits, vegetables, and water for ██ people are to be delivered to SCP-5436-2 monthly.
Description: SCP-5436 is a one-hundred-page college textbook titled “Advanced Guide to Multi-Variable Calculus and Four-dimensional Geometry.” written by Rosalind Hunter and Amalia Dubois. SCP-5436 is the only entrance to SCP-5436-1 that will not be neutralized by the already described stabilization procedures. Written contents do not deviate from its non-anomalous counterparts. Handling and reading it in a relaxed state will also cause no anomalous effects.
SCP-5436 can affect mathematics, physics, chemistry, and engineering textbooks. It will open an entrance to SCP-5436-1, from which SCP-5436-A instances and SCP-5436-B will exit. SCP-5436 can detect a person’s negative emotions and overall thoughts about the textbook’s subject. If it determines that the subject is interested in the above-mentioned topics and that they are struggling, suffering, or overall stressed with their work, SCP-5436-A instances and SCP-5436-B will materialize on the subject’s immediate vicinity.
SCP-5436-A instances are aggressive entities that originate from SCP-5436-1. SCP-5436-A’s size varies between 10cm to 5m, and they are most commonly found on the 40cm and 1m range. Usually, one to three instances exit SCP-5436-1 per reader. SCP-5436-A’s instance appearances vary widely. Studied specimens resembled big cats, cartilaginous fish, plants, and diverse types of beasts, such as dragons and gryphons. An entity’s aggressiveness has been observed to be directly related to its size and form: while an SCP-5436-A instance that resembles a rose will be mostly harmless, the same cannot be said for a dragon-like entity. SCP-5436-A’s appearance will depend on SCP-5436’s readers amount of distress. The more stressed the reader, the more dangerous is the SCP-5436-A entity.
After exiting SCP-5436, SCP-5436-A instances will attack the subject violently until they are subdued by physical force. If the subject is unable to subdue the entity, SCP-5436-A will drag it into SCP-5436-1. When subdued, SCP-5436-A will turn into a paper folding of the original creature that, when opened, contains exercises related to the textbook it originated from. When the problem is correctly solved, SCP-5436-A’s paper folding will reanimate and act with docility, from this point on, they are considered tamed. If the subject cannot solve the questions contained in SCP-5436-A, a swarm of dragonfly-like paper pieces will come out from SCP-5436 and drag the subject into SCP-5436-1. Accounts describe the process as disorienting, but in no way harmful.
SCP-5436-B is a middle-aged humanoid entity that exits SCP-5436 after SCP-5436-A instances are physically subdued. It claims to be SCP-5436-1’s first resident and only professor, responsible for his students’ learning and well-being. It will aid with SCP-5436-A’s solving, if requested, but will not interfere if subject fails. SCP-5436-B is SCP-5436-1’s maximum authority. It is responsible for the division of tasks between SCP-5436-1’s residents, for keeping the food stocks supplied, and for teaching and helping his students with solving SCP-5436-A’s contents. During Interview-01, SCP-5436-B claimed to be Professor Nicola Wegner of ██████ University. It claimed to have been writing its Ph.D. thesis on the graphical representation of four-dimensional functions when it entered SCP-5436-1, and that it owned its thesis success to all the work it did whilst in SCP-5436-1. SCP-5436-B can be summoned by asking it for help through SCP-5436. The professor will then exit the book unaccompanied. After learning about the problem’s nature, SCP-5436-B will discuss a price for a solution with its summoner. Every request will invariably involve entering SCP-5436-1. The professor’s request include but are not limited to:
- Cooking a meal.
- Organizing the library’s books.
- Cleaning the dishes.
- Taming and solving SCP-5436-A instances.
Experimenting with SCP-5436-B has found no anomalous traces or abilities.
SCP-5436-1 is the pocket dimension accessible through SCP-5436 and its influenced books. It consists solely of ███████ University and its adjacent facilities, such as housing, laundry, and sport courts. During SCP-5436 recovery it has been determined that SCP-5436-1 does not affect the original University and is, instead, a copy. An MTF consisting of hard sciences experts has been commissioned to explore SCP-5436-1. A total number of ███ students, as SCP-5436-B calls them, are currently living in SCP-5436-1. They were dragged into SCP-5436-1 after failing to tame the SCP-5436-A instances that attacked them. All students display a passionate interest for exact sciences and claim to be staying on SCP-5436-1 out of their own accords. Their origins and languages are diverse, and testing has shown that SCP-5436-1 possesses a language filter, that makes all the listeners hear each other’s speech in their native tongues both on real time and on recordings. This effect does not extend to written language.
Exploration-Log-01: Head Researcher Elisa Borges instructed subject D-78402 to read SCP-5436, solve all the exercises, redo all the demonstrations, and summarize all of its contents. The task was developed to be as frustrating as possible, and subject was informed that it would not be allowed to leave the testing chambers until it was finished. Subject was provided access to rations, water, a thin mattress, and a private toilet.
It took seventy-three hours and forty-five minutes (73:45h) from the start of the experiment for the first SCP-5436-A entity to exit the book. The entity was similar in form to a stingray and, after it exited SCP-5436. Subject threw it to the ground, pinned it to the floor with its foot and beat the entity to submission with the room's chair. Subject fell to the ground from exhaustion and cried whist holding SCP-5436-A’s paper form. SCP-5436-B exited from the chamber’s bathroom and was surprised to see D-78402 in such a distressed state. It calmed the subject down and asked it what was wrong. D-78402 broke down and resisted Foundation’s orders for the testing. Through the chamber’s speakers, Dr. Borges explained the experiment’s procedures and expectations to SCP-5436-B, who shook its head and proposed a deal with the subject. The professor asked it if it would enter SCP-5436-1 with it and solve some SCP-5436-A’s instances in exchange for his help with the task Dr. Borges described. D-78402 was instructed to agree.
Subject was equipped with the standard communication devices, a digital camera connected to the testing chamber’s monitors, one (1) one-liter water bottle, one (1) lined notebook, one (1) calculator, one (1) ballpoint pen, and one (1) energy bar. SCP-5436-B instructed the subject to step on SCP-5436. D-78402 was able to sink down into SCP-5436’s pages as though stepping into a body of water. After entering SCP-5436 completely, the subject was instructed to turn the camera on.
Exploration Video Log Transcript
Explorer: D-78402
[BEGIN LOG]
Camera activates, audio activates. Subject stands in what was later identified to be █████████ University’s courtyard. The sky is shady and there are vines and trees near the walls. Entities visually indistinguishable from humans walk fast around the corridors with books in hand, and they seem undisturbed by D-78402’s presence. Further testing has been commissioned to determine the nature of said entities. They will for now be referred to as “students”, since that is how SCP-5436-B addresses them.
SCP-5436-B: Follow me. I’ll show you around.
Subject follows SCP-5436-B through corridors filled with students. They greet the professor cheerfully and ask it about the “newbie” it brings along. SCP-5436-B answers them in a friendly manner and explains that D-78402 was visiting the Campus’s facilities to be tested. Many students wish D-78402 good luck. The professor walks with D-78402 until they reach an ample room on the outskirts of the University’s building. It appears to be the University’s library. All four walls are covered with bookshelves, and circular tables are scattered across the floor. Students occupy most of the tables. On each of the tables there is a basket, from which the students take pieces of paper and unfold them. Many SCP-5436 entities roam the space freely, playing between themselves and with the students.
SCP-5436-B: I don’t want to give you any work you cannot finish… How good at math are you?
D-78402: I used to be a math major, actually.
SCP-5436-B seems pleased with the answer and points D-78402 over to a desk occupied by other students. On their pages are drawings of graphics, of geometric solids and figures, and many lines of problem solving. The students do not interrupt their work when they greet the subject.
SCP-5436-B: A fellow man of culture, I see. Did you get to write a thesis?
D-78402: I don’t really think my thesis is all still important.
D-78402 was instructed to inform SCP-5436-B about his works
D-78402: I used to work on the linearization of differential equations.
SCP-5436-B: That will be hard to find anything on this subject, really, problems this complex don't come here often… but we can start with some calculus, if you wish to.
SCP-5436-B handed D-78402 a basket full of inert and diverse SCP-5436-A instances. A bull-headed humanoid, a scorpion, an owl, a rose, and a dragon were visible in the basket. SCP-5436-B explains that the problems D-78402 is to solve are written inside each figurine, and that he was to unfold them, solve the problems and write the answer on the origami paper. The professor said that the figurines would come to life, and that that was normal. SCP-5436-B asks D-78402 to let him know when it is finished. Problems included:
1- Determine the derivative of f (x)=6x3−9x+4
2- Evaluate ∫ 4/(x2+5x−14) dx
3- Sketch the graph of y2/9+z2=1
Subject spent six hours emptying the basket. Subject did not eat, drink, or leave his seat. During his work, D-78402 appeared to be relaxed and intensely focused. Other students asked the subject for help with their problems and assisted D-78402 when requested. Subject was instructed not to talk more than the necessary to them. Experiments are being scheduled to confirm if D-78402’s work state was altered by any anomalous influences present in that space. After going through every problem in the basket, D-78402 turned around in search of SCP-5436-B, but the professor was already standing behind it. A paper hibiscus flower is secured behind its ear and a paper squirrel is on its coat pocket.
SCP-5436-B: Truly outstanding work, I’m pleased with your help. I'll fetch your solution, give me just one second.
The professor walked out of sight, and D-78402 was instructed to wait. A dog-like SCP-5436-A entity approached it and climbed to its lap. After three minutes, SCP-5436-B came back holding a dark cloth bag, which it handed to the subject. On its insides were clothes, hygiene products, a change of clothes, a leather-bound notebook, and a fountain pen.
D-78402: This is not a part of the deal.
SCP-5436-B: No, this is an invitation. You can go back if you wish, just step on the book and you will be at the testing chamber, but I think you can agree
D-78402: No. Please, thank you.
Dr. Borges herself told subject to “drop its bullshit”. Subject removed its communication devices. That was when the professor noticed the camera.
SCP-5436-B: Take this ugly jumper off. My students will show you our free spots. Let me just… there. Off you go.
SCP-5436-B took the camera out off D-78402 and spoke directly into it.
SCP-5436-B: An amazing experiment, I see. Torturing a fellow scientist with a subject so close to my heart. Did you get all the answers you wanted?
The professor equipped D-78402’s communication devices and left the library. From this point on, subject D-78402 is considered lost. Head Researcher Elisa Borges was given full control of communications. SCP-5436-B continued shortly after.
SCP-5436-B: If you didn’t, how many more guinea pigs will you send? You were waiting for something gory, weren’t you? Sventy-three hours reading my book. This is an affront, really, and I will take it as an offence. I bet you wished that problem had eviscerated Mathias; you didn’t even give him any weapons to fight with. Are you salty that he is free and not dead?
E. Borges: We understand your ethical concerns, and we meant no offence, but I think you can understand why your situation has sparked our interest. Would you agree to answer some of our questions, so we don't have to send anymore test subjects?
The professor laughs and turns the camera to the University’s courtyard. It is now dark and the buildings’ windows on the other side are lit. There are no students in the hallway, and the sound of distant conversations can be barely heard. It is possible to hear the professor sitting on the grass and sighing into the microphone.
SCP-5436-B: What a terrible destiny would it be to be sent here, right? The sky above my head, grass under my feet. I will answer your questions, tough. This is still my job, as a professor.
[END LOG]
Interview Log-01: The following interview was recorded through the camera equipped by D-78402 during Exploration Log-01. SCP-5436-B positioned the camera in its office, and Head Researcher Elisa Borges stayed in the monitoring room.
[Begin Log]
Dr. Borges: Thank you for accepting our offer. Can you begin by stating your full name?
SCP-5436-B: For the records? I am Professor Nicola Wegner, owner of the book you stole.
Dr. Borges: We apologize for the unintentional insult. Can you talk more about the book and its pocket dimension?
SCP-5436-B: Do you have any idea how little this rules out?
Dr. Borges: How did you first access the place?
SCP-5436-B takes a deep swig from its mug.
SCP-5436-B: I was reading this book
Dr. Borges: “Advanced Guide to Multi-Variable Calculus and Four-dimensional Geometry”
SCP-5436-B: Yes, thank you. It was for my PhD thesis, and it wasn’t going well. I was working on the regularities of measures beyond the third dimension and all derivatives from the function contained at least four variables, and I could not get rid of them to plot the function on a three-dimensional space. It was a nightmare! I tried transposing the plane matrices, taking another derivative of the function, but that would imply the loss of an important variable which I could simply not afford. I tried to arbitrarily determine the variable, but doing that would lead to significant variations from my results, and…
Dr. Borges: Please do not get sidetracked, professor.
SCP-5436-B: Yes, I am sorry. I was reading that book, and it was really late at night. I was so tired I knew that I would not take the train back to my place, so I accepted I was going to sleep in the library. When I saw an origami between the pages of my book, I was sure I went mad, but when I touched it, it came to life. It attacked me, until now I can’t really describe what it is, but it had feathery wings, and claws that tore my arms. I still have the scars. Do you want to see them?
Dr. Borges: No.
SCP-5436-B: Good enough. It threw me to the ground, and the next thing I know is that I was being dragged into the book by a swarm of paper.
SCP-5436-B took another sip from its mug and laughed.
SCP-5436-B: Dragged into the book. Am I even listening to myself? It is completely illogical. My mandatory physics class made it very clear that matter cannot occupy the same space as matter at the same time, and that time is better measured by the speed of light, than by the ticking of the clock that was on my wrist, but I entered the book. I came out the other way in the same library I was sleeping in, but the creature was still there. I threw my papers at it and I ran to the basement. There were some broken pipes there, and I could listen to the thing getting closer, so I just held it as tight as I could and kept on holding into it as the creature charged into me. Somehow, I know it meant no harm. Does that make sense?
After a moment of silence, Dr. Borges responded.
Dr. Borges: It does. Please go on.
SCP-5436-B: But it charged into me, and it got impaled on that broken, rusty pipe. I watched it contorting into a beautiful origami creature. But it was suffering, and I could not allow a creature of such beauty to suffer. It asked me to unfold it, which I did. Inside it were equations like the ones I was solving, but they were easier, it was as if they were preparing me for my work.
Dr. Borges: Were those the same creatures solved by D-78402?
SCP-5436-B: By who?
Dr. Borges: The D-class subject you took in.
SCP-5436-B: By who?
Dr. Borges: Mathias Lorenz.
SCP-5436-B: I see. No, it is all very personal, very intimate. He probably got some questions on problems he was struggling with; I didn’t check, I just needed the basket to be done.
Dr. Borges: Why?
SCP-5436-B: Those creatures are such sweethearts after you tame them, but they first need to be tamed. Since the University’s population has started to increase, all kinds of monsters have been attacking the building. We rotate taming and capturing cycles to keep things working there, because if we don’t, the creatures would become unmanageable. Last month a lady got stung by a scorpion. It was really hard to deal with the poison.
Dr. Borges: Can you explain where they come from?
SCP-5436-B: On the University, they just appear, they walk in from the fields. We don’t know how they came to be, or how they are created, they just are, and we deal with them.
Dr. Borges: Talk more about the other residents. Who are they? Where did they come from? Can they leave?
SCP-5436-B: Calm down, Miss Borges, I’m not leaving anytime soon. They are math enthusiasts, some from high school, some from college, some professors, most of them workers who spared all free time for their passion. They come from all over the globe, they told me, by the same way I came. And of course, they can leave anytime they want, we are not a prison, we are a school. Still, we are struggling because too many people quitted. Their problems don’t disappear, and they become our problems.
Dr. Borges: From all over the world, you say? How do you communicate?
SCP-5436-B: We talk?
Dr. Borges: Language wise.
SCP-5436-B: In English?
Dr. Borges: So, every math enthusiast from around the world speaks English?
SCP-5436-B sits back on its chair and scratches its head.
SCP-5436-B: Listen, I've been fighting origami math problems for a while now. Don't blame me for forgetting that language exists.
Experiments were commissioned to understand SCP-5436's effects on communication.
Dr. Borges: Going back to the students. Why do they choose to stay?
SCP-5436-B: I am sure you would take any help you could take for a hard work, say, a test, a challenge, a PhD thesis. Besides, I tested this myself, I’m practically a scientist, just like you want to be, time runs on different planes here and there. That gives my students almost limitless time to finish their assignments.
Dr. Borges: Why do you call them your students?
SCP-5436-B: Because I teach them, I help them, and I watch them go. Just like I help anyone that calls.
Dr. Borges: Why haven’t you left yet?
SCP-5436-B: This place helped me, I’m in debt. There is still a lot of work to be done.
Dr. Borges: Can other students be summoned the same way you are?
SCP-5436-B: Are any other students professors? I am the one that answers the requests; the others have more work to do.
Dr. Borges: I understand that we have not met each other on the best of terms, but I hope we can get along. We want to understand you and your world better, and interviews are not enough for this. Would you agree with more ethical experiments? Say, welcoming one of our researchers into the University as one of your students, for example?
SCP-5436-B: As I said, I have no control over who comes in and out of here, and if you ask for my help, I will come. I am a professor, I won’t judge you, but what you did to Mathias… I can’t say I understand. My wish is that you never do this again, I will welcome your personnel, but my class is a safe space, and your consciousness is up to you.
Dr. Borges: I see. Those were all the questions we had for you right now. We will allow you to keep the camera and the communication devices in case you want to get in contact with us.
SCP-5436-B: I doubt it will be necessary, but I appreciate the gesture.
[END LOG]
Closing Statement: Because of the high possibility of escape, no more D-class personnel were sent into SCP-5436-1. Head Research decided to test SCP-5436-A's appearance patterns and SCP-5436-B's problem-solving capabilities further using Foundation researchers as readers for SCP-5436 and guards to help tame SCP-5436 instances.
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