Per 
Object Class: Keter
Special Containment Procedures: It is unclear whether containment of SCP-X is possible with current technology. Research into SCP-X and SCP-X-1 should continue.
Foundation agents embedded in psychology and medical research programs should monitor research for potential discovery of SCP-X. Research likely to discover SCP-X should be diverted or prevented. Civilians who discover SCP-X should be treated with appropriate amnestics and released.
Description: SCP-X is a memetic agent which appears to be present in 100% of humans tested so far. Subjects from over 130 countries, and including members of indigenous tribes with little contact with other civilizations, have tested positive for SCP-X. It is believed to be endemic to every human population.
SCP-X is transmitted via a set of harmonic frequencies and patterns. Through an as-of-yet poorly understood mechanism, these frequencies are processed and converted into SCP-X. SCP-X harmonics have been identified in approximately 8% of all spoken statements. Written forms of communication display similar patterns in lesser amounts.
Perhaps most significantly, though, SCP-X modifies the heartbeat of carriers to include its harmonic vector. It is theorized that almost all humans are first exposed to SCP-X in utero via their mother’s heartbeat.
The effects of SCP-X are unclear, but analysis of the memetic structure indicates an anti-memetic payload. That is to say, SCP-X itself is memetic, but it influences the user to not notice or comprehend a target. This target, designated SCP-X-1, has not yet been identified, due both to technical limitations and the effects of SCP-X on researchers.
SCP-X was first discovered during research on a new class of amnestics, designed to erase large periods of memory without removing language processing abilities. D-class subjects were given a variety of doses, then questioned about their recollections. Regardless of dose, the D-class described a specific set of compulsions using similar language.
Discovery Log:
Dr. Y: Describe your family.
D-8131: I… I think I can remember my mom. I remember her smile, and her hair. It was brown.
Dr. Y: What’s her name?
D-8131: I don’t know. (pause) I will remember once this is done, right?
Dr. Y: Of course. Now, tell me, do you remember anything else.
D-8131: I remember not to look at it.
Dr. Y: What?
D-8131: I remember not to think about it.
Dr. Y: What do you-
D-8131: I remember to remind the others.
Dr. Y: Could Dr. Z join me, please?
D-8131: And I remember to forget.
Dr. Y: Tell me more.
D-8131: That is everything.
Dr. Y: You will be terminated if you don’t elaborate.
D-8131: About what?
Subjects express the “rules” in their native language.
Addendum 1: Using an AI-assisted pattern analysis technique, I’ve managed to isolate the harmonics SCP-X uses to spread. I’ve come to a couple of conclusions.
First, SCP-X’s origin is relatively recent and very sudden. The written harmonics began appearing, worldwide, on November 12, 1971. Before then they are nowhere; afterwards they appear at low levels in virtually all writing. Audio records tell a similar story - the exact time seems to vary by a matter of hours, but it emerged worldwide on that day. Foundation records for that day don’t report any events of significance. Some of our records for the day have been deleted, but that’s common enough to be inconclusive.
Second, although it’s propagated in utero for those born after its origin date, the cadences we hear on a daily basis serve to reinforce it. This makes the pattern highly resistant to amnestics - essentially, we all remember this more deeply than anything else. The harmonics are highly advanced, and I think we could learn a great deal about memetics from their study.
If it’s like other advanced memetics, we can learn more about it by observing its reaction to pattern disruption. I’ll create a version of SCP-X with the harmonics scrambled and see how SCP-X responds to it.
Experiment Log:
Experiment: D-class personnel were dosed with experimental amnestics, then exposed to a modified version of SCP-X. Subjects were then tested for the original and modified versions.
Result: In all subjects, the modified version was initially present, but disappeared over the course of twenty to twenty-five minutes. The original version was retained in every case.
Examination of the EKG values for each subject indicate that SCP-X’s harmonic vector increased in frequency to 35%, only returning to baseline levels once the modified version was eliminated. Brain activity spiked during this period as well, with particular activity in the brain stem. Subjects expressed high levels of stress but could not identify the source.
Researcher Notes: SCP-X is highly resistant to other memetic agents. It’s notable that it amplifies its own effects when threatened. Also, it’s a bit concerning that it has this much of a presence in the brain stem. Foundation researchers have theorized that memetics could take root in the brain stem but have never succeeded in making them do so, and now we know why - the spot is already taken.
Supplemental Researcher’s Note: In reviewing the recordings, I noticed that the research staff were talking a good deal more than usual. Analysis of our speech shows that over 50% of our statements contained SCP-X’s harmonics. “Remind the others” is one of the rules, and clearly we’re following it.
Experiment: D-class personnel were placed in soundproof isolation chambers. Speakers within the isolation chambers played a modified version of SCP-X at 85 decibels.
Result: Subjects initially displayed rising levels of anxiety. EKGs showed a rise in SCP-X frequency in subjects’ heartbeats. After a varying amount of time, subjects began talking to themselves. SCP-X frequency started at ~40% and rose steadily over the remainder of the test.
In three cases, the subjects passed out upon reaching ~80% SCP-X frequency, and did not respond further to audio stimuli.
In the fourth case, the subject remained conscious. At ~90% SCP-X frequency, her agitation began to disrupt her normal speech patterns. She began shouting and covering her ears in an attempt to dampen the sound.
At ~96% SCP-X frequency, the subject began verbally expressing the ‘rules’ of SCP-X, seemingly with little awareness of what she was saying:
D-55141: Stop it, please! Let me out of here! (Indistinct sounds) I won’t look. I won’t think about it. I’ll tell you not to. I’ll forget. Open the damn door!
At ~98% SCP-X frequency, the subject’s recitations of the ‘rules’ were interspersed with strings of apparently random words:
D-55141: I won’t look, I won’t think, I’ll tell you not to, I’ll forget. I have to. Dark sky circle sound question. Water flow burn, burning eyes. No! I won’t look, I won’t think. I won’t think! I’ll tell you and I’ll forget. It’s better to forget.
At ~100% SCP-X frequency, the subject rapidly developed a heart arrhythmia. The test was halted and medical personnel summoned, but the subject died before medical treatment or followup interviews were possible.
Addendum 2: This may sound paradoxical, but this experiment leads me to believe that SCP-X is not designed with hostile intent.
It appears, from this test, that SCP-X is capable of killing its host through control of their heart rhythm. If whoever designed it had meant harm to humanity, they could have embedded a memetic kill-agent in there and we would all be dead. It seems clear that that was not their intent.
Instead, what we’ve seen so far is that SCP-X reinforces itself above all else, and kills when that reinforcement fails.
Don’t misunderstand me - it’s deeply disturbing that there’s a meme in our heads that kills us if we try to forget it. But anyone with the degree of power that SCP-X required and malevolent intent could have done far worse to us.
The details of this are still eluding us, I must admit. But we need to consider the possibility that this was designed to protect us from something, something that we can’t even acknowledge.
Requesting reclassification to Thaumiel, and a temporary halt to research.
Dr. Z
Reclassification denied. There are forms of malevolence other than the murderous, Dr. Z. Perhaps we are enslaved right now, and SCP-X keeps us from seeing the chains, or the hands that hold them. We can’t know the creator’s intent until we know what’s been hidden from us. Continue research.
-O5-8
Experiment: A D-class subject with an implanted pacemaker was drugged to prevent unconsciousness and placed in soundproof isolation chambers. Speakers within the isolation chambers played a modified version of SCP-X at 85 decibels.
Result: The subject remained conscious. After 14 minutes, the subject began talking to himself, with SCP-X harmonic frequencies beginning at 35% and rising continuously.
At ~90% SCP-X frequency, the subject began verbally expressing the “rules” of SCP-X:
D-47718: Doc, you’ve got to let me out of here! Please! There’s…there’s something in here. I won’t look at it. I won’t think about it. I’ll tell you the deal, and I’ll forget about it. I don’t know how long I can do this!
At ~96% SCP-X frequency, the subject began interjecting seemingly random words into every silence:
D-47718: I won't look, I won't think about it, I’ll tell you, I’ll forget. God, I can’t! Ask black night face call! The river of candles, always watching. No! Let me forget!
At ~99% SCP-X frequency, the subject’s EKG grew erratic. The pacemaker was activated, which stabilized the subject’s heart for over a minute. The subject screamed continuously, and after one minute tore free of his restraints and leapt across the room, breaking one rib and damaging the pacemaker. The subject almost immediately went into cardiac arrest.
Note from Dr. Z: This subject kept his eyes shut so firmly that we could hardly get them open for the autopsy without damaging them.
Planned Experiment:
A conscious D-class subject with an artificial heart will be fully restrained in a soundproof room. The nerves controlling the subject’s eyelids will be injected with paralytic drugs, and the subject’s eyes kept moistened through mechanical means. The subject will be drugged to prevent unconsciousness. The modified SCP-X harmonics will then be played within the chamber at 85 dB.
The listed experiment was apparently performed at Site-191 on [__]. The following email, which has been cleared of any memetic hazards, was sent from the site just prior to the loss of contact.
From: Dr. Z
To: O5 Council
There’s a kind of insight that you receive when you’re about to die, I find.
I knew I was missing something in the first two fatal tests. I thought that the subjects were losing language processing and spewing random words as a result. I thought we’d get better results if we could keep them alive and conscious for longer.
Only after seeing SCP-X fail did I realize what was happening. SCP-X runs deeper than language - it’s formed out of concepts. That’s why everyone phrases the rules a bit differently. So, when those two subjects stopped saying the rules and began telling us the source code of SCP-X, we didn’t realize it at first. And the source code starts with this:
“Dark sky circle sound question.”
“Ask black night face call.”
Does the black moon howl.
But, I didn’t figure that out before the last experiment. D-48181, after nine doses, suffered enough damage to his SCP-X for him to be able to see SCP-X-1. The thing we didn’t realize was that, as soon as we saw him look at SCP-X-1, we saw it too. That’s why SCP-X is constantly reinforcing itself, person to person - if it fails for one of us it fails for everyone who can see them.
I’ve seen what SCP-X-1 is. I can’t tell you, because then you’d see it too. All I can tell you is that SCP-X isn’t really the skip. It’s the containment procedure. And you should make sure it isn’t breached again.
We died for this little bit of wisdom. The least you can do is listen.
MTF-X was deployed to investigate site 191, but were unable to locate the site. Upon reaching ~60 meters distance from the entrance, MTF members sporadically broke contact and refused to progress further. They reported being unable to look in the direction of the site, or think about moving in that direction.
Note from O5-8: Site-191 is to be destroyed using a computer-guided missile. Further experimentation is under consideration.
