The Gates of Perception (Rewrite)

Seized image from SCP-XXXX's discovery event in Eugene, Oregon.

Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: 100 specimens of SCP-XXXX are to be stored at Site-97 in standard anomalous botanical greenhouses for study and examination. Culling of wild SCP-XXXX populations has been left to MTF Theta-4 ("Gardeners"), as no further procurement of SCP-XXXX instances has been deemed necessary.

Foundation observation posts on the Pacific Coast are to monitor for reported incidents pertaining to SCP-XXXX's anomalous properties. Such events are to be logged, and Class-A/AC amnestics are to be deployed as appropriate. The individual identified as being the source of the SCP-XXXX event is to be detained for no less than 1 week, administered Class-C/AC amnestics and subsequently released to a local psychiatric ward.

Description: (…)

(…)

Onset of these effects is gradual, having been recorded to take approximately 30 minutes to fully manifest. These effects will gradually cease when SCP-XXXX's duration of action¹ has passed. However, any individuals already proximally affected by SCP-XXXX will remain so. Residual effects from direct ingestion of SCP-XXXX or exposure to its auditory proxy effect has been observed to last up to 5 days. Symptoms of post-exposure have included:

• Strong episodes of HPPD not concurrent with that of non-anomalous hallucinogens.
• Vivid recurring dreams always including and identically described entity and setting. Appeal to classify this entity as SCP-XXXX-1 is ongoing (See Addendum XXXX.3).
• Bouts of somnambulism and somniloquy² gradually increasing in intensity over the course of the 5 day post-exposure period.
• Severe cases of dissociative disorders such as depersonalization and derealization not concurrent with that of non-anomalous hallucinogens.

Any symptoms of persisting psychological disorders after the 5-day period are confirmed to be non-anomalous in nature, and can be treated through conventional means.

Addendum XXXX.1: The first recorded SCP-XXXX event occurred in Eugene, Oregon during a local Psytrance festival taking place on 4/18/2008. Agent Burrows, who was embedded in the local police department monitoring the festival, noticed increasingly strange activity from the crowd of the event. The aforementioned group appeared to all be in a state of confusion and distress whilst mumbling incoherently. Upon further investigation, Agent Burrows found the source of the activity to be a John Abrahams, who appeared to be in an extreme state of intoxication. Individual was detained by Agent Burrows in the midst of the disarray. Mr. Abrahams was sedated and placed into Agents Burrows' vehicle to isolate the individual from the rest of the general populous.

During a radio call with Site-97 to request for a secondary containment team, Agent Burrows started to experience increasingly intense auditory and visual hallucinations; seemingly from being in proximity to Mr. Abrahams. Transcript of the call and additional post event supplements can be found below:

+Show Transcript:

Site-97 Command: Radio Transcript 2008.04.18-21

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Radio Operator: Titanium Actual

Personnel transmitting: Agent Burrows (designation Boxer-42)

Foreword: Transcript edited for ease of viewing.

<Begin Log, 22:11 PDT>

Titanium Actual: This is Site-97 radio relay Olympia, identify yourself. Over.

Agent Burrows: This is Boxer-42, requesting secondary cleanup team for potential COG humanoid, how copy?

Titanium Actual: Copy that, Boxer-42. Teams en route to your location, what's the SITREP on the affected area, over?

Agent Burrows: Subject is in the back of my van and isolated. Multiple civies affected, bring extra Class-As. Wait a second…

Titanium Actual: What is it Boxer-42?

Agent Burrows: (Agent Burrows starts to sound increasingly distant.) The ground is whispering to me, it looks like it's breathing- (Agent Burrows sounds present for a moment.) Titanium Actual I think I'm compromised, please advise, over.

Titanium Actual:: Hot copy, Boxer-42. ETA 5 mikes on cleanup crew, over.

Agent Burrows: O-okay Titanium, wait a sec, what's that over there? (A loud thud is heard, presumably Agent Burrows dropping the radio.)

(Faint activity is heard from Agent Burrows for 5 minutes, followed by the sound of helicopters arriving on-scene, transmission is cut as secondary containment team arrives at location.)

<End Log, 22:17 PDT>

Closing Statement: Agent Burrows and Mr. Abrahams recovered without incident and placed into general anesthesia. Class-A/AC amnestics were administered to the festival area and cover story was fabricated. Agent Burrows and Mr. Abrahams were both placed into quarantine and scheduled for interviews at a later date.

+Show Log:

Interview XXXX-1:

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Interviewed: John Abrahams, 23 y/o Caucasian male. Individual responsible for discovery event of an unidentified anomaly.

Interviewer: Dr. Isaiah Jira, Level-3 researcher at Site-97.

Foreword: Interview conducted after Mr. Abrahams was cleared by medical personnel and had ceased exhibiting any anomalous properties. Interview conducted as per post-event procedure.

<Begin log, 4/19/08, 12:41 PDT>

Dr. Jira: Good afternoon, Mr. Abrahams, how are you today?

Mr. Abrahams: Well enough, I suppose. Being arrested obviously isn't a fun way to spend a weekend, though. Where am I, anyways? This clearly isn't a normal police station.

Dr. Jira: I'm afraid that's classified. I need to ask you a few questions about the events that transpired at the festival you attended on the 18th.

Mr. Abrahams: Sure, I guess. I was looking forward to this festival for months. Really wanted to do something to make it special, y'know? I was going around town the week before, trying to score some molly or something with no luck. After talking to one of my connects on the street, some old man came up and told me about some strange plant that grew out in woods, called it "His Sage". Said it was some sort of "divine" psychedelic. I managed to find some and took it at the festival, you know what happened next.

Dr. Jira: I see, can you describe the effect it had on you?

Mr. Abrahams: It wasn't dissimilar from acid, I guess. But I remember hearing these crazy voices, and they made me… happy. Not sure if it was because I was delirious, but it seemed like everyone around me was hearing it too, really fucking weird.

Dr. Jira: Interesting. Did you still have any of this "Sage" prior to being detained by our agent?

Mr. Abrahams: No.

Dr. Jira: Can you describe its appearance or where you found it, at least?

Mr. Abrahams: It was like nothing I had ever seen before. Had a strong smell to it like catnip and battery acid. The leaves also looked like the back of one of those really rare baseball cards, only way I can really describe it. Honestly have no idea how a plant could even look like that.

Dr. Jira: I see. Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Abrahams, I believe we're finished here. Unfortunately we need to keep you at this facility for a few more days for observation. Security, take Mr. Abrahams back to his cell.

Mr. Abrahams: Oh boy.

(security personnel enter the room and detain Mr. Abrahams without incident.)

<End Log, 4/19/08 12:50 PDT>

Closing Statement: Following the interview, Mr. Abrahams requested for writing material for personal reasons. Request was approved by Senior Researcher Lutwin. Investigation and search for the aforementioned plant specimen has been initiated by MTF Theta-4.

+Show Log:

Interview XXXX-2:

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Interviewed: Agent Burrows

Interviewer: Dr. Jira

Foreword: Agent Burrows requested a follow-up interview after his event testimony to divulge experienced after-effects from exposure to anomaly post incident.

<Begin Log, 4/19/08 20:00 PDT>

Dr. Jira: Hello, Agent. Thank you for your testimony you submitted earlier today, what was it you wanted to go on record for?

Agent Burrows: (pinches the bridge of his nose and shakily sighs.) Ever since being around that kid during the incident, I've still been having hallucinations.

Dr. Jira: It could be HPPD, it's a commonality after strong hallucinogenic experiences.

Agent Burrows: I don't think so. I read up on it after I came to thinking that's what it was, what's been happening has been much more intense.

Dr. Jira: Can you please elaborate?

Agent Burrows: Uh, yeah, sure. They aren't as strong as they were during the incident, but still extremely tangible. If I'm in silence I'll hear whispering in my head, voices in some language that I've never heard before. Even though I don't understand them, they invoke emotional reactions as if I knew every word it was saying. Sometimes it's glee, other times it's dread, release? It feels like it's beyond me, like there's something real and tangible talking to me… (Agent Burrows plants his head in his hands, distressed.) I don't know what the fuck got in my head, Doc.

Dr. Jira: I see, I'm requesting you for temporary Class-E desi-

Agent Burrows: But that's not fucking it, (Agent Burrows appears to grow more distressed and looks at Dr. Jira wide eyed) whenever I hear these voices I go into some trance. I see blurs in the corner of my vision, like something's in the room with me, trying to talk to me… (Agent Burrows looks to his side and enters a state of panic.) There it is again!

Dr. Jira: There's what?

Agent Burrows: GET OUT OF MY HEAD, WHATEVER YOU FUCKING ARE LEAVE ME ALONE (Agent Burrows gets up from his chair and clutches his hands on his head as he continues shouting.)

Dr. Jira: Security!

(Security personnel enter the room and sedate Agent Burrows as he is removed from the interview room.)

Agent Burrows: PUT IT IN A BOX, WHATEVER IT IS FIND IT…ANd put it in a box… i-it wants… (Agent Burrows loses consciousness.)

<End Log, 4/19/08 22:05 PDT>

Closing Statement: Agent Burrows was temporarily given Class-E personnel status and admitted into Site-97's medical bay on close watch for 72 hours. After which he reported no further hallucinations. Agent Burrows was diagnosed with PTSD and reassigned off field duty for treatment.

Addendum XXXX.2: On 4/22/2008, searches conducted by MTF Theta-4 in the woodlands surrounding Eugene, Oregon succeeded in finding a plant matching the description given by Mr. Abrahams. A quick test conducted on D-Class personnel at Site-97 revealed identical effects to the ones described in Interview XXXX-1. Object given SCP designation and Special Containment Procedures were established. Documentation has been revised accordingly.

Addendum XXXX.3: Following the discovery of SCP-XXXX, Mr. Abrahams was given Class-C/AC amnestics and released to a local psychiatric ward with implanted false memories. The following documentation is the confiscated journal of Mr. Abrahams that he kept during his time in Foundation custody:

+Show Documentation:

DATE: 4/20

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Well, this is a perplexing situation. I asked for this journal so I could record and organize my thoughts on all the messed up shit that's happened in the past few days. Thank god these goons (whoever they are) allowed me to have one, else I might literally die of boredom being cooped up in this concrete box. Since coming to from all the drugs they put me on, I've been experiencing some weird things relating to whatever the hell it was that I decided to take. I hear whispering in the silence, as if something was trying to tell me something. Even though I couldn't understand what the hell it was saying, I felt happy at what it said to me. A sense of relief or excitement… I just realized I probably sound like a fucking crazy person but who's going to see this anyways?

Going to sleep, guess I'll write more in the morning.

DATE: 4/21

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JESUS FUCK. It's currently 3AM right now and I need to write about this before it slips out of my mind. I woke up in a cold sweat from the most vivid fucking dream I swear I had ever seen. I was on some pier in the middle of the night, looked like somewhere along the Pacific, San Francisco maybe? Fuck, I'm veering off topic. So I was looking out over the sea and I could hear the same voice I've been hallucinating only it was louder and much clearer. Less like a whisper and more like a murmur I suppose. The voice was coming from some large person standing WAY out at sea. Mind you, this dream space was dark as fuck so I couldn't really make out any features of the figure. It seemed to turn and look at me and all at once everything faded away and I woke back up gasping.

Anyways, some doctor told me I had a screening in the morning, so it's probably for the best I get back to sleep. Still don't know where I am or who these people are but oh well.

DATE: 4/22

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Sorry I couldn't write more yesterday, that screening took the whole fucking day. Wait, why am I apologizing to myself? Think this cell's starting to take its toll on me. Anyways, believe it or not, I had the SAME GODDAMN DREAM last night. Only this time it was brighter, like the beginning of dawn as opposed to the dead middle of the night. The figure was closer too, I could actually make out what it was. It looked like a man, only with the head of three wolves… with three eyes. It was bare ass naked and its skin was… wasn't solid. Its body was made entirely of fractals, it had colors I didn't even recognize and the complexity of patterns was beyond words. This time the voices were defined and I could hear them clear as day. The dream ended the same way when this thing turned to look at me. I woke up to a guard shaking me awake, said I was speaking in my sleep and convulsing.

UPDATE: Doc told me I was being released soon. Said they had found that plant I had told them about. They were calling it by some number? I dunno, can't hear through a soundproofed box very well. Might as well continue writing when I'm out of here. I wonder what crazy shit will happen in dreamland this time around.

DATE:

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LISTEN TO THE WIND, IT WHISPERS. I WHISPER.

LISTEN TO THE SILENCE, IT SPEAKS. I SPEAK.

SEE THE SIGNS AROUND YOU. MY SIGNS.

BRING IT WITHIN YOUR MIND. BRING ME.

LET THE WORLD HEAR IT. HEAR ME.

Addendum XXXX.4: On 11/19/2009, reported cases of SCP-XXXX use showed a drastic increase in Deer Park, a city located just north of Spokane, Washington. Upon further investigation by Foundation agents, a cult was uncovered calling itself "The Curators". A raid was conducted on the cult's compound, where several specimens of SCP-XXXX were discovered being grown and distributed to the local populous. The cult's leader was identified to be a Royce Cindas, who was brought to Site-97 for interrogation. Transcript of the interview can be found below:

+Show Log:

Interview Log XXXX-3:

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Interviewed: Royce Cindas

Interviewer: Dr. Isiah Jira, recently appointed project head of SCP-XXXX.

Foreword: N/A

<Begin Log, 11/21/09>

Dr. Jira: Are you ready to talk now, Mr. Cindas?

Mr. Cindas: Of course, I was never reluctant not to.

Dr. Jira: Very well then, how did you come across SCP-XXXX?

Mr. Cindas: Ah yes, it was years ago when I was but a wanderer looking for a purpose. I often theorized the way to a higher power was through expansion of the mind and the opening of its narrow perception.

Dr. Jira: So, supernatural drugs?

Mr. Cindas: Precisely, though "drug" is such a rudimentary term for things such as His Sage.

Dr. Jira: (Sardonically) Of course, please continue.

Mr. Cindas: Well, my discovery of SCP-XXXX was purely by chance. I encountered it roaming through the vast Pacific woodlands. Its appearance put me in a state of bewilderment, and its aroma begged me to inspect it further. I plucked one of its shimmering leaves and began to chew it.

(Mr. Cindas begins to smile.)

Dr. Jira: Quite an odd way to interact with a strange looking plant you've never seen before.

Mr. Cindas: Nothing ventured, nothing gained, Doctor. The universe has an odd way of showing us direction in our lives, and I knew this was the right direction in which to tread.

Mr. Cindas: After a short time the trunks of trees started to breathe, and the forest began to come alive with a gleeful radiance and a booming, omnipotent voice. I spent the rest of the day fading in and out of our fragile reality in a state of bliss. Afterwards I took this beautiful specimen back to my abode to cultivate it. I was astonished to see after a day it was still blooming through my mind nearly as intensely as when I had first consumed it. That's when I had the dreams.

Dr. Jira: Go on.

Mr. Cindas: I witnessed a being of such ineffable beauty, in a space of my sleep more lucid than ever before. As the nights progressed, its shape and message became clearer, brighter, and closer than ever before. On the last night of these encounters, I awoke to find myself standing outside, with a message inscribed in the dirt.

Dr. Jira: And what did that message say?"

Mr. Cindas: (Mr. Cindas chuckles and inhales) "Bring me… unto Earth."

Mr. Cindas: This was revelation… this was the higher power I had been seeking. I formed The Curators to carry out this divine message. I kept it from the greedy eyes of black marketeers and traveled town to town seeking young and willing minds to prepare them to embrace Him and His Sage.

Dr. Jira: This "Sage" has turned you mad.

Mr. Cinda: (Mr. Cinda looks at Dr. Jira grimly.) For millennia humanity has been seeking something greater, something higher than ourselves, and (Mr. Cindas scoffs in disgust.) SCP-XXXX is that thing we have been seeking. Instead of sharing this revelation you squander it. Your organization shuts me down and puts my answer, the answer under lock and key, never to be heard from again. You are selfish and petty for not sharing you mind and body with something greater than yourself.

Dr. Jira: What did you just say?

Mr. Cinda: The answer is upon us, Doctor. and his arrival will come soon.

Dr. Jira: Elaborate.

Mr. Cindas: I have said all I need to, heed my message or you and your compatriots will be left to writhe in a purposeless existence.

(Mr. Cindas remains silent for several seconds.)

Dr. Jira: Guards, take Mr. Cinda back to his cell. We're done here.

(Security enters the room and removes Mr. Cinda from his chair and escorts him out of the interview room.)

<End Log>

Closing Statement: All seized cultists were administered Class-C/AC amnestics and were released following approval from Site-97 medical personnel.

Footnotes

1. Tests conducted on D-Class personnel have shown SCP-XXXX's duration of action to be approximately 8 hours.

2. Sleepwalking and sleep talking.