Pentatome

SCP-6000 The Rumble Below

Item #: SCP-6000

Object Class: Keter Euclid Safe

Special Containment Procedures:

2005 May 1 – Safe

Containment for SCP-6000 consists of 7 automated seismic stations located around site A, and one manned research station at site A. A 300m wide perimeter delimited by chain link fences has been drawn around site A.

1989 Aug 10 – Euclid

[OBSOLETE]

LEVEL 2 ACCESS REQUIRED

Containment for SCP-6000 consists of 7 seismic stations around site 1, manned with research teams specialised in geology and archaeology. A 300m wide perimeter delimited by chain link fences and monitored by remote surveillance has been drawn around site A. Mobile task force N°4 is to remain on site.

1989 Aug 7 – Keter

[OBSOLETE]

LEVEL 4 ACCESS REQUIRED

Interim Containment procedures:
Full lockdown of the island is enacted. Navigation to and from the island is halted; incoming ships ought to be diverted. Creation of a 5km no fly zone above the island. No wireless communication allowed to and from the island except for foundation secured lines. All civilians still present are to remain in one of five (5) secured sites under surveillance of mobile task forces N°1 to N°5, official reasoning is leakage of radioactive material. The use of lethal force is allowed against civilians only if they try to escape the island. The use of lethal force against SCP-6000 is obligatory as soon as identification is confirmed. The use of ██████ type armament is allowed and recommended. Sites A and B are kept under constant surveillance by two (2) mobile task forces each and 24h remote surveillance. Aerial surveillance over the island is conducted after sundown with thermal and IR equipped helicopters.
The islands of Gyali, Pachia and Pergoussa located respectively at 3km, 5km and 7km away from Nisyros island, are kept under 24h surveillance by undercover mobile task forces on site.

Long term containment procedures:
Full island lockdown and no fly zone are to remain active. All civilians are to remain on site and be designated as C class or D class personnel depending on credentials.
Sites A and B are to be fully enclosed in a reinforced concrete shell, under 24h surveillance by two (2) mobile task forces for redundancy. The sites are to be surrounded by a 1km wide perimeter restricted to level 2 class personnel or above, with 3m tall reinforced concrete walls and motion detectors. Access to the perimeter and to the sites in not allowed unless accompanied by no less than four (4) armed mobile task force operatives in an armoured vehicle equipped with armament of calibre 20mm or higher.
In case of a containment breach, detonation of a low yield nuclear warhead is warranted.

Procedures prior to Euclid reclassification:

All civilians must be administered B class amnestics and shipped back to mainland Greece. Mobile task forces must remain on the island but need to conceal their presence¹, and armament class will change from ██████ type to conceal carry conventional firearms. Civilian activity will be allowed to resume once all evidence of SCP-████ have been removed from site B.

Description:
Keter class description [DATA EXPUNGED] [OBSOLETE]
SCP-6000 is a volcanic island called Nisyros, part of the Cyclades archipelago in the Aegean Sea, situated at 36° 35′ 10″ N, 27° 09′ 36″ E. SCP-6000 is 41,4km², its volcano is active tough it has not erupted since September 1888. There are 948 residents on the island and tourism activity is still permitted, although access to site A and research on the island are restricted.

SCP-6000 activity is located at site A: a partially collapsed 14th century semi-troglodytic orthodox monastery blocking the entrance of a natural cavern 50m deep and 25m high, which appears to act as a focussing chamber for SCP-6000-A.

Seismic tomography has revealed the existence of an empty magma chamber 900-1000m below site A, it is unknown if it plays a role in SCP-6000 activity.

SCP-6000 has emitted a low frequency sound intermittently at site A for over 2 millennia; this sound is designated SCP-6000-A. SCP-6000-A spans between 28 Hz and 0,05 Hz, averaging 17 Hz. Emissions are never less than 2 years long and can last for more than a century. The latest emission allegedly started in the mid 1880’s² and is still ongoing stopped on May 1st, 1995.

+ Addendum 1: Historical records of SCP-6000

1500 BC: Archaeological findings suggest that site A was a prominent place of cult for the Minoan civilisation³.

325-175 BC: Multiple Greek authors mention religious celebrations at site A. Notably, these celebrations are not conducted continuously in this period, but seem to be held at irregular intervals.

1110: Site A becomes a site of pilgrimage for orthodox Christians, the site is said to have healing properties.

1342: A monastery is erected at site A, blocking the entrance to the cavern. Most of the manuscripts were destroyed during the Ottoman conquest. Some of the sources left indicate that the monks were aware of SCP-6000-A and considered site A as a holy place.

1530: Very few primary sources from the Ottoman conquest subsist. Those that remain indicated that they considered SCP-6000-A unholy and forbade access to site A, the monastery fell into disrepair. Interestingly, those records suggest SCP-6000-A occurrences on the nearby islands of Gyali and Pergoussa. Investigation by the foundation did not produce any evidence of SCP-6000 related activity.

1884-1953: Historical records of the city of ███████ make mention of vibrations in the vicinity of site A. No actions were taken by authorities, no notable incident is mentioned.

All primary and secondary sources related to site A and SCP-6000-A were removed from the archives of the University of Athens and the University of Istanbul. Research on SCP-6000 in all field is closely monitored.

Seismic triangulation has not revealed a single point of emission; SCP-6000-A’s source is a 73m wide column going at least 14km deep in the earth’s crust.
A medium-term exposure (MTE)⁴ to SCP-6000-A causes a reduction in stress and anxiety in humans. This effect seems to be both physiological and psychological, although a neurological effect is suspected. All subjects exposed to SCP-6000-A for a long term (LTE)⁵ have described feeling a form of existential dread that alleviates as soon as they stop being exposed to SCP-6000-A.

No recording or recreation – analogue or digital – of SCP-6000-A have been able to recreate this effect: subjects that have not prior been exposed to SCP-6000-A do not display any reaction. However, when LTE subjects are exposed to simulated versions of SCP-6000-A, they immediately report a feeling of unease and wariness. After a few minutes, they display signs of distress and describe physical pain in their chest cavity spreading to their upper torso and head, and then to the rest of their bodies. Exposure for more than 5 minutes can lead to lasting psychological trauma. Exposure for more than 5 hours can lead to permanent neurological damage and death.

+ Addendum 2: Exposure testing to SCP-6000-A and recreations

Exposure testing was conducted on one (1) D class personnel, two (2) field research assistants and one (1) researcher. Transcriptions have been translated from Greek to English when necessary.

Trial 1 - 1991, December 13th, 6:17:

• 15-minute exposure to SCP-6000-A.

D class subject does not report feeling or hearing anything. Physiological markers do not indicate any change.

Trial 17 - 1992, February 29th, 21:59:

• 12-hour exposure to SCP-6000-A for 10 consecutive days.

Physiological markers indicate a slow-down of cardiac rhythm and breathing rate as well as a drop in glucocorticoid secretion.

D class subject reports:

Feeling better.

Trial 37 - 1992, August 27th, 18:23:

• 12-hour exposure to SCP-6000-A for 180 consecutive days.

Physiological markers indicate a return to pre-exposure baseline levels for heart rate and breathing rate. The rate of glucocorticoid secretion is unnaturally low, we have also observed a dip in dopamine and serotonin uptake, which would lead us to believe that SCP-6000-A may act like a neuroleptic.

D class subject reports:

Yeah I’m good, I mean business as usual. There’s just, you know. This feeling of… [pause] Uncertainty. Like I was an ant living my life under a giant’s foot, never certain of when it would come down and crush me against the ground. [pause] I mean, the usual you know.

Trial 44 - 1992, September 12th, 06:25:

• 15-minute exposure to recordings of SCP-6000-A.

D class subject does not report feeling or hearing anything. Physiological markers do not indicate any change.

Trial 59 - 1992, December 2nd, 06:013:

• 15-minute exposure to a simulation of SCP-6000-A.

Immediately after the beginning of trial 59, D class subject, field research assistant MD and researcher SK reported a feeling of deep unease. After 25 seconds all of them have stated the feeling that their death was imminent. After 1 minutes and 38 seconds, all three were convulsing on the ground with painful cries. The trial was cut short when field research assistant JM entered the testing chamber to stop the recording after 7 minutes and 27 seconds.

D class subject reports:

That was the worst pain I’ve ever felt! It felt like my soul was being crushed by the weight of the world! You’ve felt it too, haven’t you? I know you have!

Trial 62 - 1993, January 17th, 08:20:

• 2-hour exposure to a simulation of SCP-6000-A

Physiological markers indicate very high heart rate and breathing rate, signifying an intense fight or flight response. ECG monitoring shows activation of pain and fear related regions of the brain.

D class subject protests vehemently.

Trial 65 - 1993, March 27th, 18:42:

• 12-hour exposure to a simulation of SCP-6000-A

Physiological markers indicate sub pre-exposure baseline heart rate and breathing rate. ECG monitoring shows no brain activity. MRI shows no brain activity. D class subject is declared brain dead. He will be transferred to ███████ facility unpon the request of Dr. ████████.

The latest hypotheses suggests that SCP-6000 is linked to the extinct civilisation of the Minoans, present on the island between 2400BC to 1100 BC.

Addendum:
- Historical records of SCP-6000 activity
- Exposure testing to SCP-6000-A and recreations

- Research logs

Research audio log of junior researcher Sofia Koštunica, 1989, August 11th, 11:35.

I must admit that Dr. Avramópoulos was hasty in classifying this a keter class event. He has been on edge lately. So, it turns out this wasn’t a world ending event, but a mere coincidence: events on sites A and B were not related and just so happened to occur at the same time in the same place. Site A had been under surveillance of the foundation since 1953 but never classified as SCP until now. It’s a partially troglodyte church where a low frequency sound is emitted by the ground. From now on it’s classified at SCP-6000. And events at site B were merely manifestations of SCP-████. They were disposed of by the multiple mobile task forces we had. Civilians were released and sent on their merry way, we’re finishing clean up and I’m in charge of the follow-up research on SCP-6000.

[pause]

I can’t believe he’d started the paperwork for a low yield nuclear warhead! [laughs]

Research audio log of junior researcher Sofia Koštunica, 1991, December 12th, 22:47.

I pulled up all recordings since 1953 in addition to our own and started the analysis again. So far, we have nothing. Spectrogram, distortion factor, dynamic range, and SNR, we got nothing. No patterns, no signal, just a totally random set of low frequency notes, most of it we can’t even perceive. I think it’s time we move onto exposure testing.

Research audio log of researcher Sofia Koštunica, 1995, May 1st, 12:12.

So, everybody is a little freaked out right now. SCP-6000-A just stopped an hour ago. Out of nowhere, the sound stopped being emitted by the column. We’ll keep rolling the recordings, but I have a feeling it’s not coming back.

[pause]

I had forgotten the sound of silence. It’s awful.

Research audio log of researcher Sofia Koštunica, 1996, June 19th, 7:03.

This is my last log on this site, SCP-6000 has been silent for over a year, and we’re not going anywhere with the simulations, so I’m moving onto new, spine-chilling adventures! But…

[pause]

But I can’t help but feel that…

[pause]

That’s something’s missing from me. I can’t remember what it is, but I had something. Something important that was taken, torn from my gut and I’ll never feel whole again and I…

[sobbing]

Research audio log of senior researcher Sofia Koštunica, 2006, August 11th, 14:10.

For some reason I was just thinking about SCP-6000 and I realised something. Because of the equipment we had in ’91, we never could analyse the whole set. We had to use snippets of it, about 2-3 months long. The scope was all wrong, SCP-6000-A are centuries long! So, I found the recordings in the archives and started working on this machine. When I compressed and recompiled the whole 45 years, a signal finally appeared! Lots of noise of course, so I clean it up a bit and did some reconstruction and here’s what I got.

[recording is crackling but there is a distinct low and monotone voice]

That’s it! That’s something! I’m not crazy! There’s syntax, that’s a sentence, right?

I’m going to ask Dr.Skaletska, she knows about ancient linguistics. That’ll make sense to her. It has to.

- Letter from Dr.Skalestka

Hey Sofia,

It seems like you had fun in Greece! I’m dying to know how you got your grubby hands on an audio recording of a language that’s been dead for 3000 years. But I know better not to ask.

Anyway, what you asked me, in addition to being very unconventional, wasn’t easy. I pulled from Mycenaeans and proto-Hellenistic languages and tried to extrapolate patterns from linear A tablets, so I can’t be certain of what I found. One thing I can tell you is that you were right: it’s a sentence, an answer rather, but only the end of it. And I suppose we’ll never know the beginning. Here’s what I found:

[…][kin/brother/ally] until the last [eternity/cycle].

Hope that’s helpful!
xoxo

Anastasia.

Footnotes

1. Civilian apparels will be provided.

2. Recording by the foundation started in 1953.

3. The Minoan civilisation dominated the Aegean sea between 3000BC and 1100BC. Very little is known or understood about their culture and no one can explain how their civilisation collapsed.

4. More than 8 hours per day over 10 consecutive days.

5. More than 8 hours per day over 120 consecutive days.