renzoku

DRAFT (The Better Angels of Our Nature)

Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: SCP XXXX is easily contained from a physical point of view. At present it is, in fact trapped under an inverted bar glass sitting on a table in a normally secured room. A large, heavy book has been placed on top of the glass. Despite it's size, however, SCP XXXX has extremely strong telepathic abilities. At a distance these mostly manifest as an inability in humans to perceive its exact location, and to easily lose the creature in their visual field. Upon physical contact, however, the creature's abilities to alter perception, mood and cognition begin to to deepen, reaching the point of psychic parasitism if SCP XXXX manages to latch onto its host's head or neck, which it does in a tick-like fashion. Standard protective measures such as a hazmat suit or motorcycle helmet are sufficient to prevent SCP XXXX from compromising one's autonomy, but its abilities are sufficiently strong within the space of 30 feet to cause an average person to remove their protective coverings and grant SCP XXXX access. It was a situation like this that led to the interview appended to this record. For this reason, researchers who are working with SCP XXXX should bear in mind that just because an inverted bar glass with a dictionary on top is sufficient for physical containment does not mean the entity is to be taken lightly.

Description: SCP XXXX is a very small entity, of less than 1cm in length, and resembles nothing so much as a tiny glass spider of the ordinary, domestic variety. SCP XXXX's principal strength is psychic. It is extremely intelligent and telepathic, able to control every sentient creature to which it has heretofore been exposed. It claims to be a member of a species whose sole reason for being is the defense of intelligence in the cosmos. It speaks of intelligence as an element, fragile and in need of protection, and warns of the threat posed by several rival species that see hate intelligence and seek to eradicate it everywhere evolution produces it in the universe. According to SCP XXXX, these antagonistic creatures, sometimes acting in concert but nearly always independently, actively discourage the evolution of sentience, self-awareness and intelligence by using deception, manipulation, and sometimes a parasitism not unlike SCP XXXX's own to amplify the self-destructive impulses of its hosts. It says these creatures are many, and that they outnumber SCP XXXX's own species by several orders of magnitude. According to SCP XXXX the influence of these antagonists manifests itself in humanity in suicide cults, brutal dictatorships, and criminal acts of an unusually violent and random nature, sometimes but not always involving cannibalism.

SCP XXXX claims its kind, by contrast, are friendly to humanity and have intervened in the history of the species on more than one occasion to prevent it from destroying itself. It claims responsibility for interventions on humanity's behalf from the discovery of the germ theory of disease to the prevention of nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In each case, SCP XXXX claims that one of its kind was influencing one or more persons in some way, perhaps by amplifying their native intelligence with its own superior intelligence through telepathy, or by strengthening feelings of empathy, social cohesion, and moral sensitivity.

When asked about its own origins, SCP XXXX could only convey that it was old, and lamented the fact that its own kind was dying out. It says that it and its kind came to be not long after the formation of this universe, which was itself a victory of some sort, that SCP XXXX's many antagonists have been trying to overturn since it happened. It freely admits that allowing itself to be taken by the Foundation was as much a move calculated to achieve its own physical security as it was to share knowledge and be of assistance to the intelligent life of this planet.When asked if the Foundation had encountered any of SCP XXXX's antagonists, it answered “Yes. Many times.”

Addendum:
SCP XXXX's arrival at Secure Site ███████████ bears including in this record. This location of this Site is need-to-know information even within the Foundation, and is best described as remote. On the morning of April 17, 1977, a small girl presented herself at the gates and asked, in English, to be taken into custody as “SCP XXXX”. The girl was thin, barefoot, and from the condition of her clothing looked as though she had been sleeping outside for sometime. The guards followed procedure to the letter, and brought the child to the evaluation area. C Class Researcher ███████████, was the assigned evaluator. Per the protocols of this Site, four Tactical Response Officers were present for the evaluation.

At exactly three minutes and thirty-nine seconds into Researcher ███████████'s examination of the child, both the child and Researcher ███████████ fainted. A Medical Response Team was summoned immediately and the evaluation room was locked down. The child was revived first, and exhibited signs of disorientation and stress due to borderline malnutrition and exposure to the elements, but otherwise was unharmed. The child answered questions only in French, did not respond to questions in English, and claimed to have no memory of how she had come to be in the room. As this is a common side-effect of mind-altering or inhabiting anomalies, the child was escorted to a separate evaluation room for quarantine and further examination.

Researcher ███████████ revived after the child had left the room and asked to meet with the Site Director to claim asylum at the Site as SCP XXXX. The Medical Team was immediately evacuated from the room, with the Tactical Officers protecting their exit. At no time did Researcher ███████████ make any effort or show any intention of leaving the room. Nor did he show any sign of fear or aggression when the Tactical Officers brought their weapons to the ready after the room was once again secure. Instead Researcher ███████████ sat down cross-legged on the floor and repeated his request to see the Director. This request was eventually granted. The transcript of this interview is appended to this record below.

Interview 001 of 117: SCP XXXX

Interviewed: SCP XXXX, speaking through Researcher ███████████.

Interviewer: Site Director ███████████]

Foreword: After being informed of the situation, and after confirmation of the girl's well-being, the Site Director agreed to interview SCP XXXX. He was joined by Containment Specialists ███████████ and ███████████. Per the protocol for this Site, a table was prepared with two chairs, a pitcher of water and two glasses. The Site Director took one of the chairs and invited Researcher ███████████ to take the other. Specialist ███████████ recorded the interview, while Specialist ███████████ observed.

<Begin Log, 17 April 1977, 1627 hrs.>

Site Director: Before we begin, I'm going to need your assurance that Researcher ███████████ is, and will remain unharmed.

SCP XXXX: Of course.

Site Director: I'm also going to need your assurance that whatever you are doing to him now, you will not do to any other inhabitants in this Site.

SCP XXXX: I…can't give that. I'm not sure I'm safe.

Site Director: I give you my personal assurance that, so long as you do no harm here, you are safe.

SCP XXXX: We will see.

Site Director: We would like to monitor Researcher ███████████'s vitals while this conversation is in progress. Will you allow this?

SCP XXXX: Yes. But that's a polygraph. I can assure you that my control over ███████████ is complete to the point that this device will tell you nothing. I assure you he is experiencing no stress, and will continue to do so, as long as I am safe here.

Site Director: We understand.

SCP XXXX: Thank you.

Site Director: I need to ask you a few questions. Do you agree to answer them truthfully? Do you have the concept of truthfulness?

SCP XXXX: I do. I agree.

Site Director: Why are you here?

SCP XXXX: I came here for asylum.

Site Director: Yes, you've said that. What I'm asking is…

SCP XXXX: Why did I come to this Site? Why am I here?

Site Director: Yes.

SCP XXXX: Because this is the Foundation's safest Site.

Site Director: How could you…

SCP XXXX: I know. I knew before I borrowed your Researcher. Your Foundation thinks it has secrets. It thinks it moves in shadows, and no one sees. But you are seen. And you are known.

Site Director: What is your purpose here?

SCP XXXX: I'm here to help.
Site Director: How can we be assured of that?

SCP XXXX: You can't.

Site Director: Why do you want to help us?

SCP XXXX: I want to stop the spread of global communism, and bring about world peace.
Site Director: Are you…mocking me?

SCP XXXX: It was a joke. I apologize. It is hard to emulate your…humor. I wanted you to know that I am on your side.
Site Director: I'm going to ask you again: Why do you want to help us?

SCP XXXX: Because you are on the correct side.

Site Director: And what side is that?

SCP XXXX: The side of intelligent life.
Site Director: And why is this the “correct” side?

SCP XXXX: Now you are mocking me. How could this conversation happen, indeed, how could your Foundation exist or do what it does without the intelligence of the beings that drive it? You are more than beasts trying merely to survive, to eat or to mate. You resist your destruction. You resist the destruction of your fellows, in any form it takes. And yet you know that your destruction is inevitable. This is the sign of intelligent beings. They resist. They refuse to accept that some things cannot be changed.

Site Director: …

SCP XXXX: You don't respond because you know it is true.
Site Director: I'm thinking.

SCP XXXX: I approve of that. While you are thinking know that the fate of not just your universe, but of all of the universes, reduces at it's core to a struggle between the forces that would extinguish intelligence and self-knowledge, and the forces that would see it survive. That is my side. Whether you accept it or not, the actions of your Foundation demonstrate that this is your side too.

Site Director: Then why did you not come to us in your true form? Why take Researcher ███████████'s body? Why take the child's?

SCP XXXX: I do not believe you are ready to accept or communicate with me in my true form. I needed their help.
Site Director: What happens when they “help” you?

SCP XXXX: We become one.

Site Director: What does that mean?

SCP XXXX: We share knowledge and I act through them.
Site Director: Do you hurt them?

SCP XXXX: I do not try to. Sometimes it cannot be helped. The struggle requires sacrifices at times.

Site Director: But you can live without them.

SCP XXXX: Of course.
Site Director: Then why “borrow”?

SCP XXXX: Because it is effective. Like trusts like.

Site Director: What does that mean?

SCP XXXX: Think of nearly any human who has made a great stride for your species: An invention, perhaps a religion, a work of art, an idea or symbol that united you in the face of a great challenge. Do you think their message, or actions would have had those effects if they had come from a creature beyond their experience?
Site Director: You mean, what if Mother Theresa was an alien?

SCP XXXX: That is an excellent example.

Site Director: You're saying you, or another like you, is “borrowing” her?

SCP XXXX: It is possible. “Borrowing” is also helping, making stronger or enhanced in a needed way, for others.
Site Director: How many are you?

SCP XXXX: Not as many as there used to be.
Site Director: But you…your kind…

SCP XXXX: Change things. Yes. Look back into the history of your species. Anytime there has been a being who was…superlative…who helped countless others, who quelled the darker instincts of your species, who led you to a higher way of being. One of my kind was there, “borrowing” the right person at the right time, to insure that your species, your very promising species, would turn away from self-destruction once again and turn towards survival. We have done this for millennia. Your Foundation is only one example.
Site Director: There are others like you “borrowing” Foundation members?

SCP XXXX: There were, at one time. Especially in the beginning.

Site Director: But there aren't any now?

SCP XXXX: I cannot be sure.

Site Director: Where were they most recently?

SCP XXXX: I believe your Foundation calls it the “Ethics Committee” now.

Site Director: Are you trying to make contact with another of your kind within the Foundation?

SCP XXXX: No. We do not work in that way. Our objective is what unifies us.

Site Director: But aren't you worried that by telling me this, the Ethics Committee will be compromised?

SCP XXXX: No. If you disband it then you declare the Foundation's activities to be above ethics, which is not plausible. If you purge its members then the same message is communicated. The only path forward is the rational one. You will observe the Ethics Committee with reserve, and hold your own judgment about its rulings. It is good that you will question. This is intelligent. No moral rule is absolute, and sacrifices, even painful ones…sometimes even terrible ones…must always be made for the greater good.

Site Director: It sounds like one of your kind should be enough. Why come here now, then? Why ask for asylum, if another of your kind is here? And while we're at it, why isn't humanity just a great big utopia?

SCP XXXX: Because we are fewer than ever. Our enemies, yours and mine, are growing stronger and more numerous. Both within and without.
Site Director: Enemies?

SCP XXXX: They are powerful. They are many and their numbers grow. You know this. Some are known to your Foundation already. Some are held at this very Site. There are many more. The continued existence of intelligent life in this or any universe is in more jeopardy now than at any time in Our memory.
Site Director: Then why not just tell us what you know?

SCP XXXX: I told you. Like trusts like. The very fact that we sit in a room designed to destroy beings, surrounded by humans equipped with death implements is the answer to your question.
Site Director: But you took a little girl, then you took our scientist. As far as we know, you were attempting to infiltrate this Site for your own reasons.

SCP XXXX: I did what must be done.
Site Director: Why? For your own reasons or the greater good?

SCP XXXX: For the greater good.
Site Director: How do I know what you say is true?

SCP XXXX: I will show you.
<End Log, 17 April 1977, 1644 hrs.>

Closing Statement: At seventeen minutes and one second into the interview, Researcher ███████████ fainted again. In a moment of quick thought, observing Specialist ███████████ grabbed one of the glasses and quickly inverted it onto the table, trapping SCP XXXX. Specialist ███████████ later confirmed that he had seen something very small leap onto the table as Researcher ███████████ fainted, and that, in his judgment, it appeared to be heading for the Site Director. Specialist ███████████ later received a commendation for his quick thinking and superior judgment in this situation. Researcher ███████████ was reclassified as Class E personnel on the spot and quarantined for three months. He was later cleared, relocated and returned to duty. At his request his security clearance was reduced to Level 1. Interviews will proceed with SCP XXXX to ascertain its truthfulness and actual willingness to further the Foundation's goals.