Exploration B
██/██/1987
No further reports of SCP-2585 activity occurred until 1987, which resulted in the deaths of three climbers. Due to this, another exploration was planned to verify the status of the anomaly. As with the first exploration, a team of three Foundation personnel with significant mountaineering experience were selected (P, J, and L). In addition to their climbing equipment, harness, and bottled oxygen, the team was given a more sophisticated video/audio recording device and three Beretta Series 81 pistols. The team once again ascended via the Abruzzi Spur.
[Sections of the climb prior to Camp C have been omitted for brevity.]
P: Base, we're about to start towards Camp D; no anomalies.
Base: How's the team? Report everything, no matter how minor.
Indistinct talking is heard, muffled by the wind.
P: J says his fingers are cold.
Base: Is that everything? Altitude sickness, frostbite, anything?
P: Nothing, we're all green, here.
Base: Alright, we'll maintain silence until you find something. Report anything new.
P: Roger. Out.
Twenty-one minutes of silence.
P: We've got something, Base.
Base: What is it, P?
P: The terrain is different. I've climbed K2 before, this ridge should head north, not south.
Base: Is the route climbable?
P: Yes, but if it takes us to the Polish Line, there's no way we can ascend it in this weather.
Base: Roger that, P. You are clear to return should the route prove not climbable.
P: Understood, Base. Out.
Eleven minutes of silence.
P: Base?
Base: We read you, P.
P: The route is obstructed by seracs1.
Base: Repeat, P?
P: Seracs; I know K2 is notorious for them, but they shouldn't be here…actually, I'm not quite sure where "here" is at the moment, but I'm still pretty sure that they shouldn't be there.
Base: Is the route impassable?
P: …Yes. If we try to climb that, we won't end up anywhere but beneath an avalanche-oh fuck!
A loud rumbling and crashing is heard.
Base: P? Come in!
P: We're alright, Base; part of the seracs just broke off, but we weren't hit. Everything's…
Base: P?
P: …It's here, that…thing in the spacesuit.
Base: SCP-2585-1 is present? What is it doing?
P: Nothing. It's just floating near a ledge about ten meters above us. It's nearly upside down, just hanging there. It's also staring at us, I think; the face screen is just black.
Base: Is the team alright?
P: Everyone seems okay.
Base: Are you sure you're alright, P?
P: I've climbed Eiger2, Annapurna3, and this is my third time on K2. The astronaut really isn't frightening me much.
Base: I see. Please continue to observe SCP-2585-1 and inform us if anything changes.
P: Roger, Base. It's still just floating there, I-wait a moment.
Base: P?
P: It's holding its hand out towards us. The palm is facing us, fingers outstretched. I'm not sure if it's reaching out to us or…
Base: P, come in?
P: The…the seracs are moving. The wall is shifting slightly.
Base: Fall back, P. Mission aborted, fall back!
P: Retreating, Base - standby!
Five minutes of silence.
P: We've lost sight of the entity and the seracs, Base. Everyone is still…uh, alive.
Base: Do you see or hear anything else?
P: We see fog and hear wind; the storm's gotten a lot worse. Mission still aborted, Base?
Base: Yes, there's really nothing more you can do up there.
P does not respond.
Base: P?
A sound resembling a muted shriek is heard, source unclear; contact is then lost.
P, J, and L are first observed finishing their descent forty-five hours later. P was physically well (aside from issues attributable to the conditions, though no permanent damage was accrued), J was suffering from frostbite and had to have three digits amputated, and L has no memory of the events on K2 whatsoever.
P and J were able to attest that they had encountered SCP-2585-1 again during their descent, and had attempted to contact Base Camp several times, without response. The "muted shriek" heard prior to communication failure was created by J upon seeing SCP-2585-1. Aside from SCP-2585-1's reappearance, the team reported no further anomalies during descent.
Analysis of the video feed demonstrated an abnormality, however. While the team reported that SCP-2585-1's face plate was opaque, this is not the case in the video. SCP-2585-1's face plate generates bands of visible light at varying intensities and hues. At times these bands produce an image similar to a human face, or alternatively a set of fractals that coincide with a heightened presence of digital artifacts. Closer analysis reveals that, in several images, both the human face and the second phenomenon are visible. During these periods, the two images appear to either "share" the area behind the face plate, or "merge" together (the latter of which is extremely distressful for the human face). P and J were not able to account for this inconsistency; L, however, who has remained consistent that he cannot remember any of the events on K2, screamed at the sight of the video and became so distressed that he had to be administered sedatives. Following the episode, L could not account for why he screamed, and did not react as such during a second viewing.
The topographical anomalies observed on K2 during the exploration were not evident on the mountain after SCP-2585 dissipated.
