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Info
SCP-001-FR: Dr Gray's Proposal - Not all angels have wings
Author:Torrential
Translator: DrMacro does not match any existing user name andRounderhouse
Copy Editors:Mew-ltiverse,
Uncle Nicolini,
Date Published: September 30, 2017
Image Sources: Family - CC0 License ; Butterfly by David Wagner - CC0 License ; Gertrude Three Fingers by William Erwin - CC0 License (entered the public domain).
Photograph found in the subject's personal effects.
Anomaly #: ANO-842-HUM
Danger Scale: 0
Category: Abnormal Explained
Temporary Detention Measures: ANO-842-HUM is currently pending in-depth analysis, and is housed in a 15 m² room padded with acoustic foam and equipped with a single bed. Access to the room is restricted to medical staff assigned to the daily examination of her motor and sensory functions. ANO-842-HUM should be fed by intravenous infusion. Her sheets must be replaced by new ones monthly and a wellness check made once a week.
Information: ANO-842-HUM, known under the identity of "Amie Fox", is a female human, twenty-one years old and of Native American origin. She is 1.74 m tall and weighs 56.4 kg, and has a body that is identical in every respect to that of an individual of her age, both physically and physiologically.
ANO-842-HUM is immersed in non-comatose sleep from which she appears unable to awaken, despite the absence of any injury or illness that could explain such an anomaly. When ANO-842-HUM is stimulated by tactile and auditory interactions, she adopts a reaction similar to that of an individual in the awakening phase, including the slow and heavy movement of some of her limbs, inaudible speech and localized agitation in the eyelids, without ever being able to reach the awakening phase.
19██/12/24 at 6:42 pm - Dr. Vendor: A recent review revealed that ANO-842-HUM suffers from an idiopathic form of sleeping sickness, likely due to a nervous system disorder. This refutes Dr. Arklight's thesis that ANO-842-HUM was involved in a much more serious event. ANO-842-HUM not being exceedingly abnormal, she will be transferred to a clinical centre adapted to her condition so that she can receive adequate care, and then returned to civilian life.
19██/12/25 at 10:53 am - Dr. Arklight: You're making a huge mistake. This kid is the Primary Cause. A fucking demiurgical Sword of Damocles. And you think we're going to allow her to continue to exist? The O5 Council has taken up the case. SCP-001-FR will be executed as soon as possible, you can be sure of that.
19██/12/28 at 8:05 pm - Chief Research Director Dmitriev: Dr. Arklight has been relieved of his duties and subjected to amnestic treatment for his determination to defend an unfounded hypothesis and to make statements connoting criminal intent. This file will only be kept for archival purposes, and will not take the requested designation of "SCP-001-FR". Staff members designated to monitor the subject's care are invited to read the formalities set out in the following document.
Memetic agent revealed.
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Ocular injection detected.
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Subject's survival confirmed.
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File secured.
"It's just a bad dream."
Those were the five words that each of us had on our lips at the end of the Council meeting held five years after the discovery of SCP-001-FR, and within three hours of the discovery of its fascinating and terrifying singularity. But don't get me wrong. It's not so much what she is capable of, which has dangerously undermined our mental health, but what her existence means to all of us.
I presume you are expecting a dramatic situation to be exposed involving the awakening of some ancient rabid deity determined to reduce the entire Earth to a state of subatomic particles, without it even really knowing why. Then you will let out a weary smile and whisper: "One more!". Or perhaps you are hoping for a crucial revelation about the Foundation, the O5 Council, or the true — oh so immoral — purposes that you have been serving without your knowledge for so long. Then you will feign a grin and roll your eyes towards the sky and exclaim: "I knew it!".
Sorry. This is not the case.
Do you remember all those apocalyptic scenarios we escaped from? Heroic sacrifices, fierce struggles, back-to-back battles conducted by the Foundation with its best enemies to defeat a bigger and stronger opponent? Censorship blocks, unlikely code names, fictitious accreditation levels? Daily transgressions of human ethics? Nuclear warheads, ambassadors of our peaceful intentions? And the hundreds of thousands of Class D we sacrifice on the altar of bitterness and fear?
Perfect. Forget everything.
SCP-001-FR is only the answer to the question that blossoms on the innocent lips of a child who thinks too long. Maybe she is the solution to the enigma that the greatest scholars and philosophers believe they ingenuously hold the key to.
The rattles of agony and stupor of a kneeling humanity that we call "containment procedures" must not be a substitute for the following principles, which you must promise me, promise us, to respect until the end of your existence.
Live. Eat, sleep, walk, breathe. Enjoy those moments of your life to which you usually attach so little importance. Every morning, before leaving to protect humanity in general indifference; every evening, when you return home exhausted by a cruel and ungrateful daily life; embrace with passion your spouse, kiss with tenderness your children, caress with enthusiasm your dog, cat, ferret or goldfish, whatever. Live. Love. Exist. May this trinity be your new adage. You who read me, you who tame the impossible, you who play with death, this is by far the best you can hope to do to combat the threat posed by SCP-001-FR.
Finally, I will not end this letter with the redundant and now so hypocritical slogan that is also our motto.
Because today, the most fragile, the most vulnerable, and the most human being that exists gives us a lesson in masterful humility.
It confines us. Protect us. And saves us.
- O5-13
Only known photograph of SCP-001-FR awake.
Item #: SCP-001-FR
Threat Level: Gray1 ●
Object Class: Ein Sof2
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-001-FR is housed in a 10 m x 10 m x 10 m x 3 m sterilized cell in the Zone-Resh, buried 120 m deep and only accessible via a retinal and digital scanner, and an aseptic airlock containing Type 3 protective suits required to enter the cell. The room, which is padded with 18 cm of acoustic foam, is at the center of a second facility comprising the staff's safety areas and living environments, which is itself protected by walls made of 2.5 m of reinforced concrete and equipped with seismic activity and thermal variation sensors. No explosive devices or devices likely to pose a risk to its integrity are allowed in the underground bunker.
SCP-001-FR must be laid on a memory foam bed at all times, with sheets and blankets changed weekly. Two selected staff members are required to examine SCP-001-FR once a day and to make a complete assessment of her state of health. A surveillance system consisting of 4 security cameras are arranged around her cell. An oxygen mask should be applied to her face and a sensor attached to her wrist to continuously measure her heart rate. The room temperature must be maintained at 18°C.
APF3 San-001 ("In the Name of the Rose") ensures the security of SCP-001-FR in all circumstances. It can only receive orders from the O5 Council, and is authorized to open fire on all unauthorized individuals entering the outside level of the containment area. Since the endangerment of SCP-001-FR is not an option, all members of the personnel must be prepared to defend SCP-001-FR with their lives should this prove necessary.
If an SCP-001-FR-Ω event reoccurs, the Foundation must activate the Ennui Protocol and release a gaseous amnestic into the atmosphere using drones flying in global airspace twenty-four hours a day.
A standard human individual report with possible abnormal properties should be used as a cover, and displayed for unauthorized staff members in order to conceal its confirmed status as an SCP object. This document must be protected by a single memetic agent, developed solely for the purpose of its reading. It is lethal to any individual who would be able to access the document without adequate inoculation and has the ability to numb the emotional activity of qualified personnel without altering their other cognitive functions, in order to protect them from a violent state of derealization.
Average brain activity rate of SCP-001-FR between 1998 and 2016. Click to enlarge.
Average brain activity rate of SCP-001-FR between 1932 and 1955. Note the difference with the one recorded previously. Click to enlarge.
Average brain activity rate of SCP-001-FR recorded on December 28, 19██. Such a variation is unexplained, but indicates an anomalous dream stimulation.4 Click to enlarge.
Description: SCP-001-FR is a female human being of Native American origin, theorized to be between sixteen and twenty years old. She is 1.74 m tall and weighs 56.4 kg. Her body has no physical or physiological abnormalities, with the exception of a natural immunity to aging. SCP-001-FR also has no need to eat or breathe to survive, though her body appears capable of performing these functions.
SCP-001-FR is immersed in an advanced state of sleep from which she has, as of yet, never awoken from. Normally, she is inert and silent. An analysis of her brain activity using an electroencephalogram revealed a single sleep phase, different from the other known phases5, but similar to REM sleep and lasting indefinitely. SCP-001-FR has never shown any signs of sleep disorders, but an acceleration of heart rate and jerky breathing have been observed in the past, temporary but recurrent manifestations proving the strong emotional charge of her dreams. It should also be noted that the few words she has spoken, which were not very or not understandable, all coincided with extremely deadly historical events. Staff reported that they had recorded moans, complaints and cries in her containment room, while wars or genocides were taking place around the world.
SCP-001-FR displays unusual resistance to all stimuli to which she is exposed, whether tactile, auditory or olfactory. Only prolonged and sustained interactions such as physical contact or words spoken in her presence bring her closer to the waking state. She reacts by adopting a behaviour identical to that of a human being in the awakening phase, in particular by abolishing muscular atony, but especially by disrupting her brain activity. When SCP-001-FR's sleep is disturbed, the SCP-001-FR-Ω event, called "Great Evanescence", ineluctably occurs.
SCP-001-FR-Ω consists of the formation of anomalies over a distance that is assumed to be infinite. These anomalies, described as "cracks" or "tears", develop as the dream activity of SCP-001-FR weakens, and she approaches a waking state. They do not require tangible supports to manifest themselves, and are therefore likely to appear both on the matter and in the vacuum. These breaches measure only a few centimetres, then extend over several metres, then kilometres in a few seconds and in all directions, simultaneously causing multiple additional fractures. The chromatic composition of the cracks is not among the known colours, nor is it an absolute black that would indicate a total absence of photons6, but could be interpreted more as the very absence of a vacuum due to the state of fragility and rupture that SCP-001-FR-Ω imposes on the space, causing its pure and simple bursting.
SCP-001-FR-Ω seems to dissolve space, like a tissue, by generating zones of "non-existence", or nil, everywhere where cracks occur. Individuals affected by SCP-001-FR-Ω can only move if the parts of their body essential for movement are not affected. For example, if only the upper limbs are erased by an anomaly, the individual is free to extricate himself from it and regain its integrity. On the contrary, if the lower limbs, the torso or more particularly the head are affected, they are unusable and the subject is condemned to gradually disappear, until they completely disaggregate. The phenomenon, besides being silent, seems painless; affected people report that they are no longer able to feel the erased parts of their bodies. SCP-001-FR-Ω cannot be filmed or photographed, as the image of these anomalies is impossible to capture on any type of camera. Staff working at the Foundation's orbital stations have also observed the formation of these "gaps" across the Earth and celestial objects' surfaces, including the other planets of the solar system, the moon and the sun, but also the space vacuum, hence the conclusion that the reach of SCP-001-FR-Ω is universal.
A thorough study of the nature of the flaws proved to be extremely complex due to the disproportionate scale and ephemeral nature of the event. The cracks close and reduce until they disappear when SCP-001-FR falls back into a deep sleep and returns to normal dream activity. All that had been erased then reappears, including living beings, in the state in which the anomaly had dissipated them, which made it possible to establish that SCP-001-FR-Ω suspends time in the plane of non-existence that it substitutes for the universe.
SCP-001-FR was first discovered in 19██ during the exploration of a religious site of the Sioux Lakota people in South Dakota, USA. The research required the combined effort of many individuals to move the rock that blocked access to the cavity in which SCP-001-FR rested, wrapped in numerous tissues and adorned with Native American jewellery. The inscription in Sioux language that appeared on the rock is translated below.
Wakanda, Mystical Power Revealed,
Bear your name proudly, worthy incarnation of
Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit, creator of the Earth and of Mankind,
Of water and fire, of the sun and the moon, of the wind and the heavens.
May you preserve the father's soul from the madness of his children
Carry in you his wounded heart and from your embrace give him shelter.
Attempts to awaken her out of her sleep were first made by the team that discovered her, and then stopped once the hypothesis that she was a victim of a probably contagious pathogen was raised, a theory that was denied by extensive analyses of her organism. It was only after several years that the correlation between the disappearance of parts of the world and the state of her sleep was understood.
Addendum # 1 - Incident 256-A
Foreword: Following the most recent manifestation of SCP-001-FR-Ω and the understanding of the causal link between it and ANO-842-HUM, the young girl was identified as a Keter Class SCP and designated as SCP-001-FR. She was transferred to the Site-███ on a temporary basis, while Zone-Resh was under construction. In accordance with the protocol in effect at the time on the Site to ensure the security of SCP-001-FR, and because of her proximity to other SCP objects and employees whose loyalty had not yet been proven, the trusted medical officer assigned to her was escorted by two security personnel.
Video recording of 25/10/19██ - Containment cell of SCP-001-FR
[Beginning of the recording]
(Once the medical examination was completed, the doctor tidied up his belongings and exited the room, followed by Agent Klein. He headed towards the cell door, then turned back towards Agent Meaulnes, who had remained beside the SCP-001-FR bed, whom he was staring at.)
Agent Klein: Tristan? Is there a problem?
(Agent Meaulnes does not answer and does not turn around.)
Agent Klein: Oh. Can you hear me?
(Agent Meaulnes remains motionless and silent. He then put his hand on his belt and grabs his service weapon, which he presses to the head of SCP-001-FR. Agent Klein immediately draws her weapon and points the gun at him.)
Agent Klein: Stop it! What the hell are you doing?
Agent Meaulnes: I just want to open your eyes. To you. To the O5. To the Foundation. To the whole world.
(Agent Klein's words are less audible; he speaks in a low voice because of his proximity to SCP-001-FR.)
Agent Klein: I don't understand what you're saying. Drop your weapon immediately and step back three paces.
(Agent Meaulnes continues to keep the barrel of his weapon pressed against the head of SCP-001-FR.)
Agent Meaulnes: Exactly. You don't understand anything. Trapped in your conviction, victim of an illusion. My poor John…
Agent Klein: Damn it. I never thought I'd get to this point… Second and last warning. Put the gun down and turn around. I will not hesitate to fire.
Agent Meaulnes: Don't make me laugh. You'd be willing to kill your old classmate for… A mirage?
Agent Klein: Idiot. She's very real. If you kill her, we're the ones who'll…
Agent Meaulnes: Nothing will happen.
Agent Klein: Excuse me?
Agent Meaulnes: I'm telling you, nothing will happen.
Agent Klein: Are you out of your mind? Remember last year. Entire continents have vanished and the sky has cracked because people have tried to communicate with her aloud. And you think I'm gonna let you take her down and we're all gonna get away with it? For heaven's sake, she's just a kid!
Agent Meaulnes: John. John. Listen to me carefully. Exactly three years ago, those who serve us as superiors ordered us to shoot children in Utah on the pretext that they were condemned, eaten from the inside, killed slowly by crap we didn't understand. It's okay, it's all coming back to you now? You and I obeyed them and fired. At point-blank range. On kids. So don't talk to me about feelings. That day, my people died with them. No, if you want to protect her, it's because she reminds you of your d…
Agent Klein : Shut up. This kid is not just another Keter. It is not only the end of the world that we risk if she wakes up or worse, dies. It is everything we have known that will disappear. The words "life" and "death" themselves will no longer have any meaning.
Agent Meaulnes: Wrong. This kid is definitely an SCP. But not the one we think it is. The only thing she is capable of is making us believe that she dreams of our world. And, de facto, it disappears when she is about to wake up… In appearance only. It's a great illusion, a perfect lie.
(Agent Meaulnes lowers his weapon and turns towards Agent Klein, who is still aiming at him.)
Agent Meaulnes: Think about it, John. Do you really think that our whole history, past, present, future, that our ambitions, our hopes, the Foundation, friends, family, are only a dream, which is also not even our own? That the world…. No. The universe is just a fantasy, the result of someone else's imagination? That we've been running all our lives behind chimeras without realizing that we were ourselves? That's impossible. The world is coherent, logical, rational. A dream has a beginning and an end.
Agent Klein: The universe too.
Agent Meaulnes: But a dream is not perfect. Disordered. Chaotic. It is not regulated by any law. There is nothing unreal in this world.
Agent Klein: And yet, the supernatural and the impossible continue to find their place there. Tristan. The others will be here any second. If you don't surrender, they…
Agent Meaulnes: They don't know anything about that. I arranged for the video recording of the previous medical examination to be broadcast in the control room instead of live. By the time they realize we're still in the room, I would have… (points his weapon at SCP-001-FR) Shown… To all of them, they have nothing to fear from her.
Agent Klein: But… Why? Assuming you're right, you'll be executed anyway.
Agent Meaulnes: It doesn't matter. If I have to go through with it to make them understand, then so be it. I don't care about that. From now on, it's all or nothing.
(Agent Meaulnes presses his weapon to the head of SCP-001-FR. Agent Klein continues to aim with both hands in his direction.)
Agent Klein: Tristan… Put your weapon down. She is not our enemy. An amnestic… It would only take a fucking amnestic for you to escape the death penalty and return to who you were… So that everything can be the same again. It's not too late for that. There is still time!
Agent Meaulnes: No, John. I don't want your world built on oblivion and lies. Instead, look at… The truth. Just a bullet in her skull, and…
Agent Klein: NO!
(Agent Klein fires at Agent Meaulnes, who had anticipated his shot and rolls laterally. The bullet gets stuck on the opposite wall of the cell. Agent Meaulnes responds with a shot that hits Agent Klein in the head, breaking his visor and reaching the only part of his body not protected by the armoured coating of his uniform. He falls to the ground, and is presumed fatally wounded.)
Agent Meaulnes: You didn't want to believe me. And left me no choice…. For that too, I promise you, she'll pay.
(Agent Meaulnes turns around and directs his weapon at SCP-001-FR, whose encephalogram reveals a disruption of his dream activity, supposedly due to the shots fired.)
[From this moment on, the recording stops, indicating the formation of an anomaly characteristic of the SCP-001-FR-Ω event in her containment chamber.]
[End of the recording]
Addendum # 2 - Interview 256-A
Foreword: This interview follows Incident 256-A, in which Agent Klein, Agent Meaulnes and SCP-001-FR no longer gave any sign of life, disaggregated by SCP-001-FR-Ω. The document alternates between two interviews; the first being conducted by Dr. Ohm, and the second reported by Agent Klein.
The exchange between Agent Klein and SCP-001-FR is entirely written from memory and in italics. The comments he made on this testimony while writing it during his interview with Dr. Ohm are in quotation marks or square brackets, in accordance with procedure.
[Beginning of the recording]
Dr. Ohm: Please introduce yourself for the purposes of this interview.
Agent Klein: I am Agent John Klein, a Level 4 Security Department member, specializing in the close protection of humanoid SCP and the escort of high-risk SCP transfer convoys.
Dr. Ohm: Thank you. You have been a victim of SCP-001-FR-Ω, and it would seem that, unlike all those who have experienced this state of… "non-existence", you kept memories of what happened there. Now please tell us what you remember, without omitting the slightest detail. Any information can be of critical importance to help us understand who SCP-001-FR really is.
Agent Klein: All right. I'll tell you everything.
Dr. Ohm: Perfect. Please begin your story. I may interject to ask you for more details, clarify some points or simply relaunch the discussion. It's your turn now.
Agent Klein: Well… I first remember being killed by Trist… Agent Meaulnes. I know he shot me after I tried to stop him. For a split second, I felt a pain in my face… Indescribable. Then I remember that a black veil covered my eyes. Blood, maybe? I don't know anymore. But I remember being cold. Very cold. An icy… cold. And then suddenly, I felt… No. I couldn't feel anything anymore, in fact. Not even my own body. I only felt an atmosphere of peace. And a presence.
Dr. Ohm: Did you see anything of interest?Agent Klein: "Anything of interest"? Doctor, you don't understand. There was no moon or sun, and yet I was literally bathed in light. There was no top, bottom, back or underside, but for me, everything was… normal. Just the "sky". And around me, men and women. But they were… different from us. Their bodies floated in the air and glittered like stars. They all had their eyes closed, and… Actually, I think they were asleep. Deeply.
Dr. Ohm: Wait a minute. You were "in the sky"?
Agent Klein: It was a different world. But yes. I seem to remember a celestial expanse. I was really walking in a void. And also, this wave that was forming with every step I took. As if I were moving on the water. It was… extraordinary. As for this "sky", it's not possible to describe it, however… Wait a minute. Yes, it is. It's coming back to me. It was exactly a shade of…. the color of these breaches. You know, SCP-001-FR-Ω? That pierced the city and people as if they were on a painted canvas? Light in its raw state. In its purest form. It enveloped us all.
Dr. Ohm: "Raw"? You talk about it as if it were a primitive light. Interesting. Please continue. What else was there?
Agent Klein: SCP-001-FR. I saw it the way I see you right now. Right in front of me. She was perfectly awake. But she wasn't wearing any clothes. She was dressed in a multitude of golden silk threads. As if light and shadow… The space around her was woven to dress her. Well, that's the impression I had. She was pretty intimidating. Very beautiful, too. She looked so noble… I remember every word she said, every gesture she made…. As if she was still there, in front of me, while I'm talking to you. Do you have paper and a pen…? Thank you. I'm going to write to you about everything that happened. As long as I remember.
Beginning of the retranscription of the exchange between Agent Klein and SCP-001-FR
["First, I walked up to her. I was… Subjugated. Yeah. That's the word. Nothing to do with the sleeping kid I was used to. She was still the same age, but she looked much more mature. It was a woman facing me. Or an angel? I was completely lost. So I tried to make contact. Awkwardly, I'll give you that. If you had seen her reaction."]
Agent Klein: SCP… 001… FR…?
SCP-001-FR: Is that how you greet your brothers and sisters, Man? Curious custom. However, I agree to respect it. I am Wakanda, daughter of Tatanka Yotanka, of the Lakota people. And you, tell me, what's your name?
Agent Klein: I… That's not what I meant. My name is John. John Klein. "SCP-001-FR" is the name we gave you. My employers and I.
SCP-001-FR: By what right do you give me a name other than mine? I know that expression I've heard before in the mouths of men who look like you, but it will never be my name. I only have one: the one my father gave me. Also, allow yourself to talk to me as if I were your equal, you are no less human than me.
Agent Klein: I beg… I beg your pardon. I had no intention of offending you. Where are we? I don't remember anyth…
["That's when it all came back to me all of a sudden. Like a flashback. It was quite a shock. Reliving his death a second time, I don't wish it on anyone. Killed by the hand of a friend… It took me a long time to get back to talking. She remained silent. She looked at me with a look… Full of compassion? Almost maternal. I was sure she knew everything that had happened."]
Agent Klein: He killed me, didn't he? Tristan. I remember a pain in my face. It only lasted a moment, but I'll never forget it. As if my skull had burst. And I woke up, right there… And… who are all these people? Tell me the truth: Am I dead?
SCP-001-FR: Everyone you see around you is sleeping in a heavy sleep. Like you and I once did, they dream of a world on which they have built a life and hopes. And eventually, sooner or later, they wake up. Then they find the Father they have always sought. But your dream of yours wasn't supposed to end like this. I am the one who desired your awakening. I felt that tear in you when you decided to take the life of the last loved one you had left to protect me. But when your friend hit you with that blow that should have been fatal to you, and I realized that it was all my fault, I wished with all my might that you would not die, and… the impossible happened. Wakan Tanka granted me.
Agent Klein: Did you save me? How… Who is Wakan Tanka? I think I know that name. Is it the one you give to… God?
SCP-001-FR: Who is your "God"? Another one of your idols? I'm talking about Wakan Tanka. The creator mystery that breathes in each of us. Men, animals, trees, rocks, but also spirits, stars, and an infinite number of worlds. We called him "the Great Spirit", not because he is, but because he is everything, from the outset. Imagine and great and beautiful mystery. That is what he is to us. He loves all his creation, but there was a unique bond between him and my people.
Agent Klein: You talk about your people as if they were… As if they had disappeared.
SCP-001-FR: My people… lived in peace with nature. But more than that, in peace with themselves. We prayed for the souls of our fellow animals when we took their lives and, when we had to fight, we honored the remains of our enemies. Until one day… The white men appeared. They coveted the lands where we lived in, and our forefathers before us. The lands we've occupied for centuries. They tried to enslave my people by depriving them of their freedom with insidious promises and by dividing us by terror, seeking to generate in us the desire for a fratricidal struggle. Many of us resisted, rose up against them and despite an unequal fight, snatched victories from them. They paid for this act of courage with their lives. Like all those who refused to bend, they were murdered. My father was one of them too. And so…
["There, she made a stop. Like she's reliving it all… all of it. All her old life."]
SCP-001-FR: Then we heard it. Wakan Tanka. He was crying. His tears were not those of a man, but of a father horrified to see his children, the flesh of his flesh, being torn apart and killed, while he had made sure to give them plenty of everything they needed to flourish. Thunder, wind and rain spoke for him. The white men themselves became silent, and, turning their eyes to the clouds, listened.
["It was impressive. A real torrent of words. I've heard people talking about it. Big mouths, born manipulators, paragons of authority, but this one. Never before have I heard anyone express themselves so eloquently, and put so much conviction and emotion into their words. Between the two of us, I was the one who was most moved. But that was only the beginning."]
SCP-001-FR: Then everything stopped abruptly. The rumbling of the storm like the rumour of the forest. We innocently thought that everything was finally over, that his pain had stopped. Until this column of light rose from the earth and spread its ramifications in the sky. Man, if you asked me what is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, I would answer you that it is this light, whose sweetness you can feel here. It was noble, beautiful, pure… It was Wakan Tanka. But we did not contemplate it for long. Very quickly, it lost its radiance and warmth. It fainted and became the hideous wound you know. The wound that men inflicted on Wakan Tanka, and which scarred the very existence of the universe he had built. His dream of life and harmony was shattered.
Agent Klein: I'm sorry for everything that's happened to you. This father, whom I don't know, and whom you call Wakan-Tanka, must have felt a lot of pain. Did he at least survive his grief?
SCP-001-FR: My father was a shaman. A "medicine-man", as you call them. He knew that a ritual could save the creator from his creation. It was quite naturally on me, his own daughter, that his choice was made. This is how I join Wakan Tanka, offering my body as an envelope to his mind so that my sleep is also his. Thus, he could finally rest in peace and I would perpetuate his work, imbued with its essence, using my own conscience. But this ritual presented a major risk: if anyone managed to wake me up, his pain would come back to life and as a result, his wound would reopen and consume your world again. That's what happened, and that's what got your friend killed. The idea that everything could be just a dream of which you are just emanations without any existence has plunged him into a morbid terror. He tried to protect himself by refusing to accept reality, but… reality caught up with him.
Agent Klein: Where is he now? What did you do with him? Is he safe and sound?
SCP-001-FR: I'm sorry. When your friend tried to kill m… To kill my body, one of your kind came into the room where we were standing and fired in his direction with one of those deadly toys you love so much. When time resumes, the bullet will hit him and… kill him. I'm sorry. I never wanted that.
Agent Klein: No. No! NO! He wasn't always like that! He's not a bad person. Give him a second chance, save him like you did for me. I'm asking you on my knees. He is my childhood friend and has saved my life many times. He doesn't deserve that! You have to believe me…
SCP-001-FR: I believe you. Rise up, Man, and hear me. You don't know everything yet. Since I became one with Wakan Tanka, I have always been able to contemplate what was once my world without ever being able to intervene. I could only watch helplessly the death of those I love, and watch my people being decimated, without even having the right to die and be buried with him. All I had left to mourn them was my eyes, I who am so far from them now, up there in the sky. It was just as helpless that I saw my old body being torn from its native land to be touched and examined as an object by men who terrified me. But the worst was yet to come. Now that I could see everything, I dared to look at the whole world. And what did I see?
["I didn't know what to say. So I kept silent. What would you have done?"]
SCP-001-FR: My pain was nothing. Nothing compared to the feelings of thousands of people… Millions of other souls. I saw that your people were feeding on conflict and murder. That he gave life to take it back better. I heard in me the howls of whole nations, felt the suffering of men lying on the ground, in the mud, their faces mutilated by metal splinters and their flesh rotten by disease, one of them holding a letter against his silent heart to which he had clung even more than to his own life. Around him, frightened and dying silhouettes rushed to conquer only their own death, disappearing in the mist to soak the earth with their blood. And this is why? In the name of an ideology that made them promise prosperity and peace. Is this what war is all about? A senseless extermination orchestrated by men for their brothers? I looked away, but I saw the same thing everywhere around the Earth. And if violence was not apparent, men concealed it in their hearts, carried it within them like an open wound that corrupted them, without suspecting that it was imprinted in the flesh of their creator, in agony for thousands of years. I fell to my knees, and cried, because at that moment, the little girl in me who still believed in the beauty of her world died.
["I'm going to be honest with you. Morally speaking, she put me in a bad state. It's not that she made me feel guilty. No. It was that cry from the heart. If she wanted to make me cry, she couldn't have done better."]
SCP-001-FR: So I felt a presence at my side. She whispered something in my ear. It was him. The Great Spirit. I will never forget his words… I was at the end of my strength, and I got up. When I opened my eyes again, the world I saw was different from the one I had seen before.
["I don't know how to explain this. Her mood has softened. And little by little, she became… radiant. Yes. That's the word."]
SCP-001-FR: In the middle of the remains of a city, I saw a man whose only fault was to have his chest crowned with a star running his long thin fingers on the keys of a strange instrument, giving life to a melody that changed the heart of the one who should have been the architect of its end. I heard the candid laughter of a boy whose father still allowed him to be carefree by disguising death as innocent child's play. I knew a man who betrayed his own by hiding a hero's heart under the guise of an executioner, and took pity on a fallen people destined for a tragic fate. Finally, I witnessed enemies who waged a fierce war against each other, and who the next day, while the snow covered the earth and men, laid down their arms and fraternized, rediscovering their childhood soul and a lost friendship.
["My second dearest wish would be to never forget these words. I still see her pronouncing them, full of life and hope. But above all… her smile. Her smile, Doctor. Damn it. I would have given anything to keep her smiling like she did. To capture that glow on her face. She was radiant."]
SCP-001-FR: Wakan Tanka showed me the humanity in the inhuman. It is also this humanity that I recognized in you when you tried to protect me. This humanity that I have in turn vowed to preserve. This wish that was granted. I don't know exactly what happened, but as I saw the light abandon your body, something changed in me. I felt like… Capable. Lucid. Strong. For the first time, I realized that anything was possible. I understood that everything was a dream on which I could influence, that the fruit of imagination, the jewel of creation of what my people called "the Great Mystery", could be shaped by the sole force of my will.
Agent Klein: A… lucid dream? But then…
["And then I understood. The truth that no human being was ready to hear, I received it with full force. Right in the face."]
Agent Klein: I always hoped that our world was real. That's what gave me courage. That's what held me to life. To be sure that everything I have known, experienced, lived, am, and love is true: "What if everything was just a dream?". All humanity has already thought about it, but no one has ever accepted it. Maybe because deep down inside, this truth terrifies us. But I understand everything now. If SCPs exist, if we have never been able to understand them, if the supernatural is possible, it is because they are simply not real. Just like us. You went to the other side. From now on, our universe is your dream. What about us? We are literally nothing. Empty. Illusions trapped in a world that is itself a lie. Everything is fake. Everything. Everything! EVERYTHING!
SCP-001-FR: Man, do you believe in freedom and hope? Do you believe in life and death? Do you believe in love? Do you think they are real? Answer me!
Agent Klein: Yes.
SCP-001-FR: Yet can you touch them? Hug them, keep them close to you or lose them?
Agent Klein: I… No.
SCP-001-FR: And you dare to pretend that what doesn't exist is false? You have never held your happiness or destiny in your hands, and yet they are real. And your faith in their existence is unwavering. Invincible. As for me, I believe in my dream. And it doesn't matter if it doesn't believe in me.
Agent Klein: I apologize. I got carried away. But, I think you're wrong. Maybe you don't know it, but men have always believed in you, even if they never knew you.
SCP-001-FR: And so few believe in themselves. But… It's time for me to bring you to your world, John. This state of lucidity that I maintain and that allows me to exchange with you is ephemeral. It requires from me an effort of will that defies the imagination. Soon, I will become again the contemplating source of creation that I have always been. I know how you feel, and I've also made two decisions. The first is to vow that each of my words will remain engraved in you, and that all the men who listen to you will immediately have faith in your words. In this way, they too will know the truth. It is up to them to accept it… or to forget it. The second is a gift. There are people important to you who you've never had time to say goodbye to, have you? Turn around.
Interruption of the retranscription of the exchange between Agent Klein and SCP-001-FR
Dr. Ohm: Agent Klein? Why did you suddenly stop?
Agent Klein: I turned around. I looked in the direction she was pointing at me. There were two silhouettes. Who were getting closer to us. First of all, I didn't recognize them. And then…
Dr. Ohm : Continue. Who were these two people?
(Agent Klein does not respond and seems to be making a considerable effort to contain his emotion.)
Dr. Ohm: It was your late wife and daughter, Alyssa and Layla Klein. I'm right? I'm not asking you to answer me. You soldiers are too proud to burst into tears. But it's to your credit. Continue the transcript of the interview when you are ready.
Agent Klein: No, it's okay. And, yes. It was them. I had never seen them again since we were separated sixteen years ago, on November 19, 1944 in… Auschwitz.
Resumption of the retranscription of the exchange between Agent Klein and SCP-001-FR
["I couldn't believe it. It must have been a dream. It could only be a dream. They came running to me. So beautiful and happy…"]
SCP-001-FR: I have to go now. This moment belongs only to you. Goodbye, and be happy, John Klein. I hope you will understand why the dead must never be brought back to life.
Agent Klein: Wait! Don't leave. How can I thank you for… For everything… ?
SCP-001-FR: Delay my awakening. Or Wakan Tanka's work will be shattered, and this world and its wonders will be lost forever. The nightmare must still be experiencing the dream. And both will grow out of it.Agent Klein: In the name of all humanity, I promise you that. We will do everything to make the dream last. We will honour the memory of the Great Spirit. For the first time in our history, he will be…. He can be proud of his creation.
SCP-001-FR: He never stopped.
End of the retranscription of the exchange between Agent Klein and SCP-001-FR
Agent Klein: She smiled. Closed her eyes. And became one with the light of the sky. But that didn't mean I was alone anymore. They were always there. A few moments later, I woke up in the room. Alive.
Dr. Ohm: Thank you very much. In my 34-year career, this is the most complete and detailed report I have ever heard. I believe that your testimony, Mr. Klein, which is exceptionally accurate and precise, cannot be the result of your imagination. Which implies, you will agree, that you have been affected by SCP-001-FR, who granted you this prodigious memory. You therefore understand that you will be, although temporarily, now considered as a member of the Class E personnel?
Agent Klein: Yes.
Dr. Ohm: Good. I now find myself forced to move on to the most unfortunate part of this interview because of the lack of competent subordinates. It is on behalf of the O5 Council that I am addressing you. John Klein, as you know, you seriously failed in your task by trying to convince Agent Meaulnes to surrender instead of killing him immediately, as your duty required, while SCP-001-FR was in danger of death. You knew, however, that personal feelings should not interfere with a mission under any circumstances. And especially not in a critical situation. As a result, you will never be reassigned to her protection again. In addition, you are also demoted from level four to level two, with no prospect of future promotion of your entire career. You escape dismissal only because of your past deeds of arms. However, at the end of this interview, you will be given an amnestic, which will erase all confidential data from your memory. Including the existence of SCP-001-FR. We also do this for your security.
Agent Klein: I understand. I take full responsibility for my actions.
Dr. Ohm: All right. How are you feeling?
Agent Klein: Well, I'm… divided. Glad to have been able to see them again one last time. Nostalgic for that time when we were together. Terrified, too. Doctor, what have I been through? Another dream in the dream? Were they flesh beings I hugged? Hallucinations? Angels? I can't believe SCP-001-FR is malicious. It was so beautiful. If only… If only I had never woken up.
Dr. Ohm: We are coming to the point that interests me. By giving you back your life, SCP-001-FR has proven that it is capable of a form… of omnipotence. Sometimes she is a victim of her dream, and suffers from it, powerless, sometimes she knows she is dreaming, and becomes lucid. She is then free to modify it according to her wishes. I would like to have your opinion on this. In her own words: "I hope you will understand why the dead must never be brought back to life". So why, in your opinion, if she is benevolent — which I believe she is — has she not resurrected your family and Agent Meaulnes?
Agent Klein: Perhaps death is too beautiful, too perfect, and our world so disappointing in comparison? Unworthy to welcome a second time those whose feet have walked on the ground of paradise? Doctor. I could answer you with bullshit that will make me look erudite, like "With great powers come great responsibilities", or "God works in mysterious ways", but honestly, I don't believe in them. The two people I love were victims of men. But up there, nothing can reach them anymore. And it's better that way.
Dr. Ohm: So you're convinced that SCP-001-FR is someone fundamentally good?
(Agent Klein suddenly gets up from his chair.)
Agent Klein: I beg your pardon? "A good being"? She stands alone, facing the whole of humanity who vomits her disbelief and hatred, and strives to take away the only life she has not yet taken from her: her own. "Good," you say? She bears on us, who see it as an aberration to be dissected or an enemy to be annihilated, a look without reproach, if not veiled by pity. "Good"? She rises in all humility, without weapons or prejudice, in the face of warlike immortals, hateful demigods, and spirits from beyond the grave who hold skeletal and cold fingers like death towards her, whispering promises of agony. What about her? She opens the golden cage at the bottom of which lies her mutilated heart and offers it to them with her eyes closed, whispering to them: "I love you". And you dare… You're telling me… "someone good"?
(Agent Klein keeps silent for a brief moment, then sits down.)
Agent Klein: You know, from me to you, no word can describe SCP-001-FR. I can tell you about infinity, of which I know nothing at all. I can tell you about death, which I hardly know better. But no adjective would be fair enough, noble enough, beautiful enough to describe the person I met.
(Dr. Ohm is silent for a moment.)
Dr. Ohm: Impressive. I would have liked to be in your position to know SCP-001-FR. One day, perhaps… And it is on this happier note that our meeting ends. One final question remains. An enigma, in my opinion. "The nightmare must still be experiencing the dream." How should we interpret this sentence? Like the upcoming announcement of Armageddon?
Agent Klein: Doctor. Do you want my opinion, no matter how pompous it may be?
Dr. Ohm: Go ahead. I'm all ears.
Agent Klein: With a guardian angel like SCP-001-FR, there is something that humanity will never lose.
Dr. Ohm: War?Agent Klein: Hope.
[End of the recording]
By unanimous decision of the O5 Council, SCP-001-FR must be placed in an artificial coma. As long as we are there, we will never allow her to wake up, and make reality fade away like a dream. Yesterday, we were fighting for our lives. Today, we are fighting against oblivion.
- O5-1
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