Interviewed: Provisional Containment Site-141 Administrator, D███ L██████ (“DL-141”)
Interviewer: Site-28 Administrator (“Admin-28”)
Location: Site-28, New York, New York
<Begin Log: 7:25 p.m., ██/██/20██>
DL-141: An interview room. What the fuck.
Admin-28: You called me; you told me it was serious. Now it’s serious. This is standard procedure. You have urgent information to share regarding 2141, correct? You think we had you airlifted from upstate so you could make a courtesy call? “Off-the-books” isn’t a card you have in your hand right now, D███.
DL-141: I called the O5s, – (pauses) – “twenty-eight,” not you. They “deferred” me to your – (snorts) – “expertise.”
Admin-28: The point, D███. What the O5s decide isn’t something I decide, you know that.
DL-141: Don’t give me that crap. This is because of Incident[-2141]-III. They don’t trust my – what’s the term? Operational judgment? Professional discretion? What’s the terminology for you all thinking I’m “a hysterical bitch”? You all air-hauled me out here so I could explain myself.
Admin-28: There was a lot of damage. Not only Foundation lives lost, but civilians’. We cleaned it up – we’re still cleaning it up – but I think it’s reasonable if the O5-Council would like someone to confirm that what you have for us today isn’t going to result in another –
DL-141: So this is “the point,” huh? Fuck you, twenty-eight. You think you would have done better? You’ve seen the reports. “Unprecedented.” I – we – had no reason to believe that blocking off 2141-1’s exit – to such a limited extent, I might add – would cause a containment breach. The damn thing’s – (pauses) – she’s been learning.
Admin-28: From SCP-2141. You claim.
DL-141: It’s fucking Euclid-class, twenty-eight. Most of what I have is claims. But they’re claims backed by solid evidence. Since Incident 2141-I, she’s –
Admin-28: “It.” “SCP-2141-1.” I would think that at your position you would have learned a degree of professional distance, D███. (quietly) Lord knows I’ve had to.
DL-141: (silent)
Admin-28: Look, Administrator. We’re on your side. But you have to understand that this isn’t politics. This is protection. These are priorities. Secure, contain –
DL-141: Protect. (sighs) I know. (pauses) I fucked up. (quietly) I fucked up.
Admin-28: You “made an operational error due to the high variability of anomalous properties complicating containment.” (quieter) You need to get used to this, D███. You’re right. We – I’ve – seen the reports. And there were other researchers on-site who agreed with your decision to revise containment procedure. Those deaths aren’t your fault any more than SCP-2141-1’s predicament is – (pauses) – the fault of the “deceased” wife. The only one who’s to blame is – well actually, it might as well be our reality.
DL-141: (laughs) This is some kind of psych eval, huh?
Admin-28: (laughs) As I said, standard protocol. We don’t think you’re – what was your term?
DL-141: “A highly-pressured upper-level employee of the Foundation subject to typical stressors and psychological distress in the course of professional operations.”
Admin-28: You’re learning.
DL-141: Yeah, I guess I am.
Admin-28: We are taking you seriously, D███. What do you have for us?
DL-141: (exhales) Here. (hands a document to Admin-28)
Admin-28 (reading): Increased instances of SCP-2141 delving underground. (continues reading) And SCP-2141-1 is emerging at a greater average frequency.
DL-141: Around every eighteen days or so.
Admin-28: But existing containment procedure has been effective?
DL-141: If this keeps up, they won’t be.
Admin-28: What do you mean?
DL-141: Like I was saying – (pauses) – it’s learning. The anomaly is emulating the behavior – and in some cases, the appearance – of SCP-2141. That viscous coating – she’s had that from day one, but we’ve noticed other things.
Admin-28: Such as?
DL-141: Her eyes. Her sclerae, her irides, they’ve darkened considerably. And what looks like cataracts on her eyes makes us think she’s not using them – if she ever was. For the first few emergences after – (pauses) – after Incident 2141-III, she was bumping into walls, moving more erratically – but that’s since stabilized. SCP-2141 doesn’t have eyes – how it gets around, how it detects SCP-2141-1’s location is all a mystery to us – so that’s just one piece of evidence that SCP-2141-1 is becoming more like its…
Admin-28: Progenitor.
DL-141: Yes. But there’s others.
Admin-28: The delving underground, the erratic velocities.
DL-141: Yes. Nothing like what we saw during Incident 2141-III, but enough to make us worry. If it ever exhibits that kind of behavior again…
Admin-28: Existing containment procedures won’t suffice.
DL-141: Correct.
Admin-28: Are you proposing terminating SCP-2141-1 to prevent containment breach?
DL-141: Fuck no. For all we know the thing can probably regenerate. (hesitates) I’m proposing – (pauses) – “neutralizing” SCP-2141.
Admin-28: I – what? How? The sheer size alone – if we even could kill it –
DL-141: - Neutralize it.
Admin-28: (pauses) Neutralize it – how would we –
DL-141: Dispose of the remains? I know. But something has to be done. I – I tried hindering the movement of SCP-2141-1. It doesn’t work, and I do not recommend trying it again. Even if it could work, the costs of a mistake are – they’re excessive. Especially if we don’t get the kind of godsend we got from that frickin’ 18-wheeler. (pauses) Do you know how close its projected path put it to this Site? What would have happened if that truck hadn’t hit it?
Admin-28: And then we don’t even know what would have happened if the collision had neutralized it.
DL-141: Exactly. And look, further down.
Admin-28 (reading): “Personnel on-site have additionally reported increased seismic activity in the immediate vicinity of SCP-2141 while dormant.” Fuck.
DL-141: Exactly, again. And we can’t get a reading of whatever is happening down there. Interference blocks off all attempts to use GPR beyond █ km.
Admin-28: Jesus Christ.
DL-141: So you see why I’m here. There’s a timetable on this. We don’t know what SCP-2141 is doing in response to our containment procedures. We can’t guarantee that any containment procedure we do design will prevent unprecedented anomalous behavior. This isn’t the first time that a scip has presented a threat to existing containment procedures, but this one is coming faster than we’re ready to deal with it. Those greater frequencies of SCP-2141-1’s emergence – they represent decreases in the time it takes for SCP-2141 to incubate one of its offspring.
Admin-28: What do you have to support that claim?
DL-141: Not much. But if these things need to be carried to term, as they apparently do, it’s unlikely that all the shit we put SCP-2141-1 through allows those gestating shits to survive inside of her. At the very least, we think SCP-2141 is doing damage control whenever it reclaims SCP-2141-1. Rehabilitating the trauma to the infant. But even one more of these things would be hell on our ability to contain the situation. Not to mention hell on our budget.
Admin-28: I’ve yet to see hell freeze over cold enough to freeze out our funds, D███.
DL-141: Yeah, and that’s probably because it’ll be the last thing you see.
Admin-28: True. (pauses) I’m sending a log of our conversation over to the O5. I’ll endorse your recommendation. We’re prioritizing termination of SCP-2141.
DL-141: Fantastic. (sound of shuffling sheaves of paper)
Admin-28: Wait. One more thing.
DL-141: What is it? I’ve got a flight to catch, in less than five minutes, apparently.
Admin-28: That document from Incident 2141-I. The O5 wants your assessment of it. It’s not included in the report.
DL-141: That lunatic’s writings? (laughs derisively) I don’t know what the hell he’s on about, and frankly, I don’t care. Maybe there is some pre-civilization legend about this thing we’re dealing with. (quietly) What I am worried about is that there might be more idiots like him. Or even other locations where things like this are lying dormant. (pauses) My assessment of that document is that there is only one SCP-2141, given the way he refers to the anomaly as unique. But it’s not an airtight conclusion.
Admin-28: As you said, few things are. Keep up the good work.
<End log: 7:58 p.m., ██/██/20██>