Interviewer: Dr. John Marks, Level 4 Researcher, Site-11
Interviewee: Dr. Horatio Gifts, Level 3 Researcher, Site-11
[BEGIN LOG]
Dr. Marks: Dr. Gifts. This interview is being conducted in order to clarify certain details in the research paper and Special Containment Protocols you submitted for review last week. Additionally, we need further clarification on the event concerning Doctor Gable, which has received inadequate documentation. Numerical designation for SCP-4042 has been set aside for confirmation, but your containment protocols are yet to be formally adopted.
Dr. Gifts: Understood. (Dr. Gifts pauses.) Where should I begin, sir?
Dr. Marks: At the start. Tell me how you originally detected SCP-4042.
Dr. Gifts: It all started two years and four months ago. Doctor Fiona Gable and myself were investigating a new anomaly, an abandoned house with unusual thaumatic properties.
Dr. Marks: Unusual thaumatic properties? Was it the source of SCP-4042?
Dr. Gifts: I don't believe so. We went into the field with two D-class personnel to map the site and determine any anomalous effects.
Dr. Marks: Which were?
Dr. Gifts: Nothing notable to begin with. We sent one of the D's in first with a camera and radio. They mapped out the house, took notes on the floating furniture and weird lights, and took some photographs. Pretty standard spooky house, right down to the creepy dolls, the creaking walls and… and the locking doors.
Dr. Marks: Any thaumatic entities? Thaumaturgical texts?
Dr. Gifts: Nothing that we detected, at least. The high levels of thaumatic energy had a few side effects; namely, the D-classes could control the unusual effects if they focussed on it, which is something that has been recorded before with unmanaged thaumatic fields. Then Gabes went in herself, and everything went wrong.
Dr. Marks: What happened?
Dr. Gifts: She started to feel uncomfortable. After ninety seconds, she started panicking and crying. A little later, she started to become transparent and flicker in and out of existence, like a grainy old film. We went to drag her outside immediately, but the house kept locking the damn door. I had to have the D's force the door open. I don't think my heart's ever beat harder.
Dr. Marks: What happened to her immediately after you brought her outside?
Dr. Gifts: She calmed down a bit, but she was still really unstable. I scanned her with the thaumometer, and got some weird thaumatic patterns on her reading. She had an active aura, and it was going haywire. All up, she'd been in there almost eight minutes.
Dr. Marks: Did you scan everyone?
Dr. Gifts: No. In hindsight I should have, but I wasn't thinking too clearly at the time; I was just worried about Gabes. I had the house sealed off for the day, and flew us back to Site-11. I did check her after we got back, and noted that the thaumatic patterns were becoming slightly clearer, if not fainter, and they were still all over the place.
Dr. Marks: Was this concerning?
Dr. Gifts: (Gives Dr. Marks a look of incredulity.) Of course it was concerning. My partner was blinking in and out of existence! By the time we'd returned, she was still flickering quite a bit, but at least it seemed to be getting better. I had the medbay run some checks, and nothing came up. She insisted she was fine, and told me to head back into the field to figure it out. I slept on the floor by her bed, then went back the next day, and well…. you know what happened.
Dr. Marks: Have you seen the tapes?
Dr. Gifts: Twice. Only the first few minutes the first time. (Dr. Gifts covers his face with his hands.) I… I couldn't bring myself to watch her disappear, or to listen any further.
Dr. Marks: It left quite an impression on the nurses. And everyone else in the medbay breakroom.
(Dr. Gifts refuses to give a response, and appears noticeably pained.)
Dr. Marks: And you had no idea as to what was happening at the time? No… special connection telling you the pain she was going though?
Dr. Gifts: (Dr Gifts continues to fail to make eye contact with Dr. Marks.) No.
Dr. Marks: Did you think to scan yourself?
Dr. Gifts: I did before entering the house again. I had similar readings to Gabes. The same thaumatic patterns, and I suspected I might start disassociating myself, but I went in anyway. I…I figured it was worth the risk if I could figure out what went wrong with her. (Dr. Gifts pauses and clenches his hands into fists.) Great fucking irony, isn't it? The thing I did to help her is what killed her, and I didn't even know. I found nothing and noted nothing in the hours I was there, except for my thaumatic signature being wiped clean. I didn't make the connection at the time.
Dr. Marks: When did you figure it all out?
Dr. Gifts: I heard what had happened when I got back to Site-11. After I was debriefed, I realised I couldn't remember things properly. About Gabes, I mean. Where we were the first time we met, the colour of her eyes, the sound of her laugh. And lots of other little things. (Dr. Gifts gives a sarcastic grimace at this point, and wipes his eyes.) At least I'll always remember the sound of her crying.
Dr. Marks: (Dr. Marks pauses, and looks uncomfortable.) Please continue, Doctor Gifts.
Dr. Gifts: Somehow I ended up being the one to organise her funeral. I asked around to collect stories for my eulogy, but they were harder to come by than they should have been. Things I remembered clearly couldn't be remembered by others. It was like she was barely in anyone's mind, despite being the talk of the site. I took a few days off and went to her hometown to try and find pieces, and get in contact with her family.
Dr. Marks: That is when you realised?
Dr. Gifts: Only to some degree. Everywhere I went, no-one could remember her. No-one could remember her family living where they supposedly did. Her teachers couldn't remember her. Her teammates from her theatre group couldn't remember her. Her lecturers and her thesis advisor couldn't remember her. I did more digging, managed to dredge up files on her, and I could find everything. Birth certificate, licenses, her thesis, her bank account, including dates of in person deposits, all easily accessible. But no-one had met her. I came back to the Foundation, and managed to acquire permission to poke through her files here.
Dr. Marks: What did you find?
Dr. Gifts: According to the records, she started working with us sometime around late 2010. But no-one remembers her orientation, or providing her with her security passes, or even her coming onto site. I dug up the security footage, and she was never on camera, despite the documentation declaring her to have been there. No-one could remember ever seeing her until early 2011, when she was assigned as my research partner. I was literally the first person to see her exist.
Dr. Marks: What was your state of mind before you met her?
Dr. Gifts: Is that relevant to my Containment Proposal, sir?
Dr. Marks: Just answer the question.
Dr. Gifts: I had been going through a rough patch. I wasn't feeling like I was achieving anything here; I was lonely. Hell, I was considering just taking the standard amnestics and leaving. Then I started working with her, and all those problems seemed to just go away. I enjoyed working here again.
Dr. Marks: What did you do after you tracked down her history?
Dr. Gifts: The first seeds of the idea were floating around. I needed data, and to test my hypothesis. I went and did scans of all the D-class personnel we had on site at the time, and recorded their thaumatic signatures.
Dr. Marks: That's when you discovered the outbreak?
Dr. Gifts: I found fifteen personnel with thaumatic signatures matching those I'd seen on Gabes, and six with similar signatures to what I'd had. I took nine more personnel as a control, and went back to the house. I… started testing on them. You've seen the testing records, yes?
Dr Marks: Of course. I personally authorised half of them.
Dr. Gifts: Then you know how many D's I ripped from reality. You know how long I had to keep them alone to generate creation, to figure out how it all works. You know that I was almost shut down by Ethics. Twice. I've spent two years testing the phenomenon. In hindsight, I'm not proud of it.
Dr. Marks: What next?
Dr. Gifts: With my submission of the protocols, we're at the point of moving into long term containment. I've gained as much understanding as is practical through testing; now we clean up the mess and make sure the cage is comfortable.
Dr. Marks: Yes. About your proposed containment… (Dr. Marks reads from a document before him.) You wish to keep four D-class personnel carriers in containment, and have them forgo the monthy management procedures?
Dr. Gifts: That's the basis of it. What of it?
Dr. Marks: Exemption from the monthly management is concerning. Having D-class personnel unmanaged for long periods of time is liable to make them difficult to contain.
Dr. Gifts: I'll be overseeing them myself. Besides, if we mess with their psychology by repeatedly resetting them, the effects of SCP-4042 are liable to be much worse. So far as I can tell, manifestation time isn't affected by amnestics.
Dr. Marks: Understood. And the keeping of the new instances with their creators?
Dr. Gifts: This should prevent further manifestations beyond the first. Having a close platonic partner should also help keep them content, which makes up for them not undergoing the usual management. I assure you, sir, that this is the most efficient way to keep cases of SCP-4042 in containment.
Dr. Marks: Very well. Your Special Containment Protocols shall be undertaken. Expect us to be in touch shortly. You've done well here, Gifts.
