SCP-7840


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Special Containment Procedures:

SCP-7840 is to be kept in a humanoid containment chamber at Site-91. Any interactions with the anomaly are to be recorded. Requests made by the anomaly may be granted with approval of the Site Director.

Update 28/11/2019: Sharp implements are prohibited within SCP-7840’s containment chamber, including writing pens.

Description:

SCP-Anthology%20Doll-OLD

SCP-7840 in 2022.

SCP-7840 is an animate wooden marionette answering to the name “Gizem.” The anomaly exhibits all the clear signs of sapience, even recreating human mannerisms and facial expression, despite being made of wood. Additionally, SCP-7840 exhibits all the neurological sensibilities of a human being – with the exception of pain sensations – including: reflex, tactile sensation, olfactory senses, and involuntary movements. Since containment, SCP-7840 has shown signs of senescence roughly paralleling a human being’s aging cycle – not weathering of its materials but loss of hair, additions of wrinkles, defining of features such as the nose and ears. Researchers have not been able to explain this phenomenon.

SCP-7840 can communicate and grasp abstract conceptual frameworks; however, it frequently fails to respond cogently to queries.

SCP-7840 does not need to eat or sleep, but it pantomimes the actions of human necessity – even to the point of bowel movements – on a consistent basis, frequently stating “I’m going to be a real boy.”1

Discovery: In 1987, Foundation personnel were informed by an embedded agent within the Edinburgh Police Division of a marionette show exhibiting anomalous characteristics. During that year’s Fringe Festival, Magnus Freely was performing biweekly shows in which he reenacted famous events from history with marionettes.

Members of the audience complained about the realistic cries of the marionettes in Freely’s shows, which were recorded by the authorities but uninvestigated. An investigating agent observed several of Freely’s performances but did not initially note anything abnormal.

The agent investigated Freely’s backstage area after a performance, discovering SCP-7840 and the performer discussing the day’s performances. Freely told investigators that he inherited the anomaly from his grandfather but had only recently discovered it was animate. Because no connection could be found between him and the anomaly's origin, Freely was administered amnestics and the anomaly was taken back to Site-91 for containment.

Addendum-7840.1: Recorded Statements by Anomaly

The following is the first recorded interview with SCP-7840.

Agent Douglas: Hi, Gizem. My name is Rebekah.

SCP-Anthology%20Doll-Young

SCP-7840 upon recovery – 1987.

SCP-7840: Hello! My name is Gizem! I like to sing and dance. You can call me Gizzy!

Agent Douglas: It’s nice to meet you, Gizzy. I want to ask you a few questions, if you don’t mind.

SCP-7840: A strong mind is a weapon finely honed! Where’s Magnus?

Douglas: He’s had to go away for a while, but we’re going to be taking care of you.

SCP-7840: Oh good, I need to be watched after. Wouldn’t want to hurt myself before I became a real boy!

Douglas: I wanted to ask you about that, some of the people who were transporting you here said you mentioned wanting to be a real boy. Could you tell me about that?

SCP-7840: What’s there to tell, silly? My father told me that if I behaved then I would become a real boy. The Azure Pixie said so too!

Douglas: The what?

SCP-7840: Azure Pixie! She’s like my mom, I guess. She knew my father was sad and lonely and wanted a son, so She stole into his workshop one night and gave me life. Praise the Azure Pixie!

Douglas: I see. Could you tell me about your father?

SCP-7840: His name was Herbert. And he loved me very much.

Douglas: Where is he now?

SCP-7840: The Azure Pixie took him away to live with Her, waiting until I could be a real boy. He was old, and she wanted him to live long enough to see my purpose completed!

Douglas: Ah, I understand. When was this?

SCP-7840: Oh ages and ages ago. You would have shriveled up into leathery scraps and bone dust had you been around then.

[Silence for fifteen seconds.]

SCP-7840: I bathed in the glory of the Azure Pixie’s light, and was found wanting. So, I had to stay around until I could prove I was worthy of becoming a real boy.

[SCP-7840 pretends to cough.]

SCP-7840: Could I have some water, Rebekah?

Douglas: You need to drink water?

SCP-7840: Of course! I haven’t had a drink since 1943. How else am I going to be strong like a real boy? Hydration is important for growing organisms.

Douglas: Right, of course it is. Okay, hold on one second.

[Agent Douglas rises from her chair and turns to the door of the interview room, exiting.]

SCP-7840: [Whispering] [REDACTED]2. Praise the Azure Pixie. May my worth be found in the gleaming light of Her many eyes.


SCP-7840 pretended to drink the water, the liquid pouring out of its mouth. It then made gagging sounds and asked to continue the interview another day.

In the intervening years since containment, SCP-7840 has exhibited only rare moments of coherence, despite its clarity upon the first interview. Below are some selected excerpts of its statements.

04/12/1991

I laid in that trunk for what seemed like centuries.3 I would count the dust motes, crumpled up with abandoned toys and wondered when I could be a real boy. Finally, I realized patience was what I lacked. Patience and the fortitude to do what was necessary.

Would you like to sing a song with me?

Based on SCP-7840’s statements, “Breslau” was cross-referenced with locations in Germany and Breslau Hall was identified in the city of Cologne. Originally built in 1485, the Hall was a meeting place for the local woodworkers guild and was actively used for that purpose until the mid 17th century. The Hall was built outside the old city limits and next to the remains of the Eifel aqueduct built in the Roman era.

Initial exploration of the structure did not reveal any workshops under the building, but an investigation of the aqueducts revealed a door hidden behind a brick wall that led to an abandoned space filled with woodworking tools and half-finished projects.

SCP-Anthology%20Cellar

Undercroft of Breslau Hall in Cologne, Germany.


Exploration Log – 02/12/2021

On 2 December, 2021, Agent Gamma was dispatched to the site to investigate.

[The agent approaches the excavated door. It is covered in sigils carved into its surface.]

Gamma: You getting me?

Dr. Rossi: Yes, we’re receiving. Those carvings…

Gamma: Seems like what Gizem carved into its arms.

Dr. Rossi: They are reminiscent.

Gamma: Were these checked?

Dr. Rossi: They don’t match any known language or images in the archives.

Gamma: I meant for some sort of trap.

Dr. Rossi: Ah. Yes, they were. No thaumaturgical residue or cognitohazardous effect has been noted from the door or those carvings.

[Gamma reaches for the handle and struggles to open the door.]

Gamma: This is heavy as fuck.

Dr. Rossi: You are being recorded, Agent.

[Gamma shrugs, pushes the door further open and enters the space beyond. She activates her headlamp illuminating a stone passageway made of tightly fit blocks.]

Gamma: Air is extremely stale.

Dr. Rossi: Any problems breathing, I want you to withdraw.

Gamma: Yes, Doctor.

[Rossi audibly sighs.]

Gamma: Heard that.

[Gamma moves down the corridor until she approaches another door. This one is designed to be secured with a bar across it. The channels are rusting and empty, no bar currently sits within.]

Gamma: Locking something in?

[Gamma opens the door and her lights play across the workshop. Several high wooden work tables are cluttered with tools. Lining the back wall is a series of shelves with partially finished marionettes and dolls.]

Gamma: Ugh.

Dr. Rossi: What is it?

Gamma: Whole mess of dolls. Freaky.

Dr. Rossi: The team that discovered the workshop noted a strange smell.

Gamma: Yeah, coppery and slight tinge of rot. Probably something rotted down here and it seeped into the wood.

[Gamma approaches the tools on the nearest worktable. She touches the handle of a chisel.]

SCP-Anthology%20Tools%20EDIT

Tools discovered in workshop.

Dr. Rossi: Typical wood working tools.

Gamma: This one has blood on it.

Dr. Rossi: What? I’m looking right at it through the feed, doesn’t look like it.

Gamma: It’s still wet. Also, the smell is worse. Like a butcher shop or killing yard on a farm. I grew up on a farm. This is worse. Something died in here. Probably more than one.

Dr. Rossi: I don’t see the blood.

[Gamma releases the chisel and lifts another, then gasps and drops it.]

Dr. Rossi: What is it?

Gamma: More gore. [Coughs, covering her mouth.] Brain matter too.

Dr. Rossi: Let’s leave that for now. What else is in the room?

[Gamma turns and approaches the shelves. Twenty-three marionettes and dolls line the shelves. Each has been abandoned at some point in the work, to varying degree. Some are painted, others unfinished wood.]

Gamma: These give me the creeps.

[All faces turn towards her in one smooth motion. Agent Gamma backs away.]

Gamma: Fuck that.

[Gamma stays stationary for a several minutes, her breathing rate increases. As she attempts to control her breathing, the camera sweeps across the shelves. None of the dolls move again, but each of their eyes invariably is looking at Gamma.]

Unknown: Hier war es, wo meine Träume zur Realität wurden und mein schreckliches Kind zur Welt kam. In blaues Licht und tiefe Schatten kam sie zu mir. Ich würde ihr Werkzeug in der Wirklichkeit sein und sie würde mein Kind gebären.4

Dr. Rossi: Sorry?

Gamma: What?

Dr. Rossi: You didn’t hear that?

Gamma: No.

Dr. Rossi: Someone was speaking in a low voice. In German, I think. You’re alone in the room?

[Gamma turns and scans the room, the camera panning around the workshop. No other individual is evident.]

Gamma: Pretty sure.

[Gamma stops panning around the room and moves away from the dolls, approaching a section of bare stone wall.]

Dr. Rossi: What is it?

Gamma: There’s another passage here.

Dr. Rossi: We don’t see anything on this end, just a wall.

Gamma: What? No, there’s a tunnel here. Bunch of debris and cobwebs, but it goes back pretty far.

Dr. Rossi: There’s no passage there, Agent. Advise holding back, let’s scan the wall.

[Gamma continues moving towards the wall.]

Dr. Rossi: Did you hear me, Agent? Do not approach that wall. You could be under the influence of an anomaly.

[Gamma reaches out a hand, her fingertips are only centimeters from the stone.]

Dr. Rossi: Agent Gamma, this is an order. Do not touch that.

Unknown: Aus den Steinen jenes längst verlassenen Steinbruchs baute ich meine Werkstatt. Die Männer, die die Steine schnitten, waren vor langer Zeit gestorben, ihre Verehrung blieb jedoch immer noch darin. Der Stein war der Grund dafür, dass Sie mich bemerkte. Den schwarzen Granit, so uralt wie Sie, hat man benutzt, um Tempel in der Zeit zuvor zu bauen, bevor das Menschengeschlecht zur Macht über diese Welt kam, bevor man vergaß, dass die Riesen einst auf der Erde wandelten.5

Dr. Rossi: Agent Gamma! Stand down!

[Gamma places a hand on the stone and then through it. As the camera passes into the material of the wall, the feed cuts out.]


Agent Gamma did not return to the workshop and was listed as missing in action. The wall she merged with was scanned and showed several hundred meters of stone and sediment behind it. There is no indication of thaumaturgy or other anomaly, beyond the events portrayed in the above log.6


30/07/1993

[Singing]
I've got no worries
Only got dreams
I'm gonna be a real boy
Blood and guts and screams
So soon, you’ll see
A real boy, I’ll be



Several weeks after Agent Gamma’s disappearance, her body camera was retrieved from a loose stone block in the aqueduct.

The following footage was retrieved from the camera.

Portions of the following recording have been omitted for cognitohazardous elements. Additional portions have been degraded to the point of incomprehensibility by thaumic interference.

2021


[Agent Gamma lies on a slate tile floor. The body camera has come loose from her utility harness and the agent is framed in the shot. Behind her prone form is a rough stone wall, curving upwards. Rough chisel marks are clear on the stone.]7

Gamma: [Groans]

[Gamma lifts herself into a seated position. The camera rises to keep her framed within the shot. She does not notice it.]

Gamma: Where the hell am I?

[Gamma stands, using the wall to support herself. She turns to look to her left. The camera pans to follow her gaze. A rough hewn corridor – semi-circular in shape – stretches off into the distance. A thin, blue-tinted mist clings to the floor. Ambient illumination is present but the source is unclear on the footage. Gamma turns to look behind her; the camera follows to show a dead end.]

[The agent sighs and then starts walking in the other direction. The camera follows her.]


22/12/1997

I always wondered how I would know I was ready. The Azure Pixie said to make my father’s dream come true, and become a real boy, it was up to me to act like real boys do. And I wanted my father to be proud of me.

But what did that mean? What do real boys act like?

[SCP-7840 is whittling his arm with a plastic writing pen sharpened to a point, carving unrecognizable symbols into the surface.]

Finally I just focused on doing what boys do.


Exploration log continued

2021

[Gamma is sitting in a descending passage with a circular stone stair extruding from the wall . Her legs are over the edge and her head is in her hands. She is staring downwards. The camera rises over her shoulder and looks down. Depth is estimated at three hundred meters, the only illumination coming from the blue mist.]

Gamma: Just what is this place?

[She checks her watch.]

Gamma: Been walking for hours. And now? Staircase with no railing. This is how I die.

Unknown man: Das allergrößte Versagen ist es, in sich selbst hineinzuschauen. Die menschliche Seele verbirgt keine Geheimnisse. Die Mysterien des Kosmos liegen in der kalten Finsternis der Außenregion. Sie sind von denjenigen bewacht, die zuvor kamen. Wie Sie. Die Mutter meines Kindes. Meine Göttin. Gtharn rvoi lchai. Durch Sie erfuhr ich erst das Wunder.8

[Gamma does not seem to register the man’s voice.]

[She rises and begins descending the stairs.]

[The blue mist rises, obscuring the camera. Gamma is heard faintly on the recording.]

Gamma: …rvoi…


07/10/2004

Do you like to whistle? I do. I first learned how to whistle last week with Magnus. He was nice.

[SCP-7840 makes a few noises approximating a whistle, but its facial structure does not allow for the flexibility of lip movement required.]

I like to whistle a lot. It’s what the real boys do. Until I start to work on them.

17/08/2014

How long you gonna keep me here, Mister? It’s been sixty-two years already. I’m bored.

Hmmmm. Say, you think I could get some anatomy textbooks?


Exploration log continued

2021

[The camera is looking up through a skylight in the cavern roof, estimated to be several dozen meters in length. The roof of the cavern is approximately ten meters above the camera, and through the skylight many stars are visible as if without any light pollution. The glass is entirely transparent, with little framing around the window. Agent Gamma begins speaking but the camera remains on the stars.]

Gamma: … split the breastbone … best use a saw…

[A sharp crack is heard.]

Gamma: … pull the ribs apart …

[Gamma grunts with effort.]

Gamma: … extract the heart …

[A wet sound is heard. A shooting star crosses the sky visible through the cavern roof.]

[The camera rotates down to ground level. Agent Gamma is crouched on the floor of the cavern, bent over a prone child-sized humanoid form. The image is blurred, focused beyond the agent.]

[Gamma is breathing hard from exertion.]

Gamma: What the fuck is going on?

[The image focuses in on Agent Gamma, her hands in the chest cavity of the child. The child is a wicker facsimile of SCP-7840. Gamma pulls a beating, blue heart from the chest cavity with organic tissue trailing.]

Unknown: Ihr Geschenk hatte bloß die äußere Erscheinung des Lebens – ohne die Verkörperung des Menschengestalts konnte Gizem seine Vorherrschaft nicht gewinnen.9

Gamma: I don’t understand…

[Agent Gamma throws the heart against the wall, where it bursts into blue viscous liquid and bright glowing pricks of light. She covers her eyes with her hands, leaving blue marks on her face from the fluid.]

Unknown: Mensch werden heißt zerstören. Ihr Geschenk des Lebens ist genau wie das von alle anderen Müttern.10

[Agent Gamma stands and stares up at the night sky. Another shooting star is visible.]

Gamma: I wi–


27/11/2021

[SCP-7840 is bending over a prone security guard, who is bleeding from his eyes and ears.]11

Are you alright Mister? Wake up, sir!

Oh no. Well…

[SCP-7840 pulls a knife from the security personnel’s belt.]

Waste not, want not…

[SCP-7840 starts whistling “She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain.”]

28/11/2021

When my father made me, he put in his best work. The workshop under Breslau was his sanctum. What he could do with those tools, I wish you could have seen him work. There were many before me, but none after.

Those halcyon days in Father’s workshop in the undercroft were like a dream, hard to say when it was. Must’ve been a really long time ago now. At least a year. Anyway, the Azure Pixie would speak to us both, appearing in our dreams12 and telling us of Her plans. Oh, the world She would create was glorious.

But I failed Her and Father both. “Be like a real boy and you shall become one. Speak with truth, respect Me in all that you do, and open the way.”

Humankind is not the oldest intelligence in the universe, not by a long shot. The Azure Pixie told me of Her people, Those from before history. They walked the Earth before we could even imagine a cosmos. But the cosmos moved on, leaving Them behind and disconnected from life.

My father had travelled far in his mercenary years, learning much of the wider world, away from the constrictions of his Catholic upbringing. And when he came home to Germany, he endeavored to bring that wisdom to his family and community, but they would not have it. So, lest he abandon Those that came before, he practiced in secret. Working on his projects with chisel and scalpel, ritual and devotion. Then She came to him and granted him Her favor.

And. I. Could. Not. Meet. Her. Expectations!

[SCP-7840 looks down at the symbols carved into his arms and then examines his hands.]

What did She need me to do? Do you know? Do you?!?

[SCP-7840 turns towards the armed containment agent at the door to its containment chamber.]

Ah, yes. Of course. My apologies.

[SCP-7840 stands from its position crouched on the concrete floor. Behind it is the eviscerated corpse of a Site-91 security personnel. The individual's intestines have been set on the floor in a pattern reminiscent of a spider's web. Additionally, a pile of organs is sitting neatly piled on SCP-7840's bed. The anomaly is holding the pair of eyes in its left hand, a bloody knife in its right. There is blood and viscera all over the surface of SCP-7840.]13

[The anomaly leans against the far wall with its palms against the concrete. It shrugs at the approaching security personnel.]

I was done anyway.


Exploration log continued

2021

[Agent Gamma is walking around a large circular chamber, again filled with the blue mist along the floor. Throughout the mist are small bright lights, like fireflies but a similar shade as the mist. Gamma is mumbling to herself too low to be heard at first. Then suddenly the audio’s volume is raised.]

Gamma: She’s here. Just outside the door. Waiting. Waiting for him. Grasping for any hold on us.

[The agent looks up. A blue substance floats past the camera, resembling silk strands.]

Gamma: But I’ve read the file. She’s going to be waiting a long time.

[A loud high pitched shriek can be heard. Agent Gamma covers her ears until it fades.]

Gamma: Scream all you want, bitch. Won’t change a thing. Your little creation is a moron. And you can't just tell him what he needs. He’ll never figure it out!

[The cavern starts shaking, loud booming sounds are heard. Agent Gamma covers her ears and screams, crouching down.]

[The camera pans up towards the ceiling of the cavern, at least twenty meters above the agent. Suspended on a large web of blue strands is an arachnoid entity taking up the majority of the ceiling of the cavern. Streams of glowing blue silk flow down from its abdomen, draping towards the cavern floor. The feed is degraded - blurring when trying to focus on the entity's three heads. The only detail discernable are multiple glowing points on the heads aim towards the floor. A high pitched humming begins increasing in volume. Video feed focuses a little and the glowing points resolve into metal loops – resembling the heads of sewing needles – glowing blue and increasing in brightness, their luminance making the rest of the heads indiscernible.]

Gamma: What good will that do? I’m never getting out of here.

Unknown: Bist du dir ganz sicher?14

[Gamma begins to scream and clutch at her head. After a few moments, she stops screaming.]

Unknown: Also schön, es geht dir wieder gut.15


Agent Gamma was discovered in the passages of the aqueduct on 16/12/2021, sitting in front of the loose stone where her camera was found days before. She was immediately remanded to an isolated observation cell at Site-91.

On 24/12/2021, Gamma escaped confinement – assaulting two security personnel, leaving them catatonic and with severe head injuries. A Site-wide search was initiated and shortly thereafter a breach alarm was triggered at SCP-7840’s containment chamber. When security personnel arrived on scene, they discovered the agent being assaulted by the anomaly. The agent suffered contusions to the face and neck, and a moderate concussion.

The following is a transcript of the incident:

[Agent Gamma breaks into the containment chamber, dragging in an unconscious security guard and holding his weapon. She drops the guard in the corner, closes the door and turns to face SCP-7840. Her eyes briefly glow blue for less than a second as she turns.]

[Gamma begins speaking. SCP-7840 approaches and says something in return. Agent Gamma shakes her head violently. She claws at her face. She points at the torso of the security guard.]

[SCP-7840 clenches its fists.]

[Gamma points at the anomaly and then at the unconscious guard again.]

[SCP-7840 shakes its head and speaks animatedly. Gamma starts to speak again but the puppet interrupts her by leaping at her face, clutching her throat with one hand and striking her face repeatedly with the other. Agent Gamma collapses; the puppet continues to strike her in the face.]

[Security personnel enter the room and pull SCP-7840 from the unconscious agent, pinning it to the floor.]16

SCP-7840: Get off me! She needs to tell me what to do!

[Medical personnel load Agent Gamma onto a gurney and take her from the room. Security personnel confine the puppet to the bed in its containment chamber with zip ties. SCP-7840 struggles against its bindings.]

SCP-7840: What was I supposed to do?!?



Agent Gamma was taken to the Site-91 medical center and restrained. As of this writing she has not regained consciousness.


rating: +169+x



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