How the hell does the Foundation even function?
AUTOMATED WARNING! The following file has been sealed by order of the O5 Council. It is not to be accessed by anyone, including members of said body, outside of scenarios in which [REDACTED]. In such a scenario, Chekov.aic will contact relevant personnel and provide them with the clearance, codes, and memetic inoculation required to access the file and direct them to one of ██ airgapped terminals where the file can be accessed.
MEMETIC KILL AGENT ACTIVATED
CONTINUED LIFE SIGNS CONFIRMED
REMOVING SAFETY INTERLOCKS
My apologies, Dr. Hudson, if you ever end up reading this. I understand your request, but I'm afraid I can't in good conscience fulfill it in full. Don't worry, I'm still going to take the amnestics. I'm going to utilize every means at my disposal to seal and conceal this file. What I won't do— what I can't do— is delete it. This is insurance, and we need all the insurance we can get.
— O5-2
Item #: SCP-9036
Object Class: Archon/Thaumiel
Special Containment Procedures: The existence and nature of SCP-9036 is to be concealed from all sentient beings, including all members of the SCP Foundation, with the exception of O5-2, Dr. Amos Bradford, Dr. Michael Hudson, and the rest of the SCP-9036 Covert Research Team.
Chekov.aic, a Class-II Positive-Aligned Narrow Intelligence, is to secretly monitor all SCP Foundation activity for changes in SCP-9036. If changes are detected which indicate hostility towards the SCP Foundation or humanity at large, Chekov.aic is to reveal itself to select SCP Foundation personnel as per protocol MARATHON-ALPHA. Said personnel are then to access this file and read through it in its entirety. Due to the nature of the events required to trigger protocol MARATHON-ALPHA, the actions to be taken after viewing this file are generally left up to the discretion of the personnel contacted by Chekov.aic. In the event it is determined that protocol MARATHON-ALPHA was triggered erroneously, personnel reading this file are to close and reseal the file, remove their memetic inoculation towards the memetic kill agent placed herein (Chekov.aic can perform this procedure), and amnesticize themselves.
Description: SCP-9036 is a phenomenon in which the SCP Foundation functions more efficiently and cohesively than is statistically plausible for such an organization. This includes but is not limited to appropriation of resources and personnel, bureaucratic organization, lack of corruption, lack of factionalism, response to crises (both active and proactive), ability to remain in good standing with and procure funding from numerous governments all around the world, and general efficacy of strategies devised by administrative personnel.
SCP-9036 is believed to be endemic to the SCP Foundation. However, the incomplete and frequently unreliable nature of the SCP Foundation's knowledge pertaining to various groups of interest precludes discounting the idea that SCP-9036's sphere of influence extends beyond the SCP Foundation.
The source of SCP-9036 is not currently known. See attached documentation.
Addendum 9036.1: Except from "Statistical Abnormalities in the Efficacy of SCP Foundation Operations" by Dr. Amos Bradford and Dr. Lee Hudson
The following is excerpted from the "Conclusion" section of Bradford and Hudson's 1989 unpublished report on SCP-9036 (at the time not specifically identified as such), which represents the earliest known documentation on SCP-9036.
While the phenomena that we have described herein are not inherently counter to the physical rules of reality, they are, collectively, so statistically unlikely as to almost necessitate an anomalous origin. Put simply, we are too good at what we do, and none of the easy explanations work to explain it. The SCP Foundation's mission is of great importance to the world, and the consequences for failure are dire, potentially apocalyptically so. Certainly the knowledge of this does affect performance, but there are numerous organizations working towards similarly altruistic and important goals which still experience the corruption, mismanagement, and inefficiency which we almost completely lack. We don't do anything particularly unique or special in terms of who we recruit. We have high standards for our personnel, but not to the extent that would produce these results, which is likely impossible.
It is our recommendation that this group of phenomena be given an SCP designation and that resources and personnel be allocated to investigate it further in order to more fully define its parameters and, more importantly, its origin. This would allow us to potentially better exploit the phenomenon and/or guard it against disruption.
As stated, the report which the above was excerpted from was never published. Before submitting for peer review, Dr. Hudson chose to share the report with a superior, and the report was subsequently brought to the office of O5-2, who ordered that all involved persons aside from the paper's two authors be amnestized. Their names have been expunged from this file.
Addendum 9036.2: Interview Log
Interviewed: Dr. Amos Bradford, Dr. Lee Hudson
Interviewer: O5-2
Forward: On 10/03/1989, Dr. Amos Bradford and Dr. Lee Hudson were intercepted in the Site-21 research staff break room. This interview log was transcribed from security camera footage, subsequently deleted from the Site-21 archives.
<begin log>
Hudson: You know, my wife actually mentioned that to me the other day.
Bradford: Small world, huh. How's she doing?
Hudson: Better, all things considered. Most of the time she's just tired, you know how it is.
Bradford: Sure.
Dr. Hudson takes a sip from his coffee.
The door opens. O5-2 enters the room.
O5-2: Good morning, gentlemen.
Hudson: Good morning.
Bradford: Can we help you?
O5-2: As a matter of fact, I think you can.
Hudson: If you don't mind me asking, who are you?
O5-2: O5-2.
Dr. Hudson drops his sandwich.
O5-2: You two have been very busy as of late, I hear.
O5-2 removes several sheets of paper (stapled together) from his coat.
O5-2: Your latest report. Not my area of expertise, but I got the gist of it. Very interesting…
Bradford: Sir—
O5-2: Do you actually believe what you've written here? You're confident in your conclusions?
The room is silent for roughly ten seconds.
Bradford: Yes sir.
O5-2: You understand the gravity of this, yes?
Bradford: Yes sir.
O5-2: I'd like to take the two of you up on your recommendation. You're going to put together a team to investigate this, and you're going to do it quietly. I want you to send me a list of everyone you've already told about this. Note the ones you want on your team, everyone else is going to be amnestized. You report directly to me.
Bradford: How do we contact you?
O5-2 walks to Dr. Bradford and hands him a card.
O5-2: It's been arranged.
O5-2 leaves the room.
<end log>
Addendum 9036.3: Selected Reports
The following is a series of excerpts from selected progress reports from SCP-9036 Covert Research Team, written by team co-leader Dr. Amos Bradford. To access the archive of all reports, contact the office of [REDACTED].
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Progress is slow so far. We've been at this for roughly three months now, and we still do not have any leads on the origins of SCP-9036 or the mechanism through which it operates. It is a difficult thing to study. We are looking for statistical anomalies (as compared to the general baseline) and trying to infer patterns.
What we have determined is the general shape of SCP-9036. We initially assumed that it would take a top-down approach to manipulating the Foundation's activities, but it seems to be more holistic. Alterations are made at the higher levels of our organizational structure, with the consequences propagating downward in a nonanomalous manner, but those lower levels are also altered independently.
While we feel it prudent to avoid making definitive statements during this early stage of the research, we have tentatively concluded that SCP-9036's holistic and seemingly rather inefficient approach precludes it being the result of some unknown reality-bending entity with a human or human-like cognition.
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We have a new project in the works. Dr. Roland proposed that we take all the data we have collected on SCP-9036 and essentially create a map, showing the incidence and intensity of SCP-9036 activity across space and time. With this model, we will be able to conduct studies comparing this "topography" of SCP-9036 to the incidence of other phenomena, anomalous or otherwise, at locations of high SCP-9036 activity.
Constructing this model is going to be a massive undertaking. With this report, I am also requesting additional access to data storage and processing equipment as well permission to bring two additional specialists onto the team. See the attached form for details.
Note: Dr. Bradford's requests were subsequently approved.
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We have finished developing Dr. Roland's model. I know this has increased the expense incurred by our work considerably, but I am certain that investment will pay off. The number of potential research avenues this new tool has opened up for us is staggering.
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We have good news and (potentially) bad news. On the positive side, the studies we have run using the SCP-9036 Digital Topography Model have yielded some fascinating results. We do not have anything concrete just yet, but there are around half a dozen potential correlations to explore.
The potential bad news is that SCP-9036 is changing. Specifically, it is getting weaker. Now, this is not necessarily cause for concern. We have only been studying the phenomenon for a little over a year, and our ability to analyze SCP-9036's activity before then is much more limited. Foundation records are incomplete and difficult to parse, but it appears SCP-9036 experiences some degree of fluctuation around its "standard" level of activity. We will of course keep an eye on this issue, but there is in our opinion no cause for alarm.
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I feel I must be frank in this report. We are at our wits' end here. There has not been any significant research progress in the past two months. No new developments in SCP-9036 or discoveries about it. None of my team have come to me about this, but I've notice the change in attitude none the less.
I could say that this is unprecedented territory we're exploring. I could talk about the mental toll that having to hide what we are doing from our friends, colleagues, and superiors is having on us. I could make all kinds of excuses, but I don't have it in me. What I will say is this: we are not going to give up. I believe we should keep this project alive, for a few more months at least. SCP-9036 is too important to ignore to leave as unknown, research dead ends or not.
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We have something. Dr. Makarov used to work at the Department of Tactical Theology, and she suggested measuring Akiva field fluctuations across various Foundation facilities and comparing them to the SCP-9036 Digital Topography Model. There is a correlation, the strongest one we have found so far.
The Akiva radiation which we presume to be related to SCP-9036 is intermittent in occurrence and location, which represents a divergence from the general way in which the Akiva field behaves. This does explain why the phenomenon was never detected by the Department of Tactical Theology, who have never performed a large-scale survey of the Akiva field in and around Foundation facilities, allowing them to dismiss what few hints of SCP-9036 that they might have detected while testing their equipment.
Usually, locations tend to maintain a fairly constant level of ambient Akiva radiation when not under the effects of a theological anomaly. This may indicate that SCP-9036 is the result of a theological anomaly, but the fact that the source of SCP-9036 is, as far as we know, universally unknown seems to preclude this. While we initially guessed that SCP-9036 was a bi-product of belief in the Foundation and its mission among its personnel generating Akiva field fluctuations, our analysis has thoroughly refuted this as a possibility. The ability of Akiva field fluctuations to alter reality is insufficient to create SCP-9036; additionally, the patterns of Akiva field fluctuations that we have detected do not match those present in all other known instances of this type of phenomenon (e.g. American patriotism increases ambient Akiva radiation in Washington, D.C.).
As of now, no explanation is forthcoming, but we will be redirecting a significant portion of our research focus towards this matter going forward.
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As you have perhaps surmised, sir, SCP-9036 is weakening. This was something we noted some time ago, but at that time it was minor enough to be easily dismissed. This is no longer the case. We have already had two major breaches this year, both of which were only barely contained and concealed from public knowledge, and at great expense. There have also been a series of smaller incidents. Innocuous things on their own, but in numbers much higher than SCP-9036 ever previously "allowed."
We have not been able to explain this. Our study of the Akiva field fluctuations has yielded results, but there are many things which remain unclear. This is what we do know: We know that SCP-9036 is generated by an entity capable of manipulating the Akiva field. From this, if our understanding of that field is correct, we can surmise that the source of SCP-9036 must be sentient. We know that it is not a god or other conventional theological entity, as nobody worships it and the way it manipulates the Akiva field is completely unlike anything we have ever observed. For that second reason, we also know it is not a human or anything like a human. We know that its ability to manipulate reality is partially but not completely due to said manipulation of the Akiva field. We know that it has some vested interest in the SCP Foundation's continued operation.
The question we must ask now is what has happened to this being. Why is not supporting us as it once did? Have we done something to offend it? Is it under attack from some other entity or force? This, with your approval, is to become the sole focus of this research team. The future of the Foundation— and by extension the future of humanity— depends on it.
If it can be managed without drawing suspicion, it is my recommendation that additional personnel be brought on. We need all the help we can get.
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Sir, I'm sorry for sending you this as a progress report, but I didn't have any other means of reaching you and something just occurred to me.
Have you ever actually met The Administrator?
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We almost have it. We're on the edge of this, I can feel it. The other ways that SCP-9036 manipulates reality, manipulates us. The subtle ways. Now we understand. Not all, but enough. Countless tiny manipulations. Less and less now, but looking back it all seems so obvious.
Our current estimates indicate that, at the rate things are going, a catastrophic containment breach is inevitable within the next ten years. We're talking about a "Lifted Veil" scenario at minimum, with a significant possibility of accompanying K-Class Scenario. If isn't the first thing that gets out, it'll be the second, or the third, or the fourth. This world is going to tear itself apart before we enter the new millennium, and that time might well be an optimistic estimate, but it doesn't matter. We're going to track this thing to the source. We're going to understand. And then we're going to fix this.
We're going to find The Administrator.
Addendum 9036.4: Debrief Log
Interviewed: Dr. Amos Bradford
Interviewer: Dr. Lee Hudson
Forward: On 09/09/1991, Dr. Amos Bradford travelled to Site-19 and entered the previously hidden office of the being known as The Administrator, located through the efforts SCP-9036 Covert Research Team. This operation was carried out without the approval of Dr. Bradford's direct superior (O5-2) or the co-leader of his team (Dr. Lee Hudson). He was discovered the next day in hallway some distance from that office by one of Site-19's janitorial staff, seeming to have crawled there in a semi-conscious state. He remained in this state for several days and had to be given nutrition and fluids intravenously. Once he recovered sufficiently as to be able to speak coherently he requested the presence of Dr. Lee Hudson and refused to speak to anyone else. Dr. Hudson carried out the following debrief at in Dr. Bradford's room at the Site-19 medical center.
<begin log>
Hudson: Hey man, you awake?
Dr. Bradford opens his eyes and looks up.
Bradford: Yeah.
Hudson: How are you holding up?
Bradford: It still hurts.
Hudson: What hurts?
Bradford: That's not the right word. Nothing hurts. Not like how a paper cut or breaking your arm hurts or your dad yelling at you hurts. I just feel… just… I…
Hudson: It's okay man. You're going to be okay.
Bradford: I… I…
Dr. Bradford twitches, then sits up a little more.
Bradford: I need to tell you what I saw in there.
Hudson: It's okay man, that can wait. You're still—
Bradford: No! It needs to be now!
Dr. Bradford hyperventilates for several seconds before regaining control of his breathing.
Bradford: Please. Please listen to me. I don't know if anyone else will understand.
Hudson: Okay. What did you see?
Bradford: I saw The Administrator.
Hudson: What is The Administrator?
Bradford: An anti-god.
Hudson: Anti-god?
Bradford: I made up that word. A thing, a being, colossal and strange and inhuman. But it recoils at belief. Anything even a little bit like itself, anything that exists outside the norms of reality. It wants…
Dr. Bradford turns away from Dr. Hudson and stares at the blank wall of his room.
Hudson: What does it want?
Bradford: "Want" isn't the right word either. It doesn't "want" things the way we want things.
Both men are silent for approximately twenty seconds.
Bradford: There isn't a word. Whatever. It "wants" these things kept secret. That's why it empowers us. We'll know about those things, but that's a sacrifice it makes. But knowing about it…
Hudson: Is that worse for it?
Bradford: God damn it Lee! Don't you understand? This is all our fault! You and me, O5-2, Roland, Jimenez, Thomson, Makarov, and all the others! All this time, as we found out more and more, dug deeper and deeper, we've been killing it! You think I look bad now? You should have seen it Lee. It was a husk.
Hudson: Amos—
Bradford: Please Lee, tell them. Tell them they need to forget.
Hudson: I'll tell them.
Bradford: One more thing, Lee…
Hudson: Yeah?
Bradford: Tell my family how much I love them.
Hudson: Tell them yourself, Amos.
Bradford: I… okay.
<End Log>
Additional Notes: On 09/20/1991, three days after this debrief, Dr. Amos Bradford committed suicide by asphyxiation.
Cite this page as:
"SCP-9036" by Peter Cohen, from the SCP Wiki. Source: https://scpwiki.com/scp-9036. Licensed under CC BY-SA.
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Author:Peter Cohen
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