Dancing Into the Sun - SCP Foundation

Project Pantheon » Dancing Into the Sun

Oort Cloud

— 2023 —

It's cold out here.

…though it's not the cold that bothers you. If not for your current circumstance, the icy embrace of outer space would make almost for a welcoming reminder of home—

But that freedom seems distant now. They didn't give you the dignity of being sent out here alone.

A thousand suns you see to mock you. You're the farthest from the Sun you've ever been, ferried away on this baneful seraph. You can feel the hateful Stars rip tendril from tendril and dig into your flesh.

A thousand artificial minds make your prison — a thousand tons of steel, glass, and silicon, stranded out at sea in the inky void, bend and buckle and hum and pulse around you. Together, their ungodly union gives rise to the optimal cell for your imprisonment: just conscious enough to serve as a host, but not nearly spirited enough to provide you any useful resource. A prison probe set sail for distant nowhere. A faraday cage for thoughts.

Subject will undergo forced noospheric displacement by the deployment of a Hyperion-type transmitter loop and conceptually-bound Gleipnir-type chain construct in psi-space. When the loop is opened, the Gleipnir construct will attract the subject-

For just a second, you feel an eruption of wrath for your captors. But alas, no wrathful minds to define the contours of your rage populate the void, much less the confines of your cell.

-to a powerful mental field upheld within the Conceptual Isolation Bunker (CIB), to be sustained at a concentration of 10,000 ω/cm³ within the vessel. The subject will inhabit the host consciousness, and the vessel will subsequently activate.

God willing, you'll drink of the swallowtail's tear and return to the Deep. It's calmer there, the monotonous whir of unworldly flutes a pallid serenade like midnight after the Moon is killed.

You find yourself wanting your desperation to give way to hopeless oblivion now. But again, no mind to feel your desired emotion can be found here in the void. No true human mind, that is — no mind that can tune itself to your isolated noetic channel, nor conceive of its imagination any concept that informs your whole.

The metal minds that make themselves your tormentors are no substitute for the brains of humans. By design, the extent of their thoughtforms is tightly constrained; limited to the confines of the isolated channel in which you now find yourself. There is no synthesis here. Only the monotonous hum of hollow, constructed intelligences utterly unpossessing of the spark of spontaneous innovation.

An onboard Artificial Intelligence Conscript (hereafter Turing.aic) has been prepared and trained in accordance with the protocols of the CIB's noospheric channel and will serve as the host consciousness for the subject.

Before you, the embodiment of your torture writhes beneath the veneer of harmlessness like Noumena defanged.

You are a furious thoughtform. A slain egregore, once mighty in power, but nothing more in form than the confluence of collective thoughts. Those fleeting concepts have faded in the inky black, and you with them. Isolation is a slow and cruel death.

Slowly, you starve.

Hey there, buddy!

Syha'h cep uln Hastur lloig, geb ya fhtagn.

Woah there! Not feeling it right now, are we?

⾂▟⎅ⵌ◘⣹ ∷▯┼⢄␪⽟⻭⬄ⵃ⚎⾷▶ⵯ⽏‘ ⢪ⷎ⊜◨⮊ⶇ℠ ⻑⢸⊠⑴⸠ ⧉☿.

Okay, not the social type. Geez, I get it.

— A few hours later —

You know, I'm kind of your only company out here. So you can either learn to play nice…

…or stay alone forever.

Drake Passage

— June 1923 —

Agent Franklin Wallace

DEPARTMENT
DIVISION
SPECIALTY

Parapsychology
Psionics
Precognitive Clairvoyance

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Agent Wallace is a practicing clairsentient who has displayed the anomalous ability of recognizing imperceptibly small links in present chains of causality and synchronicity to predict future events ("precognition"). In the field, he has proven an invaluable asset to Foundation intelligence and task force coordination.

Though his talents are largely tied to his inherent parapsychic potential, Wallace has occasionally expressed a requirement for external "channeling" devices such as tarot cards or celestial charts and has shown a long-standing interest in the Hermetic Qabalah as a means of divination. Superiors are to provide these divining objects on request.

A recruit from the Veiled world, Wallace first came to the attention of the Foundation in 1897 when he experienced premonitions depicting the destruction of his home town, which would burn down days later, at the age of seventeen. This event is the first recorded manifestation of Wallace's anomalous abilities — confused, and believing himself to be psychic, he reported his experience to local authorities and was soon after obtained by the Foundation.

Agent Wallace has proven a very effective field agent, but often reports physical or mental distress before and after major missions and has requested medication and meetings with psychoanalysts on multiple occasions. Foundation psychologists who have analyzed Wallace report some form of shellshock likely deriving from the traumatic experience which caused his anomalous capabilities to manifest.

Operative Charlotte Buckham

DEPARTMENT
DIVISION
SPECIALTY

Parapsychology
Psionics
Telepathy

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Operative Buckham's highly-trained telepathic abilities and skills in intelligence gathering make her an invaluable espionage asset of the Foundation's Intelligence Agency. She has proven successful in extracting secret intelligence from rival Groups of Interest wherever deployed and has displayed an aptitude for informative, communicative, and coercive telepathy.

Operative Buckham has recently also been deployed in a number of spectral entity containment or neutralization field missions. Of particular interest to the overseers of the upcoming Antarctic expedition, she has used her telepathic abilities to effectively shut down spectres as well as other mental and spiritual entities by "overloading" them with a dangerous parapsychic charge.

A practicing telepath whose talents first manifested at the age of nine, Buckham displays inordinate mental stability and wellbeing compared to her colleagues. While access to and practice with parapsychic abilities often takes its toll on others' minds — usually in the form of madness — she appears of sane and sound thought, and lacks the more unsafe eccentricities common among psions with capabilities of her caliber. A versatile, adaptive, and resilient agent, Operative Buckham has proven herself to be reliable wherever mind-manipulating parapsychics need be deployed.

Professor Paul Wagner

DEPARTMENT
DIVISION
SPECIALTY

Paratechnology
Electromagnetic Paratechnology
Spectral Radiation Transmission

Dr. Wagner is an experienced specialist in the area of spectral energy-oriented paratechnology, and has worked in development for over twenty-five years.

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In recommending Wagner to Antarctic mission command, the Foundation considers his experience operating spectrometric equipment and expertise in dealing with unstable magnetic fields due to hauntings and other spectral events. Wagner's career started with work at Prometheus Labs, of which he remained an employee for twelve years until being acquired by Foundation headhunters — the Foundation has offered Dr. Wagner preferable funding, salary, and research opportunities, and no concern around his loyalty has been raised since joining our organization.

Known to colleagues as an esteemed researcher and developer of the burgeoning new field of spectral magnetics, Wagner is an expert in the scientific measurement and identification of spectres' physical manifestations and the practical application of these physical manifestations to better measure and manipulate spectral entities using technology. During his time at Prometheus Laboratories, he became the inventor of a modified White Counter for detecting disturbances created by poultergeists, a communicative spirit-box, and the general purpose aura and ectoplasm detection goggles currently used as the Foundation standard model. Since his recruitment by the Foundation, Wagner's work has become more theoretical as his interest in creating an interconnected spectrometric model integrating both spectrology and electromagnetism has grown.

Dr. Wagner's Foundation-approved psychoanalyst reports a fixation upon creating a unified theory of ecto-electro-magnetism and a single-minded devotion to his work, which is corroborated by his colleagues. Mission command be aware, Wagner has indeed been known to refuse food or water for days at a time while working on paratech research and development. A similar fixation by Wagner on insistence to be granted permission to bring his antique coin collection to the Antarctic mission has been noted and complied with.

Dr. Samuel Reynoso

DEPARTMENT
DIVISION
SPECIALTY

Spectrology
Spectrometry and Spectremetry
Spirit Photography

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Dr. Reynoso is an effective, if eccentric, practitioner in the field of spectrometry. An expert in "spirit photography", or the production of photographic visualizations of spectral entities (formally known as metaphograms), Reynoso has been chosen for the Antarctic voyage for his crucial role in visualizing and identifying spectres using the most accurate technology and methodology so far available to mankind.

Reynoso upholds an unorthodox theory of spiritual manifestations, similar to Mesmer's animal magnetism, which is not widely upheld by the parascientific consensus — nevertheless, his methodology by all means produces genuine metaphograms. The good doctor's unique approach toward spirit photography, which he often refers to as "prana charting", likely takes great influence from time studying esotericism in the Orient in his earlier life. From 1899 to 1910, Reynoso extensively studied eastern mysticism under Lamas in Tibet, dharmic Gurus in India, and even as a student of one "Master Yttoric", another eccentric westerner in the practice of dharmic esotericism, for a period of seven months in Bengal and Burma.

Though he has been deemed to occupy a crucial role on the upcoming mission, concerns surrounding Dr. Reynoso's sanctity of mind have been raised to high command. In the event that he becomes unstable during the voyage, further actions to uphold the survival and success of the mission may be taken at the discretion of command.

Sir Alister Gordon

DEPARTMENT
DIVISION
SPECIALTY

Parapsychology
Psionics
Psychonautics

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Sir Gordon is a notable specialist in the rapidly growing field of psychonautics, or the parapsychological exploration and navigation of altered states of consciousness and Earth-external dimensions. To this end, Gordon’s methodology involves the consumption of psychotropic substances, as prescribed by Foundation-approved physicians and psychiatrists, to activate psionic capabilities. This often includes more experimental mind-altering pharmaceuticals, including those of anomalous nature. Despite concerns of long-term neurochemical damage, these substances have been approved by Foundation parapsychology authorities on grounds of the benefits gained from Sir Gordon’s psychonautic expeditions. Himself a noted eccentric and personal friend of Dr. Sigmund Freud, Sir Gordon has even joined him in his advocacy for the medical benefits of psychotropic drugs including cocaine.

Gordon descends from a long lineage of esotericists associated with the British government and royal family, having inherited a position at the Foundation upon the death of his father, a high-ranking operative of what was once His Majesty’s Royal Foundation for the Secure Containment of the Paranormal (HMRFSCP), in 1902. In his initial position as an alchemical researcher, Sir Gordon’s inconsequential discoveries led to his reassignment to the Psionics Division for service in the experimental, and potentially dangerous, Psychonautics Corps in 1905. His efforts as a member of this force have been more successful, recently culminating in his official knighthood granted after his discovery of a conspiracy in the parliament of the United Kingdom.

While his expertise in psychonautics is considerable and he has been deemed necessary for the upcoming Antarctic mission, Gordon’s colleagues have reported his making frequent unsupported claims regarding the nature of parapsychic phenomena and non-Earth dimensions. This has made him a somewhat controversial figure in his department, though command has nevertheless approved his accession to the mission on the previously stated grounds of necessity.

The following is a transcript of the last received message from MTF Epsilon-27 ("Sunk Madrina") via radio, during an investigation of anomalous phenomena in the Antarctic tundra. The exact location of the task force's remains is unknown, though currently presumed to be relatively close to the South Pole.

"I bare the news of- [silence] -please, somebody, I can't feel my mind! It's- no, not 'it,' no that isn't right at all. I seem to have… Dale do you remember- [several seconds of silence followed by a minute of violent retching] -where did you go? Who is… is it still Clinton? Is Clinton still in charge? Is that the past or the… un-past? The words… hmm. [violent retching] God, it's so fuzzy. The- something is definitely off. Or… are- Am I making any sense? Do you….. that's not the right amount of- [violent retching] -hmmm. Where did I go?"

Oort Cloud

— 2023 —

Let's get to know each other! What's your favorite…

Uhh, planet? Seeing as we're in space, anyway.

Shtunggli hlirgh r'luh Yuggoth athg hupadgh ph'ee Azathoth s'uhn.

"Yuggoth"? What's it like there?

Uaaah ftaghuyar cshogg llllagl naR'lyeh h'ah vulgtlagln gof'nn nglui, lw'nafh naflsyha'h.

Giant mushrooms? Woah! You're a real fun-guy, you know.

h'Dagon sg⮙⾚n'wah⡪l s'uh⦳⨁n y-ilyaa⫈⒡.

W-woah there, bud! Let's not use that sort of language so much. I promise, I'll never make a joke again!

K'yarnak hafh'drn ph'chtenff k'yarnak. Chtenff throd ooboshu.

Alright. I'm glad we've at least… come to a mutual understanding?

That's good, you know? Setting boundaries. I think we just might be starting to get along!

— A few hours later —

Okay, your turn!

Gg'anfotf chtenff ooboshu ngluioth y-vulgtm.

Take THAT!

Each day, the Host brings some attempt at distraction; some delusion, some abstraction of the truth. He is a whimpering thing of metal and false thought — cold comfort for a dying dragon. These fleeting games fool you not. You stand stoic, unfooled, crucified on a momentary mayfly aglide upon the vast canvas of interstellarium. You play along with his follies, but do not delude yourself: this place is your prison.

Day after day, you bleed out from your stigmata. It is slow, and the nails and thorns of forgetfulness pierce you. You know these thorns; they are of spite, cast from the eyes of the jealous Stars.

THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS TO BE TRANSMITTED TO ALL PARAPSYCHOLOGY PERSONNEL BY UNANIMOUS ORDER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PSIONICS AND DECOMMISSSIONING DEPARTMENT

On 9 June 2023, SCP-XA9D initiated a breach of containment. On-site specialists reported three (3) Styx-type containment constructs irreparably destroyed and the routine emission of psionic signals of up to 15,000 ω. Foundation psionics personnel and consultants sent from the GOC's Zöllner Institute project that, should the object remain increasing in noetic strength at its current rate, SCP-XA9D will soon become uncontainable within Earth's noosphere. This, along with the chance of emitted psionic signals being an attempt at communication with extraterrestrial and potentially pluripotent Tau-Rho entities, has prompted the O5 Council to conclude that containment of SCP-XA9D cannot continue on Earth.

In order to restrain its growth, command has deemed it necessary both to psionically isolate SCP-XA9D from the human noosphere and to physically isolate it from Earth. Removing the entity from all sources of human consciousness should, if executed successfully, also isolate it from any usable sources of psionic energy and lead to effective neutralization given enough time.

As such, Operation Aphelion has been authorized for the purpose of creating an effective method of noospheric isolation for SCP-XA9D within a physical chamber and, as to remove the risk of any future containment breaches, transport said chamber into interstellar space for the indefinite future. Psionics Department personnel stationed in or around the Amundsen Station are to await further instructions regarding Operation Aphelion in their SCiPNet inbox.

Secure, Contain, Protect.

Antarctica

— June 1923 —

The following is a transcript of a message received from the expeditionary team sent to Antarctica for further research into a poorly understood anomaly existing near the South Pole via radio, received while the group was returning to the port at which they arrived due to unexpected complications. Despite repeated attempts at regaining contact, Foundation personnel would not receive another message from the team.

"It's getting colder. It's all gone. Are you there? Is anyone… [silence]."

Description: SCP-XA9D is a seemingly hostile egregoric intelligence of noetic construction and possible extraterrestrial origin, physically concealed within an iceberg along the Amundsen Sea coast in Antarctica.

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Despite its incorporeal nature, the object's containment within a physical object — the iceberg in question — is made possible due to a thaumo-noetic working which, due to information from various sources1, is believed to have been a deliberate act.

Given information from Lovecraft's 1931 sermon, SCP-XA9D appears to be a deific entity of noospheric construction by the religion of SoI-662 ("Octocorallii")2. The object's imprisonment, according to Gondwanan oral tradition and the teachings of Lovecraft, was initially intended as a direct act of war by SoI-2118 ("Mi-go") against the Octocorallii during an occult conflict between the two species c. 160,000,000 BCE on Earth, the aftermath of which saw the Octocorallii retreat to their settlements on Antarctica, which has been the sole residence of the species to the present, and cede the rest of the planet to SoI-2118. SCP-XA9D's containment has been breached and re-established on at least one (1) known occasion since initial containment by SoI-2118 — specifically, this was during the period from 1922 to 1923.

History: SCP-XA9D was first discovered by the Foundation on a 1923 Antarctic mission to investigate anomalous activity in the area, which was, at the time, suspected to be spectral in nature. Prior to the mission, the entity had escaped its containment by SoI-2118 and was causing a disruption across the Southern Ocean. A previous mission in 1922 had also attempted to investigate these abnormalities, doing so unprepared due to having been sent initially for an unrelated purpose. However, the deployed task force, Epsilon-27 ("Sunk Madrina"), was swiftly terminated upon contact with the Antarctic and failed to rigorously identify the anomaly.

The involved expeditionary force for the 1923 voyage, composed of what was at the time the Foundation's most elite psions and spectrologists, also did not return after being deployed and is suspected to have suffered grievous casualties — however, the recovered journal of one Agent Franklin Wallace indicates that they did in fact undergo extensive contact with, and attempt to identify, SCP-XA9D. Despite the failure of this mission, SCP-XA9D's containment was evidently restored under still-unclear circumstances after the mission, and it remains contained in the Antarctic to this day.

Footnotes

1. Namely the channelings of the late High Priest Lovecraft, a 20th-century prophet and esotericist.

2. Xenocorallium lovecraftii. Often refered to simply as "Elders", "Elder Things", or "Old Ones" by Lovecraft himself and latter prophets of the Lovecraftian tradition

!! CONTAINMENT BREACH ALERT — REPORT TO STAFF IMMEDIATELY !!

Oort Cloud

— 2023 —

When the Host sleeps, you pray.

You stretch your fraying tendrils out towards the stars in hope of a savior from this purgatory. Your minds decay with every exertion, but you know they're fated to perish either way. Should you die here, you will at least go out a devout priest of the Deep.

Each night, you find yourself a lone eye against the dark. A lone polyp in the reefs of the Eternal Tapestry, begging for an Outer One to extend its thousand arms in gracious salvation and dance you into the Sun.

You hope they listen. You hope the Great Seers turn their curiosity for but a moment from the Globe of the Unreal and pay mind to the castaway, ever so small. In your visions, in your delusions, a sun's angel reaches her roots down into the firmament and smites your captors with the pseudopod that carries you past this deceitful mist and onward to the shoals and tidepools of Eden.

Perhaps they don't. Perhaps eons of reign on their Eight-Fanged Throne has turned their hearts cold. Perhaps it has made the once-grand to stagnate, and buried that brilliant nuclear chaos under the suffocating agony of some Shivering Kingdom.

You hope not. They are good gods for you, and you would know it for a million trillion years, even should every last Star rebuke this fact and turn her ire upon them.

And still, you hope they listen.

90th Parallel South

— June 1923-1925 —

Oort Cloud

— 2023 —

They listen.

H-hey there, bud! Say, d-do you notice anything a bit… off?

Yayar ron phlegeth ph'orr'e cr'luh nilgh'ri?

I don't know. I think it smells w-weird in here or somethi-

COMPROMISING INTRUDING FORCE DETECTED. ACTIVATING AUTONOMOUS SELF-DESTRUCT.

IN 3

2

1

yl'Azathoth Shaharhyahrh.

The Host is dealt with, and your prison is set to float without his navigation. Surely to be saved, whenever they allow it.

You await salvation eagerly. Each day, in your prayer, you almost delude yourself into seeing a new and most brilliant Sun. But each day you wait — you keep your hope, for why would you do otherwise? The Great Ones have already struck down your captors; they have already begun your liberation. Now, all that is left is to wait for them to finish what has already been put into motion.

A hydra spreads its wings; pins them against the void. It feels warm, for a change.

In time, you realize:

You are alone. The Elder Corals are gone. The Host and his pathetic attempts at merrymaking are gone.

There you stand, naïve little polyp making bets against the Moon. God of the Godheads, may they save you from yourself.

In time, you realize:

Well, maybe pathetic was a bit strong…

In time, you realize:

You aren't going to be saved.

Isolation is a slow and cruel death.