Item #: SCP-6540

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-6540 is to be held in a secure strongbox. Spillages of SCP-6540-A should be avoided. SCP-6540-A is only to be exposed to Class D personnel. Individuals affected by SCP-6540-B are to be observed for 4 weeks post-exposure to ensure normative mental function unless they are participating in an active testing regimen involving SCP-6540.

Description: SCP-6540 is a human skull with a large segment of missing cranial mass. When originally found the objects neurocranium was filled to approximately 75% of its liquid storage capacity with a dark spiced rum of unknown origin henceforth referred to as SCP-6540-A. SCP-6540-A displays no anomalous properties(see addendum) however shows chemical signs of having been aged for several centuries.

If the object is ever drained to less than 70% of its liquid storage capacity or emptied it will refill back to 80% at a rate of 1ml per second with SCP-6540-A. Any substance placed within SCP-6540 will react with SCP-6540-A and itself become SCP-6540-A. This only occurs within the object and is not a property of SCP-6540-A once it has been removed.

+ Boro Crew Manifest

- Boro Crew Manifest

Boro Crew Manifest, Dated 19/04/1991

The Boro was a Yacht originally owned by one Dr. Ziháo Wu (now in the possession of Professor Susan Morris) which embarked on a research voyage beginning on 19/04/1991 and ending on 29/11/1991. The vessel was manned by the following operatives:

Marcus Smythe - Leader of Foundation Agents aboard the Boro.

Kim Morrison - Chief Security Officer aboard the Boro.

Francis De Santis - Foundation Agent aboard the Boro.

Dr. Ziháo Wu - Chief Foundation Researcher aboard the Boro. (deceased)

Susan Morris - Assistant to Dr. Ziháo Wu.

+ Original Test Logs Not Found

- Secondary Source:

Journal of Susan Morris, researcher aboard the Boro. Excerpt, start dated 24/05/1991

Entry 1: I discovered my first scip! Well, Mr. Wu discovered it, but I helped! We're on a research excursion to the Caribbean looking for something and we went on a detour for some reason. Nobody would tell me why but it seemed really important. We moored at some island for ages until eventually, Francis came back with a skull or something. Said he found it in an old pirate shipwreck! So cool.

Entry 2: I went to get Mr. Wu his coffee today and he told me to stay in the lab! He said it was "time to stop being a glorified intern and start acting like a proper lab assistant." Personally, I don't think there's that much of a difference, the latter just involves more note-taking.

Entry 2.2: OK I know I said being a "proper lab assistant" involved more note-taking but jeez! I haven't written this much since my exams and my hand is killing me. It was all extremely interesting though, hope it doesn't get classified so I can read over it later! The skull seems to produce unlimited quantities of rum. Mr. Wu isn't sure how or why but we were able to establish that there aren't any apparent limits to this. A human skull that breaks the first law of thermodynamics. I'm still trying to wrap my head (heh) around that.

Entry 3: More notes. The rum doesn't seem to have any anomalous qualities, and neither does the skull itself. There's something inside the neurocranium producing the rum, and anything we put inside the skull also turns into rum! Luckily we don't have any living test subjects, which isn't something I would especially want to see.

Entry 4: It's been a few days and Mr. Wu thinks that we're already close to closing the file on this thing. We just got done with chemical analysis of the object and the rum it creates, both seem to be entirely normal. Also, we got the object number over the radio today! 6540. My first scip. I wonder if they'll let me get that as a tattoo?

Entry 5: OK remember when I said the rum doesn't have any anomalous qualities? Turns out that was wrong! Mr. Wu decided to let the agents drink the rum while off duty. We aren't normally allowed to have alcohol on board but he said that as long as it was here they might as well put it to use. Besides, it'd been weeks and it hadn't shown any intrinsic anomalous qualities.

We all thought that it was probably harmless but Kim started acting weird and I don't mean normal drunk weird. She was yelling about gold and jumping up on the tables. We managed to restrain her but she kept insisting that her name was "Jim", and calling us "scurvy dogs". The rum is now officially designated "SCP-6540-A", and no one is allowed to touch it without Mr. Wu's permission.

Entry 6: Mr. Wu put in a request for a D Class research subject but the foundation can't send one out to us for months! Mr. Wu was really mad. Apparently, they want him to return to an onshore facility but he isn't having it. "This voyage is too important!" He kept saying in between what I can only imagine was a torrent of curses in Mandarin. I still don't know what the point of the voyage even is, but if he's this worked up about it, it must be way more important than I thought.

Entry 6.2: Mr. Wu wants to use himself as a test subject.

Entry 6.3: Me, Marcus, and Kim tried to talk Mr. Wu out of this insanity but he wouldn't listen. Kim even offered to do the testing for him but he refused. Because we aren't D Class he can't ethically let us act as test subjects without explaining to us the full potential ramifications and because for some reason he can't do that, he won't perform tests on any of us. Only he will do. He's going to start in a week and I'm really worried.

Entry 7: Mr. Wu started with this new batch of experiments today. He poured a bunch of SCP-6540-A into a bottle and started taking shots. He doesn't seem to have a very high alcohol tolerance and got hammered before anything could happen. Not a very productive day.

Entry 8: Today Mr. Wu had SCP-6540-A administered intravenously. He had me severely dilute it and put in an IV, which I then attached to him. This method seemed to work better. He got rinsed again of course, and far faster than he could have from drinking, but then something happened. He seemed to sober up. He got up and started pacing the room, muttering to himself.

I couldn't quite make out what he was saying, but it didn't sound at all like him. The vocal cadence and accent were completely different, not to mention his gait and posture. It was like he was someone else. I tried to get his attention but had no luck. After a while, he looked around the room, ran to the door, and hit his head. Knocked out cold. More productive than yesterday to be sure, but I really hope that he's OK when he wakes up.

Entry 8.2: Mr. Wu woke up and he was so excited! Apparently, while he was pacing the room he was experiencing some kind of vivid hallucination, which he's calling SCP-6540-B. While under the effects of SCP-6540-B he was experiencing life as some kind of pirate! "Captain Jim Thompson," he said. I checked and this Jim guy was a pretty big deal. A legendary pirate captain who roamed the area we are currently sailing back in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, before going missing in 1705.

I suggested that maybe this Jim Thompson character was the original owner of SCP-6540 but Mr. Wu thought that was unlikely. Wouldn't explain why. Still, this is exciting! Mr. Wu wants to do another experiment like this every week, to try and document the effects of SCP-6540-B and to see how much we can learn about Jim Thompson. I'm still worried but at least he's taking things slow.

Entry 9: SCP-6540-B experiment number 3! Same method as last few times and very similar results. Lots of pacing and muttering. From listening back to the recording I think it was one-half of a conversation Jim had once. When he woke up, Mr. Wu confirmed this. It was some kind of exceptionally inspiring and rousing speech for his crew before they attacked a British ship.

Wouldn't re-enact it, but I got the gist.

It’s also interesting how different his reaction has been to Kim's, far more reserved. Mr. Wu isn't interested in that right now though and seems to be more focused on the experimentation. I have to say I'm kind of jealous. This experiment is starting to seem like a lot of fun for the subject and yet here I am, taking notes.

Entry 10: I know he's a genius scientist and all but I wish Mr. Wu was a better orator. I'm pretty invested in the story of Jim Thompson by now but that's despite Mr. Wu's clinical tone. I'm so glad that Jim managed to find the traitor though. If the crew had been successfully led into that Spanish trap it would have been a disaster!

Entry 11: Mr. Wu is worrying me again. Apparently, we're increasing the volume of experiments, from weekly to daily. And he doesn't seem as passionate about the voyage anymore. The experiment is all he wants to talk about. Kim wanted to conduct a medical exam but Mr. Wu refused, pulling rank when Marcus tried to order it. He even got the key code to the ship’s cabin wrong as well, he's never done that.

Entry 12: I think something is really wrong with Mr. Wu. He won't stop talking about the experiment. It's all he thinks about, all he seems to remember. He seemed legitimately shocked that there was anyone else on the ship but him and I, and I think he's been ignoring messages from the Foundation. I found him earlier standing on the prow, just staring out into the sea. He looked like he could see something I couldn't.

Entry 13: Mr. Wu seems really shaken up. Last night's experiment seemed normal, but when he woke up he immediately ran into his office and locked the door. When he came out, he wouldn't talk to me about anything. I reviewed the footage and listened to what Jim was saying. He was apparently making a bulk purchase of rum, and read the contract out loud as he signed it. August 6th, 1705. The day before he disappeared.

Entry 14: Mr. Wu is experimenting by himself now. He locked the door to stop me from intervening. I can still access the footage though. Jim opened one of the bottles of rum he purchased and released… something. He fought it but had to run away deep into the island. After the experiment, Mr Wu took some tablets and immediately started another one. Then again. It’s been like this for days, only stopping to eat. I don't think he's even taking notes anymore.

Entry 15: Mr. Wu is dead.

Entry 16: The laboratory doors finally opened to let us recover Mr. Wu's body. Even though the instruments had told us of his passing 24 hours ago, procedure is procedure. The cause of death appears to have been a head wound of some kind but I believe this to be a product of SCP-6540-B. As far as I can tell from the recording he had reached the end of Jim's life story and died at the hand of whatever that thing was. I checked and Mr. Wu's wound matches the wound on SCP-6540.

The chain of command places Marcus in charge of the ship but I am officially acting head researcher on this now concluded voyage. Mr. Wu's journal appears to have been automatically wiped upon his death, but I still have his research notes, which might even include the reason why we were out here in the first place. I'll start reading it tomorrow, which should help pass the time as we head to the nearest facility.

Entry 17: Holy shit, Wu was a fucking lunatic.

Entry 18: I printed out a paper copy of Wu's files and threw the hard drive into the ocean. I'll burn the paper copy as well, but first type up my own report expressing why absolutely no one should ever try to follow in his footsteps. And I'm keeping the boat. It was never Foundation property anyway, and after what he almost did to the agents and me its the least I deserve.

End of Excerpt.

+ Report

- Report

Voyage of the Boro, Report Abstract dated 03/12/1991, by Susan Morris

I submit this report to the Overseer Council to explain the events surrounding the voyage of the Boro and the discovery of SCP-6540. Attached to this document are copies of every surviving file pertinent to both, including research notes and a suggested containment method. Aside from the unintentional discovery and analysis of SCP-6540, this voyage has been an exercise of futility.

The initial leader of said voyage was one Dr. Ziháo Wu, whom I believe was intensely delusional long before exposure to SCP-6540, SCP-6540 merely exacerbated this. This voyages true, hidden intention was to track down some dark entity, which he believed posed a great risk if left unchecked, and sacrifice the entire crew including himself to it. Reviewing his files I found no evidence that this creature even existed.

Once he began experimenting on himself with SCP-6540 he became convinced that it was somehow connected to this dark entity. Again, I found no evidence of this within his files, which I was then forced to destroy to avoid them being found and misinterpreted by the then-acting captain of the vessel.

Given these circumstances, the fact that we by complete chance managed to locate and contain an anomalous object is likely the best outcome we could have hoped for.

+ Addendum

- Addendum

Addendum: SCP-6540-A has been found to have cognitohazardous qualities. Consumption of SCP-6540-A will induce an effect hereto referred to as SCP-6540-B. The subject afflicted by SCP-6540-B is not considered to be inherently anomalous once SCP-6540-B has worn off. SCP-6540-B is a state of transcendental hallucination induced by excess consumption of SCP-6540-A. While under the effects of SCP-6540-B the subject will experience the life and times of SCP-6540, one Captain Jim Thompson from its point of view.

Each experience with SCP-6540-B progresses this life story until its eventual end at the hands of an unknown, likely anomalous entity. These hallucinatory experiences are often narrated in character by the subject as they are experienced, allowing for documentation, however, this heavily depends on the subject. Exposure to SCP-6540-B can induce major personality changes, symptoms of psychosis and is also considered to be psychologically addicting.

This is believed to be non-anomalous and is likely a simple consequence of SCP-6540-B's dissociative nature. Continuous exposure to SCP-6540-B has a 100 percent fatality rate as once the subject reaches the end of SCP-6540's life story, they suffer an injury identical to that visible on SCP-6540 and expire.