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SCP-2588: The Collective Consciousness of Arthur H. Jones

Author: weizhong

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Item #: SCP-2588

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-2588 instances 1 through 23 are currently held at Site 118 in separate standard humanoid containment units. SCP-2588 instances should not be allowed within 5 meters of each other except under controlled testing conditions. Testing with more than 8 instances of SCP-2588 at a single time requires approval by the containment wing director, currently Dr. Sonia Oland. Testing with SCP-2588-1 requires written approval from the containment wing director and the site director.

Acquisition of further instances of SCP-2588 is currently rated at MEDIUM priority, given the small chance of SCP-2588 instances coming into contact with each other among the civilian population. Any leads relating to SCP-2588 should be reported to the project director.

Weekly medical examinations of all SCP-2588 instances are critical to ensure the continued health of all specimens, and to avoid unanticipated transfers of SCP-2588. Along these lines, immunosuppressant drugs consistent with those administered following organ transplant surgeries should be administered to all specimens. Should medical personnel determine that an SCP-2588 instance is likely to expire, D-class personnel should be deployed to accompany said SCP-2588 instance until expiration.

Description: SCP-2588 is an anomalous collection of body parts and organs once belonging to a reality bending individual named Arthur Harold Jones.

SCP-2588’s primary anomalous properties manifest itself in various body parts and organs of at least 23 individuals, ranging from the brain (SCP-2588-1) to the left arm (SCP-2588-13), or the liver (SCP-2588-18). It is unknown how many more instances of SCP-2588 exist that are currently uncontained, but major body parts not under current Foundation control include the right leg, pancreas, and left eye.1

Over time, individuals possessing SCP-2588 instances will experience rapid changes in the composition of said instances to match the original condition and structure of the organ once possessed by Arthur Jones at the time of his death. This process is expedited if there are more SCP-2588 instances present near the individual, and even more so if SCP-2588-1 is near the new instance of SCP-2588. The exact range for this is unknown, but has tentatively been established to be roughly 5 meters in distance.

The changes in composition of SCP-2588 instances end with organs that are nearly identical to the condition of said organs of the original Arthur Jones. For instance, previously healthy livers will degrade to the point of possessing the same severe cirrhosis that Arthur Jones possessed due to his extreme alcoholism. Said changes in structure and composition are noted to cause severe pain for the individual possessing the SCP-2588 instances. In addition, host individuals will, over time, experience extreme mental degradation to the degree where the host individual is largely vegetative, yet still capable of movement, and loss of memory-both recollection and formation of new memories.

When an individual possessing any instances of SCP-2588 expires (often due to symptoms similar to organ rejection), the closest individual who does not already possess an instance of SCP-2588 will become the new host of the SCP-2588 instance. If two instances of SCP-2588 are present in an individual at one time (achieved through traditional organ transplantation) then both instances may be transferred to the same individual, though this is not guaranteed.

SCP-2588’s secondary anomalous property occurs when multiple instances of the anomaly are brought near each other (within the 5 meter range outlined above). This ability causes SCP-2588 instances to act autonomously from the host body. The more instances of SCP-2588 that are brought near each other, the more extreme these actions become. Whereas two instances may only cause involuntary muscle spasms, 8 or more can cause complete independence of action for the affected body part and the inability to be controlled by the host body, depending on the specific instances brought together. Moreover, proximity seems to accelerate the process of mental degradation noted above.

Of particular note is the instance designated SCP-2588-1, the body part corresponding to the brain of the original Arthur Jones. It has been noted to be able to accelerate the process of restructuring of SCP-2588 instances, as well as increase the degree to which nearby SCP-2588 instances can act independently. Moreover, SCP-2588-1 is capable of active planning and, when fully developed, possesses the same degree of intelligence as the original subject, though it does not share the individual’s anomalous properties of reality manipulation.

SCP-2588-1 is also capable of directly influencing the actions of other instances of the anomaly. While normal instances may exhibit actions consistent with that of the original body of Arthur Jones (such as nervous tics and other actions), only SCP-2588-1 has been demonstrated as capable of actively orchestrating complex action of other SCP-2588 instances, including developing new actions and behaviors.

SCP-2588’s final anomalous property only activates in the presence of SCP-2588-1, and at least 13 other instances of the anomaly. When this occurs, the anomaly will exhibit total control over the formerly independent host bodies. Hosts will proceed to remove, by any means necessary, the SCP-2588 instances present in their bodies, and implant them in the host containing SCP-2588-1. This is believed to have the end goal of reconstructing the body of Arthur Jones, though the process has never been fully seen through to completion. The only time that this was partially successful is documented below in the acquisition report.

SCP-2588 Acquisition Report: SCP-2588 formerly referred to the original host, Arthur Jones, a reality bending individual under Foundation control. SCP-2588 escaped during an external containment breach caused by a raid on the facility containing the anomaly. During recapture, the individual was terminated due to the danger that it presented, and the inability of the containment team to recapture the individual in a nonlethal way.

SCP-2588 resurfaced approximately 8 months later, following reports of a minor reality bending individual. Containment teams arriving at the house believed to be the source of the reality bending events discovered 14 bodies and a partially reconstructed SCP-2588. SCP-2588 was terminated after an executive decision was made, causing the instances to be transferred to the 5 members of the containment team, leading to the Foundation’s acquisition of the reclassified SCP-2588.

SCP-2588 Incident Report 5/23/11: At the time of this incident, one individual host possessed SCP-2588-1, while SCP-2588-5 (the vocal cords and lungs), SCP-2588-13 (the left arm), and SCP-2588-14 (the right arm) were present on another individual. The following is a transcript of an interview conducted by the former project director, Dr. Julio Marquez, with the two individuals listed above. SCP-2588-1 communicates through the other individual possessing SCP-2588-5.

Dr. Marquez: SCP-2588-1. Good afternoon.

SCP-2588-1: Afternoon, doctor.

Dr. Marquez: I presume that by this point, your original host’s memories are largely gone?

SCP-2588-1: (Laughs) Oh, mostly. A few childhood memories here and there that won’t go away. Soon enough, I’ll be me again.

Dr. Marquez: And who is “me?”

SCP-2588-1: Arthur Harold Jones.

Dr. Marquez: How much do you remember?

SCP-2588-1: Most of it. I was 28 when I died for the first time.

Dr. Marquez: The first time?

SCP-2588-1: Yeah. The first time. I’ve died a lot of times since then, doctor. But you know what they say. First time’s the hardest.

At this point, SCP-2588-1 begins laughing, but is stopped by a coughing fit. SCP-2588’s lungs were heavily damaged by years of habitual smoking.

Dr. Marquez: I see. And how did your present state…arise?

SCP-2588-1: You mean me doing the whole zombie song and dance. Not pretty huh? I thought the same thing, but you get what you wish for I guess.

Dr. Marquez: What do you mean?

SCP-2588-1: You see, Dr. Marquez, with people like me, you learn to be careful about what you want at a very young age. If you think too hard about something you want, it’ll actually happen. If I want a burger real bad, I can think one into existence. Now, we get pretty good at managing this for most of our lives. This was all fine and dandy until I got in trouble with you folks.

Dr. Marquez: You mean your escape attempt.

SCP-2588-1: Bingo. Your boys fucked me up pretty good. But you know what I remember the most as I was laying there, bleeding out? You know what’s the one thing in common that we humans have with every kind of animal from a rat to an elephant?

SCP-2588-13 smacks the table, while SCP-2588-14 clenches a fist.

SCP-2588-1: None of us want to die. In that last, tiny moment before you cross over to the other side, I can tell you that you don’t want to go. You don’t want to die yet. You feel small, tiny, and pathetic, but dying seems so unfair and so wrong. And in that moment, there’s nothing in the world that you want more than to be alive. And wanting something that badly, especially when you were as fucked up as me…now THAT’s a dangerous thing for people like me.

Dr. Marquez: And your wish resulted in your present condition.

SCP-2588-1: (Snorts.) That's one way of putting it.

Dr. Marquez: You’re very calm for someone who has died repeatedly.

SCP-2588-1: Oh, believe me, you can’t even comprehend how much I fucking hate all of you. And I mean that with the warmest regards, Dr. Marquez. But you and I, see, we’re kind of in the same position here. We both want the same thing.

Dr. Marquez: And that is?

SCP-2588-1: We both want me gone. Dead. Kaput. You see, I wanted to live so badly that I did this shit to myself. But I’m not alive. Not really. I’m in this purgatory limbo zombie land where I’m scattered around the world, so that last wish of mine isn’t gonna be fulfilled until I can get myself back into one piece, more or less. And once that’s done, I can kill myself and get it all over with already.

Dr. Marquez: But why would you want to die after all that effort?

SCP-2588-1: (Pauses.) You want to know what I feel, doctor? You want to know what it’s like being me?

Dr. Marquez: Tell me.

SCP-2588-1: I remember it. All of it. The moment I died the first time, because it’s the moment my body keeps trying to put itself back together for. When your hidden sniper blew my brains out from half a mile away, and your fucking black ops commandos or whatever the fuck they were broke down my door and riddled me with bullets. I can remember every. Single. Detail. And I feel it. It’s like fire in my veins, like someone is carving my skin off with a rusty butter knife, and the nightmare never fucking stops because this isn’t purgatory. This is hell.

SCP-2588-1’s body is sobbing by this point.

SCP-2588-1: Do you know what it's like, doctor? Do you know what it's like, being able to feel myself scattered across dozens of people? You know what it's like to feel this transformation happening over and over again? Do you know what it's like to crack open a man's skull as he fades away and to feel his regret and his fear? You know what it's like to see those same thoughts that I had right before I died?

SCP-2588-1 shudders.

SCP-2588-1: I can never forget this. I want, no-I NEED you to kill me. Because I can’t bear this pain anymore. Because every moment I breathe is agony for lungs that feel like they’re full of holes, and every thought hurts because I can barely feel anything that’s not the memory of dying or suffering or pain. Because every time I die again, it just gets added to the pile, and I can’t live with this anymore. Kill me. Please.

Following this report, Dr. Marquez filed a request for neutralization, noting that it was the Foundation who had technically caused the current status of SCP-2588. After a vote of the O5 Council, the request was denied by a vote of 9-4. O5-4 wrote the following majority opinion.

Regarding the neutralization request for SCP-2588

While I understand Dr. Marquez’s concern and genuine belief that we could permanently contain SCP-2588, I will remind the doctor that the original SCP-2588 was a noted career criminal and a diagnosed patient dealing with antisocial personality disorder. In layman’s terms, SCP-2588 was a psychopathic serial killer who also murdered no fewer than 8 Foundation agents during its initial containment. There is nothing that suggests to me that SCP-2588 would keep its word in promising self-termination.

The ethical conundrum here is, in the opinion of the O5 Council, secondary to the risks that enabling the choices of an anomaly would entail. Request denied.

Footnotes

1. Similarity between this effect and that observed in SCP-1582 has been noted. Research into whether they are variations of the same anomalous effect is ongoing.