Safe color edited still image of SCP-2774-A

Item #: SCP-2774

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: All instances of SCP-2774 are to be destroyed upon recovery. Webcrawler A03G32 has been set to monitor and scan all forms of online visual media for SCP-2774-A and alert recovery teams upon detection. Teams are assigned to monitor Internet and live television for SCP-2774-A. If detected, recovery teams are to be dispatched immediately. Any personnel who are exposed to an instance of SCP-2774 for more than five seconds are to be issued Class C-Amnestics and temporarily relocated to Site-116. Due to the nature of SCP-2774, it is recommended that researchers assigned to SCP-2774 have some form of deuteranopia1.

Recovery teams are working to recover those affected by SCP-2774 and relocate them to Site-116 to test for a possible cure. Until one is discovered, Site-116 will serve as a permanent residency for all affected persons2. Approval for testing subjects in Site-116 must come from the Ethics Committee and site overseer Dr. Martin. Subjects kept at Site-116 are to maintain limited no contact with personnel unless approved by the proper parties.

Subjects kept at Site-116 are to be allowed two hours a day of social interaction with other subjects. Thirty minutes will be designated to the following: Breakfast, Lunch, Courtyard, and Dinner. Subjects are not to be allowed to wander outside of the designated social areas or stay in groups larger than 5. Subjects will be contained in Euclid level humanoid containment cells as of 10/15/2010. Subjects are not to have social interaction of any kind. In addition, subjects must not leave their cells until further notice.

Description: SCP-2774 is any medium which contains SCP-2774-A. SCP-2774-A is a memetic image of an unknown humanoid entity, presumably wearing a sloth costume. Effects of viewing SCP-2774 set in between 40-100 hours after exposure to SCP-2774-A. Those affected will begin to lose the ability to use cognitive functions or make higher level decisions, except for a period lasting around 150 seconds every 24 hours. This period occurs randomly.

SCP-2774-A manifests itself in various forms of non-live media, including movies, television, magazines, and in some cases personally recorded videos or pictures. SCP-2774-A is typically located in the background of whatever media it appears in. To date, there have been no instances of SCP-2774 on the internet. A single incident in Northern Canada, where SCP-2774-A appeared on live local television, resulted in the relocation of over 4,000 people to Site-116. The image only retains its anomalous properties if the image contains hues of red or green: therefore, those with deuteranopia or other forms of colorblindness are not affected by SCP-2774.

SCP-2774-A is believed to possess memetic properties that are enhanced based on the number of people it affects. Manifestations of SCP-2774-A appear to become more frequent as the number of living victims increases. After the implementation of Protocol-XXJ9, reports of manifestation dropped significantly. Tests show that, including the colorblind, SCP-2774 does not affect the majority of people who view it. It is estimated that under 40% of those exposed to SCP-2774 are actually affected. This percentage is also directly affected by the number of living SCP-2774-A victims.

When subject to SCP-2774-A's effect, victims appear to move normally based on muscle memory, albeit with slowed reaction times. They are very passive and compliant with personnel, willing to answer basic questions and follow commands, though they display a lack of emotion. While they appear conscious, victims cannot control their actions in any way during this time. Victims, upon entering their 150 seconds of lucidity, are often highly agitated and fearful. Victims may act irrationally while lucid. Those affected report complete memory of time spent without cognitive function, but no ability to comprehend their actions or affect them in any way. Upon initial realization of regained cognitive abilities, most express dread upon realizing the permanence of their situation. In numerous instances, those affected by SCP-2774 report observing SCP-2774-A while their body is acting autonomously. Perception of reality appears to be lost during that time. Subjects are to be considered unstable when conscious, and are to be approached with care not to be approached at any time.

Those who have been resettled at Site-116 have displayed an affinity to SCP-2774-A. Art, literature, and effigies of SCP-2774-A can commonly be found hoarded in the corners of subjects' rooms. All objects are presumed to have been created while unconscious. These objects are commonly traded between subjects during free hours. Any such items are to be removed and incinerated and their creators terminated, along with any subjects seen emulating SCP-2774-A.

+ Recorded Interview Log 0027

- Close

Dr. Klara Chung conducted the following interview with Subject-0866 (David) on June 11th, 2010 upon confirming lucidity.

<Begin>

Dr. Chung: Hello David, if you help answer a few questions we can come closer to fixing you. Are you ready?

Subject-0866: I-I don't know. Just hurry.

[Subject-0866 shuffles in his seat uncomfortably.]

Dr. Chung: Since we have limited time, could you tell us what exactly you experience when you're not… in control?

Subject-0866: Yeah, yeah… Well, I guess it's like this. It's like, you're being driven around, and you're in the passenger seat, right? Except, your arms and legs are strapped down so that you can't move. Y-you can't feel anything in your body either. The worst part about it is that you can't hold a thought for more than five seconds. It's fucking hell.

[Subject-0866 takes a deep breath and stretches his body.]

Dr. Chung: Are you alright? We can continue tomorrow if you'd like.

Subject-0866: It's fine. It's… I just want to enjoy being able to control myself a bit before I lose it. W-when you're stuck there, in your own head… You just want to scream. But you can't. You can try for hours and hours. Move an arm, a leg, make a sound. It won't happen. You can't even control when you breathe. And then, the hallucinations. The sloth. I just…

[Subject-0866 looks towards the guards standing on each side of Dr. Chung, then checks the clock. Subject-0866 begins to shake.]

Subject-0866: It's watching us. I can't face him again, I just can't! Don't take this personally, please. I'm sorry.

[Subject-0866 reluctantly lunges towards the guard to Dr. Chung's right. Subject-0866 is terminated immediately following contact. Dr. Chung exits the room.]

Following this interview, the clock in the Site-116 interview room has been removed.

+ Recorded Interview Log 0030

- Close

Dr. Klara Chung conducted the following interview with Subject-7444 (Claire) on October 1st, 2010 upon confirming lucidity.

<Begin>

Subject-7444: Can… Are you going to kill us?

Dr. Chung: No, we are going to help you. Now, we have a few-

Subject-7444: If you want to help us, please… Just kill us. It's the only way to stop… it. There's just no point anymore.

Dr. Chung: [Quickly taking notes] Stop what?

Subject-7444: The sloth… I don't know what it is. The first few days that you're stuck, it only shows up maybe, once? Two, three times, shit I don't know okay? B-but after a week or so, you see it everywhere. Nowhere is safe. In the corner of my eye, it's just… Staring… I don't know, I don't know!

[Subject-7444 loses composure.]

Dr. Chung: Please, could you continue on about this sloth?

Subject-7444: I-if I do, it's going to punish me for this! The sloth never talks, never says a word. I feel like… I need to be it, I need to act like it so that it will leave me alone! Everyone knows it wants us to help! It knows if we don't, too. It can see us, even when I'm awake, I can see it watching us right now, r-right behind you he's just sitting there, looking right at me!… W-when I sleep, it makes me keep my eyes open sometimes. We can't control our bodies when we're like that, but it can. I just… watch it. It stares at me all night, and then it starts to scream at me, and I can't cry or yell for help or-

[At this point in time Subject-7444 becomes unresponsive, collapsing onto the desk.]

Dr. Chung: Claire? Claire, are you alright? Medical, we need assistance!

[Medical teams rush into the room. It was determined to be a return to previous cognitive state.]

Approximately four hours after the interview, Dr. Chung filed for immediate termination of Subject-7444. This request was approved on October 4th, 2010.

+ Recorded Interview Log 0032

- Close

Dr. Klara Chung conducted the following interview with Subject-9225 (Jason) on October 5th, 2010 upon confirming lucidity.

<Begin>

Dr. Chung: Hello Jason. The more we learn, the sooner we can fix you and everyone else. We don't have much time, could you please answer the following questions?

[Subject-9225 nods quickly]

Dr. Chung: Great. Now, others have mentioned hallucinations while incapacitated. Can you tell us what kind of hallucinations you experience?

Subject-9225: Yeah… It's like… It… There's everyone, ok? And they're walking around like zombies, like I do. I see the sloth, the thing in the sloth costume. It walks around and… It controls people. Small things, like basic tasks, you know? It's testing what it can do. I don't know if it's a hallucination…

Dr. Chung: [Rapidly taking notes] What kind of things does it make you do?

Subject-9225: Ok… [Deep sigh] Well, it usually j-just… It controls us, but it's been happening more and more. Every time more people come here, it makes us do more. I-I think that soon it can make us do a lot more. In the beginning it would just do things like… moving an arm, or a leg or something like that. The last time, it made us fight, remember that a few days ago? That was the thing doing it, I could see it twisting them… It's been changing too. B-becoming darker, more… solid. Like, after the time that-

[Subject-9225 jerks his head back. Dr. Chung jumps back in her chair as Subject-9225 convulses, and security rushes into the room. Subject-9225 looks back to Dr. Chung with a blank expression.]

[Following this interview, additional security was prescribed to Site-116, as well as a letter to the Ethics Committee requesting implementation of Procedure-XXJ9. The request was accepted two days after it was sent. See Addendum Alpha.]

+ Addendum Alpha (Level 3 Required)

- Accepted

Addendum: Procedure-XXJ9

Following the Recorded Interview Log 0032, my team and I have drafted Protocol-XXJ9 in order to help contain SCP-2774-A. We will begin by pruning the current population of Site-116 from approximately 6,400 subjects to 200 by this time next month. Termination will be carried out by Site-116 staff by method of lethal injection. Schedules for termination will be sent to all personnel.

In addition to this, task forces in charge of controlling SCP-2774 off-site have been instructed to terminate anyone exposed, instead of transporting them here. This procedure has been approved by the necessary parties, and will begin within the week.

If you're on-site and reading this, you're probably going to have to take part in this. Class-A Amnestics will be available after your duties are done if you so choose. Keep in mind the state of suffering these people are in. This is as much for their benefit as it is ours.

Signed, Dr. Klara Chung.

Footnotes

1. Colloquially referred to as red-green color blindness

2. Read Addendum Alpha