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⚠️ Content warning: This article contains the following:

- Addiction

- Animal death

- Death

⚠️ content warning

SCP-2438’s original stone marker.

Item #: SCP-2438

Item Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: Bio-Site-34, Satellite Annex 5 has been constructed around SCP-2438. This facility has been constructed as an independent BSL-2-compliant campus. Researchers assigned to SCP-2438 must eat in the Annex cafeteria to enable caloric monitoring. Personnel must not remain in SCP-2438 for more than 6 consecutive hours at any time.

SCP-2438 personnel must attend regular counseling sessions, and researchers who display impaired judgement are to be transferred to other projects. Additionally, personnel may voluntarily transfer at any time.

Personnel transferring away from SCP-2438 are to be confined to Bio-Site-34's Medical Wing for a minimum of 14 days for observation and withdrawal treatment. Per directives of the Ethics Committee, SCP-2438 personnel will have preferential assignment to Sites with addiction support groups for the remainder of their employment.

Personnel are to be made fully aware of these procedures before accepting assignment to SCP-2438.

Description: SCP-2438 is an immobile, roughly cylindrical area 5 m in height and 6 m in diameter located in rural Cumbria, UK. Any living being possessing an open digestive system1 that enters SCP-2438 will spontaneously develop an infection of a protozoan intestinal parasite, designated SCP-2438-1. SCP-2438-1 cells will survive and reproduce while the host remains within SCP-2438, but the parasite will die and rapidly decompose as soon as the host exits the anomaly. To date, all attempts to remove living or inert samples of SCP-2438-1 from SCP-2438 have failed. As such, all research on SCP-2438-1 must be conducted within SCP-2438.

Hosts of SCP-2438-1 infections display anomalous efficiency at deriving chemical energy from food, deriving more energy than is chemically feasible. Humans within SCP-2438 can survive on less than 200 kCal per day.2 In addition, consuming food before entering or while in SCP-2438 leads to intense energetic feelings, with an effect proportional to the amount of calories consumed and the time since ingestion.

Consuming a snack or sweetened beverage (200-250 kCal) is sufficient to induce intense euphoria, heightened self-confidence, irritability, and paranoia. Consuming a full meal (400-500 kCal) can lead to respiratory failure, cerebral hemorrhage, or death.

These effects rapidly fade as anomalous digestion reaches completion or the host leaves SCP-2438's boundary. As a result, exposed personnel are highly likely to display addictive behavior towards SCP-2438 and may suffer withdrawal when removed.

SCP-2438 was originally marked with a 3 m menhir, or standing stone monument, which was later determined to be non-anomalous. This stone bore markings associated with various Celtic hearth deities dating back to 200 BCE, although many of these had later been vandalized and replaced with Celtic Christian imagery of loaves and fishes.

Selected SCP-2438/SCP-2438-1 Research Documents

Continued Exposure Studies, Trial 1

Start Date: 1/27/1998

Subjects:

- 20 x Rattus norvegicus,3 Foundation R-21b strain

- 30 x Mesocricetus auratus,4 Foundation M-12 strain

Procedures: R. norvegicus, and M. auratus are to be contained in individual self-cleaning cages with air-gapped feeding systems. Examination and dissection equipment will be rotated into SCP-2438 as needed.

Results: Trial aborted at day 12. By this point, 13 R. norvegicus and 24 M. auratus had expired from cardiac disorders or hemorrhages, with onset highly correlated with feeding times. It is believed that these deaths were related to accidental overfeeding.

Continued Exposure Studies, Trial 2

Start Date: 1/27/1998

Research note: In addition to long-term exposure trials, human trials were deemed essential in order to investigate cognitive effects and to gauge the safety of exposure for personnel. Given the urgency of both objectives and a desire to maximize use of the limited research space, Trials 1 and 2 were implemented concurrently.

Subjects: 3 x Homo sapiens

- D-2438-7 (Male, age 21, 80 kg)

- D-2438-14 (Male, age 50, 68 kg)

- D-2438-15 (Female, age 25, 59 kg)

Procedures: D-Class subjects are to be shackled to a structural post to prevent them from leaving SCP-2438. Medical equipment, furniture/bedding, exercise equipment, and physiological monitoring devices are to be rotated into the area of effect as necessary. Autopsy within SCP-2438 may be conducted at the discretion of the Lead Researcher.

Results:

Day 3: Feeding with rations was replaced with an intravenous, time-locked dextrose solution due to increasingly aggressive and erratic behavior in the subjects.

Day 6: Apparently believing it has caloric value, D-2438-15 consumed 1.8 L of USP (95% pure) ethanol which had been left unattended on a lab bench. D-2438-15 immediately showed signs of extreme distress as well as symptoms of severe alcohol poisoning. After a decision by the Lead Researcher that nothing useful about SCP-2438-1 could be learned from this incident, the subject was removed from SCP-2438’s area of effect and taken to the medical wing for emergency treatment. Subject is not expected to recover.

Day 12: During a rotation of security personnel, D-2438-7 and D-2438-14 overpowered their guards, entered the animal trial area, and killed the remaining R. norvegicus and M. auratus. D-2438-14 was successfully restrained, but D-2438-7 consumed 4 animal carcasses and subsequently expired from acute myocardial infarction.

Continued exposure trials with humans have been discontinued indefinitely.

Note: During months of post-exposure observation, D-2438-14 developed persistent gastrointestinal and neurological symptoms typical of hereditary mitochondrial disease,5 despite not having any family history of these disorders.

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External Override detected from: Leader MTF E-7. Clearance 4-LAPINATE granted. Accessing documents…

Continued Exposure Studies, Trial 147

Start Date: 9/14/2013

Subjects: 40 x COX15-inhibited “knock out” rabbits

Procedures: Specimens were selected due to congenital mitochondrial damage created by inhibiting the COX15 gene. Specimens are to be contained in self-cleaning cages with automated feed systems dispersing 10 kcal of nutrients per day per kg of body weight.6 One specimen is to be selected at random, euthanized, and dissected within SCP-2438 every 10 days.

Results:

Day 1: Unlike all past trials, specimens do not display agitation or other unusual symptoms when fed.

Day 10: Dissected Specimen: Male, 2.1kg: Specimen displayed no unusual strain of the circulatory or respiratory systems. No signs of malnutrition.

Day 20: Dissected Specimen: Female, 1.7kg: Specimen’s blood displayed a highly depleted platelet count, resulting in minor bruising and internal bleeding. Specimen also displayed extensive peptic ulcers, resulting in blood entering the digestive system around SCP-2438-1.

Day 30: Dissected Specimen: Male, 2.5kg: Specimen’s digestive system has significantly atrophied, particularly the intestines and colon. Capillary networks have expanded throughout muscle tissue and into areas not normally served by the circulatory system such as tendons and ligaments, potentially improving oxygen distribution and healing efficiency.

Day 40: Dissected specimen: Male, 1.8 kg: Dissection is becoming increasingly difficult due to the toughness of intervening muscle tissue. Specimen’s digestive system has continued to atrophy and deteriorate. Its intestines have become nearly indistinguishable from its circulatory system, with food and liquids consumed directly entering the bloodstream. SCP-2438-1 seem to have transitioned from a parasitic to a fully symbiotic role, taking the place of platelets in addition to processing food into energy. The specimen’s scent glands have enlarged significantly, and samples collected from remaining specimens exhibit new pheromone production as well as complex organic compounds of indeterminate purpose.

Day 45 47: After a number of documentation errors and a failed monthly employee drug screening, we discovered that specimens are capable of producing airborne memory-inhibiting compounds. Video suggests that the specimens produce these substances while enacting ‘orienting’ and ‘freezing’ behaviors, usually seen in O. cunniculus when avoiding predators. Researchers must now operate in full environmental gear.

Day 49: SCP-2438-1 in a sample of a specimen’s blood were found to be intact and alive several hours after leaving SCP-2438. No transplants using this sample were successful. Samples from other sources continue to degrade as normal.

As a precaution, Project Room 17 has been placed in full environmental lockdown. All non-automated interactions with specimens have been suspended pending further investigation.

SCP-2438 O5 Urgent Action Review, 11/5/2013

After deliberation of possible alternatives towards SCP-2438, Trial 147, the O5 Council reached the following decisIons by 9/3 vote:

Incineration of all Trial 147 Specimens
Denied

Cessation of SCP-2438 studies at Bio-Site-34, Annex 5
Denied

Continuation of Trial 147 at Current Location
Denied

Relocation of Trial 147 Specimens to Highly Adaptive Lifeform (HAL)-compliant facilities
Approved

Classification of Trial 147 Specimens as SCP object
Pending

MTFs Epsilon-7 ("Forget-Me-Nots") and Beta-7 ("Maz Hatters") have been dispatched to transfer the remaining specimens. New studies at Bio-Site-34 will commence as soon as Annex 5 has been upgraded to BSL-4 standards.

Joining COLLABORATIVE WORK DOCUMENT C:> NETWORK> FDOCS> SHARED> LAPINATE_2015_report_v11.fcdoc …

collaborators: LAP.Adm.Clarke, LAP.Dir.Smith, LAP.Rsr.Priddy, unknown… (10 others)

PROJECT LAPINATE OVERVIEW, p. 7

After producing a self-replenishing population, breeding programs at facilities 1-3 have demonstrated an 80% reduction in the production cost of aerosolizedsp amnestics , compared with current synthetic means. With the completion of structures 4 through 29 as well as three additional pharmaceutical processing facilities, Project LAPINATE is on track to increase the Foundation’s overall amnestic production by 200%.

As an added benefit, the construction of advanced rendering plants could allow us to transition all Foundation vehicles to 40% animal-biomass based biofuel by 2020.

Containment Precautions

All LAPINATE facilities are rated for HAL-compliance, with on-site analytic biologists and fast-reaction containment teams. All personal interacting with animals live assets operate in full environmental overpressure equipment and are regularly tested for exposure. In addition, the project's remote location and the inhospitable climate of the Orkney Islands provide a natural measure of containment, severely reducing the probability of the egress of live LAPINATE assets. <I don't think the dissenting O5s are going to buy that.>

<Let's just scrap this one, start again tomorrow.>

Look, I don't know whose bright idea it was to breed these things on an industrial scale when there's only one mnestic-cleared MTF in the entire Foundation. I would definitely like a few words with whoever decided it was acceptable to land planes and dock oil tankers near that facility. What I do know is that we're the only ones who can do the cleanup.

If you're reading this, you've put in the proper search terms, you've probably got co-workers who really wish you'd shut up about the invisible rabbits, and, most importantly, you've got some kind of natural or artificial resistance to amnestics. I fully appreciate that many of you aren't excited to talk about that ability, so we'll keep it nice and anonymous. Just drop a pin here whenever you see bunnies, and I'll update my breakout vectors and browbeat the Maz Hatters into doing a pickup.

Cheers - Madeline Weaver, Leader, MTF ε-7

* * * * *

Sito-77 zona di carico - J.S.

There's a family living around the heating furnace in Site-19, although they might be all females since they're not breeding. - Alex.a ^_^

Site-76, a few harvies around the incinerators - justme

We think there are a few hiding around Site-84. It's hard to get close, they only come out when -1 gets the fire going. - C.W.

Got a few around our patrol routes in Georgia - Pi3

Saw a couple in a bakery in the Three Portlands. The owner's a clay golem, loves them to death. I wouldn't want to fight zir over it. - Nav

Site-88 Cafeteria nm, they got smushed - cb

We're seeing burrows around Area-179, as if the wildfires weren't enough. - H.B.

Got called in in a family behaving erratically in Harlan, KY. Found one of these in a snare and one more on the table. We've got them quarantined, waiting on tests. -DamnFedBravo

Site-403 is literally crawling with them. – L.N.

Footnotes

1. A body plan that features a body cavity between an entry orifice (mouth) and an exit orifice (anus).

2. About 10% of a typical adult diet.

3. Norway rat

4. Syrian hamster

5. Mitochondria are organelles, or cell components, typically responsible for converting oxygen and nutrients into chemical energy.

6. O. cuniculus typically require 108 kcal/day per kg.