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Content note: Nothing significant. If you notice anything tag-worthy that's not in here, though, please mention it in a comment.

The entrance to SCP-5459.

Item #: SCP-5459

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: The entrance to SCP-5459 is to be sealed off and declared an unsafe area.

Negotiations with SCP-5459's inhabitants are in the preliminary stages; SCP-5459-2 have been declared to speak for the entire island. Topics such as allowing limited numbers of Foundation personnel to set up residence and study the island,1 better education of the inhabitants2 and the provision of aid in the form of food and other resources3 have been put forth by personnel making first contact, whilst SCP-5459-2 have requested the change of their designation to SCP-5459-1, which they believe is more suitable.4

Description: SCP-5459 is an island only accessible through a tor in Dartmoor National Park.5 The island has a warm climate, particularly in relation to the location of its entrance, and a surface area of approximately two square kilometres. Foundation personnel have as of yet been unable to pinpoint the precise whereabouts of SCP-5459, and no other landmasses are in visual range.

Two settlements are present on SCP-5459: a small town on the lowered region to the east, population three hundred and seven, and a settlement on the raised west of the island, population seventy four. The town inhabitants,6 designated SCP-5459-1, are non-anomalous, and have an SCP designation for the sake of convenience. The people in the settlement7 are henceforth referred to as SCP-5459-2.

SCP-5459-2 display abilities beyond the normal capabilities of humans, including enhanced strength and stamina, a lack of need for sleep, and the ability to levitate up to three metres off the ground.8 The source of this is unknown, but is believed to relate to a tree that grows in a courtyard at the centre of the settlement, which grows an unidentified fruit consumed by them. SCP-5459-2 are reluctant to allow any access to outsiders; though they are picked by SCP-5459-1, none have yet attempted to consume them. Negotiations to allow Foundation personnel access for the sake of testing have proceeded poorly as of time of writing.

The civilisation is based mostly on agriculture, with fields of wheat and corn located on the east of the island. Science and technology is limited, SCP-5459 being mostly pre-industrialisation. Much of the labour on the island is performed by SCP-5459-1; SCP-5459-2 claim an estimated ninety-five percent of the products,9 with the remainder being used as payment to the workers, who decide for themselves how to distribute it to one another. Despite this, the "downers" bear no ill will towards the "uppers," and in fact many hold them in great regard, with parasocial relationships common. Investigation into a potential mind-affecting anomaly relating to SCP-5459-2 is ongoing.

Addendum 17: Interviews were conducted with every willing inhabitant of the island during early contact. Several are included below.

Addendum 18: Interview Log 1

Interviewed: Stanley Baxter, an instance of SCP-5459-2

Interviewer: Researcher Julian Farnsworth

<BEGIN LOG>

Farnsworth: And we're recording. If you'd like to state your name for the record?

Baxter: Certainly! Stanley Windsor Baxter, at your service.

Farnsworth: Thank you. Now, if we can get started, I'd very much like to know when your anomalous effects first manifested.

Baxter: Oh, well, that would have to be when I turned eighteen. Yes, on the stroke of my ascent to manhood.

Farnsworth: And how did this happen?

Baxter: My dear fellow, one struggles to find the words to explain it to one such as yourself. The shivering, burning ecstasy rippling through your body, as though on course to rend it asunder, the knowledge that you are headed for something greater, the… the satisfaction at knowing you have accomplished the impossible. That you've made it.

Farnsworth: When you say "accomplished," does that mean you activate the anomaly yourselves? There's a process, or ritual, or something?

Baxter: [laughs] You make it sound like a PhD, old sport! No, you simply require certain attributes. An aptitude for leadership, intelligence, a true dedication to a craft. You need to be the right sort of person. The sort who applies himself, willing to put in the hard work. No lazy old idiot has a chance. It has to be innate. It's something you're born with, something inescapably tied to your soul.

I actually give talks to the dross- er, the downers, demonstrating just how they too can achieve our greatness if they just apply themselves. You should come along! You'd fit right in!

Farnsworth: …I'm sure. So, it's all about the drive of the person, that's what activates the effect? Not the fruit in the courtyard?

Baxter: …well, that does, of course, have some effect, but really it's about-

Farnsworth: When did you first eat the fruit?

Baxter: I don't see how-

Farnsworth: Let me hazard a guess; was it when you turned eighteen, by any chance?

Baxter: …I will not be insulted like this! You can't keep me here! You're not the right sort!

<END LOG>

Closing statement: Baxter refused to answer any further questions.

Addendum 33: Interview Log 16

Interviewed: Helena Choudhury, an instance of SCP-5459-2. Choudhury is highly regarded by many of the "downers" for her charitable endeavours and overall pleasant reputation.

Interviewer: Researcher Farnsworth

<BEGIN LOG>

Farnsworth: We're on. Your name, please? For the record?

Choudhury: Helena. Er, Helena Choudhury, sorry.

Farnsworth: Alright. When did this anomaly begin?

Choudhury: For me, it was about when I turned eighteen.

Farnsworth: What happened?

Choudhury: Honestly, Mr. Farnsworth, I just got lucky. I was never very confident growing up. Always shy, never confident, too scared to talk to any of the other kids. [she laughs] I felt like I had nothing. I think, that sort of… strengthened me. Life was hard for me, but it toughened me up. Taught me what I needed to be.

Farnsworth: Which was?

Choudhury: Grateful. Grateful for what I did have. Looking at the downers… they have it so hard. Life is so hard, and difficult, and painful for them. I think they teach you to never take what you have for granted, Mr. Farnsworth.

Farnsworth: And that's what you say it is? A state of mind?

Choudhury: That's a nice way to think about it. I suppose eating the fruit when I turned eighteen helped, but really you have to have the will to carry on. To survive. To pick yourself back up when you fall.

Farnsworth: …you suppose?

Choudhury: I'm sorry?

Farnsworth rubs his eyes with the palms of his hands.

Farnsworth: You can pick up a rock the size of a Mini Cooper without straining. You can literally fly. I suppose "the will to carry on" is stronger than I gave it credit for.

Choudhury: I'm sorry, but I really just think you can't understand, Mr. Farnsworth. Maybe it's just not in your nature.

<END LOG>

Closing statement: None.

Addendum 80: Interview Log 74

Interviewed: Robert Harlow, an instance of SCP-5459-1

Interviewer: Researcher Farnsworth

<BEGIN LOG>

Farnsworth: Okay, what's your name?

Harlow: I'm - sorry, are you alright?

Farnsworth: [massaging temples] Sorry, just… bit of a migraine. Anyway, name, please?

Harlow: Uh, Robert. Robert Harlow.

Farnsworth: Yeah. And you don't have any anomalous effects, right?

Harlow: No, sir. Just your average Joe, me.

Farnsworth: Mm. So, you're one of the fruit pickers, is that right?

Harlow: That's right. It's hard work, but someone's gotta do it.

Farnsworth: Oh? And why does that someone have to be you?

Harlow: I don't know what you mean, sir.

Farnsworth: I mean, it's a hot island. Fruit picking is harder work than a lot of people give credit for, and especially under the circumstances, why does it have to be you?

Harlow: Well, who else would it be?

Farnsworth: The uppers?

Harlow: [laughs] No chance.

Farnsworth: Why not? They have abilities, stamina, they're far more - without disrespect, Mr. Harlow, they're far more physically capable than you are. Besides, it's not as if you're getting any of the fruit, why should you do the work for no reward?

Harlow: You're joking, right? What a load of utter bollocks. They don't do it because they deserve it. They've worked so hard, they've gotten where they are through - through hard work, through strength. Anyway, maybe if I work hard enough, I'll deserve it, too, I'll earn it.

Farnsworth: Oh, come on, you don't honestly believe that, do you?

Harlow: Why shouldn't I?

Farnsworth: There are hundreds of people living there! Of that, there's what, seventy uppers? How many of them came from the downers? Any?

Harlow: Hey, Francesca was one of us originally!

Farnsworth: But it's rare, isn't it? Once in a generation, one lucky person gets picked, that right?

Harlow: You… [he shakes his head] You just don't get it. I believe I have a chance, I have to.

Farnsworth: [groans] Do you? Do you really?

Harlow: [slams hands on table] Damn straight! I mean, er, [at normal volume] sorry, sir.

There is a brief pause.

Harlow: It's just… I have a husband. Two kids. Benny and Sunita, their names are, Benny and Sunita. And me and him - me and Vinay, I mean, we both work, he works on the wheat farms. Twelve hours a day, we work, five days a week, it's - it's boiling, and backbreaking, and -

Harlow sighs.

Harlow: We don't have time for anything. We're out so long, and when we get home we're just so… we're tired. I never get to be with my kids, he and I - we don't do anything anymore, and I mean anything - er, not that you want to hear about that, sir.

Farnsworth: But don't you want to be able to do what you love, with the people you love? Wouldn't that make you happier? Seems to me there's one major cause of problems on this island.

Harlow: You really don't get it, do you? I - look, maybe you were right, about it being one person in a generation who gets to ascend, but that could be me.

Farnsworth: You can't really be that deluded.

Harlow: You call it deluded, I call it faithful. You don't live here, you've only just arrived, you don't get to judge me just because you think I'm stupid - no, don't deny it, I can see it clear as day. I could be the next Francesca, and I could live the dream, with my family. I know that, we all know that. If I just work hard enough, do things right, I can make it, I know I can.

<END LOG>

Closing statement: Shortly following this interview, Harlow and his husband began working longer hours.

Addendum 122: Interview Log 109

Interviewed: Taryn Hobbs, an instance of SCP-5459-2

Interviewer: Researcher Farnsworth

<BEGIN LOG>

Farnsworth: [sighs] Name.

Hobbs: Taryn Hobbs. A pleasure to make your-

Farnsworth: Yeah, sure. When did your… uh, the thing start?

Hobbs: Thinking about it, I suppose it was around when I turned eighteen?

Farnsworth: Sure. What happened?

Hobbs: Well, I think it's all about one thing, you see-

Farnsworth: [head in hands] Let me have a guess; it's all because you're amazing, talented and brilliant people who've worked hard to hone your gifts, you have great kindness and strength, keep getting up whenever you're knocked back, and it's absolutely nothing to do with being born next to a giant tree with fruit that gives you superpowers which you won't share with anyone.

Hobbs: …what makes you say that?

Farnsworth: [muffled] Just a hunch.

Hobbs: Well, actually, I wasn't going to say that at all.

Farnsworth's hands slide down his face, so that his eyes are uncovered. He stares blearily at Hobbs.

Farnsworth: Oh? Go on, then, what's the big secret?

Hobbs: Well, personally, I think we're just better than you.

<END LOG>

Footnotes

1. Currently under consideration by SCP-5459-2.

2. Currently opposed by SCP-5459-2, believing it unnecessary.

3. Currently opposed by SCP-5459-2, citing interference overstepping the mark from a neutral organisation in the Foundation, as well as damaging motivation and self-esteem amongst the town-dwellers.

4. This is to be rejected.

5. Cornwall, England.

6. Colloquially referred to as "downers."

7. Known as "uppers."

8. The longest any instance of SCP-5459-2 has been observed to maintain flight is four hours, as part of a competition for the entertainment of SCP-5459-1

9. The reason for this is unclear, given that SCP-5459-2 are not currently believed to require sustenance due to their anomalous properties.