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SCP-2350: From the Mind of Malinalxochitl

Author: A Random Day

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What The Spybird Saw

Item #: SCP-2350

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: A recording of SCP-2350 is stored on a secure USB drive in the Site-42 Digital Armory. This drive should only be handled by deaf personnel or personnel wearing industrial-grade earmuffs and earplugs.

Mobile Task Forces Lambda-12 ("Pest Control") and Upsilon-4 ("Sugar Pill") have been jointly assigned to handle containment of SCP-2350. Upsilon-4 is working to develop an inoculation against SCP-2350's effects, while Lambda-12 investigates potential SCP-2350-1 events occurring in Vietnam. If Lambda-12 locates an area affected by SCP-2350-1, they will determine the radius of the effect and establish a containment perimeter around it. The Foundation will then liaise with the Vietnamese government to establish affected areas as wildlife preserves.

The Foundation is currently attempting to negotiate with the United States of America for the release of certain classified files within their archives; if necessary, political pressure may be placed on the USA to achieve this end.

Description: SCP-2350 is a weaponized memetic agent transmitted by sound that manifests as the idea of a swarm of mosquitoes. Human beings that hear SCP-2350 will perceive this swarm as attacking them, though deaf humans are unaffected. For every twelve seconds that SCP-2350 is audible, the perceived size of the swarm will double. Humans affected by SCP-2350 will suffer from rashes and other inflammatory responses consistent with mosquito bites. Affected humans may also develop symptoms consistent with mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria. In several cases, patients developed a combination of symptoms not associated with any specific disease, but with mosquito-borne diseases in general.

Effects of SCP-2350 on a test subject after two minutes of exposure.

SCP-2350 was developed by the United States as a weapon for area denial and saw extensive use in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. The sound was stored on magnetic tape inside a mortar or bomb shell, which was then launched at a target area; upon landing, the mortar would play SCP-2350 until its power supply died. As merely being near these areas would result in infection by the meme, thousands of Vietnamese civilians were killed or driven from their homes.

SCP-2350-1 refers to a phenomenon affecting sporadic areas of the Vietnamese jungle wherein SCP-2350 is produced without an apparent source. It is suspected that SCP-2350-1 resulted from protracted usage of SCP-2350. Affected areas are entirely devoid of fauna; the native wildlife appear to avoid these areas by instinct, while nonnative animals introduced to the area immediately flee.

Discovery: The Foundation first became aware of SCP-2350 on 30/04/2005, when Mobile Task Force Lambda-12 ("Pest Control") encountered the anomaly in Vietnam while tracking an outbreak of SCP-2810. During the expedition, Lambda-12 arrived at an abandoned settlement affected by SCP-2350-1, whereupon they discovered a mortar intended to transmit SCP-2350 and were infected by it. Lambda-12 were able to flee and report the incident; recordings from the settlement, analysis of footage of the mortar, and cross-referencing of external intelligence led to the official designation of SCP-2350.

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Log begins approximately 1.5 kilometers from the settlement of interest. Four members of Lambda-12 are pursuing a pregnant instance of SCP-2810-1 in the form of an Indochinese tiger. L1 is equipped with a flamethrower; L2 with a net launcher; L3 with a tranquilizer rifle; L4 with a standard-issue light machine gun. As the team tracks the instance through the jungle, they observe several organisms watching them, though none of the organisms appear to be infected.

Approximately 0.25 km from the settlement, Lambda-12 spots the 2810-1 instance grooming itself and moves in. L3 takes aim at the tiger and fires; however, at the same moment the tiger stretches itself out and avoids the dart, which strikes a tree. At the sound, the tiger flees.

L3: Motherfuck!

L1: Oi! Shhh!

L2: No point, boss. Damned thing was off like a light.

L3 sighs.

L3: Alright. Let's track it down again.

L1: Good man. C'mon lads, let's bag us a tiger.

L2 takes point, examining the instance's tracks and leading the group deeper into the jungle as they pursue. As the jungle recedes and the first few houses in the settlement come into view, the group's audio recording equipment begins to pick up a buzzing sound1.

L3: A town! I thought you said this place was all jungle?

L1: Wasn't on any of my maps, that's for sure. Say. Any of you boys hear that?

L2: Hear what?

L4: That buzzing sound?

L1: Yeah. Hrm. Wonder what that is.

L2: Whaddya know. I hear it too.

L3: Mmm… sounds like mosquitoes.

L3 slaps his left arm.

L3: Yep. Mosquitoes. Sounds like there's a lotta the fuckers too.

L1: Right. Safeties on. Weapons down. Don't want to scare the locals, eh? We oughta ask about the tiger. Looks like it ran through here.

Lambda-12 proceeds further into the settlement. As they do so, it becomes increasingly evident that the area has been abandoned. No signs of life are present, save the grassy vegetation between the homes in the settlement. All homes are covered in copious quantities of mosquito netting made from natural materials.

L2: Hm. Doesn't look like anyone's been here since 'Nam.

L3: We're in 'Nam, dumbass.

L2: I mean the Vietnam War, Cooter.

L1: Focus! Where is everyone?

L4 stops suddenly and looks down. At his feet is a pair of skeletons; one is child-sized and laid out so that it overlaps the arms of the other skeleton.

L4: Right here.

L2: Jeee-zus.

L2 kneels down and examines the skeletons.

L2: Looks like a mama and her kid. She was running away from something and tripped - but their bones are untouched. An animal didn't do this…

L4: Hey - you know what? Where are all the animals? All I can hear are mosquitoes.

L2: …so what did? No tracks either. Just the tiger - and that thing looks to have gotten the hell out of dodge.

L1: What're you thinking?

L3: I'm thinking that the animals 'round here are staying out for a reason.

L1: Lads. Take a look at that.

L1 points towards the center of the village, before dropping his arm to slap the other. The rest of Lambda-12 follows his gaze and spots a large crater in the center of the village. L2 looks back at the skeletons.

L2: Maybe a bomb?

L4: Not much of a bomb, eh? Place looks fine.

L3: Dud maybe?

L4: Should we check it out? Christ, what is with all these mosquitoes suddenly?

L3: Tell me about it.

L1: Let's take a look. Tracks lead in that direction anyways.

The group moves towards the crater. Noticeably, each member is slapping or scratching their own limbs despite no mosquitoes being present. As the group approaches the mortar, the buzzing sound becomes louder. As they near the crater, the vegetation thins and the ground becomes progressively more cracked. When the group reaches the rim of the crater, they look down at it.

At the bottom of the crater is a large mortar shell bearing US Army markings with an abnormal shape: the mortar is shaped cylindrically, though its sides taper towards the top, and there is a bevel at the bottom. There is an opened hatch on the side of the mortar.

L4: That ain't ominous at all.

L1: Knock it off. I'll go down there and check it out. You three keep an eye out for anything… weird.

L1 slides down the crater and approaches the mortar. He examines the hatch and reaches into it, pulling out a magnetic tape.

L1: What the hell is this?

L3: Uh, boss? I, uh - look up.

L1 looks up. The sky is clear, and no abnormalities appear present.

L2: Bloody hell.

L2: Run!

L1 scrambles up the crater; he is helped up by L2 and the group proceeds to flee from the crater, dropping their weapons in the process. It is unclear what they are fleeing from, as the camera recordings do not show anything abnormal. However, all members of Lambda-12 are repeatedly slapping themselves all over their bodies.

L1: Into that hut!

Lambda-12 flees towards a nearby home, ducking under the mosquito netting and forcing their way into the home.

L1: Alright - what the bloody hell was that?

L4: A billion fuckin' mosquitoes. Holy fuck.

L2: Jesus. The goddamn sky was black.

L3: You think it was that bomb?

L1: If anyone could create this cockup of a place it would be the Yanks. Right. Focus. How do we get out of here? Look around, see what you can find.

L2: I reckon we could cover ourselves in the mosquito nets and get outta here.

L1: Sharp thinking. Right, see if you can find some around here.

L3 moves towards the rear of the hut and comes across a bed covered in mosquito netting. There are a pair of skeletons lying on the bed, covered in netting. L4 comes up besides him.

L3: Christ. Whaddya think happened to these two?

L4: Starved, I bet. C'mon. Help me with this netting.

L3: Poor bastards. Why didn't they just use the nets? Just get the fuck out of here?

L4: Maybe they didn't want to leave their homes, ya know?

L4 slaps his arm. He and L3 look at each other.

L4: Oh fuck.

L3: Boss! We gotta go! They're getting in!

L1 and L2 approach, slapping their arms.

L1: I can see that. Right lads. Into the nets.

L1 and L2 drape themselves in mosquito nettings, while L3 and L4 do the same.

L3: Should we like, go back for our guns?

L1: Do you want to?

L3: No.

L1: There's your answer. On the count of three, we rush out the house and out the village. Keep running. Don't stop. Don't slow down or slap at the buggers. Just keep running. Got it?

L2: Got it.

L3: Got it.

L4: Got it.

L1: Good men. Okay. One. Two. Three -

On the count of three, L1 pushes the door open and breaks into a sprint, followed closely by the rest of Lambda-12. Although the camera recording from this point suffers from heavy motion blur, no mosquitoes are visible, and the sky is clear. Despite this, each member of the task force reacts as if being attacked by a large quantity of mosquitoes. This behavior persists as the task force exits the boundary of the village and for approximately half a kilometer into the jungle. Once the task force is two kilometers from the village, Lambda-12 calls for extraction. Log ends.

History of SCP-2350:

Historical records of the ASCI2 indicate that SCP-2350 is descended from a memetic weapon used by Spain in the Spanish-American War, based on an Aztec prayer to Malinalxochitl3. The efficacy of the Spanish weapon was limited by the primitive state of European memetics: the carrier sound had to be made by a hand-held noisemaker, did not cause any physical effects, and affected both Spanish and Americans. As such, the weapon did not contribute in any meaningful way to the Spanish war effort, and research on the weapon was relinquished to the United States as part of the Treaty of Paris of 1898.

Records collected by Soviet intelligence indicate that the United States attempted to refine the weapon for use in both World Wars by developing an inoculation against the meme for use by Allied forces. The necessary breakthroughs to develop memetic inoculations were not arrived at until 1947; as such, SCP-2350 did not see usage in either world war.

Pentagram4 research records acquired by the Foundation indicate that the first inoculation for the weapon was developed in early 1950, enabling its first deployment via naval shelling at the Battle of Incheon. The weapon would see further use as a tool to deny enemy supply lines and hold major chokepoints during the Korean War. It is suspected that several canisters of the weapon were breached at the Battle of Unsan to cover the retreat of American forces: recovered Chinese records of the battle make repeated reference to large swarms of mosquitoes abruptly materializing at crossing points along the Yalu River and attacking all Chinese forces that attempted to pursue the Americans.

The form of the weapon classified as SCP-2350 was developed by the Special Operations Division of the United States Chemical Corps and deployed en masse during the Vietnam War under the codename Agent Black; in addition to having an increased swarm growth rate, the weapon was able to induce physical injuries in its victims. At some point prior to 1961, SCP-2350-1 began to manifest in Vietnam. The American inoculation was ineffective against this form of SCP-2350, enabling it to attack both communist and anti-communist forces indiscriminately.

USAF planes spray an area of jungle thought to be affected by SCP-2350-1; this picture was part of the records collected from the Pentagram.

The United States attempted to curtail the spread of SCP-2350-1 through their herbicidal warfare campaign Operation RANCH HAND; although this attempt was partially successful, it had the added effect of defoliating huge portions of otherwise unaffected jungle and displacing thousands more Vietnamese civilians. As of 2005, the United States has not acknowledged the existence of SCP-2350 and has repeatedly rebuffed attempts by the Foundation to gain access to its historical anomalous archives through traditional channels.

Footnotes

1. later identified as SCP-2350

2. American Security Containment Initiative

3. the Aztec goddess of snakes, scorpions, and insects

4. the occult branch of the Department of Defense