The following is a transcript of radio traffic between the on-scene 
commander (Trapper Home) and subordinate fire teams (Trapper 1, 
2, and 3) of Site- 's tactical contact security force designate 
"Trapper" during the initial contact with and recovery of SCP-939. 
Trapper was deployed to the outskirts of ; on 
10/28/1981, following the disappearance of a Foundation field agent. 
The agent was investigating a number of localized missing persons 
cases, as well the loss of contact with several law enforcement 
officers dispatched to investigate these cases, in the area. 


<Begin transcript> 


Trapper Home: All right, let's get those comm checks 
people. Those field masks were giving your VOX a hell 
of a time last time out. 


Agent Washburne (Trapper One Lead): Trapper 
Home, Trapper Two, Trapper Three, this is One, radio 
check, over. 


Agent Michaels (Trapper Two Lead): Lima Charlie, 
One. 


Agent Shandrick (Trapper Three Lead): Gotcha, One. 


Trapper Home: All stations, | have you loud and clear. 
Be advised, your teams are go for entry. Trapper One, 
weapons tight. 


Agent Washburne (T1L): Solid copy, Home. Three, 
stand by with Home, you know your job. Two, keep your 
team tight on my flank after we breach. 


Agent Michaels (T2L): Copy, One. 


"Beg pardon?" 


"Why me?" she repeated, throwing her hands up. "I've done a little 
bit of work with Al, yeah, but what you've got here sounds way out of 
my area. Why don't you call up the AIAD, get Kappa-10 over here to 
check it out? This is all their stuff anyway, right?" 


Leroy squirmed in his seat. Wilson stood up, walked over to the 
stage, and leaned against it while pursing his lips. 


"And if | were to tell you that it wasn't?" 


Janice crossed her arms. "Then | wouldn't exactly be too surprised," 
she said. "So, not only did you code up your own little family of Al, 
you don't want the official Foundation department that deals with 
artificial intelligence to know about it. I'm also guessing that, aside 
from a select few members of certain councils and committees, you 
don't want anyone else to find out about it either. How am | doing so 
far?" 


Director Wilson's smile was strained. 


"Right, so you called me in instead," she continued. "Made sure | 
didn't know what | was getting into, probably told my site director 
that you had something way more mundane going on with your 
computers, and hoped I'd be on board with whatever shady dealing 
you've got going on here. Hoped | would know enough or would be 
able to learn enough in time to put a big ol’ Band-Aid on the problem 
before you found yourself ass-deep in alligators. Does that sound 
about right?" 


"Fifty thousand." 
"Please." 
"Seventy-five thousand." 


Janice paused, stared up at the back wall for a moment, then let out 
a sharp breath. 


"Okay," she said. "Let's do this. Where is Yamaguchi's original 
mainframe? We might as well begin at the beginning." 


"It's in her office. The director was a bit sentimental in that regard, 
believe it or not. Mr. McAllister will lead you there." 


The doctor raised a sardonic eyebrow. "Not going to join us on our 
little excursion, assistant director?" 


"I'm afraid not," Wilson said with an offhand shrug. "While you are 
working on the problem directly, | still have to maintain damage 
control. I'll give you as much time to work as | can while Mr. 
McAllister provides you with whatever resources we have at our 
disposal to help you in achieving your goal. Good luck to both of 
you." 


Janice stared after the retreating man's back for a few moments, 
then turned to find Leroy had stood up and was hovering next to her, 
adam's apple bobbing nervously in his throat. 


"So, ah, if you'll unlock your phone for me, | can get the AR apps on 
there," he said, holding out his hand. "I can do it while we're on our 
way. It's no problem, really." 


After fulfilling his request, she followed Leroy out of the room and 
into the wide hallway as he tapped away at the phone screens, 
holding one in each hand. He seemed to ignore everything else 
around him as he worked, not even bothering to look up as he made 
one turn after the other. She was somewhat impressed at how 
thoroughly he had memorized the site's floor plan until arrows 
suddenly popped up on the floor and started sliding ahead of them. 


Of course, she thought with a mental sigh. Why bother memorizing 
things when you've got a computer to do it for you? 


Dr. Janice Bell liked computers. It wasn't too far from the point to 
say that she loved computers, both working with them and using 
them for recreational pursuits. They could absolutely enhance one's 
quality of life, be used as teaching aids and make things both safer 
and easier for humans. It was why she had worked so long and hard 
at getting her PhD in Computer Science, to help expand the 
capability of computers to aid humanity in its ever-expanding 
evolution. 


But as usual, the problem was people. So often they either tried to 
shut computers out of their lives completely or let computers do all 
their thinking for them. Neither side seemed to realize that 
computers were a tool, not a demon out to get them or a substitute 
for their own brain. Seeing that Leroy fell into one of the two camps 
lowered her estimation of the man even further than before. 


Her thoughts were interrupted as they stepped into an elevator and 
Leroy handed her phone back before pressing the button for the top 
floor. "Sorry about taking so long," he said, lopsided grin on his face. 
"You should be all set up now. You're on the default settings still, but 
you can change them up however you like." 


She muttered a quick thanks and looked at her screen to find three 
new icons had been added, labeled AR Settings, SCiPNet AR, and 
AuG Portal. The contents of the first two were obvious, but she 
couldn't quite conceive what the third could be. She considered 
asking her guide but decided it would be something she would 
explore herself at a later date. 


In the meantime, she opened up the settings and started 
familiarizing herself with the layout. Her time doing so ended up 
being limited, however, as the elevator ride was over in just a few 
moments, and the two of them were back to following the ghostly 
arrows directing them through the halls. 


To Janice's surprise, one of the site's two janitors happened to be in 
one of those hallways. A mostly nondescript man wearing the usual 
blue jumpsuit and pushing a floor buffer ahead of him, but definitely 
human and not a Roomba. 


"What are the odds?" she mumbled to herself. 


Leroy must have heard her, because his head snapped up and 
around until he focused in on the approaching janitor. "Huh? Oh. 
Oh!" He chuckled a bit, then motioned at Janice to lift her glasses. 


Confused but game to see what he was playing at, she reached up 
and slid the AR lenses onto her forehead. Along with all of the other 
AR displays in the hall, the janitor himself disappeared. In his place 
was a humanoid robotic framework, pushing the buffer along like 


everything was perfectly normal. It even lifted a finger in greeting 
and said, "McAllister, Doctor," as it passed by. 


Janice moved her glasses back down, and the illusion of a human 
janitor slid back into place. The Al it represented ignored them as it 
continued on its way. 


"| don't even know why I'm bothering to be surprised at this point," 
she said, shaking her head. 


"Well, it is pretty neat," said Leroy. "It's one of the designs we kinda, 
uh, borrowed from the AIAD crew. | think we improved on it, though. 
Anyway, here we are!" 


The hallway ended, opening up into a wide reception area. Behind 
the centrally-located desk sat a young woman who was busy typing 
away at the air until she noticed their approach. With a concise 
gesture, she swept her personal display to the side and sat up 
straight in her chair. 


"Hello, Mr. McAllister. How can | help you today?" 


"Hey, Nance. We're here to see Director Yamaguchi," he responded. 
"If that's okay." 


The administrative assistant tilted her head slightly to one side, 
causing her blonde hair to bob a bit. "I'm afraid she's not in at the 
moment." 


"Ah, yes, we know, but we need to see her anyway." 


"Certainly, Mr. McAllister!" Pulling her display back over, she 
pressed a short sequence of invisible keys. "Go on in whenever 
you're ready." 


Leroy nodded gratefully and started walking around the desk, then 
stopped short when he noticed Janice wasn't following him. Looking 
over his shoulder, he could see that the doctor was leaning over the 
desk, staring intently at the assistant's face. Nance, for her part, had 
returned to her work, completely ignoring the scrutiny. 


"Dr. Bell?" 


Janice tapped a finger on the desk thoughtfully. "Sorry, can you give 
me just a second? I'm just trying to see if | can tell the difference 
between the real people and the Al just by looking." 


The assistant's eyes refocused on the real world for a moment as 
she smiled and pointed at an orange stripe running along the bottom 
of her ID badge. "Orange for Al, green for human," she said with a 
wink. 


"Oh. You're ... very well detailed." 


The blonde Al's professional smile widened into a genuine grin. 
"Thank you, Dr. Bell," she said, "but I'm afraid | don't date co- 
workers." 


Janice looked up at Leroy with an expression of exasperated 
resignation. 


"It's true, she doesn't," the technician told her. "I've tried." 


"Amusing," said Janice, her voice dripping with non-amusement. 
She breezed past Nance and Leroy, pushing through the door into 
the director's office. "Let's get to work, shall we?" 


« Programmed to Receive | Faraway Voices Hub (TBA) | In the 
Master's Chambers (TBA) » 


Shuffle Tick Tick 


Every night for the past month, I've had the same dream. I'm ina 
dark tunnel, and | hear a noise behind me. It's quiet, faint. It always 
draws closer. Shuffle tick tick. Shuffle Tick Tick. Such an innocuous 
sound, but the slow creeping of it towards me terrifies me. | run as 
fast as | can away from the sound, panting, gasping for air. The 
tunnel echoes, and | hear it getting closer. | wake up, just as it 
reaches me. 


Another night passes with the same nightmare. My eyes shoot open, 
and I'm in my bedroom, nothing special. | look over at the window, 
and sigh. It's bright out this morning. | smile, the terrors of the night 
banished once more. | make breakfast for my son and myself, put 
on my suit, got in my car. | checked my mirrors, no big deal, but | 
swear | could hear the sound behind me, shuffle tick tick. | snap my 
head towards the sound, and see my neighbor sweeping her 
driveway. | have a little chuckle. It's just a dream, and I'm getting 
paranoid over nothing. 


| pulled in to the office, and stepped out of my car. Another day of 
crunch for a web development company. We had to turn out a 
product soon, or we'd be in trouble. | took the elevator up to my 
office, and | heard the sound again...shuffle tick tick. | looked 
around, and noticed one of the elevator buttons blinking. Must have 
just been a bulb popping. Nothing important. 


| sit down at my cubicle, and started working. Code segments, 
debugging, the usual. | put in a good four hours, before getting up to 
go to lunch. 


Lunch was good today for once; burger, fries, shake in the cafeteria. 
It was great, and | looked forward to picking up my son from school, 
having a quiet night in front of the tube or something. | turn off my 
computer, and walk out of the office. | hear a sound behind me 
though...Shuffle Tick Tick. Shuffle Tick. Shuffle Tick. | turn around 
quickly, and see a blinking street light, making some kind of noises. | 


guess it was only my imagination. Maybe | should talk to my brother- 
in-law. He's a psychiatrist or something like that. 


| pick up Stephen, and take him home. | ask him about what he 
learned in school today. Division he says. Smart kid. | start to make 
dinner for the two of us. Chicken breast, broccoli spears, rice. | put 
Stephen to bed after watching the Raiders get thoroughly wrecked 
by the Steelers. Before he goes to sleep, | ask him if he's had any 
strange dreams lately. He told me he's only had dreams about me. | 
asked him what he meant, and he said that he was having dreams 
that daddy was a superhero. | smiled, and gave him a kiss on the 
forehead. 

Changing into a pair of shorts and a tee shirt, | slip under the covers, 
and fall asleep almost as soon as | hit the pillow. 


I'm in the dark tunnel. All | can hear behind me is Shuffle Tick Tick. 
Shuffle Tick Tick. But now, a new noise. A throaty growl, almost an 
animal sound. | break out into a run. The terror is a lump in my 
chest, and | can't run fast enough. The sound gets closer and closer, 
the echoes growing louder, and | hear an inhuman scream from 
behind me, and something crashes down on my back. | scream out 
in terror, and my eyes shoot open. | look around the room, and see 
nothing out of the ordinary. | rush to the bathroom, and throw up into 
the toilet. I'd never been so scared in my life. | look in the mirror, and 
for a moment | see almost a ghost of an image behind me in the 
mirror. | turn around, my hands up defensively, and see only the 
shower curtain behind me. Nerves. Just nerves. 


| can't shake the feeling of being watched. | quickly push Stephen to 
get into his uniform for school, and get into my car to go to work. He 
says something about breakfast, and | reach into my wallet, handing 
him a couple of bills. He could buy breakfast at School | think. | don't 
remember. | almost forgot my tie in the rush, but | strung one around 
my neck with shaking fingers. | hear from behind me...Shuffle Tick 
Tick. Shuffle Tick Tick. | turn around, frantically searching for the 
sound. | see a kid carrying a trash bag, dragging it along the ground, 
and trying to tug it along every few seconds. I'm not crazy, just 
overworked, nothing to worry about. The crunch at work would be 
over soon, and we would return to the normal stress level. 


| drive to work quickly, above the speed limit. Something's following 


me, I'm sure of it. | get into the office, and hold my head in my 
hands. | hear a quiet shuffle, and look up, realizing its just the door 
opening. My friend John asks if I'm alright. | give him a shaky smile 
and try to temporize that | hadn't slept well. Nothing to worry about. | 
barely got any work done. | couldn't think straight. A knock at my 
cubicle wall, and John says it's time to go. | didn't even notice the 
day. There's no code on my screen. What was | doing again? 


Stephen is at a friend's house | think...| can't remember. They 
picked him up from school, right? It doesn't matter, I've got to keep 
my mind focused. | can't let them get to me. That noise isn't going to 
get me. Not me. Someone...someone needs me, but | can't 
remember anymore. That damn noise is in my thoughts, every last 
thing | can think of. If only the damnable noise would stop! My eyes 
swiveled around the room, looking for the source...Shuffle Tick Tick. 
The VCR is sticking again. Of course, it's nothing. Just the VCR. | 
stay up as long as | can, but eventually head upstairs to my room, 
laying down, and drifting off to sleep. 


I'm in a dark tunnel, a loud noise is coming from behind me Shuffle 
Tick Tick, and something is calling out in the most ghastly voice | 
can imagine, something unintelligible. | run as fast as my legs will 
take me, until finally, | fall to the ground, tripping over an errant rock. 
Something pounces on top of me, and grabs my foot between 
powerful jaws. | can almost hear the sound of its jaw muscles 
contracting, as my eyes slam open.