Everyone started clapping their hands together as the speech 
ended. Everyone except Matthews and two or three others scattered 
throughout the crowd. Stimson rose, clapping hard, trying to make 
his own applause heard over the others. When he heard the chant, 
he cursed inwardly for not thinking of it himself first, but picked it up 
nonetheless: 


"Thirteen! Thirteen! Thirteen! Thirteen!" 


The Black Queen 


| am going to make you cry. 


Subject designate "Black Queen", first documented 
communication. 


Welcome to my tiny corner of myth. 


So, what we have here is an almost “micro-canon”. That is to say, 
it's not really a major change to the “standard” Foundation 
universe...just an addition. The addition comes in the form of The 
Black Queen. Some old-timers may remember this person from a 
very long time ago, but other than the name and some basic habits, 
they share no real relation. What's more, she comes in two different 
flavors. 


First, the things that are the same. The universe, The Foundation, 
and the other groups are all here. The world is more or less the 
same as it's always been. So the stage itself is not very different 
than your standard tale, to be tweaked or adjusted in the same way 
as basically any other. The origins of The Black Queen are also 
consistent. It is very likely that she is the daughter of Dr. Gears, left 
behind when he was absorbed into The Foundation. He had 
apparently been growing estranged from them for a time, but the 
final break, sudden and total, appears to have unhinged his wife, 
and left his daughter with the burning question of why. 


On the Black Queen side of the coin, she snaps. Coupling her 
father's focus with her own intellect and sociopathic drive, she 
begins to try and scrape and cut her way into finding out what 
happened to her family. Once she discovers the edge of the veil the 
groups and Foundation operate behind, she starts a slow, pinpoint 
assault. She uses and manipulates with threats, money, seduction, 
or terror, whatever brings about her goals best. The Black Queen is 
driven by a desire to get her father back...however it may be that the 
game itself is becoming the goal. She is implied to be working with 


appears to be an opaque black cylindrical crystal fitted into a socket 
conforming to those of standard vacuum tubes. These devices 
appear non-functional when placed in a standard tube-tester, or 
individually fitted in another electronic device. The only configuration 
found that appears operational is when all 8 devices are fitted into 
the chassis of a General Electric television with the specific 
electronic configuration of SCP-719. When SCP-719-1 is in place, 
and SCP-719 is supplied power and turned on, SCP-719-1 will 
radiate electromagnetic radiation in various spectra including visible 
light, ultraviolet, microwaves, gamma radiation, and a substantial 
band in [REDACTED]. About 60% of emissions are ionizing 
radiation. 


Upon powering on, or after changing a broadcast source, SCP-719 
will behave as a normal television set, displaying the broadcast 
signal it is receiving. However, if SCP-719 is allowed to display any 
single broadcast source for longer than 13.6 minutes, video and 
audio will start to diverge from the signal being received. 
Accompanying this change in the displayed broadcast is a rise in the 
amount of radiation emitted from SCP-719-1. Should SCP-719 
remain powered on, receiving the same uninterrupted broadcast 
signal, both the divergence in displayed content and radiation 
emission will steadily increase. The intensity of EM emissions 
appear to bear no relation to power drawn by SCP-719, and double 
in strength for each fifteen minutes of continuous operation. 
Radiation from SCP-719-1 will drop off completely once power to 
SCP-719 is cut, SCP-719 is turned off, or if the broadcast signal 
being received is interrupted or changed. Tests have shown no 
difference in SCP-719’s anomalous properties when changing what 
channel “broadcast” signals are received, or when changing the 
origin of those signals.2 So far, any attempts to intercept the altered 
broadcast signal in order to record it directly have been 
unsuccessful, and altered broadcasts must be recorded by an 
external video camera. 


SCP-719's alterations to broadcast signals appear to be unique to 
each episode. When using a control signal source of a DVD playing 
the same movie repeatedly, changes made upon each playback will 
be different. However, while each use of SCP-719 will show unique 
changes, those changes will share similar broad characteristics 


MC&D, primarily for funding, but would not be above working with 
anyone, or wrecking anyone who gets in her way. 


On the Broken Hearted side, she keeps it together. Rising in the 
ranks as a brilliant, if somewhat withdrawn researcher, her hobbies 
are taking care of her slowly degenerating mother, and trying to 
unravel the mystery of what happened to her father. In so doing, she 
gets on the radar of both The Foundation, and various other groups. 
Some see her as a bargaining chip, to use against The Foundation 
in some way. Others, an annoyance. Others see her as simply 
another asset, to be taken in or used however is most efficient. She 
herself is stumbling into this blind... but she has a steel in her spine, 
and a desire to succeed, to thrive. How she'll develop under these 
new pressures remains to be seen. 


The Black Queen is easy to work into other universes, and the time- 
line established by the “seed” stories is very adjustable. There are 
plenty of holes for side-stories, prequels, and progression. Her 
slippery, near-supernatural ability to subvert people and security 
allows her to deal with major groups on a level of threat they're 
probably not used to from a single person. Even her non-deadly 
generation is still remarkably good at not getting swatted. 


The Root 
Splinters by Dr. Gears 


The Black Queen stories 


Opening Moves by Dr. Gears 
Queen To Pawn by Dr. Gears 
Quiet Game by Dr. Gears 
Kriegspiel by Dr. Gears 


The Broken Hearted stories 


Work Journal 2 by Dr. Gears 
Work Journal 2 Cont by Dr. Gears 
Work Journal 3 by Dr. Gears 


Ideas: 
What happened before the start of the seed stories? 


Has the Black Queen knocked on the door of any other groups, for 
good or ill? 


On the Broken Hearted side, has her life not been quite as simple as 
she thinks? Has this final step been building for a while, by other 
groups hoping to position her to their advantage? 


What's happening to the things she steals? 


Is she having a larger impact on the world? She doesn't care about 
the Veil at all...could she be leaking information out? 


Splinters 


Communication Intercept: 


Document recovered leaving the central mailing service 
at Site 4. Letter appears to have somehow bypassed 
basic screening services, and was picked up only by the 
hand-sorting staff shortly before delivery, as they noticed 
the lack of proper post-screening stamps. 


It is unlikely that the letter was intentionally set to bypass 
security measures; however, Site Security is reviewing 
security footage, and re-evaluating the communication 
screening procedure. 


Letter content has been attached to this report for later 
security review as/if needed. Original letter destroyed 
due to security clearance restriction conflict. 


Dear Alison, 


Please forgive the lateness of my letter. You may remember that my 
work has often kept me from standard daily activities, and with my 
current employment it has been doubly so. Months and years have a 
disturbing tendency to blur as one grows older. 


| do not think any apology will be adequate for my sudden departure, 
however. | am sure it was a confusing time for you and your mother, 
more so for her as you were very young at the time, if | remember 
correctly. | was called away right after the... troubles reached 
something of a peak, and | imagine she was very distressed at my 
sudden absence. 


| write now due to an article | recently encountered, dealing with 
theoretical space-time anomalies. While insightful and well 
explained, the most glaring portion of the article was the section 
identifying the author as yourself. 


| can see that you are following the lines of research | myself was 
exploring before my... departure. | must advise you against this. 
Whether it comes from your genuine curiosity, or an attempt to find 
me via backtracking my work, it would be advisable to abandon this 
plan of action. | have followed it to the end, and am now... not where 
| would wish you to be. 


Seek other fields of study. Stay away from the corners and dim 
edges of reality. Turn your focus to more practical and basic ends. 


Forgive my bluntness, both now and... then. Know that it was, and 
is, necessary for me. Despite what it has caused. 


Love, 


Your father. 


“Throw me daddy!” 

“Oh, | don't know, mommy gets nervous when | throw you high...” 
“Throw me, throw me, throwmethrowmethrowme-” 

“Ok, ok, slavedriver...” 


She shrieked, suddenly launched in to the air, sailing up several 
feet, coming down in a blur of hair and laughter, squealing anew as 
she made the journey again, begging “Higher, higher” in breathless 
gasps. She smiled, so trusting and small, sailing 


Doctor? 


Sailing down, wanting to spin now, arms exhausted, but unable to 
resist, spinning the tiny girl. 


“Faster daddy, faster!” 
Doctor? 


“Watch me daddy!” 


...¥es? 


Doctor, you've been requested in conference room eight. 
Containment review meeting. 


...| will proceed there immediately. 
Does a mind bend... 
Work Journal 2 


Or does it break? 
Opening Moves 


Opening Moves 


Site Security File 11/11/4/8888/PR — Suspicious Letter 
49,003,668 


Letter received at the private residential post office in the 
South Cheyenne Point community. Letter had no stamp, 
post mark, or other identifiers anywhere on the envelope 
other than “To my father's captors” written in ballpoint 
pen ink on the front. Current leading theory is that the 
letter was somehow hand-delivered to the post box, even 
with a lack of any suspicious video evidence on the day 
in question. Analysis has shown the envelope and paper 
to be basic commercial stock, and lacks any finger prints 
or DNA residue. 


The letter itself is hand-written with a black ball-point 
pen, also from basic mass-produced commercial stock. 
Handwriting analysis is thus far inconclusive, pending 
further threat evaluation determinations, requiring more 
exhaustive review. Due to the subject matter, copies of 
the text body are being forwarded to Site Security for 
base review and database entry. 


Current threat index is low. Forwarding to Site Security 
and Central Records in compliance with diligence 
protocols. No in-depth probe is proposed or 
recommended at this time. 


When | was young, | saw a short film. A cartoon, it detailed a fantasy 
kingdom that suddenly discovers that they are the dream of a 
sleeping man, and that soon his alarm would ring. They mount an 
expedition to the world and cover the man's ears and muffle the 
clock. He then starts to dream of flamingos, but the concept was so 
striking at the time that | never forgot it. The concept of reality as a 
plastic, immaterial stratum and not at all the bedrock of the world. 


Is it possible that we're all flamingos-to-be? Swirling and running 
about in utter confidence, only to find we're less material then the 
average soap bubble, and much more transient? What would that do 
to our view of ourselves and the world? Suddenly the sacrifices 
we've made, the pain and suffering endured and caused, all count 
for nothing at all. I'm sure you can appreciate the blind horror of a 
realization of that nature. How much suffering and bleak moral 
choices could be invalidated by the next alarm clock? 


| should be another faceless, shapeless victim. Another sacrifice 
made for the greater, intangible Good. And | was, for a while, both 
my mother and I. Left to twist and sway like leaves in the wake of 
your shadowy passing, bobbing around the sudden void left behind. 
She will most likely remain a victim. | will not. You can take what you 
wish, as you wish, and have done so for some time. You are thieves 
on a grand scale. My father once said, however, that no matter how 
good you are at something, how confident you may be, there is 
always someone, somewhere, that is better. 


| am going to prove his theory. 


You have taken something from me. So |, in turn, shall take many 
things from you. | Know you will ignore this for now, but later, when 
the time comes, you will look back to this letter, and despair. As a 
red spider once said, “Il am going to make you cry.” 


My father, for all his intellectual might, was a cripple at chess. 
Something about it just confounded his sense. Even at my tender 
age, | was able to beat him with some regularity. He insisted on 
being white, always, as his handicap. Forever the white king. 


| am the Black Queen. And | will be crossing the board to you soon. 


We go forward... 
Queen To Pawn 


And go back... 
Splinters 


Queen To Pawn 


Conversation recorded on / / 

Parties identified as the third, ranking member of 
Marshall, Carter and Dark Ltd. and an unknown female 
voice, identified as "Black Queen". 

Intercepted by Foundation Agents during routine 
surveillance. 


“Whoever this is, it better be pretty goddamn important to be using 
the secured line in the middle-” 


“It's the Black Queen.” 

“...oh god.” 

“Am | disturbing you?” 

“Oh, uh, no, no, not at all, it's fine, just a little get together and-” 
“| could come by in person, if that would be easier.” 


“NO! Uh, | mean, no, that's not necessary, don't want to put you out 
or anything.” 


“| assure you, it would be no trouble. For me.” 
“|... am aware of that. One moment.” 


“ ” 


“... Ok, | was able to speak quietly with a couple board members... 
Ing, Carter's head staffer keeps an open record of all known Agents. 
We pulled the few we know to be in the field and started tracking.” 


“| don't care about the means. Where is he?” 


“Ah... yes, indeed. Well, here's the thing, we may need a little... 


good faith payment first. Despite your... credentials, you're still new 
to the club, and this is no small service. The plans you say you have 
could be worth much... if indeed they exist, and-” 


“No. No. You need to listen to me. | want the location of this man. | 
need it. Now. Was | unclear in the past? Did | somehow fucking 
mumble when | told you that you would work with me for what | offer, 
or get snips and slivers of your children in the mail for the next year? 
Was | FUCKING UNCLEAR? | want him, now, now, now, NOW, 
NOW! I'm not some ass-licking little overpuffed fop who you can try 
and bullshit around and use your 'rules' like a shield. Bitch and 
bicker with me, and | swear to the Styx you will suffocate on your 
own anus before you die. Now WHERE THE FUCK IS HE?!” 


“Oh god... I... he... he's in a storage unit in Florida. Value Store, 
unit eighteen. I'll send you the address and the key.” 


“Much better, thank you. You will have to forgive me, | become 
tense on certain topics. I'm sure you understand?” 


“'.. of course.” 


“I'll forward the security schedules and layout to the drop point. 
Enjoy your party. Maybe I'll see you there.” 


“... Wait, what? You... y-you don't... hello? Hello?” 


Recorded brief 1189=00H 

Tentatively marked "Black Queen Incident" 

Briefing between & , RE: 'Black Queen’ 

recording 
“Ok, there we are... if you'll sit there sir, we'll get started.” 
“Why is this being put on the record? It's not a mission brief.” 
“Well, a case has been opened, so everything-” 


“A CASE has been opened over this?” 


“Sir, it's simpler if | just show you.” 


“Fine, proceed.”