The ride is one of the quietest moments I've ever experienced with 
him. He sat rather stoic the entire trip, not even so much as glancing 
at passing signage. My phone beeps but | ignore it, trying to stay 
focused on driving the electric tuna can on wheels. Eventually we 
make it back to the elevator and | set the brake on the mule as Greg 
steadily makes his way to the elevator. "Did... something else 
happen, Greg?" 


"Nope. Just need the right gasket for that flange. Should only take a 
minute." 


Greg stares at the elevator panel and then glances at me from over 
his shoulder. | approach quickly and impatiently press the ground 

floor button. After a while the doors open and we both step inside. | 
press the close button as | just want to get whatever thing we need 
and finish this work already. My phone beeps at me and | look at it. 


Greg Collier, ENGINEERING 


Ummmm... 


Where did you go? 


| tilt my head in confusion and look at Greg. "Did you text me? Just 
now?" 


Greg just stares forward silently. | scoff and shake my head at his 
weak attempt. 


Greg Collier, ENGINEERING 


Ummmm... 


Where did you go? 


Hilarious. 


| wait for Greg's phone to beep, but it doesn't. My phone however 
promptly beeps back at me. 


Greg Collier, ENGINEERING 


Ummmm... 


Where did you go? 


Hilarious. 


No. Not hilarious. Come back here with the mule. 


Quit fucking around. 


My stomach sinks as a cold droplet of sweat trails from my temple. | 
slowly glance up at Greg who is now affixed solely on me. Looking 
back with a cold stare. 


"Something wrong?" it asks. 


I'm near frantic as | try and stammer out a few words, failing 
miserably. It calmly hits the emergency stop button, still making eye 
contact. The lights inside the elevator flicker as the ascending 
elevator shudders to a halt between B-2 and B-1. | press up against 
the opposite wall, terrified. 


"It's alright..." It approaches slowly as the fluorescent light finally 
flickers off. "...I'm your friend." 


Greg Collier, ENGINEERING 


Serious, stop it. 


Hello? Cmon man. I've tried calling you 10 times. Not 
funny anymore. 


I'm starting to worry. Are you hurt? Yelling your 
name, can you hear me? 


Tell me where you are. Talk to me. 


Hey, | saw you down the tunnel. Turn around, I'll 
come to you. 


SCP-948: I've never understood that expression, to be 
quite frank. Ultimately, aren't you one more step forward 
each time? 


Dr. Bridge does not reply. 


SCP-948: | can't magic away your pain, Eleanor. But | 
can talk. I'll always be here to. 


SCP-948 chuckles. 


SCP-948: Can't bloody escape, really. I'm a hell of a 
workaholic. 


Dr. Bridge laughs weakly between sobs. 


Dr. Bridge: |'m t-terrible, aren't |? A-always trying to slip 
out early? 


SCP-948: Now now, Eleanor. You mustn't joke about 
that. You're one of my favourites. 


Footnotes 

1. Testing on this aspect of SCP-948 is limited due to ethical 
concerns. Applications for testing may be made to the Area Director 
to be judged on a case-by-case basis, with appeals to the Ethics 
Committee allowed. The Ethics Committee's ruling is final in all such 
cases. 

2. Suggested additions to this list can be made via form SCPF- 
IE05-948-3. 

3. As of 1995, SCP-948 has begun accepting offers of water and 
other drinks in order to "clear the pipes". As such, it will now take 
occasional breaks to urinate. SCP-948's supervisor is to accompany 
it on any bathroom breaks. 


« SCP-947 | SCP-948 | SCP-949 » 


Other works by Rimple 
SCP-2779, Rating: 187 


Sycamore Center Preparatory 


Ah, September. That wonderful time of year when big yellow buses 
rumble down suburban streets, when schoolyards are alive with the 
shriek and laughter of children, when highschools are bustling with 
students either eager to learn or eager to get it over with. It seems 
picturesque, yes? 


Well, that’s not the case in the small town of Sycamore Corner. 


Sycamore Corner is located in (dare | say it) middle of fuckall 
NOWHERE, Maine. No real roads going in, no roads going out. 
Industry? Wood. Did | mention that middle of fuckall NOWHERE, 
Maine, is home to a hell of a lot of trees? It... yeah, there are trees. 
Most of the businesses are woodbased. Wood flooring, firewood, 
wood sculpture, wood shoes... hell, we even have some crazy 
batshit lady who sells wood clothing. But yeah, wood. Lots of it. 


Anyway, Sycamore Center isn’t like other towns, especially in 
September. See, that’s when school starts, and honestly the 
weirdest time is when school starts. Sycamore Center has but one 
school, and almost every time school is starting people forget about 
it. It’s called Sycamore Center Preparatory, and it’s this really big old 
looking school. On the outside it is a really old, really tall building. It’s 
hard to believe that people forget it’s there, but whatever. Inside, it’s 
all white. Every wall, every floor is white. It’s like being in a really 
creepy hospital. 


The teachers are really really off, too. Once, | took a picture of my 
‘bioethics’ teacher, Mr. Alto. His head turned into a giant angry fuzzy 
spider. And he’s always ranting about green classes or something 
and how we should just shoot them in the head if they even look at 
us. And Ms. Lefts or Rights or some other direction was always 
hitting on the boys during sex ed (and some of the girls, too)... | 
mean, that’s not bad thing or anything, but it’s really damn 
distracting when you want to LEARN. Don't even get me started on 
Principal Gears. | am absolutely certain that he’s at least a cyborg, 


perhaps even just a plain old robot. 


We don’t have yellow school buses here. We have these big black 
buses operated typically by people in orange jumpsuits, always 
swearing at us and telling us to shut up. You never see the same 
person for more than a month, either. 


The first day of school started off normally, at least for us. How 
normal can you get here? The bus rumbled up and all the students 
got in. Sycamore Center Preparatory was the only school in town, so 
we all had to go there. | kind of felt bad for the little bitties. They had 
no clue what they were getting into, and they got Mr. Konny. Mr. 
Konny is... well, frightening. | still have nightmares about him and 
his butterfly habitat. And don’t even start me on his friend Mr. Kain. 
He likes us to THINK that Mr. Kain is a fully animated robot in a very 
convincing dog suit. After | stepped in one of Mr. Kain's ‘presents’, | 
don't think that's the case. 


Anyway, it was my last year and | planned on getting the hell out of 
middle of FUCKALL NOWHERE, Maine. There’s a lot of that here, 
you know. Once you're away from the beach, it’s just nothing. | was 
planning on applying to big name universities because, you know, 
my grades were like the highest in the town. Not saying much, given 
the population of about 200, but it was impressive to me. | was 
planning on Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Wellesley, the whole nine 
yards. That is, until | was called into Mr. Gears’ office. 


Mr. Gears’ office was white like the rest of the school. It had a poster 
that was probably trying to be uplifting, but only made me even more 
anxious. It read ‘There is no canon’ and had a picture of some kind 
of horse made of vines or something... Anyway, | sat there 
uncomfortably waiting for him to decide to come in. | think principals 
do that sort of thing on purpose, you know. Making you sit there 
uncomfortably, sweating, trying to figure out what you did so that 
you blurt out random things they probably weren't going to yell at 
you for. 


Finally, after what felt like forever (though according to my watch 
was just five minutes), Mr. Gears strode in, holding a file with a 
funny symbol on it. He sat down across from me and dropped the 
file in front of me. | tentatively opened it to see my name, my most 


recent school picture (wow, | need something to treat this acne and 
dammit we don’t have an orthodontist anywhere in town my teeth 
are sooooo crooked), and every single paper I’ve ever written, from 
when | was in kindergarten to now. Every report card, every 
certificate, every newspaper article that even mentioned me. My life 
was in that file. 


“Mr. Gears...” | finally started, “W-what is this all about?” 


Mr. Gears just sat there, stoic as always. He said in his typical 
monotone, “You interest us.” 


“|... Lwhat?” 
“You interest us, and we want you in our ranks.” 


“Ranks? Wh-what are you—“ | didn’t get to finish that sentence. | felt 
something in my neck, then the world started to spin around me. 


Before | collapsed, | distinctly heard Mr. Gears saying, “Welcome to 
the Foundation." 


SyFy Channel Presents: BEARMAGGEDON!!! 


Extranormal Event #: 2016-045 

Date of Occurrence: 01/1/2016 

Event Description: From approximately 6:00 pm to 11:00pm a 
broadcast overwrote the regularly scheduled programming for a 
number of television channels with an unknown film. Immediately 
after its release, the film secured a rating of -[REDACTED] on 
Rotten Tomatoes, and multiple individuals attempted to file lawsuits 
against the broadcasting networks for “mind fuckery [sic] and crimes 
against humanity.” 

Follow-up Actions Taken: Visual Class-A amnestics were 
distributed through the use of the Neptune Protocol. All digital 
information pertaining to the film, with the exception of a single copy, 
were expunged by Foundation web crawlers. As per standard 
procedure, the film was shown during the weekly “Super Crappy 
Philm night.” There were no survivors. See Incident Report 
2016-045 for a list of both physical and mental casualties. 


Addendum 2015-045-1: partial recording of the Philm Night 
7:36 pm 


“Alright everyone, hope you got your popcorn ready, cuz 
we got a real doozy tonight! The memetics guys said that 
the D-class tried to lobotomize himself five minutes in. | 
expect you guys to reach at least the 30-minute mark 
with your mind intact. Will be good for dealing with 
contango hazards...or something. Anyway, let’s get 
started! Put on your 3D glasses...Ok now put on another 
pair. Yes, on top of the ones you already have. This shit 
is in 6D motherfuckers! Prepare for pain.” 


[Sound of a television booting up. Scene 
opens with stock footage of pandas. Voiceover 
performed by a man trying and very much 
failing to sound like David Attenborough] “The 


panda, one of the most endangered species 
on the planet. Few survive in the wild, and 
even fewer breed in captivity.Who could have 
driven these innocent creatures to the brink of 
oblivion? [Cut to generic war footage]Man. 
Man drove this catastrophe to occur with-[13 
MINUTES OF SUPERFLUOUS EXPOSITION 
EXPUNGED]. Now, man attempts to fix his 
wrongdoings, but in the process, he will 
destroy all that he holds dear. 


[Sound of multiple Foundation personnel crying can be 
heard in the background and continues for the rest of the 
film]. 


8:00pm 


[A man and a woman are seen talking ina 
laboratory.| 


Woman: “But Doctor Carter, are you sure that 
this...serum? Will work?" 


Dr. Carter: “[Super thick Brittish Accent] Yes 
Ms. Sue, of course | do. This serum will 
increase the breeding capacity of the pandas 
by 1000% percent. And it is completely safe, | 
tested some on my cat and he was completely 
fine.[Though the open window, multiple poorly 
rendered storm clouds slide into view on an 
otherwise completely sunny day]." 


8:10pm 


[Cuts back to a suburban home with Dr. Carter 
and Ms. Sue inside] 


Ms. Sue: “The cure was a complete success 
Doctor! Now we have even more pandas” 


Dr. Carter: “Yes Ms. Jane and | could not 


have done it without your help. Why don’t we 
have sex?" 


Ms. Sue: “Of course.” 


[The two move out of the frame and the 
camera centers on the vial of ‘bear serum’, 
which shakes as multiple hairs begin to grow 
out of the liquid. In the background, a poorly 
animated shadow of a cat begins to grow and 
morph into an ursine shape] 


Cat: 
“ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR” 


8:19pm 


[Doctor Carter and Ms. Sue are seen driving 
down the road, both missing various articles of 
clothing. Ms. Susan is bleeding from multiple 
claw wounds] 


Ms. Sue: “Doctor|, I-l don’t understand. How 
could this have happened?" 


Dr. Carter: “I don’t know. The chemicals must 
have mutated and infected every atom of DNA 
within the body of the cat! W-What could this 
mean?" 


Ms. Sue: “Doctor... I’m not feeling so good. 
Rather... UNBEARABLE 
RRRROOOOAAAARRR.” 


[Dr. Carter screams and swerves off the side 
of the road]. 


8:45pm 


[President Obama is seen sitting at a table 
with other officials. Everyone watches a news 
report showcasing a column of bears engulfing 


the Statue of Liberty.] 


President Obama: “[Turns towards a general] 
| want everything in New York. Army, Navy, 
Airforce. Hell, bring in NASA too! We have to 
stop this thing before it soreads any further.” 


General Bearington: “ROOOOAAAARRR.” 


President Obama: “I knew | could count on 
you General Bearington.” 


9:00pm 


[Dr. Carter is seen standing beside General 
Bearington as both survey a large battlefield. 
Below them, soldiers fight in close quarters 
with the bears. A large grizzly takes a swipe at 
a random trooper, but the blow is unable to cut 
through the man’s heavy armor.] 


General Bearington: “ROOOAAAARRR.” 


Dr. Carter: “Yes Mr. Bearington, the armor | 
designed is working absolutely perfectly. It is 
completely impenetrable to their claws! With 
this we will be victorious in - [scream is heard 
from below] what the?!” 


[A soldier far back from the main line drops his 
gun and nurses his hand in pain. As the gun 
clatters to the ground, a ring of sharp teeth is 
shown to have formed along the handle and 
the metallic finish begins to shift into a brown 
tone. The armor of multiple soldiers starts to 
shudder and grow hair. The gun on the ground 
twists and raises itself up. The newly formed 
bear’s mouth emits a resounding roar] 


9:10pm 


[The president and Dr. Carter are seen 


communicating with each other through a 
video phone. Carter’s connection periodically 
cuts in and out throughout their conversation]. 


Dr. Carter: “It’s no use sir! The chemicals in 
the serum are evolving! Anything it touches 
becomes bears!" 


President Obama: “Hmmm...Becomes 
bears...Wait a moment! | have an idea.” 


[A number of soldiers are seen at the end of a 
bridge, shooting at a line of charging bears. As 
the bears stampede closer, a single soldier 
panics and tries to flee, only to be stopped by 
the hand of a large man with a full beard. He 
pats the shoulder reassuringly before 
wordlessly stepping out in front of the line of 
soldiers and slowly walks towards the bears. A 
few other large men with massive facial hair 
follow. The soldiers call out to them, yelling at 
the men to fall back to cover, but they continue 
to walk, even as a large black bear 
approaches. It lets out a menacing howl and 
claws the face of the first man. Behind them, 
the soldiers gasp and look away. But the man 
barely has a scratch on his face. He simply 
wipes off the blood and smirks as the bear 
looks on, completely dumbfounded as to why 
the man is unturned. ] 


Bearded man: “Heh, fool. We're already 
bears.” 


[Bearded man proceeds to punch the bear off 
of the bridge and into the water below. The 
other men charge into the literal sea of bears. 
The bears panic and flee into the forest. The 
men triumphantly embrace each other and 


share a passionate kiss.] 
9:30pm 


[Dr. Carter, General Bearington, and a number 
of physicians are seen crowding around an 
operating table, examining the corpse of one 
of the bearded men. He has no physical 
injuries, except for copious amounts of dried 
blood around his ears.] 


Technician: “| don’t understand it. They were 
just listening to music on their phones when all 
of them started screaming. How did they die?”