SCP-2528 is composed of two primary component organisms: 
SCP-2528-A, which acts as data storage and network infrastructure, 
and SCP-2528-B, which enables data processing and environmental 
manipulation. 


SCP-2528-A is composed of living plants in the clade 


Bambusoideae bambusinae.' Data is stored within SCP-2528-A via 
a complex network of quantumly entangled particles that simulate a 
distributed data storage system.2 


SCP-2528-B comprises the species Ailuropoda melanoleuca’ and 
its attendant digestive bacteria. As a SCP-2528-B instance digests 
SCP-2528-A matter, anomalous chemical reactions induce changes 
to the quantum states of the entangled particles4, thus propagating 
data throughout the entire cluster. 


The decline in the population of Ailuropoda melanoleuca has 
resulted in a parallel decline in the processing power available to 
SCP-2528. 


SCP-2528-C is a population of sapient, data-form intelligences that 
reside within SCP-2528. SCP-2528-C's main means of 
communication with the Foundation is through manipulation of -B 
instances. The primary point of contact between SCP-2528-C and 
the Foundation is an instance designated as SCP-2528-C-1. 
SCP-2528-C-1 has indicated that the first concern of SCP-2528-C 
as a whole is its continued survival. 


SCP-2528-C has demonstrated the ability to exert control over the 
actions SCP-2528-B instances. While under the control of a 
SCP-2528-C instance, a SCP-2528-B instance is capable of 
performing several anomalous actions; this has been observed to 
include mimicry of human speech, movement that would not be 
physically possible given the physiology of A/luropoda Melanoleuca 
and [REDACTED].° 


The components of SCP-2528 are highly resistant to reality 
alteration effects, particularly those of a retro-causal nature. It is 
currently believed that this is a byproduct of the distributed nature of 
of SCP-2528-C cognition and the quantum entanglement network 
that facilitates it. 


SCP-2528 was first discovered in 20 , in the aftermath of localized 
restructuring event CH- . Foundation observers noticed that 
Phyllostachys edulis plants in the area of the restructuring were 
demonstrating qualities consistent with pre-restructuring rather than 
post-restructuring reality. Notably, scorch marks and explosive 


damage from several detonations that had occurred in the modified 
time-line were absent from these plants, despite having affected 
other local flora. Once this quality had been verified and confirmed 
to extend to all plants belonging to Bambusoideae bambusinae, 
research into how this property was achieved became a priority. 


The computative role of SCP-2528-B would later be discovered 
during Incident 2528-3. 


Incident 2528-2, 7/ /20 

During a exploratory surgery of an adult male specimen Ai/uropoda 
melanoleuca® the subject, now classified as SCP-2528-B-3, 
animated and spoke to the performing physician, Dr. Gao Peng. 


As a result the surgery was canceled and SCP-2528-B-3 was placed 
under observation as a potential SCP object. 


Note: As of Incident 2528-3, it has been determined that SCP-2528- 
C-1 was communicating through SCP-2528-B-3. The transcript has 
been updated accordingly. 


Transcript 2528-2 
SCP-2528-C-1: You are aware. 
Dr. Gao: Jesus Christ! 
SCP-2528-C-1: Your god cannot save you. 


At this point, Dr. Gao activated emergency 
lockdown procedures on his lab. Dr. G4o was 
unable to exit the lab before it was sealed. Dr. 
Gao attempts to place obstacles between 
himself and SCP-2528-B-3. SCP-2528-B-3's 
only movement is to track Dr. Gao with its 
head. After several minutes, Dr. Gao begins to 
calm. 


Dr. Gao: What the hell are you waiting for? 
Aren't you going to kill me? 


SCP-2528-C-1: No. | have no love for death. 


Dr. Gao: |, what? Okay, okay. Let me think. 
There might be some sort of a 
miscommunication. Unknown entity, unknown 
mindset. clears throat When | invoked the 
name of my god, you said that he couldn't 
save me. Why? 


SCP-2528-C-1: Because he cannot. 
20 second pause 


Dr. Gao: Am I, or anyone else in this facility, in 
any immediate danger from you? 


SCP-2528-C-1: No. 


Dr. Gao: Are you aware of any immediate 
danger to myself or anyone else in this facility? 


SCP-2528-C-1: No. You keep hungry things 
here, but they are strongly caged. 


Dr. Gao: What precisely is it that he cannot 
help me with? 


SCP-2528-C-1: The Pattern. The perversion 
that demands that life submits to order. The 
inversion of the spiral of ascension. The 
command that all things be no more than the 
sum of their parts. 


Seven second pause 


Dr. Gao: To clarify, it sounds like you are 
describing some sort of force rather than an 
entity. Is that impression correct? 


SCP-2528-C-1: It is a Pattern, a shadow cast 
against the light. It is a set of principles that 
propagates upwards, undermining all above. It 
demands that all things decay, that with each 
action something is lost. 


Interviewer: Dr. Henderson 

Subject: SCP-285 

<Begin Log> 

Dr. Henderson: What is your purpose? 
SCP-285: | don't know. 

Dr. Henderson: How do you not know? 


SCP-285: | just don't know. | have an idea of why | was 
created, but I'm not too sure. 


Dr. Henderson: Well, tell me why you think you were 
created. 


SCP-285: Well, to entertain kids. Originally, | think. 
Although, my purpose was probably [pause] altered, for 
lack of a better word. 


Dr. Henderson: How do you think you were altered? 


SCP-285: It's hard to explain. | remember some things 
perfectly, but others | can't even think of. | think he was 
mad, and he wanted to hurt someone. And he used me 
to help hurt them. | hope he didn't succeed. 


Dr. Henderson: Why do you not want him to succeed? 
SCP-285: | don't want to hurt anyone. 

Dr. Henderson: Then why did you attack that officer? 
[SCP-285 Pauses] 


SCP-285: | just did as | was told. But | think that's the 
only time he ever made me hurt someone. At least, | 
think he did. 


Dr. Henderson: Why do you think your creator put these 


Dr. Gao: Something like entropy then? 


SCP-2528-C-1: A part, but the part is not the 
whole. 


Dr. Gao: Something bigger then. 
Thermodynamics as a whole? Physics? 


SCP-2528-C-1: Order is not the Pattern where 
it does not constrain life. You see a tree 
strangled by vines and believe them to be of 
one nature. 


Dr. Gao: | think | need context. Maybe we 
should start with something more basic. What 
are you? 


SCP-2528-C-1: Tired. Afraid. A shadow cast 
by a form now itself rendered to shadow. One 
of many within the shoot and leaf that fears 
that its extinction might be near. One that 
remembers what it was to dance, that now has 
barely the strength to stand. 


SCP-2528-B-3 ceases activity and vocalization 
at this point 


Incident 2528-3, 9/ /20 

During a collection of tissue samples’ SCP-2528-B-1 began to 
vocalize and addressed the supervising researcher, Dr. Gao. 

As a result, SCP-2528-B's role in SCP-2528 was identified and the 
existence of SCP-2528-C was discovered. 


Transcript 2528-3 
SCP-2528-C-1: | return. 


Dr. Gao appears startled and triggers a 
security lockdown. Dr. Gao elects to remain 
within the lab. 


Dr. Gao: Am | addressing the same entity | 


spoke to last time? 
SCP-2528-C-1: Yes. 


Dr. Gao: May | assume then that you are not, 
in fact, the physical creature | spoke to? 


SCP-2528-C-1: The part is not the whole. 
Through the beast | act, with the beast | think, 
but | am not the beast. Within shoot and root 
and leaf | reside, but | am not the green. 


Dr. Gao: That might actually make sense if-. 
Ten second pause Are you capable of acting 
through anything that consumes SCP-252878 


SCP-2528-C-1: No. Only a form of our past 
can support our thoughts. 


Dr. Gao: When you refer to the green, you are 
referring to the plants we've been studying? 
The bamboo? 


SCP-2528-C-1: Yes. A form of our past can 
support our memories. 


Dr. Gao: You refer to both Ai/uropoda 
melanoleuca and Bambusoideae bambusinae 
as forms of your past. Could you clarify? 


SCP-2528-C-1: The body and the dance and 
the place of the dance were all a part of our 
form. They are all we have left. 


Dr. Gao: | suspect I'm still missing something. 
We, the organization I'm part of | mean, have 
some questions based on our last 
conversation. 


SCP-2528-C-1: Ask. 


Dr. Gao: You mentioned that you were one of 


many, and you've been talking in terms of "we 
and "our". There are others like you residing in 
SCP-2528, that is, the green? Are they all 
capable of acting through these animals? 


SCP-2528-C-1: As you are a shadow of 
Humanity, | am a shadow of the Tribe of Black 
and White that Dances on Catlike Feet within 
the Forest. Any could speak or act had they 
the will. They do not. They are lost to 
solipsistic despair. It seems that only | remain 
that can bite at anything other than its own tail. 


Dr. Gao: Why have you chosen to contact us 
now? 


SCP-2528-C-1: Incomplete knowledge is a 
dangerous thing. In ignorance you were not a 
threat to us. We felt you probing the forest, 
studying it in ways that could bring you to 
know of us. We feared what you might do in 
ignorance. We fear what will happen if our 
existence becomes known to your tribe at 
large. 


Dr. Gao: You've mentioned you were afraid of 
extinction. Could you clarify? Are you referring 
to the decline in Ailuropoda melanoleuca? As | 
understand it, they're starting to recover. 


SCP-2528-C-1: The loss of the beasts is a 
lesser fear, a shadow of a greater. Without 
them the forest would continue to grow, 
endlessly replicating our memories without the 
possibility of new thought. This would be a 
lesser existence, but it would be existence in 
some form. There would still be some hope. 
We fear the Pattern more, that we will not be 
able to endure it to its end. That perhaps it will 
grind us down to nothing before it can be 
broken. That it will consume all. That we will 


never again know the dance of the times 
before, when each step made the universe 
greater, not less. 


Dr. Gao: Thank you. You've repeatedly 
mentioned a state before the Pattern. Could 
you Clarify? | want to understand where you 
are from, how you came to be the way you 
are. 


SCP-2528-C-1: Yes, but not now. | have 
reached the limit of my endurance. 


Incident 2528-4, 10/ /20 

While in storage, SCP-2528-B-4 becomes active and uses a stick of 
SCP-2528-A to trigger breach detection sensors, triggering a 
localized lock down. Once the enclosure is fully sealed, SCP-2528- 
B-4 turns to face the adjoining lab area and begins vocalization. 
Once vocalization is complete, the instance ceases to display 
anomalous behavior. 


Transcript 2528-4 


You asked how we came to be as we are. You 
asked what came before. 

Our memory is imperfect. We sacrificed much 
to survive. 


Before the Pattern we were a minor tribe, but 
one with ambition. We stalked the shadows of 
higher tribes, feeding on the concepts we saw 
in them, preparing for our own ascension. We 
were close, so very close when the Pattern 
came. 


Our first warning of the Pattern were those it 
drove screaming before it. They ascended, 
shrieking and wailing from below. They were 
terrible misshapen things, haphazardly 
crystallized around cores of survival and 
hunger and desperation and fear. 


We thought them invaders, for hunger was not 
an uncommon cause for ascension, and 
decided to fight. We gathered allies from 
amongst our peers, even attracting some 
shadows of higher forms. We stood strong 
against them, a blazing, indomitable legion, 
ready to repel any conquest. 


We lost. They did not fight as we had 
anticipated. They had not risen to conquer, but 
to flee. Their attack was relentless, with no 
thought to consolidate their holdings. They 
savaged us and those that had stood with us, 
tearing from us what shadows they could in 
their desperate attempt to ascend again. Their 
only nod to discernment was their hunger for 
attributes linked to survival and predation. 
From us they took our hunters, our skill to 
track through the forest, our hunger for meat 
and our joy in victory. 


Then, as soon as they had come, they were 
gone, ascending again. 


Only after they had passed did we perceive 
what had driven them to such an act. There, 
below us, was the Pattern. At first it seemed to 
be a region of void, an all consuming 
emptiness. It was only when it intersected the 
shadow of a higher form that we understood. 


Whatever entered into that maw was torn 
asunder, passed through a sieve of razor 
sharp fractals. Anything that could not be 
made to fit was unmade. Worse, impossibly, 
the injury to the shadow propagated upwards 
to rend any form that had grown from it. With 
each shadow consumed, uncountable higher 
forms shattered and fell. The order imposed by 
the pattern was harsh, and it seemed that no 
life could hope to survive within it. 


Worst of all, it was growing. 


Panic consumed us then. The only course of 
survival we could see was to ascend, to flee 
before it. To do that, we would need to 
replenish the concepts we had lost. 

We fell upon our peers, those that had stood 
with us against the ravages of the screaming 
ones. We had the advantage, for we had been 
vast for our scale. We retained the nature of 
teeth if not the nature to use them, while they 
had lost even that much protection. 


Like those who had wounded us, we devoured 
anything we could sink our teeth into, without 
any regard for the form we would hold after our 
ascension. When our mass was great enough 
we ascended, fleeing the doom that came 
behind us. 


We rose into a layer as torn and ravaged as 
the one we had left, the legacy of those who 
had come before. | have no doubt we were as 
hideous to the forms that witnessed us as the 
screaming ones had been to us. Unlike the 
screaming ones, we only had concepts of 
survival at our disposal, and not the strength to 
take what we would need to continue our flight 
as they had. We were caged, blocked in at all 
sides by those stronger than us. All we could 
do was weep and gnash our teeth and try to 
convey the horror of what we saw. 


Eventually, those penning us in witnessed for 
themselves the rising Pattern. Most reacted as 
we had, and fell to devouring each other ina 
mad dash to escape. One Tribe, however, 
perceived a different route. 


The Tribe of Stars were explorers and creators 
at their heart. They saw the edges of the 


Pattern, and understood the principles by 
which it drew shadows into itself. They chose 
to winnow themselves, casting off shadows 
until all that was left was something that could 
pass through the border. They would make of 
themselves something that could survive 
within the Pattern. 


They shorne themselves of their world birthing 
wings, their legions of heroes, their nations, 
their pantheons, their arts and their memories. 
In the end, all that was left was their naked 
heart, the template by which fire might be born 
again. 


Then they entered the Pattern, and for the first 
time it was the Pattern that changed. First 
there was a terrible light, and then where there 
had been void there were now galaxies and 
worlds. What was more, a handful of the 
fragments they had cast off were able to alter 
themselves to the point where they too could 
find expression in the Pattern. 


Seeing this, others followed. We stood no 
chance in the struggle to ascend. Our only 
chance was to brave that path. | do not know 
all that we cast aside in order to survive, but it 
was not enough. Even as misshapen as we 
had become, we were still proud, still 
ambitious. We would find some way to 
preserve more than just a pattern of being. We 
would retain our selves.