UMBRAL MIGRATORY SEQUENCE 
is not the primary means of achieving 
the Foundation's Prime Directive. Did 
you think we would retreat with our 
tails between our legs? No! Further 
efforts have been developed, and by 
my executive order, Operation: 
DIVINE RUSE has begun. Thoth will 
regret ever glancing down at us from 
his perch in Hell. We'll do what it 
takes to knock him from his throne 


into the real world. 


We no longer merely wish Thoth 
gone. We'll destroy him where he 
stands with a sharpened talon and 
reclaim our mantle, or die trying. May 
Medila have mercy on our souls. 


— Dr Frederick Hoygull, Avian 
Division Head 


The girl in metallic blue boots stretched her arms outwards. She 
shuffled back into the Clark-class NEUROKNOCK armour situated 
by the wall, which was opened for the room to see. Upon contact, 
mechanical sections of a tungsten carbide exoskeleton 
autonomously unfolded from within themselves and climbed from 
her legs upwards. Thick, metallic segments wrapped themselves 
around her torso, while smaller segments snapped onto her arms. 


"Hey, you know something?" she said. 


"| know a few things. I'm not as stupid as | look," said the boy in 
powered armour before her. 


The girl laughed while her own powered armour, now fully 
encompassing her body sans the neck, sealed and pressurized 
itself. "Okay, hold on. We're wearing the same armour. You're not 
saying / look stupid too, are you?" 


The boy stretched. "I take that back. | look stupid, but not nearly as 
stupid as you." 


The girl fidgeted, rotating her wrists and bending her arms back, 
testing their dexterity. "Finally he admits defeat!" she announced to 
the empty room. 


"Listen, the sooner we get out there, the sooner we blow that 


gawking bird gullet and stupid Selachian mug to smithereens. 
Alright, Haruki?" 


“Kay, Jae Jae," said the girl playfully. "That's what Leah calls you, 
isn't it?" 


"Yeah... it doesn't have the same ring to it when you Say it. | think 
you ruined it, honestly." Jaedan slipped on his helmet, the glass of 
which remained open for conversation's sake. 


"You're just saying that because you /ike her. Admit it!" said Haruki, 
slipping on her helmet as well. 


"Teach one of your robots to read minds and you can find out," said 
Jaedan with a wink, before pressing a button on the back of his 
helmet. The glass shot down as the rest of his suit repressurized. 


"Anyway, as | was trying to say before. I'm glad Quinn trusts us to 
go on a mission like this! | can't wait to see the smile on his face 
when he sees what we've done with that Selachian," mused Haruki. 


The pair walked into the next chamber before the door automatically 
closed and sealed behind them. In front of them, another door 
opened, and the room filled with water. 


"Yeah, whatever. Race you to the whale!" said Jaedan before jetting 
off into the large pool of water beyond. 


The bulky 45-meter long blue-grey body of Geegr Kemdulnim the 
Deep One displaced enormous amounts of water as he shot through 
the surface and into the atmosphere. He maintained breathtaking 
spins as he screamed through the clouds. Haruki and Jaedan were 
seated, quadruple-strapped, and then flanked by a roll-cage 
somewhere within his massive blubber. Haruki hadn't gotten used to 
Cetacean flight yet. 


"Calm down, Geegr, you can show off later. We have a job to do!" 
said Haruki. Within her suit (stabilization features notwithstanding), 
she looked like she was going to vomit. 


"Do a flip, GAEGR COUNTER!" said Jaedan; that was his 


new credits, which list every cast and crew member's name as 
‘Youhaven ‘tevenstarted’. 


Addendum: Aside from the clear danger that this SCP poses to the 
security of the Foundation’s records, it clearly has the ability to 
transfer evidence of clearly undiscovered SCPs. As a research tool 
its potential is great, and a qualitative system of testing must be 
established. The careful use of this could be of great benefit to the 
Foundation, but to reiterate: Any media found to contain evidence of 
recognised or potential memetic or Keter-class SCPs must be 
quarantined at once, and no contact with other media based SCPs 
should be attempted with highest level approval. 


« SCP-980 | SCP-981 | SCP-982 » 


affectionate name for Geegr. On cue, Gzeegr began to flip head-over- 
heels—er, head-over-tail. While flipping, he chanted an old Whalish 
folk song. 


After a moment or so, he paused in the clouds. His ramjet sphincters 
kept him hovering in place, while the unobtanium engine implanted 
into his back was purring while idle. "No Selachians in sight. You 
can let go of my handlebars, Haruki," hummed Geegr in a beautiful 
baritone. 


"Wow, Haruki, you're squeezing the life out of those bars," laughed 
Jaedan. "And Geegr hasn't even tried out that new engine you fixed 
for him yet." 


"Oh my god, don't even mention that!" said Haruki sharply. 


"So what's the game plan, huh? Hoygull's going to contact us after 
we punt the Deviant into a deep sleep?" Jaedan was referring to 
WHITE NETHER, otherwise known as the Selachian daemon 
‘Akheilos'. Their plan was to tame Akheilos, the beast they had been 
chasing for months, and turn it against Thoth once and for all. But 
first, they had to find it. 


"No, before we pummel it. He's going to give us the thumbs up. 
The... er, the wings up." 


"What are we calling this thing, anyway? Operation: DIVINE 
RUSE?" Jaedan cleared his throat. "First off, | ain't calling any 
Deviant beast ‘divine’, no matter what happens. What do you think, 
Haruki, should we skip the mission and check out some Selachian 
burgers in the next galaxy over?" 


"Gross! You'd eat that?" Haruki shook her head. "Say, Geegr, do you 
sense the beast nearby? | suppose we can get a head start and 
figure out where this thing is before Hoygull contacts us." While MFT 
CHARYBDIS retained the capacity to detect Selachian threats 
beyond the dimensional barrier, Geegr had natural long-distance 
Selachian finding abilities. These were powered by either his fins, 
Deviant magic, or some strange combination of both. 


Geegr sang. "Selachian's gone away, and there's no need for us to 


stay. Come, my dear brother and sister, let's traverse the skies and 
play!" 


"That's a no, then. Right, Haruki, power up the mouthful-of-a-title 
device. Let's find this freak." 


Haruki pulled the 'FASH' device from an overhead compartment and 
turned it on. Using the FASH, she could find Deviant threats within 
an almost infinite range of the source. 


"Aside from silvery readings down there—I think that's from 
Selachians in the ocean below us—there's... aha! There it is!" On 
cue, the device's display screen showed a small planet illuminated 
by orange indicative of Deviant interference. The readings listed it as 
a few light-years away. A small red annotative text noted that 
WHITE NETHER/Akheilos was nearby, either in or around the 
planet's atmosphere. 


"What's it doing all the way over there?" asked Jaedan. 
"How should | know?" replied Haruki. 


"Shit, do you think it's still mad at us for messing with it last week?" 
asked Jaedan. 


"Most definitely." As the team's tech specialist, Haruki had the 
privilege of understanding all the various systems outfitted within 
Geegr's interior component. She also had the privilege of trying to 
explain what the hell was going on with the devices when they 
failed, which they did regularly. "Okay, can you grab the Tyson Ontic 
Pugnator? You do know how to use that thing, don't you?" 


"Of course. It's not rocket science." Jaedan pulled at the storage 
cupboard to his right. The Tyson Ontic Pugnator, or 'TOP', sprawled 
out in front of him on a telescopic handle. "Co-ordinates?" he asked, 
pretending he knew what the hell he was doing. 


Haruki transmitted co-ordinates from the FASH into the TOP. 
Jaedan gingerly flicked a few switches before eyeing a big blue 
button atop the device. "You ready to blast off, GEGR COUNTER?" 
yelled Jaedan enthusiastically. Geegr moaned deeply. 


Jaedan slammed his armoured palm against the button. In an 
instant, blue energies encircled Geegr. He began to propel himself 
forward before his entire body disappeared with a pop. To any 
spectators, it looked like the great whale fizzled into thin air. Which it 
had. 


Geegr reappeared in deep space. It was dark, with nary a light 
source except for the distant stars of the Milky Way dimly 
illuminating him. As he fully manifested, he was yanked away by the 
spectral tendrils of gravitation. 


Jaedan and Haruki were jolted back in their seats. From a display 
screen, Jaedan noted the twinkling azure glow of the exotic planet 
that Geegr was now orbiting. "That's... oh, wow, it's so pretty. What 
is it?" 


"If | have it right... that's Nibirdu." she said hesitantly. 


"GAEGR COUNTER! How are you feeling, buddy?" exclaimed 
Jaedan. The mass of Cetacean muscle drifted being pulled 
aimlessly by the planetoid's gravity, which was exceptionally strong 
for a celestial object of its size. 


Geegr's only reply was a long moaning sound as he breached the 
planetoid's exosphere. 


And then... 


"Haruki, are you hearing that? What the hell is that?" said Jaedan in 
a low tone. Though there was no way any outside sounds could 
breach Geegr's blubber—especially considering his distance from 
the planet himself—Jaedan experienced a crooning birdsong wash 
over him on the periphery of his senses. He fe/t it more than he 
could hear it. 


Haruki didn't respond. Jaedan glanced over at her and felt a burning 
bittersweet orange aura emanating from her person. "Haruki? Shit, 
Geegr, get us out of here!" 


"We... we were meant to join the flock," murmured Haruki. 


Jaedan could hardly croak a reply as the Avian symphony washed 
over, consuming his senses. 


"If... if the flock left without us... then what's our purpose?" said 
Haruki. 


"Thoth... he will lead us on a vast migration. He... will give us our 
purpose,” said Jaedan, having fallen under the spell as well. 


"He will carry us under his wing?" 


Jaedan shook his head. "He'll carry us in his giant beak." 


Geegr swam through swirling mists of lighter-than-air feathered 
masses. Shimmering distortions in the sky above showered him with 
blue light; beneath him, countless winged forms group in flocks of 
many varieties took formation in the skies. They were singing. 


He sensed something peculiar... the Selachian daemon was nearby. 
But, where? 


From the corner of his eye, a massive form in the shape of a fighter 
jet exited from the clouds, its fins being buffeted by the planet's 
winds. It was moving, and quickly. As soon as Geegr turned, the 
hulking titan slammed into his underbelly at astounding speeds. The 
great Cetacean sharply listed to one side, expelling mist from his 
wake. The whale plummeted quickly, aching with pain. 


Whatever the case was, neither the Selachian nor the Cetacean 
were affected by the birdsong. Akheilos, a large snow-white form 
with pointed fins and a devilish grin, blitzed downwards as Geegr 
continued to fall, deeper into the planetoid's atmosphere. When 
Akheilos caught up, Gzegr activated his unobtanium engine and 
escaped. 


As the two beasts descended quickly through kilometres of bright 


sapphire skies, a shrowd of thousands of bird-humans began to 
converge on the pair. Both beings were quicker than the humanoid 
entities in pursuit of their new prize, but the humanoids had the 
advantage of numbers. An _ otherworldly plane covered in 
breadcrumb, feathered masses, and picturesque monuments lay 
below them. 


While hundreds of humanoids covered Geegr and the birdsong 
continued to course through his being, he began to channel esoteric 
conduits of energy cascading through the cosmos by singing the 
only song he knew would help. 


It was an olden Cetacean hymn in the song-language of Balooga, 
passed down through generations. His father, his father's father 
before him, and the rest of his ancestry had kept the hymn in the 
family since the beginning of time, and now Geegr was moved by the 
theatrics the hymn required of him. 


Even the thousands of bird-people in their midst paused, attentively 
hanging in the air as Geegr glided peacefully. Akheilos paused too, 
though not to listen to the song: he glared at Geegr through the mist 
and began to take on a fiery red tinge. His pectoral fins swelled up, 
ready to launch an attack. 


As the song elapsed, it dawned on Akheilos what its meaning was, 
and a wave of unfamiliar thaumaturgic blue mesmerized him over 
the sounds of thousands of excited chirps and trills. He tried to fight 
it, displacing and even outright destroying the winged forms in his 
midst. And then the song changed, rising in volume, as Geegr put all 
of his might into singing it. 


O, Medila, | give my voice unto your choir. 
O, Medila, divine favour I do require. 
Descend your greeting beak of cerise. 


Descend, sky-maiden, and give us peace. 


A massive crimson portal tore up the skies above, and through it, a 
multitude of dimensions could be seen. A presence patiently waited 
within. It took a primal winged form, vast and undeniably alien, 
bearing a superficial resemblance to the sacred ibis. It was 
Thoth in his true form, watching over his paradise from 
within the Noosphere. The squeals of the hundreds of thousands of 
bird-humans around the two beasts rose to a crescendo as their 
master appeared. 


Akheilos, newly christened with an electric blue glow, turned his 
gaze from Geegr and propelled himself towards Thoth, made anew 
with majestic power. Whether this was otherworldly force or simply 
Deviant magicks was unknown, but there was nobody left to ponder 
this thought. 


Geegr drifted, exhausted, towards the feathered grounds below. His 
world blacked out, the clamouring birdsong being the last thing he 
could feel. 


Then a dull thud echoed across the planet. 


Uncle Jeff 


This thing on? Who am | contacting? 


Don't answer that. | can see your response before it comes out your 
mouth, so save your breath. That's entry-level telepathy for ya - 
you're welcome. 


Anyway, how's it going, little lady? 


Going over your thoughts here. Lots of thoughts, too. Coherent 
ones, mostly. You're not too dumb, are ya? That's where we're 
different, | guess. 


That's your name? Penny? Well, it's catchy, I'll give it that. You 
might want to go with a nickname though. ...let's say "Crusher." It's 
aggressive, it's go-gettin’, it keeps people from taking advantage of 
you. 


Alright. If this is freakin’ you out, and you think you're gonna spend 
the next week in a mental ward trying to forget this, I'll shut up and 
leave your head, no questions asked. But if you're curious, | can 
keep going. 


Don't answer that. 
...I'll take that as a yes. 


First off, my name's... let's say "Jeff". I'm your creepy uncle. If we're 

being specific, I'm the whole Universe's creepy uncle. Don't read into 
it that much. Fifth rule of telepathy - there's no language, no context. 
It's all in the perception. No matter how specific | can make it, you're 

going to see it in terms you're comfortable with. 


Alright, Crusher. I'm talking to you because | know your life's going 
in the shitter. Those are some nasty memories I'm seeing. 


Don't look at my memories. Not for my sake, yours. Let's just say 


people like me live our lives on about 500% the emotional intensity 
of your own. Price of omnipotence, | guess. But I've lived for a long, 
long time, and | like to think | Know a thing or two about how to avoid 
making the mistakes I've made. 


If any of this is unsolicited, interrupt me and I'll understand.