"PRIORITY 2 ALERT - Automated Notification: Site 8 
communications lost." 


Something on the edge of panic began to creep into Johnson's 
veins, but he could only stare at the monitors as more and more 
reports rolled in. 


"PRIORITY 2 ALERT - Automated Notification: Site 3 
communications lost." 


"PRIORITY 2 ALERT - Automated Notification: Site 38 
communications lost." 


"PRIORITY 1 ALERT - Automated Notification: Site 26 on-site 
warhead detonated." 


"PRIORITY 1 ALERT - Automated Notification: Site 21 on-site 
warhead detonated." 


Now, fragments of inter-site communications were pouring in from 
secondary channels as well, dutifully recorded by the OP's data 
harvester and filed away in the post's repository. 


"-Security to Section 5, massive breach coming from-" 
"-us out of here... Oh God, they're coming through the wa-" 
"-blow it; we're all dead, we're all fucking d-" 


As the alert notifications overflowed the monitors, however, a single 
message popped up above his main console, overriding the primary 
monitors. 


"O5 ALERT - All observation posts: Immediate, initiate Protocol 
XK-0272/A." 


Even as the message popped up, a hidden console in the wall 
opened, a red keypad with a keyed lock, looking all the world like the 
Big Red Button in a bad science fiction movie. In a cold sweat, 
Johnson stood up and pulled the thin folder from the back of his 
cabinet, a dusty manila file, red taped and with the ominous protocol 
designation across the front. Breaking the seal and taking out the 
single page of instructions, Johnson sat down and began reading. 


PROTOCOL XK-0272/A 


In case of irrecoverable [DATA EXPUNGED], all 
Observation Posts must observe Action XK-0272. 


Due to possible compromise of primary staff and 
researchers, all triggering mechanisms for Action 
XK-0272 are routed to OP consoles. 


ACTION XK-0272 


In case of [DATA EXPUNGED], priority of Foundation 
personnel is to eliminate infection vectors for [DATA 
EXPUNGED]. This necessitates the termination of all 
nonessential Foundation staff and assets, and 
elimination of all major worldwide population centers in 
preparation for [DATA EXPUNGED]. 


Upon confirmation of destruct code from requisite 
majority of OP posts, on-site warheads and sleeper 
warheads at all Foundation sites and world population 
centers will be detonated, by which the infection of 
[DATA EXPUNGED] may be halted and human re- 
population possible. 


Was this possible? Agent Johnson collapsed into his chair, frozen in 
disbelief, both at the instructions on his table and the constant 
stream of communications being routed through his post. Even as 
his mind reeled from the revelation, the status indicators of 
countless sites and task forces flickered off as, one by one, they 
succumbed to whatever cosmic horror had broken loose. 


Was this the only way? Was there any possibility of avoiding this? 


What if there were survivors holding out in the cities? How could 
they expect him to do this? The keypad on the wall seemed to leer 
at him, taunting him, daring him to end the world. 


Agent Johnson sat for nearly an hour, watching as the world he 
knew disappeared from his monitors, before finally standing up and 
walking stiffly to the keypad. There was nothing left, he told himself. 
There was nothing left to save, nothing left to mourn. The key from 
around his neck went into the lock, and his personal pass code went 
into the pad. 


"To sleep, perchance to dream," he muttered, and twisted the key. 
Document 0272/A-T/0131: 
To Dr. 


Pursuant to your inquiry dated [DATA EXPUNGED}], here 
are the results of the 8/3/0 experiment. Out of a total 
Observation Posts subjected to the test, only OPs were 
able and willing to carry out the pre-assigned task. 


While this is alarming, it is not necessarily unexpected. 
Being assigned to an OP is seen as a dead-end 
assignment. These people are not properly trained or 
conditioned to be able to deal with a real XK-class end- 
of-the-world scenario. If we really want to be able to use 
the 0272/A system as a fail-safe, then we'll have to figure 
this out. 


Most of the personnel involved have been given Class A 
amnestics and sent back to work, but many had to be re- 
assigned or removed from duty. | believe two also 
committed suicide. 


In summary: The test was well within expected 
parameters. We'll work on increasing the effectiveness of 
the fail-safe in the future. 


Sincerely, 
Dr. 


To What Purpose an Invasion? 


Why would an HE attempt to invade the planet Earth? More to the 
point, what reason would an HE have to make itself an HE? This 
question may seem overly philosophical and speculative, but it is 
important for the focus of Project Heimdall. Would it be for access to 
natural resources, either biological or mineral? Would they come to 
take us all as slaves? Would they just like to displace us and move 
in? For the reasons that will be brought up in this report, the answer 
to all of these is a resounding "No." 


First, we will discuss a few basics of biochemistry as it pertains to 
exobiology. It is generally agreed upon that life as we know it tends 
to adapt to its own unique environment and, in turn, modifies its 
environment to suit its own needs. The most noteworthy example of 
this principle is oxygen. This chemical is absolutely necessary for life 
as we know it, not only being present in our proteins and cell 
membranes and DNA, but in life's universal solvent, water. Without 
oxygen, it's clear that life simply could not exist. But one form of 
oxygen used to be highly toxic to all life on Earth. This form consists 
of two oxygen atoms linked together by two covalent bonds. Inside a 
living system, this chemical oxidized its life-sustaining mechanisms 
to the point that they could not function at all. 


During the Precambrian Period, a mass extinction event occurred 
that we now call the Oxygen Catastrophe. At that time, some 
bacteria managed to develop a way to use solar radiation to 
transform water and carbon dioxide into metabolizable sugars and 
oxygen molecules. This was a very effective strategy which gave 
them plenty of food and a deadly byproduct that kept predatory 
bacteria from eating them. As these photosynthetic bacteria became 
more plentiful, they transformed even more water and carbon 
dioxide into oxygen until the chemical was present in most of the 
oceans and atmosphere. Many living things died. But a few, 
including our direct ancestors, survived by developing biochemical 
strategies to fight the destructive effects of free oxygen and even 


managed to find a way to use those effects to generate energy. 
Because of this, almost all life now present on Earth is able to 
withstand and thrive in an oxygenated environment. 


Let us now look at another pair of chemicals that are ubiquitous to 
life as we know it: Carbon and nitrogen. Once again, these 
chemicals are present everywhere and interact with one another 
make life possible. But one interaction of carbon and nitrogen is 
highly toxic in the vast majority of cases. This is a simple negatively 
charged ion consisting of a carbon atom and a nitrogen atom linked 
by three covalent bonds, commonly known as cyanide. Ironically, 
cyanide ions are mostly hazardous to life forms that thrive on 
oxygen, by interfering with the biochemical pathways that transform 
the energy locked up in oxygen atoms into usable energy. It is easy 
to imagine a hypothetical alien planet saturated with cyanide where 
life learned to thrive on this, just like our distant ancestors learned to 
thrive in the presence of oxygen molecules. 


And this brings us to the point: That life that developed on two 
separate planets with no interaction at all would end up 
biochemically incompatible, even at the most basic level, even if 
they were built from exactly the same chemical building blocks in 
exactly the same proportions. 


This means that an HE would not choose to invade Earth to eat 
either us or any other life on the planet. In all likelihood, terrestrial 
life would simply be too toxic to ingest. We can at least rest assured, 
now that we will not be on the menu if something chooses to invade. 
Nor should we concern ourselves with the possibility that the HE 
might choose to take our place on a planet that would be far too 
poisonous to even touch. It would be the equivalent of murdering a 
group of innocents for the privilege of living inside of a tank of 
cyanide. 


But should we worry about being enslaved by the HE? Once again, 
biochemistry provides part of the answer to this question. There 
would be no purpose to transport humans back to the HE's 
equivalent of home. These slaves would require a specialized 
environment and a unique diet that is incompatible with anything that 
exists on their homeworld. Land would have to be extensively 
terraformed in order to support our sources of food, thereby 


removing land that could otherwise be applied to other purposes by 
the HE. 


The practicality of such an endeavour is brought further into 
question when looking at the resources required to do such a thing. 
Besides those needed to sustain the slave race after the invasion, 
the HE would have to accumulate resources sufficient, not only to 
subdue Earth's military forces, but to transport such military might to 
Earth in the first place. Let us set aside the force needed to conquer 
Earth and simply consider transportation: 


The laws of physics allow low-energy methods of transportation 
between planets and stars. These methods, however, are slow, 
potentially taking hundreds or even thousands of years. Much can 
happen during this intervening time. The target might advance 
scientifically to the point where they can easily fight back against the 
force sent by the HE. Or they might become so populous that they 
can quickly collect the resources needed to defeat the invading force 
with minimal effort on the part of each member of the target species. 
Or they might simply go extinct, either through their own actions, or 
by some other event, thereby nullifying the intended purpose of the 
invasion. 


Theoretical physics does provide certain loopholes that can allow 
much quicker travel to a target location. So far, though, all of these 
theoretical methods of transportation require vast amounts of energy 
in order to become feasible. The minimal energy requirements 
would be equivalent to converting the mass of an entire star into 
energy. A civilization capable of doing such a thing would have no 
use for a slave race. It is clear that there would be no reason to use 
such incomprehensible energies to obtain slaves or servants who, 
because of their biological requirements, would be more trouble than 
they are worth. 


What of mineral or other chemical resources? When we look at our 
own solar system, we see numerous planets and moons and 
countless smaller astronomical bodies which have the exact same 
resources that we can find on the Earth, sometimes in quantities that 
put what we have here to shame. There are even some resources 
that can not even be found on Earth in any usable proportions, such 
as iridium. To put things bluntly, there are enough resources close- 


by that there would be no point to traveling farther for them. Were it 
more practical to travel to another star for your resources, for 
whatever strange reason, it would be easier to mine an uninhabited 
moon rather than invade a populated world and subdue its 
population in order to take their resources. Recent findings in 
mainstream exoplanet research have shown that at least half of all 
stars have planets orbiting them. When combined with the most 
liberal possible result of Drake's Equation, wherein the nearest likely 
alien civilization would be located hundreds or thousands of light 
years away, it is evident that there are enough resources between 
us and them that we are likely to be spared an invasion for this 
reason. 


What purpose, then, would the HE have to invade Earth? With all of 
these other scenarios being unfeasible, there is only one reason that 
an HE would attack: Complete extermination. The human race 
would be considered a potential threat by the HE, either in its current 
state, or as extrapolated by our current paths of development. 


If this is the case, it would stand to reason that the HE would use 
methods that have a high chance of success, with little consideration 
for collateral damage. Such methods may include a universal 
pathogen that is able to infect and destroy any and all humans, 
application of the Grey Goo scenario, or even the outright 
destruction of the Earth. Therefore, it is this researcher's opinion that 
there is little reason to focus on military, sociological, or economic 
attacks, as these all have varying degrees of risk inherent in their 
very natures and furthermore would do little to aid in the goal of 
extermination. Instead, the attack would be more covert and may not 
even be recognized as extraterrestrial in origin, rather being 
assumed to be a natural event or the result of an SCP's anomalous 
effects. 


This means that the best thing that we can do is what we are doing 
right now. Secure, Contain, and Protect. It may very well be that 
some items currently in our custody may be the tool that the HE had 
intended for our destruction and that we have already foiled their 
plans without even realizing. 


Another prudent course of action may be to invest in research into 
interplanetary and eventually interstellar travel. If we should go forth 


Note: | still wish I'd never heard about that bear, it gives me the 
creeps... 


Subject: Junior Researcher Hertz 

Photographed Activity: Trimming beard in men's lavatory. 
Photo Result: Subject, now with a comparatively larger beard, is 
seen kneeling over a large bronze-colored pot, whose unseen 
contents are copiously steaming. Subject is barefoot and clothed in 
what appear to be the Israelite priestly garments. Behind him is a 
low wall overlooking a small desert city. A number of similarly 
dressed individuals are also visible. 

Note: / was just looking at the brazen sea? No qorbanot or 
anything? That's disappointing, but I'll take what | can get! —J. 
Researcher Hertz 


Subject: Dr. Clef (again) 

Photographed Activity: Speaking to Prof. Kain about various 
Keter-Class SCPs. (Prof. Kain is not visible) 

Photo Result: Dr. Clef piloting a large mechanical suit of armour to 
fight SCP-682. 

Note: Suit was later identified by Dr. Clef as a Global Occult 
Coalition UHEC, or "Orange Suit". 


Discreet Testing with Unaffiliated Individuals 


Subject: William Shatner 

Photographed Activity: Speaking during a panel discussion at 
Comic-Con. 

Photo Result: Entire scene has changed. On the bridge of the 
STOS Enterprise, wearing the appropriate Starfleet captain's 
uniform and apparently issuing instructions. Most of the STOS 
bridge crew are there at their assigned stations as well. The bridge 
computer systems appear much more modern than is recorded in 
the episodes. 

Note: Honestly, who wouldn't want this? —Researcher 


Subject: Rupert Grint 
Photographed Activity: Distributing free ice cream to children. 
Photo Result: Unchanged. 


and multiply, a single attack on a single world, no matter how large- 
scale the attack may be, would not cause our outright extinction. In 
effect, we would have a backup or multiple backups. And, should we 
be successful in such an endeavour, we may even have a chance at 
becoming the HE ourselves. 


Too Drunk To Be Merry 


Dietrich sat on the edge of the boat dock, setting down the last few 
from his six pack next to him. It was just above freezing as the mirror 
surface of the lake reflected the cold spacey sky. Merle leaned 
under the amber flood light as he waited for an answer. 


"| don't know ."