Baltimore: That's something else I've 
been thinking about. It may not have 
been an attack. 


Adelaide: What do you mean? 


Baltimore: Look at it this way: it, uh, 
doubles us. It's a perfect copy. It 
thinks it's us. It's 2230 hours, it's 
tired, it goes back to our quarters, 
just as | did earlier. Or you did later. 
Maybe it wasn't coming to attack us. 
It's just coming home to get some 
rest. 


Adelaide: |\'d never thought of that. 
And it fought. Just like we would...or 
did. 


Baltimore: Right. 


Adelaide: That's consistent. It fits. But 
what about Nancy Y___. Something 
happened to her, didn't it. Something 
not so innocent. 


Baltimore: Not necessarily. What if... 
what if there never was an original 
ry; 


Adelaide: My God. 
Baltimore: |In which case... 
Adelaide: In which case... 


Baltimore: In which case, there was 
no murder, no foul play. It started off 
as her. That's...wow...what a 
thought. Anyway. We can spin this all 
day long. I've had enough for today... 
chess? 


Adelaide: Chess? 


Baltimore Yes, chess. The game of 
chess? As opposed to the musical? 


Adelaide: (chuckles)...they don't 
seem to have provided us with a 
board. 


Baltimore: Blindfold, then. 


Adelaide: ... | guess so... | guess 
why not. Let me sit down. OK. e4 


Baltimore: e5, then. 
Adelaide: f4. 


Baltimore: King's gambit? 
Provocative. Do you want to steer us 
towards the Muzio gambit? I'd say 
that'd make for ... 


Adelaide: Play, don't talk. 


Baltimore: Pawn takes pawn. Keep 
your shirt on. 


note SCP-2054 Adelaide/Baltimore 
played over a thousand matches, 
drawing two-thirds of the time. The 
remaining wins were evenly split. 


Adelaide: How are... how are you 
holding up. To the interrogations. 


Baltimore: Better than you. Better 
than you. What about you? 


Adelaide: My advocate says...never 
mind. 


Baltimore: What does he say? 


Adelaide: He says...he said that it's 
the only way to exonerate me. Or us. 
Or whatever. Otherwise we'll be 
permanently confined. 


Baltimore: He's got a hell of a sense 
of a humor. 


Adelaide: "Rosencrantz"? 
Baltimore: Yes, "Guildenstern"? 


Adelaide: They'll never let us out of 
here. 


Baltimore: | Know... | Know...we both 
know. Did you have the dream 
again? 


Adelaide: Not recently. 


Baltimore: | did, last night. There was 
something new. | was torturing you, 
you wept, | was ashamed, but this 
time... 


Adelaide: this time what? 
Baltimore: You whispered to me. 
Adelaide: Whispered what? 


Baltimore: ...you whispered "I forgive 
you." 


Adelaide: Well, for the record, | don't. 


Baltimore: Well, for the record, | 


have. | forgive you. You can't help 
what you are. Anymore than | can 
help it. 


Adelaide: ... are you having a 
sentimental spasm? 


Baltimore: (laughs) Perhaps. 
Adelaide: Exercise is up tomorrow. 


Baltimore: | wish we could see the 
sky. 


+ [procedure 221-Crenshaw] 


Unavailable pending a review of redaction procedures 
by the Committee 


+ [procedure 622-Atlantic] 


Unavailable pending a review of redaction procedures 
by the Committee 


Unclassified Experimentation/Interrogation Methodology: 
+ [open methodology] 
A list of inconclusive tests performed: 


Medical examinations have included such tests as fMRI, 
PET and CAT scan, spinal infusion, Van Slack 
determination, cellular mitotic assay, genomic analysis, 
and dendrite differential reaction. 


Physical examinations have included such tests as 
differential spectroscopy, iNFR meson decay probing, 
deBroglie interference defraction, molecular 
recombination, matter/antimatter pair-production 
analysis, and gravitational and inertial mass discrepancy. 


Psychological examinations have included such tests as 


Rorschach, MMPI, Bender-Gestal, recall of random word 
lists, reaction times to random stimuli, reaction times to 
negative stimuli, and pain threshold. Much of this 
methodology was borrowed by the differential diagnosis 
used in the case of Dissociative Identity Disorder 
(formerly, Multiple Personality Disorder). While initially a 
seemingly promising line of inquiry, it proved as 
inconclusive as the others. 


Note: Graduated interrogation techniques were only 
approved with the consent of the Ethics Committee, as 
per their 1997 directive AE-229.11 


Prior to resorting to procedures 622-Atlantic and 221- 
Crenshaw, conventional techniques were employed, 
such as polygraph, truth drugs, rapport-building, Reid 
technique, friend-or-foe, pride-and-ego-down, deliriants, 
isolation, threats of harm, etc. All were unsuccessful in 
distinguishing between Dr. F and the double. 
Additional testing with SCP- andSCP- were equally 
unsuccessful. 


A containment breach was faked and security was 
withdrawn in order to observe how the pair might react 
and whether one of them would try to escape. Both 
made their way to their respective evacuation stations 
where they surrendered to security without incident. 


At various times, interrogation measures have been 
relaxed in order to allow the putative original to formulate 
his own avenues of research. It can be assumed that he 
was strongly motivated. 


SCP-2054 Adelaide/Baltimore have at times been 
interrogated jointly. At others times, either one of the two 
was permitted to observe the interrogation of the other, 
and to suggest lines of questioning. 


Over time, various confessions were extracted from each 
of them, but none that were dispositive, and none that 


provided any incontrovertible proof. 


Note: The only difference between their official 
testimonies has been the account they gave of the initial 
encounter with the double. SCP-2054/Adelaide 
described it as being a diffuse, translucent, light emitting 
body. SCP-2054/Baltimore maintained that it had already 
assumed his appearance, perhaps attempting to shock 
him and thereby gain the advantage. No meaningful 
avenues of research, however, have been suggested by 
this discrepancy. 


Addendum: Due to the effects of the situation on staff morale, 
amnestics were approved and prescribed to Dr. F __'s colleagues. 
The cover story was released that Dr. F was KIA. 


In 2014, either SCP-2054 or Dr. F committed suicide in 
quarantine during an unrelated containment breach. Autopsy results 
provided nothing definitive. The survivor has since been placed on 
suicide watch. Interrogation has been suspended indefinitely, given 
the impossibility of conclusively determining the identity of the 
authentic Dr.F —_. At such time as the survivor expires, Dr. F 

will become eligible for the Thaumiel medal of honor. 


Footnotes 

1. A psychiatric case study concerning an experiment on a group of 
three paranoid schizophrenic patients, each of whom believed 
himself to be Christ. The patients were made to confront each other, 
ultimately resulting in one of them recovering 


« SCP-2053 | SCP-2054 | SCP-2055 » 


SCP-2055: Voir Dire 


Item #: SCP-2055 
Object Class: Keter 


Special Containment Procedures: Best practice in relation to 
SCP-2055 is currently limited to constant monitoring of key 
personnel and the suppression of public knowledge. All Class A and 
Class B personnel, as well as key civilian figures, should be subject 
to constant automated remote surveillance using approved protocol 
D-11 for intelligent remote monitoring systems. 


Recording and alarms should be triggered in response to observed 
individuals engaging in “chair-gathering”, talking to themselves, or 
otherwise displaying abnormal acute-onset behaviours. In the event 
of automated monitors being triggered, the nearest available 
security officers should be alerted and authorised to carry out 
immediate physical intervention. 


In cases where remote monitoring has allowed SCP-2055 to be 
interrupted, affected individuals have become highly agitated and 
resistant. As such, the use of restraints is approved in order to 
prevent affected personnel harming themselves or others. 


Once removed from the location of onset, abnormal behaviours 
cease, with the individual exhibiting no memory of preceding events. 
Affected personnel must nevertheless be debriefed, in order to 
identify any epidemiological pattern or predictors of onset. 


Where the process ends in the individual taking their own life, 
gathered chairs should be removed, in order to support the 
appearance of mundane suicide. 


Due to the difficulty in predicting the occurrence, prevalence or 
individual outcomes of SCP-2055, constant surveillance is currently 
the only certain counter-measure. Professor H_'s interviews with 


survivors of SCP-2055 and post-mortem examinations of fatalities 
have not yet identified any definitive aetiology or risk factors; as 
such, further investigation is essential. Observation is therefore a 
priority and it is necessary that observed occurrences in non- 
essential populations be allowed to continue to completion in order 
to further knowledge of this phenomenon. 


Description: SCP-2055 is a behavioural phenomenon that has 
been observed in . % of the global population. Estimating the 
precise number of cases is difficult as survivors of SCP-2055 retain 
no memory of the phenomenon, and it is likely that the majority of 
SCP-2055 fatalities have been miscategorised as conventional 
suicides due to the similarity in presentation. 


SCP-2055 fatalities are distinguished only by the behaviours 
preceding death: affected individuals will, whilst alone, suddenly 
begin gathering any available nearby chairs and placing them ina 
row. Affected individuals have then been observed to talk to 
themselves for anywhere between a few minutes and twelve hours, 
moving around the room and appearing to address the empty chairs. 


In 94.3% of observed cases, the individual ultimately discontinued 
this behaviour and resumed previous activities without any apparent 
memory of the occurrence. However, in 5.7% of cases the individual 
ended the behaviour in suicide — most commonly through the 
application of a ligature to the neck, although exsanguination and 
self-poisoning have also been observed. 


Due to the lack of awareness of their own behaviour exhibited by 

survivors, the only means of investigating SCP-2055 has been 

through random surveillance of the general population via 

The first case was observed / /1994 and, since the inclusion of 
in commercial after , it has become possible to 

remotely observe increasing numbers of cases. 


No abnormalities have been identified by either psychological 
examination of individuals who have survived this phenomenon or 
post-mortem examination of those who have not. However, remote 
recording of the phenomenon taking place has generated potentially 
useful insights into the nature of SCP-2055. 


Analysis of recordings initially identified a resemblance between the 
behaviour of affected individuals and the behaviour of a defendant 
standing trial. However, legal experts who have reviewed recordings 
of affected individuals have suggested that the process more closely 
resembles the legal practice of voir dire: the preliminary examination 
of prospective jurors to determine their suitability to serve on a jury. 


Addendum: 


Transcriptions of remote SCP-2055 recordings gathered covertly via 


Transcript SCP-2055-1207 


[Subject 1207 is alone in his home eating an evening 
meal at onset of phenomenon. Subject 1207 rises from 
his place and silently arranges four dining room chairs in 
a row against one wall. Subject then appears to listen 
intently.] 


Subject 1207: Yes, yes | am. 

[110s silence] 

Subject 1207: | understand. 

[27s silence] 

Subject 1207: | swear | will speak the truth. 
[8s silence] 

Subject 1207: | accept the consequences. 
[6s silence] 


Subject 1207: Sorry, I'm not sure | understand the 
question, could you repeat it? 


[4s silence] 


Subject 1207: Oh, right. That's a hard one. | would say 


that we are the highest form of life. We are God's 
children. 


[5s silence] 


Subject 1207: Capable of thought, compassion, love. 
We have consciousness. 


[8s silence] 
Subject 1207: No. No one. 
[2s silence] 


Subject 1207: I'm sure of it. No one. | mean, no one in 
the way you're suggesting. 


[286s silence] 


Subject 1207: It wasn't like that. It was just a casual 
fling. | feel nothing for her now. | may have felt that way 
at the time but feelings change. It isn't fair to say that. | 
don't think you're being fair to me. 


[13s silence] 


Subject 1207: That was just a dream, it doesn't mean 
anything. Do you dream? Do you remember what it's 
like? They don't necessarily mean anything. 


[4s silence] 


Subject 1207: Even if | still had those feelings, | can put 
them aside. | want to put them aside. I'm a very fair- 
minded person, really, | can be impartial. Look, | don't 
see why you're dragging my personal life into this. 
Everyone has a personal life, if being human means my 
judgement can't be trusted then what's the point? 


[5s silence] 


Subject 1207: Of course | can, listen, you need me. | 


understand people. 

[3s silence] 

Subject 1207: No. 

[6s silence] 

Subject 1207: | can be, | swear | can be. 
[7s silence] 

Subject 1207: | do! 

[4s silence] 

Subject 1207: | want to help. 

[4s silence] 


Subject 1207: [Visibly frustrated] No, you're twisting my 
words. | just want to help you reach the right decision. 
Should caring about people disqualify me? Did none of 
you care about people when you had the chance? 


[16s silence] 


Subject 1207: Look, | understand what's involved! | just 
want to help. | must help. 


[6s silence] 


Subject 1207: Please. [Beginning to weep] Give mea 
chance. 


[7s silence] 
Subject 1207: Please let me help. 


[Subject 1207 suddenly ceases crying and calmly 
replaces the dining room chairs, then sits at the table 
and resumes eating dinner. In interviews following this 
incident, the subject exhibited no memory of SCP-2055 


or of his own anomalous behaviour. ] 
Transcript SCP-2055-1809 


[Subject 1809 is alone in a private office at onset of 
phenomenon. Subject 1809 rises from his desk and 
arranges five office chairs in a row against one wall 
before pausing and apparently listening intently.] 


Subject 1809: Yes. 

[110s silence] 

Subject 1809: | do. 

[27s silence] 

Subject 1809: | swear | will speak the truth. 
[8s silence] 

Subject 1809: | will. 

[7s silence] 

Subject 1809: A kind of animal, | suppose. 
[5s silence] 

Subject 1809: Different in some ways, not in others. 
[6s silence] 


Subject 1809: Nothing specific, | guess I've never given 
it any thought. People are ultimately animals. We're all 
just clever monkeys, aren't we? 


[8s silence] 
Subject 1809: Yes, many and badly. 


[6s silence] 


Subject 1809: Of course | do, but it is what it is. As my 
ma used to say, there's no point crying over spilled milk. 


[7s silence] 
Subject 1809: We wanted different things. 
[13s silence] 


Subject 1809: | think | see people as they are. I'm gonna 
be sixty next year, | think I've reached the point where | 
know what's what. 


[18s silence] 


Subject 1809: What will be will be. If not me then 
someone else, right? 


[20s silence] 


Subject 1809: I'd say I'm pretty typical. We all want the 
same things, don't we? 


[4s silence] 


Subject 1809: It's like... what's his name? Maslow? The 
guy with the triangle? 


[2s silence] 


Subject 1809: Yeah, him. His triangle thing says we all 
want food, sex, warmth, safety. Not necessarily in that 
order. I'm a realist, | appreciate that there's good and 
bad in all of us, that you need certain comforts to have 
the luxury of morality. Sometimes it is kill or be killed and 
when it comes down to it, a starving man is much the 
same as a Starving dog. 


[16s silence] 


Subject 1809: | don't know. | guess I've thought about it 
too much. We can never really know, can we, but I've