“This too.” Shen held out a watch. At least, it looked like a watch— 
the display seemed more like a digital compass. Riven put it on 
without comment, adjusting the strap to fit his wrist. Meanwhile, 
Agent Shen had extracted his own headset/watch gear. 


“It’s linked to the headset. The screen will change displays when you 
encounter non-ambient noises, giving you a direction and distance 
from source in meters.” At the sound of the agent’s voice, the 
compass needle swiveled to point at Shen, and a little number “0.7” 
blinked up at Riven. 


“...[ think... | think | hear music. Classical. Soft, very soft, though. 
Can barely hear it.” Riven wrinkled his forehead, as if in deep 
thought. He adjusted the headset slightly. 


Shen didn’t seem ruffled, or at least his voice in Riven’s ears didn’t 
sound like it was. “That's the anti-cognitohazard filter. Meant to be 
minimally invasive. We wear these; we give up our sense of hearing 
to the machines.” 


Riven just nodded mutely. 


It had taken all of five minutes for Shen to run some “just in case” 
scans using equipment from his messenger bag, and to adjust his 
gear to some esoteric specifications. Riven had fidgeted the entire 
time, feeling rather out of his depth. He’d still felt uneasy when they 
ignored the prim “closed” sign and entered the museum through 
unlocked doors. 


Maybe it had something to do with all the window drapes being 
drawn. It was a precaution so people wouldn't see the lights inside 
and get suspicious, the brief had noted. Riven wondered why the 
display lights couldn't have just been turned off. Wouldn’t subtle 
flashlights have made more sense? 


“So why are we actually going into the museum ourselves? Isn’t it 
the items that are anomalous, not the place itself?” Riven was still 
trying to get used to hearing his voice processed through the filter. 


“Tried to take samples. Artifacts did nothing when taken out, or 
when put back. Some of them started to deform. As if melting. 
Patina seemed to be spreading to nearby things, and we had to 
dispose of the ones taken to the labs.” Shen’s voice was clipped as 
the two walked through a hallway that would lead to the main exhibit 
rooms. 


“Why send us, though? The most experience | have with antiques is 
maybe two art history classes in college. Those were years ago.” 
Riven craned his neck to look at a set of elegant swan-shaped 
perfume bottles. The museum’s lighting twinkled over the 
multifaceted rock crystal surfaces. 


Shen made a noncommittal noise as he unhooked some sort of 
Swiss-knife-like tool from his belt. “Researcher and agent. We’re 
qualified, and we’re expendable. It’s the best combination, really.” 


The agent looked pointedly at the case displaying a clear quartz 
snake with several circle-shaped depressions in its back. 


“Candle-holder?” Riven hazarded a guess. Shen shook his head, 
motioned for quiet, and approached the case. Riven trailed warily 
behind. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a notepad and 
ballpoint pen. 


The platform light illuminating the display case (what was that about, 
Riven thought, there are no light switches or wires anywhere!) 
seemed to flicker brighter as the two approached. 


“Snake... like hydra ...supposed to have seven heads... always 
seven?” 


Blinking several times, Riven could've sworn the crystal animal in 
front of him vibrated slightly when the noise began. He chanced a 
look at Shen, but the agent’s gaze was pointedly fixed on the snake. 
lt was probably important to listen. Was the bit about the hydra 
important? Something related to an ongoing investigation? 


“Remember that... vase thing with... Theseus? And ... minotaur? | 
thought ...it was a unicorn.” 


It certainly didn’t sound important... Adjusting the headset slightly, 
Riven noticed that the voices were somewhat warped, even without 
the classical anti-cog-haz filter in the background. He felt like he was 
eavesdropping on someone real, just several paces away. He wrote 
that down. 


“..terrible. Why did you... art history class anyway’? ...Slacker.” 


Riven had to fake a cough to muffle his incredulous laugh. He’d 
been expecting some sort of arcane ritual or demonic chanting. 
Shen remained unmoved and said nothing. 


The effect was anomalous enough, but what they were hearing 
sounded like a spat between two high school students. Typical of a 
lazy afternoon spent at an art museum, one would think. Close your 
eyes and you'd be able to imagine the not-so-happy couple 
bickering about grades while you were trying to focus on the 


artwork. 


With a nod of his head, Shen indicated that they should move on. 


‘It’s ... bird! Polly want... cracker! Polly want a cracker! ...Squaawk!” 
The sound of children laughing, of little feet smacking against the 
polished floors. Riven looked behind him a few times, each time 
expecting to see a horde of little ghost children or maybe human- 
animal hybrids cavorting through the room. You never really knew 
what to expect, with anomalous places. 


He and the agent had been circling the carved jade phoenix for the 
past ten minutes or so, listening. The sculpture was magnificent, 
really, Riven thought. But he kept the opinion to himself, since Agent 
Shen seemed all too focused on recording snippets of seemingly 
inconsequential sounds, and tapping away on his cell phone. He’d 
done the same routine for the carved jewel beetle collection and the 
crystal deer fruitbowl-thing. Record noise with headset, and stare at 
phone. What could be so interesting about Foundation gear when 
there were anomalous crystals to look at? 


Honestly, we’re in an anomalous museum. Even if it wasn’t 
anomalous, the place is interesting enough to warrant looking at the 
pieces and not your phone, right? You can look at your phone 
whenever you want... Riven leaned a little closer to examine the 
phoenix’s intelligent-looking, if empty, eyes. The light around the 
piece gleamed brighter, as if excited. 


“Squaawk! Braawwwk! Brawk.” More childish laughter, but more 
reserved. As if the nonexistent children had noticed there was 
someone else in the room. Riven stepped back a bit and glanced at 
his mission buddy. 


Agent Shen was looking at his phone again and rubbing his eyes. 


“Getting bored already?” Riven grinned. He was actually starting to 
enjoy the museum a bit, given that he hadn't needed to break out 
any of the emergency supplies now feeling like rather useless 
weight in his backpack. “It’s barely been half an hour, and we 
haven’t even seen the top floor yet.” 


To Riven’s surprise, Shen replied amicably, “You’re right. Let’s go 
see the most famous piece in the collection.” 


“Are you sure it’s worthwhile to see this? The brief didn’t say 
anything about breaking and entering.” Riven’s incredulous whisper 
echoed through the upstairs antechamber. He should've known it 
wasn’t a regular Swiss knife the agent had been carrying. 


“We’re not.” Shen’s soft reply barely drowned out the sound of 
gently rhythmic metallic clicking. 


“You're picking the lock to the room.” 


“| know. Keep watch.” Even through the headset Shen sounded 
annoyed. 


Keep watch, he says. Keep watch for what? Stupid stick-in-the-mud 
no appreciation for art—that noise. Is that footsteps. What was that 
noise. Riven’s sour mood evaporated instantly when he realized he 
may have been hearing something approaching. Footsteps? Those 
sounded like footsteps. 


He contemplated asking Shen if he heard those too, but didn’t want 
to distract the agent. The sooner that door was open and Shen 
could watch his own back, the better. Besides, Riven realized, he 
couldn't even see anything that would be making the sounds. And 
the filter gear would've blocked anything harmful to hear... 


Those were definitely footsteps. Riven glanced at the sound-locator 
thing. Two numbers, 1.6 and 2.3. Two compass needles, neither 
moving. Something was here. 


...or, Riven amended, it sounded like something was here. Maybe 
the ghosts here liked looking at the place? There were two large 
murals on the walls, both lit faintly with the ubiquitous display lights. 
They provided some visitor information about the history of the 
museum. Maybe a map or something, he didn't really look. Were 
those footsteps getting closer? 


“Door’s open. See anything?” Shen’s calm, placid tone snapped 


Riven’s concentration like scissor blades on a guitar string—it was 
almost comical in retrospect. Twang. 


“No. Nothing. Didn't see anything. But | could’ve sworn I'd have a 
heart attack,” Riven managed to stammer out, as he relaxed visibly 
when the heavy double doors began to budge. It must have been 
only a minute or so, but it felt like hours. “Didn’t know what to 
expect.” 


Shen chuckled dryly. It sounded like static having a choking fit. 
“Don’t use a mirror to look around corners if you don’t want to see 
anything following you.” The agent slotted the lockpick tool back 
onto his belt, and there was a faint click of blade against case. “You 
use the mirror because you do expect to be followed, and you want 
to see what is after you...” 


The rightmost door opened smoothly inwards. 


“...before itsees you.” 


Oh god it’s a crystal dragon, Riven thought. /t’s lovely. Look at that 
workmanship on the wings. So intricate. Wish | could look at it a bit 
longer. Wait, is this an anomalous effect? Shit. 


The entire thing couldn’t have been more than half a meter tall, but 
the lighting was spectacular. The soft white glow cast an ethereal 
sheen to the rock crystal, and as they crept closer it brightened to a 
moonlight-like shimmer. The dragon’s four limbs were crouched in a 
fighter’s pose, wings outspread and fangs bared in a challenge. Or 
perhaps some sort of savage welcome? Riven scrambled to take 
notes. 


“People think they’re gone once they leave the museum. That’s not 
true. They’ve only left when no one remembers. | remember. You 
remember. They're still here, really.” 


Riven jumped slightly, and thought his headset was malfunctioning. 
The voice he was hearing was clearer than anything else he’d heard 
so far, clearer than even his accomplice’s voice. Speaking of which 
—Shen was tapping the case the dragon was in, as if trying to 


ascertain how the light worked. It flickered every time the glass was 
touched, but there didn’t seem to be any motion-sensing machinery 
near the case at all. 


“Everyone leaves a little of themselves behind, wherever they go. 
Memories carried by people who don’t know them, might not even 
see them, but feel the ripples of their actions.” 


Shen was tapping on his phone again. Riven rolled his eyes, and 
focused on the dragon. This place wasn’t so bad, really. And that 
smooth, velvety tenor voice was easy on the ears. 


“After you experience enough of it, the loneliness isn’t so bad. You 
coax it into your life a little bit at a time, and someday you'll start to 
greet it like an old friend. Don’t worry about me. | still remember 
you.” 


“Researcher. Researcher Mercer. Hey. Hey. Snap out of it. Riven. 
Riven, time to go.” 


“...What?” Riven snapped out of a daze he hadn’t realized he’d 
entered. 


“Time to go,” Shen repeated, holding out Riven’s notepad. When 
had he dropped it? “Now.” 


“This museum... whatever it is, whoever it is, loved the person that 
voice belonged to. I’m sure of it. We’ve encountered similar things 
before, in objects.” Riven had to lengthen his stride to keep up with 
the agent’s quick movement down the stairs. 


“We don’t know if that voice actually belonged to a person. We don’t 
know if a building, even an anomalous one, is capable of ‘love’. 
Save conjecture for the lab.” Shen’s shoes skidded a bit on the tiled 
floor, and he seemed relieved to see the front doors. 


“I’m pretty sure there’s decent evidence if we go back—’” Riven 
attempted again. 


The agent sighed. “We don’t know. Maybe we will sometime. But not 
now.” 


Riven shook his head. “I really don’t think this place is dangerous. 
That’s why I'm on this assignment, right? To give my report as a 
researcher on the observations | made. ” 


“Look outside.” Shen’s voice was flat, devoid of any indicative affect. 


Riven, slightly fuming, made a show of striding to the nearest set of 
heavy window drapes and dragging them open. To his surprise, the 
glow of early morning’s light suffused the room. 


“It's dawn. Already? But we arrived here...” 
“Just after sundown.” Shen was checking his bag. 
“But it felt like...” 


“Only an hour. The time difference happened when we looked at the 
displays.” Shen took off the half-rimmed glasses, and tucked them 
into his jacket. “Who knows what tricks this place plays on the other 
senses?” 


eUleae 


“These places are dangerous, Researcher. We can’t trust them.” 
Shen patted the cell phone on his belt, which coincidentally buzzed 
once, as if in agreement. “Our team is here to collect us. Time to 
leave.” 


“| still can’t believe | didn’t notice.” Riven grumbled into his mug of 
tea three hours later. 


“They make these pairs on purpose, Riven. They wanted someone 
with a researcher’s curiosity and eye for detail, while accompanied 
by an agent given more information to monitor the scenario.” Agent 
Shen was sitting on a swivel chair peeling an apple with a pocket 
knife. “The team before us was a containment specialist and a D- 
class.” 


“They sent in other teams?” Riven glanced up. Just how much 
“need-to-know’” information was kept from him? 


D-14390: Not sure what it was, but it burned 
and felt good at the same time. And they 
weren't nails no more, it was like, big cat- 
claws, right? And she's still yelling at me, but 
her mouth is getting bigger and bigger like her 
jaw's stretching out, and her teeth keep getting 
sharper and bigger like she's about ready to 
eat my head! Even as blasted as | was that 
was some freaky shit and | started screaming. 


Dr. L: And that was when the guards pulled 
you out of the tent? 


D-14390: Yeah, seems | wasn't just freaking 
out in the dream. Weird shit was, about like... 
Five seconds after | get pulled out, | hear 
Chloe's voice again but it's all low and growly, 
and it sounded like she said "you can't stop." 


Dr. L: Thank you, D-14390. | just have one last 
question; after all this, you said you wanted to 
go back in? Why? 


D-14390: Well, it's simple right? *mild 
laughter* She was scary and all but... Man I've 
never been that high in my life. And with the 
shit that goes on in this place, | figured I'm not 
long for the world anyway, so | may as well go 
out with a smile, right? 


Note: Following the interview, D-14390 repeatedly 
volunteered for additional testing with SCP-666. Doctor 
Lanis finally relented; D-14390 began screaming 
approximately three seconds after entering the 
hallucinatory state, and expired from cardiac arrest less 
than one minute later. 


« SCP-665 | SCP-666 | SCP-667 » 


“They usually send in a few, for questionable anomalous locations. 
But | think we'll be the last exploration team. The cog-haz 
department will take over for now.” Shen started to slice the apple. 
He was making rabbit shapes. “Right now, we need to file the report, 
get tested for residual cognitohazard effects, and then you go back 
to your lab and | go back to the field. The file is out of our hands 
now.” 


“| see.” Riven took another sip of tea. It was weird talking to an 
agent in the lab’s sitting room. “Uh... hey. I’m sorry if | came off as 
unprofessional. | must have seemed like a little kid in there.” When 
was the last time | was so excited about anything? So excited | 
didn’t notice the time passing, or the effects of the lights, or the 
strangeness of the sounds. The agent probably thinks I’m a fool for 
getting so caught up with the artifacts.