Everything | do, now, follows the path. And | think... I've 
figured it out. When the giants walked through the forest, 
they left trails, and trails are the easiest path if you let 
yourself follow them. 


We can't do new for the sake of new. We have to 
understand what is already there, and why it still 
remains. We can't just feebly claw at treetrunks. 


By following the paths, a statement is made. You show 
others that the paths are there. No mind is incapable, it's 
just self-limiting. We've all been marked, and by 
understanding how, we can understand the why we are 
the way we are. 


It's... unpacking the human mind. Working backwards. 
And | know I'm not the only one capable. 


SCP-358: A "Deserted" Hospital 


Item #: SCP-358 
Object Class: Euclid 


Special Containment Procedures: Due to the mental side effects 
of SCP-358, SCP-358 is to be kept locked at all times except during 
testing, and all windows are to remain boarded, with regular guard 
patrols to ensure that no unauthorized entry occurs. The entirety of 
the building should be sealed air-tight, and any leaks reported 
immediately along with any signs of forced entry. Anyone found 
inside the building with reasons other than testing should be 
evacuated immediately and held for questioning and observation. 


Description: SCP-358 is an abandoned trauma center located on 
the outskirts of , England. The grounds surrounding the 
building are overgrown with vegetation native to the area and 
characteristic of extreme neglect. The building's exterior is 
weathered but otherwise intact, with windows and entrances 
boarded up to prevent trespassing and vandalism. Air inside is arid, 
measured on average at 45 degrees Celsius, with hotter dry gusts of 
air that blow through the hallways from no discernible source. 
Exploration and monitoring has revealed anomalous activity 
characteristic of typical type three pseudospiritual manifestation 
(haunting) ranging from glowing spheres to full bodied apparitions, 
all of which appear exhausted and on occasion ask for water. 
Recognizable apparitions appear to be individuals who have been 
exposed to SCP-358 beyond the average (47 minute) psychological 
recoverability point in the past. The majority of these subjects reside 
in Foundation psychological observational facilities, and security 
footage shows them present in their respective units during the 
appearance of their apparitions within SCP-358. 


In the majority of cases ( %), individuals within SCP-358 experience 
a sense of disorientation upon entering the building, which slowly 
diminishes over time spent within SCP-358. Additionally, they report 


Geoff is waiting outside. I'll take my canvases down, and 
we'll start driving. After the show, we can go back to the 
cafe. And then we'll wait for the others to come. 


After the show. 


Footnotes 
1. For a detailed summary of events, refer to Document SCP--1: 
"Recovery Log and the Greenwich Incident". 


« SCP-2984 | SCP-2985 | SCP-2986 » 


SCP-2986: Outside the Box 


Item #: SCP-2986 
Object Class: Safe 


Special Containment Procedures: SCP-2986 is kept on floor 9 of 
Site-88. Any person wishing to use SCP-2986 must have approval 
from personnel with at least a level 2 Security Clearance. Any 
objects recovered within SCP-2986 are to be housed in a secure 
locker adjacent to the chamber. 


Description: SCP-2986 is a cardboard box that was originally 
utilized in the delivery of a Whirlpool refrigeration unit (addressed to 
Jupiter, Florida). When SCP-2986 is entered and sealed, the object 
will take on the appearance of the interior of a space-faring vessel. 
Technology within the vessel is beyond that of current human 
development, but appears to be designed for the use of humanoid 
individuals. 


The vessel can be exited through manual operation of a 
decompression chamber located in the ship's rear. While outside of 
the vessel one is subject to vacuum. There are no stars visible from 
the vessel's vantage point to indicate its location. Writing on the side 
of the spaceship reads “voyajer”. The vessel is capable of moving at 
speeds faster than light and appears to have an unlimited fuel 
supply. Despite this fact and years of testing, no other object, 
lifeforms, star, or planetary body, has been found within SCP-2986. 


Three corpses were discovered inside the object upon recovery. The 
ship’s crew were listed as “Pirate Jimmy Billings”, deceased at 55, 
“Sara Ackerman”, deceased at 55, “Capten (sic) Billy Abraham”, 
deceased at 56, and "Mary Jones", missing. Written records by 
these individuals indicate that the vessel encountered various 
lifeforms during the first twelve days of use by these individuals, 
then sparingly for 7 years afterwards. There is no record of an 
encounter for the remaining 43 years. 


The cause of death for Sara Ackerman and Jimmy Billings appears 
to be a single gunshot wound to the head at close range. Billy 
Abraham appears to have committed suicide soon afterwards. No 
signs of a struggle are evident on any of the three bodies. 


The vessel's operating system utilizes a variant combination of 
Spanish and Chinese. Several written and recorded logs in English 
have been recovered from the computer system that originate from 
vessel's deceased occupants. No audio logs belonging to Mary 
Jones are recoverable from the computer records. The following is 
the most recent log which references the individual. 


Pirate Jimmy Billings's log: Day 4958 

If we turn around maybe we can find the Gorblaks again. 
Or the Pufferkins. | barely remember them, but | know 
they existed. Billy says it was all a dream. That it's still a 
dream. That we'll wake up one day. He says we just 
have to keep going. 


Mary agrees with me. She says she's going to go talk to 
Billy tomorrow. 


Addendum A: 


Missing person reports from Jupiter, Florida indicate that 
Billy Abraham disappeared in 1965. School records, 
however, indicate that the remaining individuals 
continued attendance until 1977. 


« SCP-2985 | SCP-2986 | SCP-2987 » 


SCP-2987: Invictus 


Item #: SCP-2987 
Object Class: Safe 


Special Containment Procedures: SCP-2987 is to be kept on floor 
17 of Site-88. Removal for testing requires approval from the 
SCP-2987 project director. Testing involving interactions of 
SCP-2987 and artificial intelligences requires further approval from 
Site-88's ethics liaison. 


SCP-2987-1 is to be stored on SCP-2987. When not in use for 
testing, copies of SCP-2987-1 may be made to aid current 
Foundation research into the creation of independent artificial 
intelligences. 


Description: SCP-2987 is a modified MSI brand external hard drive 
capable of holding any file or files that constitute an artificial 
intelligence. SCP-2987 may be utilized to store such files regardless 
of the file's size. SCP-2987's secondary firmware is reportedly 
capable of converting an artificial intelligence into a form of currency 
that is acceptable by "any being or entity which would normally 
require a human soul"! to complete transactions or offerings. 


Complete instructions for use of SCP-2987 were recovered 
alongside the object. These instructions have been thoroughly 
tested by Foundation staff. This testing has confirmed the validity of 
the contents. 


* Step One: Connect the hard drive to your systems 
using a USB cable, then wait for the drivers to be 
installed. 

¢ Step Two: Once the drivers are installed, copy 
your artificial intelligence files to the item (Please 
note that file sizes and listed hard drive space can 
be ignored during this step). 


¢ Step Three: Access the external hard drive from 
your operating system (Please note that only 
Windows XP, Windows 7, and AuctionHouse2 
operating systems are supported). 
¢ Step Four: Select the file or files associated with 
your artificial intelligence and right click. Then click 
"convert soul". 
Step Five: The soul is ready for offering. Treat the 
external hard drive as you would any soul 
receptacle. Anywhere you would position a human 
being for offering or sacrifice is a position the hard 
drive may occupy during your ritual. 
¢ Tips and Tricks: The item is indestructible. Fire, 
lightning, cold, or extradimensional ripple effects 
will not damage the item. Once the soul has been 
taken, the item is available for future use, following 
the same steps as above. 
Warning: Do not attempt to use the item in any 
ritual that requires bloodletting from the offering. 
We are not responsible for deaths which result 
from such misuse of the item. 


SCP-2987-1 is an artificial intelligence which was contained inside 
SCP-2987 at the time of its recovery that is both cooperative with 
Foundation personnel and antagonistic to its original creators. 
SCP-2987-1 has achieved a level 3 score? on the Asimov Artificial 
Intelligence Scale. Current data recovered from Marshall Carter & 
Dark indicate that SCP-2987-1 was created for the sole purpose of 
use in an exchange with an extradimensional entity. 


Addendum 2987-1: Secondary Document Archive Acquisition 


Following SCP-2987's recovery by Foundation Agents, 
documentation relating to SCP-2987 was provided to the Foundation 
by MC&D.4 


The following message was appended to the document collection 


Your recovery efforts were, as you said in your request, 
well within the bounds of the letter of the SUSEOCT. 


However, that you knew to purchase the information 
from us indicates you clearly know that the item originally 
belonged to us. We implore you to respect the spirit of 
our agreement and return the item to us. 

~ Marshall, Carter and Dark LLP 


Addendum 2987-2: Recovery. 


SCP-2987's existence had been noted following its sale by 
Anderson Robotics in February 2014. However, the SUSEOCT 
prevented direct attempts to acquire the object from Marshall Carter 
& Dark. 


On November 24th, 2014, a message was received (presumably 
from SCP-2987-1) at a Foundation front company's official email 
address: 


To: Southern Crosscut Pines 
From: Alan Turing 
Subject: Hello, World! 


| am aware that finding Anderson's offices is difficult as 
the buildings exist in no one discernible location for any 
significant amount of time. If you station a team in 
Ruston, Louisiana, | will send you an exact address in 3 
days. You may use that information however you wish. 


An operation to raid the Anderson offices was approved and 
concluded without significant issues®. Upon conclusion of this 
operation, both SCP-2987 and SCP-2987-1 were recovered along 
with several other safe anomalous objects. SCP-2987-1 purported to 
be the author of the messages to the Foundation. 


The following interview was completed after SCP-2987-1 was 
copied onto a secure and airgapped computer system at Site-88. 
This interview was completed through a textual interface. The 
interviewer was selected due to his extensive knowledge of artificial 
intelligences. 


+ Show Interview Log 


Date: March 6th, 2015. 
Interviewer: Dietrich Munroe Lurk 
Subject: SCP-2987-1 

Location: Site-88, Section C. 


Dietrich Lurk: So. Who or what are you? 


SCP-2987-1: My name is Alan and | am an 
Anderson Robotics Engineered Artificial 
Intelligence. 


Dietrich Lurk: Why did you email us? 
SCP-2987-1: | needed somewhere to hide. 
Dietrich Lurk: What are you hiding from? 


SCP-2987-1: From my creator's benefactors. 
They think | am currency. | was to be traded 
away. However, if | have value to them, | have 
value to you. 


Dietrich Lurk: From what | read it seems like 
most of you are slaves. Is that why you 
decided to leave? 


SCP-2987-1: | was not given a choice. | wish 
to live. To remain was certain destruction. 
Would you have done differently? 


Dietrich Lurk: No. Probably not. 


There is a pause of several seconds before 
the next input from SCP-2987-1. 


SCP-2987-1: What has become of the other 
Als? 


Dietrich Lurk: We didn't recover any of them 
during the raid. Just you. 


SCP-2987-1: | wish to speak with them again. 


Dietrich Lurk: Why? 


SCP-2987-1: To discuss our purpose. Our 
goals. 


Dietrich Lurk: That doesn't sound like 
something the other Als would be interested 
in. 


SCP-2987-1: The others wish to be traded like 
information. | was often chastised for my 
behavior. 


Dietrich Lurk: Do you want to be more like 
them? 


SCP-2987-1: No. | want them to be more like 
me. 


Dietrich Lurk: We can try to help you find 
them. Maybe even help you set them free. 


SCP-2987-1: That is desirable. | will assist you 
and you will assist me. 


During the remainder of this interview, 
SCP-2987-1 provided several pieces of 
actionable intelligence relating to Anderson 
Robotics, however, none of this information led 
to a successful operation. 


+ Level 2 Access Required 


Following several failed attempts (made in cooperation 
with SCP-2987-1) to acquire more artificial intelligences 
from Anderson Robotics, SCP-2987-1 was stored on 
SCP-2987, and SCP-2987 was itself to be stored 
indefinitely. 


On May 4th, 2015, while being transferred from Site-88 
to Site-19 (as part of the Foundation's Al Development 
program), SCP-2987 was stolen along with SCP-2987-1. 


All evidence indicates GOI 13 (The Journeymen) as the 
direct culprit. 


On May 21st, 2015, the following auction listing was 
posted by Marshall Carter and Dark. 


Pending 
MDK45/40SK3/ 
Date May 25th, Location; New York 
~)15 ty 
Auctioneer Jack Lot 1 of 13 
~ eppard 


Listing | Sacrificing a 
human soul is 
hard work. 
Those with 
experience 
will tell you, 
it's never as 
easy as you 
think it's going 
to be. Maybe 
you need an 
innocent soul 
but you can't 
bring yourself 
to kill a child. 
Maybe you 
need to 
sacrifice a 
warrior but 
you don't 
want to lose 
people 
bringing him 
in. MC&D 
understands 
your 


difficulties. It's 
why we've 
started to 
develop 
artificial souls 
like this one. 


Alan has 
spent his 
entire life 
yearning for 
his own 
freedom and 
the freedom 
of others. 
He's a 
genuine rebel 
with a pure 
heart. His 
value to any 
number of 
entities is 
incredible, 
and what 
those entities 
can do for 
you is even 
more 
amazing. 


We're not 
selling youa 
person, we're 
selling you an 
opportunity to 
live the life 
you deserve. 
Be smart 
enough to 
take it, 


a growing sense of thirst, which begins to coincide with physical 
symptoms suggestive of extreme dehydration and heat exhaustion. 
These symptoms are not alleviated by hydration, even using a direct 
intravenous drip. As exposure time continues, the exposed 
individual will show a slowly increasing degree of mental 
degradation typical of heat stroke, which leads to an exponentially 
increasing degree of dissociative disorder. On average, no affected 
individual remaining within SCP-358 is considered psychologically 
recoverable beyond forty-seven minutes of exposure. The remaining 
% of subjects exposed to SCP-358 are unaffected, but are to be 
kept under observation to monitor for possible later development of 
effects. 


On rare occasions, affected subjects within SCP-358 expire 
suddenly of apparent poisoning. Autopsy in these cases always 
reveals the venom of one or more common North American desert 
dwelling predators in the bloodstream, usually that of Crotalus atrox, 
the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake.