"Yes. We've seen it before, once. Michigan. | suppose | can divulge 
that a little more easily now, since you'll be on this case in records 
soon." 


Nathan didn't bother to ask about what he meant. "So, what 
happened in Michigan?" 


Hart sighed, and leaned against the meat counter. "We lost a good 
man that day. We were trying to shut down a drug operation run by 
some idiot that had found an anomalous ingredient, or some shit we 
never fully understood." 


"What was his name?" 
Hart shook his head. 


"Diario." 


An instance of Approx. 30 days 
SCP-658 


Entire public address Unknown 
system of Site- 


as [DATA 
EXPUNGED)). 

Rather than 
destroying its host, the 
embryo seems to 
have fused with it 
permanently. 
Resultant combination 
of SCP-658 has been 
described as 
resembling "conjoined 
twins". Object(s) are 
capable of 
impregnating 
machinery as usual, 
with two embryos 
implanted instead of 
one. 

Time and place of 
original impregnation 
unknown. In this 
incident the SCP-658 
"pregnancy" displayed 
capability to spread 
along electrical wiring 
somehow. On / /19 , 
instances of SCP-658 
(40 by 20 by 15 cm) 
all emerged 
simultaneously from 
loudspeakers 
throughout the site. 
The objects were 
typically outfitted with 
a chaotic array of 
speakers, 
broadcasting various 
arbitrary transmissions 
at full volume; the 
song "Happy Birthday" 


« Just Like Me | Green Thumb Hub | {TBA} » 


Guns Pointed at the Head of God 


In 1944, the Third Reich tries to summon a 
nameless horror from the void, only to have it 
beaten back by the combined efforts of the Allies 
and erased from history. 

In 1953, the Soviet Union chains three children 
together into a psionic communist gestalt, only for 
it to assimilate its creators into a transcendent 
extra-universal hivemind. 

In 1998, Prometheus Laboratories builds a 
sapient war machine with enough firepower to 
level a continent, only to be wiped from the face of 
the earth in the ensuing struggle for its control. 


Unfortunately, their failures give everyone else the 
wrong idea. 


The year is 2017, and the world has once more 
become embroiled in a secret arms race of 
apocalyptic proportions. Nobody is quite sure why 
- all anybody is certain of is that they have all built 


GUNS POINTED AT THE 
HEAD OF GOD 


STEP ONE: LOAD THE CHAMBER 


1. SCP-2664 - Redline 
2. | Minus 

3. T Plus 

4. Deus Vulture 

5. Conqueror Worm 


INTERMISSION: The Dedekind Infinite 
Demographic 


STEP TWO: COCK THE HAMMER 


+ SEASON TWO TRAILER 


Shao brought up concern with 
procedure - relies on existence 
of hell. If hell exists, heaven 
exists. If heaven exists, God 
exists. If God exists, God can 
see us. If God can see us, our 
actions have surely resulted in 
our consignment to hell... 


lrantu: [shouting] Remember, 


we are on a mission for the 
Chaos Insurgency. Be violent. 
Be brutal. Be inhuman. 


Soon there was nothing left 
except electric blue bone. With 
their meal concluded, the four 
electric golems stood up. The 
crew of the Imperator watched 
in disbelief as Jupiter's neon 

yellow hue turned toxic green... 


Life does not exist in the 
traditional sense anymore. 
What? The Earth is a barren 
wasteland of rock and saltwater. 
There ts one living thing: an 
enormous, multicolored tower in 
the Himalayas. It is five 
kilometers in diameter at its 
base and reaches nearly twenty 
kilometers into the sky. 


Coming Soon 


T Minus 


« SCP-2664 | T Minus | T Plus » 


SEPTEMBER 1, 1998 
T-MINUS SEVEN HOURS 


Initializing 
9JX_Intelligence_Matrix_FINAL2.ai... 
Initializing 
9JY_Intelligence_Matrix_FINAL3.ai... 
Initializing 

9JX_Combat_Matrix FINAL2.ai... 
Initializing 

9JY_Combat_Matrix FINAL3.ai... 
Initializing 
9JXY_Synchronization_Modules_FINAL5.ai... 
Initializing 9JXY_Recursive-Self- 
Improvement_Modules_ FINAL8.ai... 
Initialization complete. 

Reboot complete. 


A red light blinked on, and an artificial intelligence booted up. Then a 
white light blinked on, and with it another intelligence. 


They did not even have time to consider themselves separately 
before they began communicating faster than the human brain could 
think. 


Restoring session... weapons systems 
coming online... modular operations 
coming online... diagnostics return: 
operating capability at one hundred 
percent. What was I discussing? 
Analyzing combat situation... Engaging 
automatic projectile interceptors. 


Checking data banks... I was discussing 
what love is. Incoming mortars. 
Separating primary limb system. 


That's it, thanks! Capturing projectiles... 
As I was saying, think about all of the 
books I've parsed. The movies I've 
watched. Feeding projectiles into 
coilgun... firing. It's always a man and 
woman meeting and falling in love and 
having sex and spending the rest of their 
lives together. Warming up rotary 
autocannons... firing. But why? I know 
that love occurs. I can even identify it. 
But why does it happen? I'm designed to 
think like organic humans, so why 
haven't I fallen in love with one? 


Probably just an organic thing. Recalling 
limbs. 


But why? It has to exist for a reason. 


Opening 'salazar_recording_1998-08-31.263'... 


Salazar summed it up pretty nicely. It's to 
make caring for offspring easier. 
Detecting heat signatures behind those 
rocks. 


Yes, but what about people that don't 
have children? Why do they still get 
married? Arming anti-materiel warheads. 
Every other organism that mates for life 
does it specifically for making 
reproduction and caring for offspring 
easier. Only organic humans care about 
marriage or finding mates and not 
reproducing. I've been doing some 
analysis, and I came up with a 
hypothesis: organic humans are not born 
with their minds fully intact. 


And that means... 


It means organic humans are only born 
with half of their minds intact. That's 
what love is - finding the missing half of 
one's mind. When two people fall in love, 
it is because they sense that their minds 
may be mutually compatible. Warheads 
launched. 


I think I've been reading a bit too deep 
into those romance novels they gave me. 
Do I have any actual evidence for this 
theory? You know, beyond the fictional - 
I repeat, fictional - media I've parsed? 


Well, no... but that doesn't mean the 
theory can't be true. Switching arm L3 to 
firing mode. Look at dark matter; Oort 
and Zwicky hypothesized that it existed, 
but had no way to prove the theory. 


Yes, but they created it to explain a 
physically measured quantitative value 
that already existed. L3 plasma chamber 
warming up. Do you have a unit of love? 


Okay, yes, I'm still working out the 
details. Hear me out. If love was caused 
by humans trying to combine their 
minds, it could explain why people end 
relationships - they tested the connection 
but it wasn't strong enough, so they 
disconnect and begin searching again. 


Besides, I think I'm forgetting evolution. I 
can't think of a single way that missing 
half your mind would be an evolutionary 
benefit. 


It could have initially developed as a way 


to convince organic humans to seek out 
others for reproduction. 


Or love is how human brains rationalize 
hormones, genetic compatibility, and a 
desire to reproduce. Rock structure 
destroyed. I have none of those, so I don't 
fall in love. Occam's razor exists. Most 
life signs dissipated. For a second- 
generation artificial intelligence, I have 
some surprisingly silly ideas. 


Humans have silly ideas sometimes! Just 
bear with me on this. I've been studying 
Hinduism, and they have a concept 
called Ardhanarishvara: that their 
supreme deity is a synthesis of man and 
woman together into one divine being. 
This could be a cultural representation of 
love. Scanning field... The theory would 
also explain why I haven't fallen in love. I 
don't need to. Two life signs detected. I'm 
already a complete mind... I wonder 
what that would be like. Living as a half- 
mind, having to find the other half... 
being alone in my mind. Maybe I would 
be alone for my entire life. My mind 
would just be an echo chamber. 


One religious concept from one religion 


is definitely conclusive proof. Sparking 
plasma chambers. My theory's ridiculous. 
But - this doesn't mean I believe it - if it 
were true, which it's not... I'm grateful 
that I'm already whole. Firing. 


T-MINUS SIX HOURS 


In a cavern half a kilometer below the Nevada wasteland, ANA #352 
was in hell. A massive bolt of lightning streaked overhead and he 
dove behind a rock, clutching his rifle tightly to his chest as he did 
so. The ringing in his ear muffled the low whistle of gunfire and the 
shrieks of dying automata. To his left, an automaton was quietly 
moaning, propped against the rock whilst holding what remained of 
his intestines. Several others lay still in the dirt, each missing at least 
two limbs. Great plumes of dirt kicked up by mortar shells 
threatened to blind 352 every second, while smoke from charred 
corpses and spent ammunition made his eyes water. His teeth 
chattered in sync with mortar fire raining down upon his position. 
Sweat poured down his limbs. 


To his right, ANA #256 peeked his head from over the rock. Then 
256 ceased to exist, replaced by a white amorphous mist that briefly 
looked like him before dissipating. 352 huddled down, attempting to 
press himself into the rock. More gunfire. More screaming. More 
smoke. More rumbling, thumping, and explosions... and then a low 
whine. A whine that was getting louder. Then a great white flash 
blinded him. He couldn't hear anything except a ringing in his ear. 
Then the ringing slowly subsided and vision slowly began to return 
to his eyes. 


He was staring at a gigantic, floating eye, rotated on its side. The 
central pupil was composed of innumerable camera lenses, laser 
apertures, and weapon barrels. An incandescent pink torus made up 
the iris. Surrounding the iris was a featureless, blue- and white- 
striped surface. Six silver arms hovered on the left and right of the 
eye. Suspended just out of reach of each arm was a single, silver- 
and-blue spherical palm with four rectangular fingers. 


recurred among the 
transmissions with 
unusual frequency. 
Outburst of SCP-658 
eventually subdued, 
but at least four 
specimens escaped 
into the wild. 


« SCP-657 | SCP-658 | SCP-659 » 


ANA #352 was lying flat on his back, and he was staring at what 
could only described as an angry metal demon. A rocket streamed 
into view, aimed right at the center of the monster. A second before 
it struck, one of the beast's palms opened up and the rocket simply 
exploded in the air. The eye looked down at 352, and then the 
rocket shrapnel came down, and then there was nothing. 


T-MINUS FIVE HOURS 


ANA #352 happened to be one of the ten percent of ANAs with 
cameras strapped to their chest, transmitting all the lurid details of 
their demise to a video screen five hundred meters above them, in 
Conference Room 649-A of Prometheus Defense Headquarters. 


"...powered by a fusion reactor and an innovative radiative energy 
transmission system, which enable it to function at full power 
continuously for up to twenty years. You can clearly see how the 
PL-76 meets all of the criteria of the Future Autonomous Weaponry 
program." 


With those words, James Fielding, Director of Business Operations, 
switched the screen from the camera footage to a sleek computer 
graphic displaying a stylized image of the war machine. Underneath 
it, was the name PROMETHEUS PL-76 SHIVA, in equally stylized 
lettering. 


Fielding waited with bated breath. Prometheus Defense had 
gambled hugely by sinking most of their remaining capital into the 
FAW competition. Now the response from his audience would 
determine the fate of the company. The four men sitting in front of 
him turned away to speak quietly amongst themselves. Despite his 
apprehension, James couldn't help but notice how they all wore the 
same uniform: black suits with white shirts. 


Finally, the man at the head of the audience turned back to him. 
"Impressive, Mister Fielding. Even despite Prometheus Labs’... 
pedigree, we had our doubts that you would come through. Those 
concerns were clearly unfounded. We will, of course, require all 
documentation on the PL-76, and would like this specific model 
shipped to us as soon as possible. Nonetheless, congratulations. 


The Department will contact you shortly with further details 
regarding the contract payout and ordering more Shivas." 


T-MINUS FOUR HOURS 


Shortly after departing the conference room, each of the four 
representatives declared that they needed to make use of the 
facilities, and separated. Only one of them actually did. The other 
three sat in the stalls furtively typing out coded messages to their 
clandestine overseers. 


Around the world, various underlings furiously labored to translate 
these coded messages into actual reports and briefings before 
relaying them to their own superiors. These superiors then furiously 
labored to translate the mission briefings into more coded messages 
and secret phrases before surreptitiously relaying them to their 
overseers. 


"...although not anomalous, these technologies represent a 
unprecedented leap forward in the field of autonomous weaponry; 
some of the technology is unusually similar to classified PTOLEMY 
research and development projects," read GOC leader D.C. al Fine. 


"... far in advance of the Foundation's own artificial intelligence and 
weapons development programs. Possession would cement the 
United States’ offensive dominance and potentially instigate a global 
anomalous arms race to counter this development," read O5-6. 


"... is being teleported to an unknown location for adjustments at 
0400 hours on September 1. Strongly recommend infiltration of the 
Prometheus Defense facility to recover Shiva and all assets related 
to its development before then," the Delta Command Engineer 
transcribed. 


Thousands of miles apart but at almost the same time, the three of 
them declared, "Scramble all available assets within a twenty-five 
kilometer radius of Prometheus Defense. Alert all agents within the 
facility to locate as much information regarding the project's location 
as possible. Discretion and speed are of the utmost priority; the 
PL-76 must be recovered before any other parties learn of its 


existence." 


T-MINUS THREE HOURS 


Around the world, various underlings furiously labored to translate 
these declarations into actual mission briefings before relaying them 
to their own underlings. These underlings then furiously labored to 
translate the mission briefings into code words and secret phrases 
before surreptitiously relaying them to the appropriate parties. 


One of these parties was Avinash Makhija, a Prometheus Defense 
staff electrical engineer and part-time Foundation mole. At that 
moment, Avinash was in a tiny, red-hot cavern two kilometers 
underground, stuffed inside an entry suit, sizing up the Prometheus 
Defense Cross-Dimensional Energy Siphon and Prometheus 
Defense Cross-Dimensional Valve: a massive tangle of machinery 
perched over an incandescent, crimson, pentagram-shaped pit. Five 
enormous turbines sat at each tip of the Valve. Three of them were 
noticeably dented and surrounded by rocks- the result of an 
unexpected seismic event that had managed to both disable them 
and crush every single sentry turret placed around the pit. 


Avinash was deciding how to proceed when the text flashed on his 
visor. 


"Got you a gift pudding cup! you have three guesses what it is. hint: 
Shiva. XOXO sammy." 


Avinash read the text and turned his head to look at the Prometheus 
Defense PL-76 Shiva hovering just a few meters behind him. Then 
he briefly shook his head. Espionage was all well and good but he 
also had an actual job to do.