To say that the day had started badly would have been a huge understatement.
Used to waking up around seven thirty, the coffee machine on the small shelf above the bed bubbling away with his first cup of the day, it was a highly unpleasant surprise to be awakened by the overhead alarm system blaring out a very rare sequence of beeps. Two long, two short, two long, two short, over and over again, informing everybody (but particularly those for whom it was highly relevant information) that it was not only time to get up, but to prepare for a highly unusual and rather dangerous scenario.
The sound of footsteps rushing past his door was indicative that there was at least one other member of staff whose ability to get out of bed far exceeded his, but within a minute Dr deValmont was dressed and out the door, albeit with his brain and tongue competing as to which was the most fuzzy. The alarms in the corridor were louder and served to help with the former, the latter would have to wait until this was sorted out and he could get to a coffee machine.
Jogging down the corridor to the main archive area, Rikarð was surprised to see people struggling into the blue hazmat suits, hanging in glass-fronted corridors along one wall. This added to his confusion, the blue suits were double-layered, lined with a very fine silvery dust that was designed to protect the wearer from any electromagnetic waves between 104 and 1020Hz. The security team clad in the blue suits ran off down the corridor, looking otherworldly with their single camera eye protruding from the over-large head coverings, required due to the fact that any light that got through a faceplate could let in any other number of horrors. The security teams had to be specially trained to deal with using the suits, set up as they were with two screens on the inside, one showing a highly pixellated black and white live image, the other a full HD display on a five second delay so that it could be cut in the event of a cognitohazardous or visually dangerous SCP appearing in their field of vision.
The suits suggested that the problem was either a VIS or CH, but the alarm said otherwise. There was obviously something even more odd than usual going on, and he needed to find out. He pulled out his comms and sent a request to Overseers.
“O5 support, state your number please.” The voice said, impassively.
“Twelve M, five-five-two dot twenty-three M A” he replied
“Name and location.” It really wasn't getting any friendlier.
“Dr deValmont, Rikarð, I, C Wing, blue phase, floor 2, corridor 12” he rattled off, glancing at the sign at the end of the corridor to check the number.
“Evacuate immediately. Potential EK scenario.”
The line went dead, and Dr deValmont was left staring at his comm unit with the feeling that he really should be walking in the opposite direction to the blue-suited team he had just seen leaving the area. Every bit of his training and induction told him that a two long two short alarm was not something to be getting curious over. Something was out of the box, so to speak. He rattled through the scenario list in his head to remember the specifics of this one, remembering back to his first hazard training inductions, many years ago.
“Now, you've covered all the basic Pandora scenarios in the previous training, now we're going to deal with how the Site as a whole covers scenarios of increasing severity. These we call SK, EK and VK scenarios, for reasons that will become clear. These are site specific, and are developed for each site based upon the interred anomalies, unlike the worldwide CK and XK scenarios which you've already covered in General.
“SK scenarios are the lowest in severity, although this SHOULD NOT be underestimated – anyone on Site during a SK scenario is in a situation of mortal or existential risk. SKs are situations where the actions or effects of a Keter-class anomaly are active outside of the controls of its Containment Procedures. This normally means that we have a mobile Keter at loose in the facility. You don't need to be shown the six-eight-two pictures again to know how serious that can be. SOP for an SK scenario is to remain in your current secure area until a security team unseal the blast portals. If you are not in a secure area, move as quickly as you can to the nearest one, following the thin red line on the wall near to the floor, and follow standard security protocols for entry to the BPs.
“Now, then you have EK. First of all I'd like to show people this set of photographs, and a short presentation. If you begin to feel sick or faint let me know.”
He shuddered at the memory. He hadn't vomited but several around him had, and the smell made the rest of the afternoon's lectures a highly unpleasant experience. ‘So,' he mused to himself, ‘I should find a secure exit portal and await relocation to a perimeter bunker to await further instructions.'.
“Where's the fun in that?” he said out loud as he turned the corner.
Then he nearly tripped over the mess on the floor, and began to rapidly re-evaluate his decision.