ATTENTION: THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTS ARE CLASSIFIED LEVEL 5.

Consultation and modification of these documents is prohibited without specific level 5 accreditation for these documents. Said accreditations can only be delivered by the Administrator or O5-7.

Object #: SCP-5016
Threat level: White o
Class: Thaumiel
Special Containment Procedures: Under no circumstances should a staff member aware of the existence of SCP-5016 approach SCP-579, even after having been subjected to Lithopedion class amnesic. A "red" zone is to be defined around SCP-5016 and shall be constantly patrolled and monitored by both radar and thermal surveillance within a radius of 1 kilometer (km). Officially, the island hosting SCP-5016 contains a military base. Marine patrols must be conducted around the island at all times. Any attempt to trespass on the island must be punished by the capture and interrogation of undesirable individuals. Elimination possible after interrogation. Should they reach the red zone, any attempt to capture them must be abandoned in favor of the use of lethal force. Any unusual activity or discovery related to any of the following SCP must be reported immediately to the SCP-5016 Research Manager as well as to O5-7 and the Administrator:

SCP-579
SCP-343
SCP-004
SCP-038-FR

Access to the anomaly information is restricted to members of the SCP-5016 research team and their supervisor (currently Dr Mústês), as well as the two Level 5 members in charge of the subject, namely O5-7 and the Administrator. Any accreditation other than those provided by the Administrator or O5-7, even at level 5, cannot be used to access this data.
Description: SCP-5016 is a tower buried underground, the actual proportions of which are still unknown. Tests conducted using powerful transmitters from inside the building have estimated the depth of the structure at more than 123 kilometers (km) deep, and at only about ten meters once the same tests were conducted from outside. It therefore seems that the interior of the tower is located in another spatial plane than ours after a certain depth.
The building is divided into floors, each of varying size. The widest floor has an estimated area of more than 113 square kilometers (km²), while the least spacious floor consists of a circular room with a radius of 13 meters (m). Each floor has two staircases: one leading to the upper floor and another leading to the lower floor. The latter do not have a predetermined position in the floor, which can be anywhere in it. While the staircase leading to the upper floor is always accessible, the staircase leading to the lower floor only appears once the floor puzzle has been completed. Once the puzzle has been solved, the staircase leading to the lower floor will remain permanently accessible. To date, 739 floors have been explored, each with settings from different places and eras.

It made no sense at all. If floor 1 was clearly identified as dating from the Ramesside period1. Floor 2 was dating from the Sumerian period, at least two thousand years earlier. And floor 3 was a typical Italian Renaissance ballroom. The temporal inconsistency between each of these rooms and their placement has, at this time, not yet found an explanation.
-Dr. Mústês

Each floor has a puzzle to solve, or test to pass, in order to reveal the staircase leading to the lower floor. These riddles are always presented by simplistic diagrams or inscriptions summarizing the content of the riddle and the actions to be taken to solve it. These indications are always inscribed on a stone somewhere on the floor. Each of the inscriptions are made below a symbol specific to each floor. The origin of the symbols used is currently unknown.
While it was initially theorized that these symbols were used to indicate the numbering of floors, it became clear afterwards that they represented the thematic concepts of the corresponding puzzle, when the symbol of floor 1 was discovered on the inscription summarizing the puzzle of floor 57. The complexity of the puzzles and tests therefore increases with the number of floors traversed.

What we had initially considered as a title for each of these tests, and then for a simple numbering whose principles were beyond our comprehension, were in fact nothing more than the elements of a language specific to the tower itself. While the first floors were relatively simple to solve, thanks to the stones which were quite clear in terms of symbols, the more we progressed, the more the tower introduced us to concepts that we had already confronted in order to make its enigmas even more difficult. The whole thing formed a full-scale course on increasingly complex concepts. If the test on floor 1 was childishly simple, i.e. pushing a specific block on a pressure slab to reveal the staircase leading to the next floor, it showed us the symbol used to define the concept of gravity in a deeper way on floor 57. It was as if the tower served both as a guide and as a teacher, leading us to the solutions without giving them to us. We are now on floor 739, and the stone only uses symbols that appeared from floor 500… which themselves were already using other stone symbols, etc. We are now facing a complex language that is totally beyond our comprehension.
- Dr. Mústês

+ Notable examples of floors that have been crossed

- Notable examples of floors that have been crossed

Floor n°: 1
Concept: Gravity
Floor context and puzzle: A 1m x 1m x 1m cube of sandstone is present in the room. A square slab of 1m x 1m x 1m in contrasting colour with the rest of the floor slabs is also present further on. The stone on the first floor depicts a cube, followed by an arrow from the cube to a horizontal line. Any attempt to position oneself on the slab or to place any weight on it failed to produce any result.
Puzzle solution: Pushing the cube on the slab revealed the staircase leading to the lower floor.

Floor n°: 43
Concept: Flowering
Floor context and puzzle: The floor consists of a square of soil that is apparently fertile, on the left of which is a bowl containing seeds of rosa moyesii, while on its right is a bowl of water. Both the basin and the bowl seem to fill up automatically once empty. A lever near the floor square is used to operate a mechanism on the ceiling, which will illuminate the square with what appeared to be sunlight. The stone depicts a line on a black square, as well as a drop of water and what looks like a seed.
Puzzle solution: Grow a rosa moyesii using sunlight, soil, seeds and water.

Floor n°: 44
Concept: Death
Floor context and puzzle: The floor is relatively small. The stone indicates a humanoid shape, followed by a skull.
Puzzle solution: Shooting one of the members of the expeditionary force.

Floor n°: 97
Concept: Pyrokinesis
Floor context and puzzle: The floor contains two fixed torches, one lit, one extinguished. The stone shows two drawings: one depicting one of the torches being lit and the other extinguished, and the other depicting both torches being lit. Attempting to light the extinguished torch with a fire other than the one from the lit torch seems impossible. Attempting to burn anything other than both torches with the fire from the first torch seems impossible. Extinguishing the lit torch seems impossible.
Puzzle solution: Using the Flame of Nahash, as instructed by the Treaty of Primordial Magic of Septimus the Enchanter, to transfer the flame from the burning torch to the extinguished torch, which will then immediately ignite.

Floor n°: 150
Concept: Survival/Combat? (Concept still badly apprehended by the research teams)
Floor context and puzzle: The floor is vast, and strongly looks like a rainforest. The stone shows 12 horribly deformed humanoid shapes, followed by an arrow leading to 12 symbols identical to the one on the stone on floor 44.
Puzzle solution: Surviving the attack of the twelve humanoids and killing them.
Note: Four Exploration Battalions lost. A study to prove similarities between these creatures and daevite sub-divinities is underway. -Dr. Mústês

Floor n°: 225
Concept: Humonculus
Floor context and puzzle: [CENSORED DATA], shows a humanoid shape passing through the circle of black flames to lower a lever.
Puzzle solution: Setting up the Olympia Project. Following [CENSORED DATA] alterations related to the use of SCP-158 do not seem to persist after passing through the circle of black flames. Implementation of the O.O.H.S. Project 2 on Site-Aleph. Integration of the O.O.H.S system in one of the test bodies of the Olympia Project. After [CENSORED DATA], the subject managed to lower the lever, revealing the staircase to the lower level and making [CENSORED DATA] and the circle of black flames disappeared.

Floor n°: 549
Concept: Reality in four dimensions
Floor context and puzzle: The room is empty apart from the stone, which represents the diagram of a hypercube containing a lever activated by a humanoid shape.
Puzzle solution: Using a dimensional quadriphaser to reach the lever located in the reality of the room in four dimensions.

Floor n°: 739
Concept: Tennenti hole3 (Concept under discussion within the research team).
Floor context and puzzle: The room is empty, although vast (estimated area: 113km²). The closer to the center of the room, the higher the Humes rate increases, exponentially every 3km. Once inside the variable Humes zone, it seems impossible to escape from it. The stone shows three different patterns. The first is [INSUFFICIENT ACCREDITATION].
Puzzle solution: Still in progress.
Dr. Mústês's note: None of the teams that tried to cross the room seems to have survived or succeeded. Otherwise, as always, the anomaly in the room would have vanished, and the staircase leading to the lower floor would have appeared. We have already seen a similar case in SCP-312-FR, and the documents appended to the report suggest that we still have the object that caused this anomaly. Request for access to the object in question is imminent.
Note: Request denied. The object in question is of primary importance to the Foundation. Find another way to access it. - The Administrator

Details of all floor descriptions have been transferred to the accompanying document 113-B for readability reasons.
Although the descent of a floor does not seem to have any effects other than those potentially related to the content of the puzzles and tests of each floor, any attempt to ascend seems to have negative impacts, depending on the depth and number of floors ascended. See Test Log 5016-01.

+ Test Log 5016-01

- Test Log 5016-01

Number of floors ascended
Depth = x
Alterations observed on the subjects

1
Floor 1 < x < Floor 100
None

10
Floor 1 < x < Floor 100
None

20
Floor 1 < x < Floor 100
Slight fatigue

50
Floor 1 < x < Floor 100
Slight fatigue and fever

1
Floor 100 < x < Floor 200
None

10
Floor 100 < x < Floor 200
Slight fatigue

20
Floor 100 < x < Floor 200
Slight fatigue and fever

50
Floor 100 < x < Floor 200
Slight fatigue, fever, shortness of breath

1
Floor 200 < x < Floor 300
Slight fatigue

10
Floor 200 < x < Floor 300
Slight fatigue and fever

20
Floor 200 < x < Floor 300
Slight fatigue, fever, shortness of breath

50
Floor 200 < x < Floor 300
Mild fatigue, fever, vomiting

1
Floor 300 < x < Floor 400
Mild fatigue, fever, vomiting

10
Floor 300 < x < Floor 400
Mild fatigue, fever, vomiting

20
Floor 300 < x < Floor 400
Vomiting, nausea sometimes leading to sudden fainting episodes

50
Floor 300 < x < Floor 400
Vomiting, nausea sometimes leading to sudden fainting episodes

1
Floor 400 < x < Floor 500
Mild fatigue, fever, vomiting

10
Floor 400 < x < Floor 500
Vomiting, nausea sometimes leading to sudden fainting episodes

20
Floor 400 < x < Floor 500
Vomiting, nausea sometimes leading to sudden fainting episodes

50
Floor 400 < x < Floor 500
Unconsciousness lasting up to 7 days

1
Floor 500 < x < Floor 600
Vomiting, nausea sometimes leading to sudden fainting episodes

10
Floor 500 < x < Floor 600
Vomiting, nausea sometimes leading to sudden fainting episodes

20
Floor 500 < x < Floor 600
Variable duration coma

50
Floor 500 < x < Floor 600
Variable duration coma

1
Floor 600 < x < Floor 800
Variable duration coma

10
Floor 600 < x < Floor 800
Permanent coma

20
Floor 600 < x < Floor 800
Death

50
Floor 600 < x < Floor 800
Not tried yet

It's strange. The tower seems to be doing everything it can to help us progress, and yet it seems unwilling to let us leave with its deepest secrets. Are we condemned to discover its mysteries without being able to share them? Or maybe aren't we the ones who are supposed to be digging them up? Maybe is it too soon for that? There are still many hypotheses about the origin of this defense mechanism, and at the moment we are unable to come up with a valid one. Still, given the aggravation of the anomaly with depth, I have doubts that beyond the 900th floor, no human could even return to the previous floor without dying.
- Dr. Mústês

In order to overcome this anomaly, to avoid unnecessary casualties and to ensure the logistics of information, men and equipment, re-supply camps have been set up as detailed below:

From the 1st to the 200th floor, a camp every 100 floors
From the 201st to the 400th floor, a camp every 50 floors
From the 401st to the 600th floor, a camp every 10 floors
From the 601st to the 739th floor, a camp every floor

Addendum 5016-01: Origin of SCP-5016 discovery

+ Interview-343-01

- Interview-343-01

Interview date: 18/07/2009
Background of the interview: Following its capture in Prague, SCP-343 was placed in a standard humanoid containment until suitable containment procedures could be implemented. The subject didn't oppose any form of resistance, and asked for multiple meetings with the Administrator. The very fact that the subject was aware of the Administrator's existence prompted the Foundation to adopt the utmost vigilance regarding the possibility of such a meeting, which was rejected. SCP-343 finally wrote a letter to the Administrator in an unknown language. The letter arrived directly to the Administrator on her secure personal Site, without anyone knowing how. Two hours later, SCP-343 was spotted in a humanoid containment room at the said site, stating that he was waiting for his interview with the Administrator. The Administrator granted him an audience fifteen minutes later.
The cell door opens, allowing two armed guards and the Administrator to enter the room. SCP-343 quickly conjured up a table and two chairs and invited the Administrator to sit down, which she did. The subject followed her lead. The Administrator dismissed the two armed guards who then left the room. The whole event was filmed by security cameras and was transcribed in writing.
The Administrator: I must confess that your letter really surprised me. Although I was expecting to find a familiar face.The Administrator: Prove it.The Administrator seems unsettled.
The Administrator: How do you know…?The Administrator: No.The Administrator: How did you get this information?The Administrator: Good. Does the Black Moon howl?There's a moment of silence.
The Administrator: Who are you?The Administrator: I know exactly what you said to Dr. Beck. Just as I know perfectly well that what you said to him was untrue. I have met and know the being who created this, and she knows me as well. So you're lying about that.The Administrator: Fine. What do you want?The Administrator: Who is?The Administrator facial expression suddenly changes.The Administrator: You know a lot. Some might even say too much.The Administrator: That remains to be proved. But, even if we agreed to provide you such help, you haven't told me what your goal actually was.The Administrator: It's that simple?The Administrator: How are your goal and our goal related?The Administrator: What would these consequences be, then?The Administrator: How would he do it?The Administrator: We are aware of the causes of the Scission in 1948, yes. Now, tell me. If that thief is put out of business, will the coming of the Enemy be delayed?The Administrator: Enough for us to complete protocol 110-Montauk?The Administrator: Well. That could sounds like an interesting proposition to me, then. How do we stop your thief?The Administrator: Are you saying that…?The Administrator: And once we find it?The Administrator: Good. We'll let you know as soon as we find something. But before I can put team together to look for your thief, I need to know I can trust you.The Administrator: Sort of, I do.The Administrator: What do you mean?The Administrator: Wait. How will we know whether or not we've found the thief?On those words, SCP-343 disappears. He was found a few minutes later in his cell at Site-19.

+ Interview-343-02

- Interview-343-02

Date of interview: 12/03/2012
Background of the interview: A few days after the discovery (or rediscovery?) of SCP-055 in Site-19, the Administrator was notified. A meeting between her and SCP-343 is then arranged in his cell.
The Administrator enters the room alone. As in the previous interview, SCP-343 makes a table and two chairs appear. Everyone sits down.The Administrator: It's always complex to look for something you can easily forget about. However, first of all, I wanted to thank you for the information you provided at our last meeting. It has proven to be crucial. If in future we could cooperate more in this way, I would be the first to be delighted.The Administrator: I could argue that we would be more… let's say, slower in our future partnership, in this case.Light silence.The Administrator: Yes, we did. We've detected an anti-memetic anomaly in Site-19 labeled SCP-055. It looks similar to your description of what we needed to find.The Administrator: No. We've been waiting for you.The Administrator: Fine. However, you'll have to wait until I'm off site before you can do anything about it.Later that day, SCP-579 was discovered inside SCP-055. Due to SCP-055's anti-memetic properties, the course of events is still unclear. Nevertheless, it appears that SCP-579 was extracted from SCP-055, causing a minor containment breach. Following the breach, SCP-579 remained untraceable for several days before being relocated near ██████.

+ Interview-343-03

- Interview-343-03

Date of the interview: 15/03/2012
Background of the interview: A few days after the discovery of SCP-579, after the end of the breach caused by it, a meeting between the Administrator and SCP-343 was organized in his cell.
The Administrator: What the hell was that? I thought you could neutralize him.The Administrator: So we're starting from scratch?The Administrator: Which is?The Administrator: And what do you expect us to do?The Administrator: How will we know what the loot looks like?The Administrator: If you say so. What about 579?Following the interview, SCP-343 gave the geographic coordinates of SCP-5016 to the Foundation. The object was discovered one day later and exploration began.

+ Interview-343-04

- Interview-343-04

Date of the interview: 15/12/2012
Background of the interview: Following the multiple incidents and containment breaches related to SCP-579, a meeting between the Administrator and SCP-343 was once again organized.
The Administrator: You will notice that I have kept my promises on my side. I cannot say the same about you. The object keeps breaking its confinement and you don't seem to be able to stop it or help us in any way.The Administrator: This is not the feeling I get from you.The Administrator: What kind of containment?The Administrator: A simple extra-dimensional lockdown? Couldn't you have suggested this earlier?The Administrator: Forbidden? For what reason? What does that door mean to you?The Administrator: I'd say a little over a week.A week later, SCP-579 was confined to Site-62C. At this time, the object's containment is stable.

+ Incident 004/5016-01

- Incident 004/5016-01

On 11/03/2019, an alert was received on the surface of SCP-5016 from its deepest camp. This alert was then issued progressively by all the camps one by one from the deepest one. The content of the alert, although differing in form from one emission point to another, remained the same: a troop of unknown and unidentified individuals had visibly just come up from the unexplored floor n°740.

We were stationed on the edge of the Humes variation zone, when we saw a lightning bolt in the centre of the zone. We had a telescope that constantly scanned the center of the zone, mainly so that we could provide detailed information on all the phenomenon occurring there to facilitate future explorations. And the recordings are formal: after the lightning strike, some kind of entrance with a staircase had just appeared. Several entities came out of it, and then one of them seemed to remove the entrance that had just appeared. Then they moved quickly to the staircase leading to the upper floor. They were a handful of humanoids, with a strange deer. They went through the Tennenti Hole as if it was nothing. We tried to apprehend them, but we all fainted as they approached…
- Agent Nazo, 128th Exploratory Battalion, stationed at the camp on floor #739

The entire unidentified troop kept moving up the floors, each time placing the staff members getting too close in a deep sleep. No member of the troop appeared to suffer from the anomaly associated with the ascent of the building.
A total of 7 entities were seen and described:

A young man, whose entire body was completely black.
A young girl, whose body seemed to emit a faint glow. The young man and the girl were walking hand in hand.
A deer of imposing size, with golden antlers.
An old man elegantly dressed in a coat and a borsalino.
Two other old men whose appearance changes depending on the staff members describing them
A mummified body, visibly alive, naked and covered with scars in the form of symbols that could be Daevite iconography according to the witnesses. The mummy seemed to be held in levitation by the two old men. Some staff members also indicated that the different members of the troop agreed to take turns maintaining eye contact with the mummy.

The entire troop was observed leaving the SCP-5016 structure before vanishing. At the same time, they emerged in front of SCP-004. Staff members attempting to stop them collapsed. One of the two men with a changing appearance had a quick discussion with one of the staff members who had not lost consciousness, Dr ████████████ ███████████ while the second man with a changing appearance was closing SCP-004-01. The discussion was recorded via the intercom of the staff member in question:

Man with a changing appearance: Excuse me, my good man, what day is it?
Dr ████████████ ███████████ (apparently grabbing a gun): Freeze or I'll shoot. Last warning.
Man with a changing appearance: It won't do any good. Just tell me what day it is and we'll leave. I promise.
Dr ████████████ ███████████: Well… uh… it's monday.
Man with a changing appearance: Monday,yes,but which one? What date?
Dr ████████████ ███████████: Ah! We're on… March 11th, 2019.
Man with a changing appearance (visibly happy): AH! So we have a whole year ahead of us. That's good. Thank you, young man.
The voice of the man with a changing appearance seems to be fading away.
Man with a changing appearance: I told you, brother! We have the time we need. Come on, let's go, lovebirds. You too, grumpy face. The deer, too! And keep an eye on the damn [Incomprehensible]
Dr ████████████ ███████████: Come back! No, wait! DON'T CLOSE THAT DOOR!

During the discussion, the second man with the changing appearance took a key out of his sleeve and reopened SCP-004-1 with it. The entire group of strangers walked through the door, and then the door closed again. To date, only the deer has been potentially identified as SCP-038-FR, although it did not escape its surveillance throughout the incident.

+ Interview with Dr ████████████ ███████████ on Incident 004/5016-01

- Interview with Dr ████████████ ███████████ on Incident 004/5016-01

Date: 19/03/2019
Background of the interview: Following Incident 004/5016-01, Dr ████████████ ███████████, the only person who interacted with the unidentified group without losing consciousness, was summoned by the Administrator. At the request of the latter, SCP-343 is also present. As soon as Dr ████████████ ███████████ enters the interrogation room and sees him, he loses his temper.
Dr ████████████ ███████████: You! You were there! Madam Administrator, step away, quickly! Security! SECURITY!
The Administrator: Calm down, Doctor. SCP-343 is completely peaceful and has been cooperating with us for many years. You have nothing to fear.
Two armed guards, alerted by the screams of Dr ████████████ ███████████, enter the room.
The Administrator: It's all right, gentlemen. False alarm.
Dr ████████████ ███████████: With all due respect, Madam Administrator, but this… this thing was present at the incident site. It's the one that locked SCP-004-1 before reopening it with another key!Dr ████████████ ███████████then tries to jump on SCP-343. He is caught and held up by the guards in the room.
The Administrator: Sorry for the show, probably post-traumatic stress disorder related to the event. Gentlemen, please take Dr ████████████ ███████████ to the infirmary for psychological treatment.
Guards escorted Dr ████████████ ███████████ out of the room.Administrator: Indeed. Do you have any idea what these people might be?The Administrator: Frustrating and exciting at the same time?The Administrator: Welcome to my world.The Administrator: Good. I'll see you soon, then.On those words, SCP-343 disappears.

+ Dr. Mústês' final note on SCP-5016

- Dr. Mústês' final note on SCP-5016

If there is one particular concept that we all know at the SCP Foundation, it is the concept of mystery. We constantly live in a world full of unanswered questions. Or at least on the surface. For behind every question lies a path, a clue, somewhere. And whether it lies deep in a forgotten pyramid, in other worlds, or sometimes even in our own databases, it is always revealed to the ones who are looking for it hard enough. And it is thanks to them that many things become more understandable, even if one answer often brings two new questions. And in that, SCP-5016 is an enigma. What used to be for us just a tower has become a little more than just a building at every floor we passed. The more we learned about it, the greater the mysteries surrounding it. Why trying to teach us such language, floor after floor? Why let us sink into the depths, if it is to prevent us from getting out? What will happen in less than a year? Where did all those people who came up here go? Who are they? To what world does the key held by one of the two men with the changing appearance lead?
All these questions persist. Perhaps we'll have the chance to answer some of them one day. That has been my task for over forty years. Because I know that somewhere out there, those questions have an answer. Probably written in black on white. Or hidden from the eye of the neophyte. Our task is not to find the answers. That is only our reward. Our task is to search for them.
And, beyond the anomalies on each floor, that, I believe, is the true nature of SCP-5016: to have buried the truth somewhere, and to give a hard time to anyone who tries to get it.
And I couldn't have asked for a better challenge.
- Dr Mústês

Footnotes
1. The Ramesside period is a period of Ancient Egypt that covers the 19th and 20th dynasties, i.e. from -1295 to -1069
2. O.O.H.S. (Operational & Omnipresent Humanoid Sentinel)
3. A Tennenti Hole is an anomaly created by the collapsing of one reality into another following a attempt to bend it in massive proportions.

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