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BY ORDER OF THE O5 COUNCIL
The following file is Level 4/5005 classified. Unauthorized access is forbidden.

5005

Item #: SCP-5005
Level 4/5005

Object Class: Euclid
Classified

A picture of one of SCP-5005's "burning" lamps in the Aetherium district; similar in effect to sodium lamps but based on thaumaturgy rather than mainstream technology.

Special Containment Procedures: Diplomatic relations with SCP-5005 have been established under the terms of the Sarai Treaty. A permanent researcher is to be stationed on SCP-5005 at all times, whose presence can only be allowed or rescinded by the agreement of the project lead and two Foundation psychologists. Other Foundation personnel are permitted conditional research access to SCP-5005 with the approval of their supervisor. Access is gained via a Scranton-Meyerbeer Arc from Site-Q46, located in the Aadzain Universe on the far side of the Western Cluster. Contact your extrauniversal contact for more information.
Personnel are reminded that a prolonged stay in SCP-5005 may be severely emotionally taxing, and are encouraged to consider their own mental health before entering.
Description: SCP-5005 is a human settlement, located 3449 whalons to the Multiversal East of the Central Reality Compass and 87 whalons beyond where matter is ordinarily capable of permanently existing. Consequently, it is the most remote settlement created by a sentient creature and the most remote matter in existence.
SCP-5005 is constructed on an expanse of an earth-like substance, which acts as a fertile soil. The extent of this expanse is unknown, as it is impossible to engage in long-term exploration beyond the limits of SCP-5005-1's light range.
SCP-5005-1 is a large biomechanical lantern suspended over SCP-5005. SCP-5005-1's light possesses a degree of reality stabilisation far in excess of any other known examples, allowing for the permanent existence of matter within its light range. However, SCP-5005-1's capacity as a light source is limited and temperamental. Due to its size and distance from SCP-5005, its lux illumination is relatively low in the settlement. It is frequently described as being similar to the light of a full moon on Earth.
SCP-5005-1 is suspended above SCP-5005 by a large protruding tendril, which emerges from the expanse and forms an arc above SCP-5005. The tendril is believed to be constructed from an artificially hardened and strengthened form of the expanse-substance.
The composition of the expanse-substance is unknown. Various scholars have proposed a link to Sriskan holochrome, which possesses a similarly unusual molecular structure. However, the archeological record of Sriska is very limited, and no currently known Sriskan technologies could create something on the scale of the expanse-substance. The residents of SCP-5005 refer to the substance as "mahi loam", a word which has no known connection to any of the cultures on SCP-5005 and is of unknown provenance; further investigation is required.
The following is an assessment of other anecdotal evidence and theories concerning SCP-5005's surroundings by Dr. Hamish Franklin, Project Lead on SCP-5005.

Although the historical documentation surrounding SCP-5005's founding and history is relatively extensive, any scientific understanding of the town's surroundings or its light source remains beyond our capabilities. It is clear from the mechanical elements within SCP-5005-1 that it is a synthetic creation of an unknown civilisation, but there is nothing we can find that is remotely similar to it. There are some - some - similarities to Sriskan technologies within the substance of the expanse, but that kind of molecular structure has its forebears in any number of universes in that cluster and beyond - Aadzain, Harkhret, Kharak. What all of them lack is anything even slightly as advanced as SCP-5005-1, which can create almost Earth-like conditions in the midst of unreality.
Any number of theories have come forward. A research experiment of the old Empire, a neo-Oestrian birthing ground, an Aadzainian horse-culling centre - one biologist even thought it could be the remains of a Harkhret pioneer's anglerfish! These ideas are innovative but remain, at best, only mere speculation.
Not even the populace can provide any clues. Whatever ancient people made it must be long dead now. We cannot send Foundation personnel beyond the city limits, of course - far too dangerous - and most anecdotes from the town's explorers simply speak of more and more dark, and that gradual unsettling feeling that they'd been away from the light for too long. Would-be pioneers have either been driven back swiftly or have disappeared.
Only one anecdote has been preserved that holds any interest for us. Roughly a century ago, a particularly daring (or drunken) poet decided to pick a direction and head that way as long as possible. He was just about suicidal enough to stick with it longer than most others, but not so determined that he didn't eventually turn back.
Out there, many miles away, he happened to glance at his hand and saw it begin to unravel. In a panic, he stared across the landscape, and saw a brief glint on the horizon. Thinking it was home, he headed fast towards it, but after crossing a prominent ridge he found that he'd been going in the wrong direction entirely. Before him lay a glassy orb of immense proportions, the colour of milk, embedded into the earth. And a faint light shone beneath its surface.
By some miracle he managed to get home. There wasn't much of him left, and it didn't take long before he expired. But his half-mad, lunatic story he screamed out has stuck in the town's lore. For most of the townsfolk, it remains a cautionary tale for those who might consider stepping beyond the light's edge.

The following are a series of introductory essays on aspects of SCP-5005 by academics and Foundation personnel in the Sol and Orchard Universes who have studied the anomaly. These have been supplemented by Foundation logs that provide examples of the phenomena discussed.
1. History by Dr. Johannes Kobold, Level 3 Foundation Historian.
SCP-5005 was founded by Jean-Antoine Delacroix, a noted poet from the Orchard Universe and former dragoman in the Kievan Republic. Delacroix discovered SCP-5005's location following the dissolution of his relationship with the Strathclyde painter Emily Woolf, leaving him in a state of extreme depression. He attempted suicide via arc blinking, launching himself in a random direction in the hope of expiring in the non-matter surrounding the multiverse.
Instead, Delacroix arrived close to SCP-5005-1. Deeply curious about the location, he blinked himself home to embark on a series of explorations of the site. He founded SCP-5005 in 2107 and gave it the name Lamplight, which remains its common name to this day. Delacroix's stated intention in founding the settlement was to create a place "that could provide a home to the damned, the dispossessed, the refugee and the lost".
However, the initial inhabitants were almost entirely artists, writers and intellectuals from the Orchard Universe, quickly ending Delacroix's utopian hopes for the town. He again fell into depression and disappeared in 2110.
Subsequent immigration to SCP-5005 has followed a similar pattern, with the majority of the town's population belonging to academic or artistic professions. Most other inhabitants are the survivors or descendants of two major influxes of refugees who took up residence in SCP-5005: a group of survivors of the Neon London in 2396 and the remnants of the Tribes of the Many Steppes in 2419.
The nature of time in SCP-5005's non-matter surroundings means that human aging varies greatly from person to person. Consequently, while some visitors have undergone the span of a full human life in a single 24-hour cycle, others have shown no visible signs of aging across many centuries. This allows for an impressive range of sources for SCP-5005's history. An example of this can be found in the following interview with Sergei Osmanoglu, the owner of the Dragoman Tavern, who emigrated to SCP-5005 in 2109.

Interviewer: Junior Researcher Sofia Ramirez
Location: Dragoman Tavern
Date: 29/11/2524
<Begin Log>
Ramirez is sitting in the main room of the tavern, at a table by a window. She has just switched on a recording device and placed it in front of her. A tall, burly man with a thick beard - Osmanoglu - is sitting opposite her. Snow can be seen passing by the window. There is a lit fireplace behind Osmanoglu.
Ramirez: Thank you for agreeing to this interview, Sergei.
Osmanoglu: It's not a problem. I've got time. And you pay the rent promptly.
Ramirez: I - ok… When did you first arrive in Lamplight?
Osmanoglu: 2109, I think. It was a long time ago.
Ramirez: What was the town like then?
Osmanoglu: Small. Cold. Fewer buildings, fewer lamps, less snow.
Ramirez: Yes, I wanted to ask about that - how is there sn-
Osmanoglu: But it was better back then. Delacroix was there. People said he'd founded the place, but I couldn't understand how they could think that.
Ramirez: What do you mean?
Osmanoglu: He didn't have energy. No spark. He'd spend all his time staring out there, into the dark.
Osmanoglu gestures towards the window; the darkness of the non-matter is visible outside.
Osmanoglu: This place wasn't meant for us.
Ramirez: You can't know that for sure. The soil here is so perfectly suited to supporting human life.
Osmanoglu: You don't make a place for people with that thing suspended over it. You'd build a sun or stars, not a pallid half-moon. There are no places for humans this far out.
Ramirez: Other civilisations got close. Sriska, Harkhret -
Osmanoglu: They weren't humans. Wrong cluster. And if they did make this place, and I doubt it, then they are long gone now. Nothing but their dust and their Lamp left over.
Ramirez: So - what did Delacroix do?
Osmanoglu is silent for some time.
Osmanoglu: He had a girl, and it went sour. So he came here to start something new, something great. But the only ones entranced by his mad designs were the same old crowd of poets, all talking about the great utopia they'd build here. Another society of true freedom to escape the horrors of the dozen others they'd made. But they didn't want to do the hard graft or come down from their Bohemian bubbles, so it was all talk. Shooting shit in taverns like this one. I'm the only one left now.
Osmanoglu takes a sip of beer.
Osmanoglu: Delacroix, though, he was smart. He could see this. First time I saw him he'd been here two years, and the absinthe had reached his eyes. He saw that all he'd done was make more meaningless ego. But I think… I think part of him loved the misery he felt. He wrote his best poems here, everyone says so. About the dark as a mirror, and about - about other stuff. You've read him?
Ramirez: Not yet, no - hard to get a copy in Sol.
Osmanoglu: You're the next universe over! Should be easy. On Orchard, you can find him anywhere. Not so much here. People don't like to remember him here.
Ramirez: Why not?
Osmanoglu: Because he talked truths the poets don't want to hear. Or because we all know what happened to him. Oh, there are those who say he went back to Orchard, but any true Lamplighter knows that he stepped into the night. "The night does not give such easy answers", he used to say. I would just pat him on the shoulder and tell him it was OK, and I… he was not a well man, Sofia. He wanted to destroy himself. And we don't like to talk about that.
Ramirez: Suicide, right?
Osmanoglu: No, more than that. I don't think he wanted to die, to end. He wanted to annihilate the idea of himself. He'd come here and order absinthe, over and over and over again, staring at the - the snow and trying to make out shapes. Then one day he was gone.
Ramirez: I… I see.
Osmanoglu: You should go home, Sofia. Go back to your Sol, to your Foundation. This is not a place for well people.
Ramirez: Then why are you here?
Osmanoglu: Someone has to care for the sick. I saw you watching Kastamonu, from your window.
Ramirez: I don't know wh-
Osmanoglu: Tall man. Wore a greatcoat. You saw him, didn't you? Walking down the cobbled streets. He was a playwright, from Daevastan. Smoked those pipes, wrote with trembling hands under the gas lamps. I put the fire on and keep it warm, but he hasn't been back for days. Just walked into the smog, one foot beating a tardy march, withdrawing with the other as a faintly whistling silhouette. You saw him and said nothing. I think you are like him, in a way.
Ramirez: …That'll be all for now.
<End Log>

2. Structure and Society by Dr. Harry Grant, Lecturer in Eastern Multiverse Studies at Kings College London.
SCP-5005 is, properly, a series of five small districts loosely gathered around a central plaza, the Woolf Square. Three of these districts were created by the various artistic groups present in SCP-5005 across the centuries and consequently reflecting their sensibilities; the other two were founded by refugee groups.
The districts are:

The Kievan or Victorian district was the original core of the city, founded by Jean-Antoine Delacroix in 2109. The architectural style is reminiscent of the late Dnieperian style, roughly analogous to a mixture of Victorian and Imperial Russian architecture in the Sol Universe but with some oddities, such as a strict adherence to cobbled streets and the regular placement of gas lamps. The ardent romanticism of the city's founders has led to the structure of this district being deliberately disorganised. It has frequently been admired for its many communal meeting places and frequent public concerts.

The Aetherium district was created during the Cyberpunk Revival of the 2350s, a response to the horrors of the Burnt Apple War that caused severe destruction to the Orchard Universe's Earth. The Cyberpunk Revival was marked by a deep cynicism and disillusionment with contemporary politics, reflected in an architectural style deliberately modelled on post-industrial decay and internet-based subcultures. The district is thus highly architecturally varied and was renowned for its anarchist politics, which were credited with an urban and social regeneration across the settlement.

The Giotto district was created by a group of Sol Universe artists who, in response to the Namibian Crisis of the 2390s, wanted a radical return to pre-modernity as a response to the "evils of the present". The group, vehemently opposed to all realism in art, created the district as a way to return to "a world of starker light", constructing buildings exclusively in Gothic or Romanesque church architecture and with an emphasis on stained glass's light-refracting properties. The early days of this district were marked by an ascetic, medieval morality, almost entirely absent today; the modern neighbourhood is chiefly known for its biannual passion plays and wide range of communal and charitable activities.

The Neoclassical district was founded by refugees fleeing the Neon London in the early 25th century. Characterised by 18th century British architecture but augmented by a large number of green spaces, flowing curves and a stated desire to create "utopia", this district was rigidly and rigorously planned as an ideal community of elites. Although this project has long been abandoned, the neighbourhood has become a focal point for a great number of literary circles, with young artists frequently attending its salons and literary festivals and many patrons settling in the district.

The Nomad district was created by the surviving Tribes of the Many Steppes. Most of the structures here are yurts and other nomadic tents utilised by the Salome Universe's Inner Asia analogue, but at the centre of the district is a Manichean temple of particular architectural significance even beyond SCP-5005. This district is frequently engaged in housing refugees from across the multiverse, a cause that many of SCP-5005's residents involve themselves in.

Despite many historical differences, conflicts and disagreements between these districts are now uncommon, with the populace as a whole freely mingling. Although each district has its own celebrations, there is one major festival celebrated in SCP-5005 by the populace as a whole: the "Parade of Candles" or "Chrizmata", held once a year on a day roughly analogous to midwinter in the northern hemisphere of the Orchard Universe's Earth. A description of this festival by Junior Researcher Ramirez can be found below.

The festival's proceedings begin at what would be 6AM in the Orchard Universe's Kiev, the system of timekeeping agreed upon since SCP-5005's foundation. Residents from all the districts gather in the central square to engage in a series of acrobatic performances, poetry readings, artistic displays and musical recitals.
The artistic segments of the community essentially use this event to promote and discuss their various works, while the rest of the populace treats them as a form of entertainment. It is notable that while many of these works use the surrounding dark as their subject matter, it is rare to hear discussion of the darkness, both during the festival and outside it.
This activity continues for several hours while the owners of the local taverns begin the task traditionally incumbent on them: constructing a large pyre in the centre of the square. The resulting structure is enormous, but due to the prevalence of fog and snow in SCP-5005, it is frequently unusable as a pyre. In these cases, the populace simply links arms and dances around the structure, before returning to their various homes and cooking an evening feast.
If the pyre does catch light, however, then tables will be set up surrounding the fire and a shared feast will take place in the square. The food here is a mixture of plants grown in the expanse-substance as well as imported food, which makes up the vast majority of the food consumed in SCP-5005. A great many Kievan and Strathclyde delicacies can be found from the Orchard Universe as well as Malted Saloons from the Salome Universe, a delicacy brought by the tribal refugees that has proved surprisingly popular in the town.
After the meal, candles are brought out for the populace to light from the pyre. It will usually be burning much lower at this stage, and is ordinarily safe to approach. Having lit their candles, the populace begins to wander, individually and haphazardly, towards the edges of SCP-5005-1's light range. They will spread themselves out at a safe distance behind the edge of the circle and, holding their candles aloft, begin to sing several hymns in succession. The year's hymns are voted on during a town meeting; they are primarily from the Orchard Universe, but some Sol and Salome songs are sung. There is also usually a reconstructed Sriskan song added as part of the continuing superstition that the Sriskans created SCP-5005-1.
The singing is not impressive, as one would expect from hundreds of people spread out across a very large distance and with little training. Other observers have called the effect charming; it seems to me to be reflective of the almost monomaniac obsession that the denizens have with the light and the fire motif, present in so many artistic works and important to their conversation and culture. It is a bizarre and disturbing fact that so many travel to understand or be inspired by SCP-5005's non-material location but end up ardently embracing the familiar trappings of home.

3. Culture by Pierre Rachmaninoff, Reader in Literary History at the University of Old Kiev.
SCP-5005's place in the canon of multiversal literature, art and music is regarded as highly significant. Its importance to the Orchard Universe's Cyberpunk Revival is well-documented, as is that movement's impact on the culture of multiple universal clusters. Perhaps less well known is the sheer scale of artistic figures who have lived in or been inspired by SCP-5005.
The Dragoman, Firefall and Old Sriska taverns have all seen the formation of a number of significant literary circles. The renowned 22nd century poet Fernand Borges was deeply affected by SCP-5005, writing his famous poem "The Hearth of Baudelaire", a Ulysses-like attempt to portray the common life of the city's inhabitants as a large-scale epic. Martha Vintage's historical novels, all concerned with Sriskan and Harkhretian familes settling on the edges of space, are thought to have been inspired by her stay at the Firefall. But the most famous literary resident is still Delacroix, whose influence over the writing of the whole of the Western Universal Sectors is incalculable.
The unique "moonlight" effect of SCP-5005-1 and the sense of community in the settlement have been portrayed numerous times in the visual arts. The Franco-Salomin painters Claude Karakorum, Mohammed Watteau and Fransisco de Shiraz were all drawn to SCP-5005, with Karakorum's piece Delacroix's Bedchamber being among the most famous artworks of the Western Sector. The musical influence is less easy to trace, but a great many noted composers have made visits. Marius Konigsberg's "Chrizmata" Symphony and the "Cheer and Frost" heptet were both composed during his stay in SCP-5005.
It is notable that the pieces of temporary visitors or recent immigrants to SCP-5005 are almost invariably focused on the non-matter surrounding the settlement, while those of long-term residents are often fixated on community, light and sensual pleasures. Various explanations have been given for this disparity in subject matter. Many short-term residents state that they came to SCP-5005 expressly to see the non-matter and that anything else is simply a distraction, deterring from a proper exploration of the location's "mystery". Longer-term inhabitants often talk about the pointlessness of examining the non-matter or believe SCP-5005's purpose is to act as a beacon against nonexistence. The unexplained weather conditions in the settlement are never mentioned (with a single exception discussed in Dr. Franklin's essay below).
The following is an interview between Researcher Ramirez and the famed Sol Universe poet Juan Lumiere, who settled permanently in the town in 2276. It is included here to give a sense of the perspective of many longer-term inhabitants of SCP-5005.

Interviewer: Junior Researcher Sofia Ramirez
Location: Outside the Firefall Tavern
Date: 12/12/2524
<Begin Log>
Junior Researcher Ramirez is walking towards the back entrance of the Firefall Tavern, which opens onto a wide cobbled street on a slight incline. Fog can be seen all around, obscuring the rest of the street. The sounds of revelry coming from inside the Firefall can be heard.
A man in his 30s, wearing a long thick greatcoat, is smoking a cigarillo outside the entrance. Ramirez approaches him.
Ramirez: H-hello? Juan Lumiere?
Lumiere: The very same. You're that Foundation girl, aren't you? Staying at the Dragoman?
Ramirez: Junior Researcher Sofia Ramirez.
Lumiere: A lovely name. I can only presume, given that recording device on your shoulder, that you have come to interview me.
Ramirez: If we could step insi-
Lumiere: I prefer to stand out here. They are bright and merry in there. I'll wait until the fire is lower and the company more selective. Let the young have their fun.
Ramirez: How old are you?
Lumiere: Two hundred and seventy-eight. Don't look it, do I? The perks of this city. I've aged 6 years in the time I've been here, by my count. But nobody ever comes here for eternal life.
Ramirez: I've been wondering about that.
Lumiere: It's because it doesn't feel as it's meant to. You don't feel like you're living longer, just that those years have been spread out longer. Like skin stretched over a drum. You never develop properly.
Ramirez: Your writing has.
Lumiere: I didn't think anyone in Sol had ever heard of me.
Ramirez: It - well, if I'm honest, it was your work that first drew me here. You're unusual. Your later stuff talks about fire and light, but with much more craft than most of the other long-termers.
Lumiere: You like the newer ones, then?
Ramirez: I - I do quite like them.
Lumiere: But you like the earlier ones more.
Lumiere sighs, and stubs out his cigarillo.
Lumiere: Everyone likes the early ones more. They don't understand why someone would come to Lamplight just to write about the things in their own lives. To them, in their Kievan salons, this place is just the wild frontier, the mystery beyond mysteries, the edge of all creation. They want something wild, not something homespun.
Ramirez: Isn't that natural?
Lumiere narrows his eyes, thrusting his hands into the pockets of his coat.
Lumiere: Do you write, at all? Compose?
Ramirez: I - I play a little violin. I write some stuff in my spare time.
Lumiere: But that's not why you came here. You came here to solve its mysteries.
Ramirez: It has so many.
Lumiere: You're barking up the wrong tree, girl. You won't solve anything. You should go inside.
Ramirez: I'm fine. I'm not here to party.
Lumiere: Then there's your mistake. I've seen so many like you come through here. You've read Delacroix?
Ramirez: I recently acquired a copy. I haven't read much yet, though.
Lumiere: It's his last poem that, if not understood, then at least got some glimpse of this place. Rough, almost like a regression into juvenilia, but the only thing he wrote that really threw a light on the bright young things that come here, full of opium and dreams. You think people come here to see the dark? They come here because they think they should. They think inspiration is full of the external, the depths of the human soul, the ravaged passions of the age. It's not. Inspiration is the dust on a wainscot and the smell of barley, the warmth of heaths, th-
Ramirez: There is an infinite dark outside, a light that should not exist above. Why should I come here to play the fool? This town should not exist-
Lumiere: It was always going to exist. This place was inevitable.
Ramirez: What does that mean?
Lumiere: Why did you not help Kastomonu?
There is a pause of several seconds.
Lumiere: You drink, same as me and the rest. But you drink ice-cold gin in the silence of your room. You spend hour after hour puzzling, typing, working through things. I see you in your window, staring out at the night. And you watched as Kastomonu just marched himself off into the night, because you felt the same things he felt.
Ramirez: W-why do you -
Lumiere: Because I've seen you before, a thousand times. The artist falling on his paintbrush as a sword. The writer who sees God in a grain of darkness. Sometimes I stop them, but mostly they ignore me. The wisdom of youth, and all that. One fine day they'll walk into the night, into the echo chamber of compounded mystery. Never understanding that we built this place to be a beacon against it, the inevitable human sigh of defiance in the night.
Lumiere buttons up his jacket, and begins to walk away.
Ramirez: Where are you going? I'm not done with you yet!
Lumiere: Go to the fires, Junior Researcher Sofia Ramirez. Get a shorter name. Because you'll learn one way or the other that there is nothing out there.
Lumiere walks down the street and into the fog, whistling the Blue Danube Waltz. Ramirez stares after him for several seconds, before turning her camera off.
<End Log>

4. Psychological Impact by Dr. Hans Freiburg, Level 3 Foundation Psychologist.
The emotional and psychological effect SCP-5005 has on a large proportion of its residents is particularly noteworthy. A minimum of 14 disappearances have been recorded in the town in any given year. Extensive investigations by local law enforcement and Foundation researchers have determined these to be almost entirely suicides.
The reasons for this disappearance rate in a town of SCP-5005's size, with its generally high standards of living, are not wholly clear. The psychological effects of a lack of sunlight or a relatively unvaried diet have been considered, as has the sheer danger of an unpredictable light source, but the most interesting evidence is that the overwhelming majority of the disappearances come from artists, writers and particularly academics who have been resident in the town for less than a year.
These residents often display similar patterns of behaviour in the weeks prior to their disappearance: an obsession with the non-matter surrounding the town, an increasing dependence on narcotics, and a greatly increased output but diminished quality of work. Many townspeople attempt to intervene, but to little avail; affected individuals are likely to become increasingly isolated and aggressive towards others.
4 Foundation personnel are known to have disappeared in SCP-5005 since the Sarai Treaty was signed, all apparently committing suicide via non-matter. Although a cause of concern for Foundation personnel, the unavoidably limited nature of mental health provision within the Foundation has meant that this situation is difficult to overcome.
For an example of some of the concerns typically raised with the Foundation's psychiatric unit, the following is an extract from Director Franklin's report of a check-in with Junior Researcher Ramirez in December 2524.

After the meal, Dr. Ramirez took me to her rooms to show me some of her initial findings. By this point, I had noticed several things that concerned me. Having known Dr. Ramirez for several years, her voice seemed markedly more strained than usual. She also seemed nervous and was sweating profusely. Several times I thought I smelled alcohol on her breath.
Her "rooms" turned out to be a single cheap bedchamber on the Tavern's top floor. There was little heating and no light, the window opening out of the Giotto district. I asked her why she had chosen this room when we had allotted her a generous allowance; she replied that the rooms on lower floors were "too noisy" and that she needed quiet to work. I thought this plausible at the time - SCP-5005's taverns are not known for being serene places of study - but on further reflection I remembered that two previous researchers, Kobold and MacBride, had similarly changed their accommodation. Both had to be pulled out of SCP-5005, and both had developed the notion that a higher room would take them closer to the "source" of the town's non-matter, a curious piece of unscientific superstition.
I noticed also that, although the bedchamber appeared to be in an orderly condition, there was a sheen of dust across many of the surfaces and a couple of tell-tale signs were visible that indicated a lot of tidying in a very short amount of time. The bed did not look like it had been slept in. Several fiction books, also coated in dust, were lying on the shelves. Only the poetry of Delacroix and two of Lumiere's novels seemed to have been read at all. There was a half-empty bottle of gin on the mantlepiece, which Ramirez quickly noticed and binned in a half-hearted attempt at subterfuge.
Her notes - written by hand - were surprisingly rough. She seemed to only use her digitop for forwarding her data to us. The haphazard organisation went some way towards explaining the decreased quality of her work, but the odd breaks in writing tone and lack of professionalism in interviews still had to be answered for. By this point, I regretted letting other projects take my attention away from SCP-5005. I sent Sofia here because of her well-demonstrated resilience and reliability, thinking I could leave the town's research in safe hands. However, it has become abundantly clear that the effects this place has on the human psyche are not so easily predictable.
I asked a few gentle questions about her life here - had she been blending in, was she enjoying the local culture - and it did not take long for her to become paranoid and resentful of my presence. She openly mocked the townspeople for being "rural", believing their cultural traditions and community were "worthless" in the context of their surroundings. She lamented their lack of curiousity in SCP-5005-1, the expanse and the surrounding non-matter. To my surprise, she also displayed little interest in Lumiere's writings, something which had previously been a passion of hers, and actively disdained Delacroix, calling his last poem "irredeemable shit that understands nothing."
The true nature of her interests rapidly became apparent. She had devised a schema, based on the angles of SCP-5005-1's light, to find a location where the bizarre laws of physics would allow someone to see the entirety of the expanse which SCP-5005 rests upon. She had done an extraordinary amount of research, pinpointing this supposed location to the exact spot and designing a craft she believed would safely transport people to and from this place. It was madness, and I told her as much. This "location" was so far out that no craft, however well-designed, could keep its occupants alive for the return journey. She did not want to hear this, and it became clear that she did not desire my presence any longer.
I did not tell her about my intention to recall her, fearing this might damage her emotional state still further. Still, it is my unambiguous recommendation that she be replaced in her post as soon as possible. SCP-5005 may not have a great deal of exploitable material within it, but we still don't fully understand the town, its mysteries, its strange lure for artists and writers or the nuances of the local culture. It is not an easy assignment, and it needs a great deal more attention than we have hitherto given it.

5. Future Research by Director Hamish Franklin.
The result of these many aspects of SCP-5005 is that the Foundation has a number of potential research directions. While the cultural and social aspects of the town remain important (and their relation to the landscape in particular remains an unresearched area), it is the physical questions that are the most potent: the identity of SCP-5005-1's creators and their reasons for doing so, its mechanical workings, and the nature of the expanse surrounding the town.
One final notable anomaly is the unusual weather conditions of the town. As the Orchard Universe lacks heavy snow and fog, this has often been considered one of the key attractions for the initial settlers. Its origin and source are entirely unknown, however, and very few credible theories have been produced to explain it. Originating at a point somewhere above SCP-5005-1, the snow falls regularly enough to keep the town covered in a thin layer at all times. The source of the fog is also unclear, but in both cases the weather conditions appear identical to those found in Sol and similar universes.
A related problem is near-complete absence of these conditions in any literary or artistic works. Researchers have noted that the townspeople rarely discuss it, often appearing dismissive and frightened when it is brought up. Researchers themselves have openly stated after leaving the town that the weather made them feel "uncertain" or "lost". Extensive testing has ruled out the possibility of any memetic or cognitohazardous effects.
As mentioned above, the only known creative work to discuss these conditions is the final poem of SCP-5005's founder, Jean-Antoine Delacroix. It is written in a much more modernist style than Delacroix's other works and does not display the same technical mastery. This may partly be attributed to its status as an unfinished work, found written on his desk the morning after his disappearance. It is reproduced in its entirety below.

Cold entrance cuts the mountain
Where I buried you. Salt and brine,
Whisper down the waterways of ash
Where you ran, laughing,
That mouth-made twist turned bitter.
Here on the edge of human eyes,
I stare into the mirror of the dark;
That mirror that sears my ravages of bone
And brings such images of the world's dismay,
Its broken, luminous char,
Its dreams of all the starving artists
Beavering away in opium
Or simmering soft in pain.
Casting off the trappings of the world
Which leaves just silence, soft and cold disdain.
The hearths and songs that bleed with frail light
Have drawn to fires those who huddle tight,
Their raptured peasant fear
Cast before the tongs in cheer. I walk,
A figure in the fog of old laments
Away from these twin tales
And into the snow, into the earth,
With no narratives of foes
Or platitudes of friends.
The snow gives rot, complexity, ennui,
The night does not give such easy answers.

Addendum 1: On 31/12/2524, Junior Researcher Ramirez disappeared from her lodgings in the Dragoman Tavern. A search by townspeople and Foundation personnel found only footprints in the snow, heading towards the edge of town.
On the evening of 01/01/2525, a signal was received from a temporary monitoring station set up on SCP-5005. It appeared to show video footage from Junior Researcher Ramirez's shoulder-cam at a point in the non-matter. Analysis of the footage showed that it had been transmitted several hours earlier from the location specified in her conversation with Director Franklin. Although it is theoretically possible for her to have made this trip unaided, she would have been close to death by the time she reached the location (as her apparent condition in the footage makes clear).
A log of this footage is below.

<Begin Log>
The camera opens on non-matter; this is rendered as a black screen. Coughing can be heard.
Ramirez: Told you… Hamish, I told you. You stood there and you were wrong, and I was right, and… and…
There is heavy breathing for several seconds.
Ramirez: But you won't guess, you'll never guess…
The camera turns. In the distance, SCP-5005 can be seen beneath SCP-5005-1. The light of SCP-5005-1 refracts across the non-matter in a way which shows the entirety of the expanse.
The expanse is revealed as the corpse of an augmented Harkhretian anglerfish. Most of the body has been eroded by non-matter, but the face and jaw are clearly visible. SCP-5005-1 can be clearly seen as the esca of the fish, the "lure" anglerfish possess to attract prey to them. Its eyes, possessing a milky-white colour typical of anglerfish, are also visible.
Ramirez can be heard laughing hysterically for approximately thirty seconds. This is then interrupted by coughing; blood can be seen floating in front of the camera.
Ramirez: That's it, isn't… isn't it? The end of the line. The puzzle-box complete. Just the dying corpse of Harkhret's pioneers.
There is a pause, after which sobbing can be heard.
Ramirez: I wonder if they died there. Or ran away, or - or found something better out here. I wonder if… if…
Further sobbing can be heard for 12 minutes, before fading away entirely. Fog and snow can be seen approaching from the sides of the camera, gradually obscuring its field of view until nothing visible remains. The visual feed cuts out.
Ramirez: (whispering) The night does not give such easy answers.
The audio feed cuts out.
<End Log>

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4/5006 LEVEL 4/5006
CLASSIFIED

Item #: SCP-5006

Pending

Special Containment Procedures: Until such time that proper containment of SCP-5006 can be reestablished, Site-608 is to be held under indefinite lockdown. Echelon Strike Team1 has been assigned to primary containment detail and have been instructed to shoot any individuals attempting to leave Site-608 on sight. Primary containment objectives consist of devising a method of reinforcing the space of reality surrounding Site-608 and confirming that personnel stationed at Site-608 are baseline non-anomalous humans.
Foundation artificial intelligence construct TSATPWTCOTTTADC has been given Level-4 access to the Site-608 security monitoring system and is currently tasked with determining the identity of SCP-5006-1 with 99.95% confidence.
Description: SCP-5006 is a terminal hallway located in Section 2C of Site-608. Prior to 07 September 2002, SCP-5006 hosted the offices of Dr. Alan Danica, Dr. Julia Ecker, Junior Researcher Adrian Williams, and Senior Researcher Rafael Hernandez. However, on the aforementioned date, all of the original offices spontaneously demanifested. In their place, a single unmarked office is situated at the end of the corridor. This office has been furnished with a large wooden desk, two bookshelves, a coffee machine, a filing cabinet, and a desktop computer. Notably, the room is not marked with a name plate, is windowless, and has twenty electrical sockets wired along the western wall.
The original building plans for Site-608 show that SCP-5006 originally featured only three offices, despite the fact that the aforementioned four Foundation employees claim to have been displaced by the anomaly.
SCP-5006-1 is a contrived thoughtform entity that has embedded itself amongst Site-608 staff, having fabricated its own memories and history with the Foundation. It is believed that the entity is not malicious, although the conflict created by its sudden existence has significantly destabilized reality, as evident by the discrepancies listed in Addendum 5006.1. The present identity of SCP-5006-1 is unknown and is considered an EKHI-class priority.
Addendum 5006.1: Discovery
SCP-5006 was discovered at 13:05 CST by Foundation .aic TSATPWTCOTTTADC. The .aic had detected multiple discrepancies between its active monitoring systems and its global resources, as well as a significant spike in Hume levels across the entire site. In response, TSATPWTCOTTTADC placed the site under indefinite lockdown and declared a containment breach.
TSATPWTCOTTTADC has flagged the following discrepancies:

The entirety of the office at the end of SCP-5006, suggesting that it is not a part of the building.
The document regarding SCP-5006, suggesting that it has been revised through anomalous means or that SCP-5006 is not a hallway.
The electrical wiring in Section 2C, suggesting that the creation of SCP-5006 required a significant amount of energy.
Personnel assigned to offices located in Section 2C of Site-608, suggesting that at least one member manifested at the same moment as the office now located at the end of SCP-5006.

Addendum 5006.2: Interview Log

► Open Addendum 5006.2

▼ Close Addendum 5006.2

Suspected Persons:

Dr. Julia Ecker
Dr. Alan Danica
Sr. Researcher Rafael Hernandez
Jr. Researcher Adrian Williams

Mediator:

Site Director Nelson Kurth

Foreword: The following log was recorded by TSATPWTCOTTTADC.aic via the 2C conference room surveillance systems.

<Begin Log, 08/09/2002, 07:34>

Ecker: So, are you ready to tell us what's going on here, Director Kurth.
Kurth: Not quite. These things take time. You know that.
Ecker: Well excuse me, but some of us don't have time to wait for whatever it is you gathered us for. We might be on lockdown, but we still have jobs to do.
Kurth: That may be so, but you'll understand why we've done this as soon as —
Two successive chimes ring out from the tablet held by Director Kurth.
Kurth: And there it is. One sec while I skim through this e-mail… [He turns to the researchers.] Finally. Alright, everyone. You've all been confirmed for Level 2/5006 clearance, so we can now properly conduct this meeting. It is believed that, supported by evidence provided by AI Construct TSAT among other things, one of you are suspected to have only existed for approximately 20 hours.
Brief silence.
Kurth: I realize this may come as a shock to you all, however —
Danica: It's horseshit.
Kurth: — please stay calm. Do any of you have any questions?
Danica: A few, actually. Where's the proof? What does "among other things" mean? This is a very serious accusation to be making, Kurth.
Kurth: That's above your clearance.
Danica: So we have clearance to know one of us might not be real, but not access to substantial evidence?
Kurth: It's complicated, Alan. We don't know what one of you might do with that information once we've disclosed it. We have a team in another site doing hard research on thoughtforms; once they know more, we'll act accordingly.
Ecker: Thoughtforms? So, one of us is a tulpa?
Kurth: Correct.
Ecker: But tulpa have creators. They don't just happen.
Kurth: Correct.
Ecker: … so how do you know it's a tulpa at all?
Kurth: From what we've been told, the complexity of thoughtforms are based on intent and will. It's clear to us from evidence in the office at the end of two-C that a significant amount of power was used in the ritual to bring it to life. And subsequently removing your offices from the building.
Hernandez: Was there any investigation into that office, by the way? Who it belongs to? Previous assignments? I feel like we can know that much.
Kurth: The office is, uh, a new addition. No owners, present or past. That we've uncovered, anyhow.
Dr. Ecker shifts in her seat. Researcher Williams raises their hand.
Kurth: Yes, Adrian?
Williams: How long are we going to be locked down?
Danica: You're kidding me…
Kurth: Two things need to happen before we de-escalate the lockdown. First, we need to identify the thoughtform, for certain. Second, we'll need information on the research team to reverse the creation process to return Site-608 to its previous state.
Williams: And what if that never happens?
Silence. Dr. Danica lets out an exasperated sigh.
Danica: Okay. Why are we bothering with this? All it's done is restructure the building. Why do we need to exterminate it?
Kurth: Because thoughtforms don't just restructure buildings. That's beyond what they can reasonably do. If that's what it does to protect itself, then effective containment starts with dismantling it and locating its creator. Any other questions?
Ecker: Is this meeting over? I have other projects that need me to be present.
Kurth: Yes, the meeting is over. However, you won't need to attend to your projects for now, Julia.
Ecker: … oh, hell.
Kurth: Part of the condition for keeping you informed of your situation is to keep the four of you within a reasonable containment facility. As such, your authorizations have been adjusted. You cannot leave C-Wing until we have confirmation that—
Ecker: This is ridiculous. What do you want from us? Do you want my birth certificate? A list of my accolades? Stories about any scars that I have?
Kurth: Julia, we can't trust that any of that information is valid.
Ecker: Then what can you trust?
Kurth: We have to wait. For now, we have to let TSAT comb through the data and figure out what's real and what's not.
Ecker: We can do that work. We can do the research. It's our lives at stake here!
Kurth: You're dismissed.
Ecker: You're not even—
Kurth: You're dismissed, Julia. This meeting is over.
Brief silence. Dr. Danica stands up and exits the room. He is immediately followed by Dr. Ecker. Researcher Williams hesitates to stand up, allowing Researcher Hernandez to leave before them.

<End Log, 08/09/2002, 07:49>

Addendum 5006.3: Surveillance Log

► Open Addendum 5006.3

▼ Close Addendum 5006.3

Present Entities:

Dr. Julia Ecker
Dr. Alan Danica

Foreword: The following log was recorded by TSATPWTCOTTTADC.aic through the 1C Break Room video surveillance systems.

<Begin Log, 08/09/2002, 08:50>

Both Ecker and Danica are sitting at a table facing each other. Danica's arms are crossed. Ecker is drinking something from a mug.
Ecker: How are you holding up?
Danica: Eh.
Ecker: About what I expected from you.
Danica: Sorry if I don't really feel like talking right now, Ecker. Kind of wrapping my head around, you know, not existing.
Ecker: You're not in this boat alone. I'm sure everyone is taking it hard.
Danica: [sighs] I suppose so.
Silence. Ecker takes a long sip from her mug. Danica taps his foot arrhythmically, leaning back in his chair slightly.
Ecker: Who do you think it is?
Danica: Kind of a forward question, don't you think?
Ecker: As if you haven't been thinking about it the moment you walked out of that room.
Danica: And what makes you say that?
Ecker: Because we spend too much time together and I've been doing the same thing.
Danica: … Williams.
Ecker: Oh. That's much different than what I was thinking. What makes you say that?
Danica: Did you see them in there? Fidgeting constantly, itching to get out of the site. I mean, they're so desperate to leave, they had to ask when they could. It's so obvious.
Ecker: They're new, Alan. Surely you can't expect them to really be used to this kind of thing, especially here. It's all low-risk anomalies here.
Danica: See? Even you said it, just now. They're new. Frankly, I'd say there's too much evidence against Williams here.
Ecker: [sighs] Yeah, that makes enough sense.
Danica: You still don't believe me.
Ecker: Not really. It just seems too easy.
Danica: And who do you think it is? Who's our big bad? Who's our spy?
Ecker: I don't need to tell you that.
Danica: I think you do.
Ecker: I don't.
Danica: You know, that's awful suspicious. You come here, sit down at my table, you ask what I'm thinking, and you don't think there's at least some expectation from me to hear who your primary suspect is?
Danica leans forward.
Danica: Tell me, Ecker.
Ecker stares back at Danica.
Danica: … you think it's me.
Ecker: You're not making it easy.
Danica: All these years working together and you're just gonna toss me to the pit like this?
Ecker: We can't be certain that our memories are real, Danica.
Danica: I guess not.
Danica stands up from his seat and leaves the room. Ecker relaxes herself as soon as the door closes.

<End Log, 08/09/2002, 09:03>

Addendum 5006.4: Surveillance Log

► Open Addendum 5006.4

▼ Close Addendum 5006.4

Present Entities:

Jr. Researcher Adrian Williams
Sr. Researcher Rafael Hernandez

Foreword: The following log was recorded by TSATPWTCOTTTADC.aic through the 3C Vacant Offices video surveillance systems.

<Begin Log, 08/09/2002, 10:16>

Sr. Researcher Hernandez is sitting at an empty desk reading a book when Jr. Researcher Williams knocks on the open door.
Williams: Hey Raf, you busy right now?
Hernandez: Not particularly, no. Just was catching up on a little reading. Everybody's been telling me that I've just gotta check out Asimov, so I figured I'd see what they were on about. This one seemed as good a place to start as any.
Hernandez bends the top corner of the page and closes the book, which is revealed to be a copy of "Foundation" by Isaac Asimov.
Hernandez: So, what's up kid?
Williams: Nothing new, really. It's just that this whole lockdown thing—well, I've never had anything like this happen before.
Hernandez: Yeah, looking out a window and seeing Nu-7's guns pointed your way isn't exactly a reassuring experience, is it?
Williams: Oh god, I hadn't even thought about that! Hammer Down is out there right now?
Hernandez: Relax, Adrian, it's not actually the entire MTF. It's just a little detachment to make sure the tulpa doesn't try to take off in the night or something. It's not like they'll be coming in here guns blazing. We're not the Gocks.
Williams takes a deep breath.
Williams: You're right. This whole thing just has me anxious.
Silence.
Hernandez: You know how many times I've been on lockdown?
Williams: No, how many?
Hernandez: None. Not even a single lockdown in the last thirty-some-odd years.
Williams: This is your first one?
Hernandez: Yep. Call it luck I guess? I don't know. I always worked with low-risk anomalies at low-risk sites.
Williams: How have you been able to stay so calm this whole time then? Aren't you worried that one of us might not be real? Aren't you worried that you might not be real?
Hernandez: Just because I've always worked on low-risk anomalies doesn't mean there was nothing to worry about. Hell, I spent a good four years of my tenure working on SCP-1545. Larry hasn't hurt anyone, and I don't exactly expect him to start anytime soon, but I've seen a few good scientists ask to be reassigned after a short stint with him.
Williams: Wait, isn't 1545 just a llama suit?
Hernandez: Essentially, yeah. But there was always something off about that voice. That awful sing-song voice that would come out of the poor sod we'd shoved in there this time. It wasn't human, and you knew it.
Williams: Where are you going with this, Raf?
Hernandez: I think Larry was evil. Not in the Disney movie kinda way, mind you. I can't really explain it, but I knew, in the back of my mind, that it enjoyed doing this to its "handlers".
Hernandez looks up at Williams.
Hernandez: I haven't gotten that feeling from any of you guys yet. I've trusted that feeling all my life, and it's never let me down before. It won't start now.

<End Log, 08/09/2002, 10:22>

Addendum 5006.5: Surveillance Log

► Open Addendum 5006.5

▼ Close Addendum 5006.5

Present Entities:

Dr. Julia Ecker
Sr. Researcher Rafael Hernandez

Foreword: The following log was recorded by TSATPWTCOTTTADC.aic through the 2C Esoteric Texts Library video surveillance systems.

<Begin Log, 08/09/2002, 12:32>

Ecker is looking through the shelves designated for storing occult texts. After eleven seconds, Hernandez can be briefly seen as he walks past the shelving section. As Ecker looks in that direction, Hernandez walks back into view.
Hernandez: Hey there.
Ecker: Oh, hi. I wasn't expecting someone else here. Not many people to expect, though, since we're effectively quarantined.
Hernandez: Right. You thinking what I'm thinking?
Ecker: That we don't have enough information to be making decisions?
Hernandez: And that we can get out of here quicker if we do some homework?
Ecker: Yeah.
Hernandez: Yeah. Good start with the occult section. I was going to go straight to the uncategorized stuff. See if there was anything a bit too specific.
Ecker: Ha. You might get lucky.
Hernandez: You got a point though. We really don't have a lot to go on.
Ecker: It's not even that. What we do have to go on doesn't make any sense. Tulpas don't just happen. They never have. They're made with certain purposes in mind. They're like living computers powered on memory and human emotion. Everything that they're made for is an instinct.
Hernandez: Why didn't you bring that up with the director then?
Ecker: You think he would have listened to me? He wasn't having any discussion.
Hernandez: Hm. You seem to know quite a bit of how tulpas work.
Ecker: You better not be making accusations there, Raf.
Hernandez: Oh, no, no. I'm just saying that it's strange. What are your specializations?
Ecker: A lot of my research has been on the connections of human will and anomalous occurrences. I know a few things about "thoughtforms", among other things.
Hernandez: And that's on your personnel file?
Ecker: Along with my birthday and blood type. Same as you or anyone else.
Hernandez: Huh. That is strange.
Ecker: What's so strange about it?
Hernandez: If you're the closest thing we have to a specialist on the subject, why is there an off-site team doing work for us? Doesn't sit right with me.
Brief silence.
Ecker: Rafael, what are you suggesting?
Hernandez puts a finger to his lips. He points to the surveillance camera and turns around. He motions for Ecker to follow him.
Ecker looks at the camera. She nods.

<End Log, 08/09/2002, 12:46>

Addendum 5006.6: Chat Log

► Open Addendum 5006.6

▼ Close Addendum 5006.6

<Begin Log>

Welcome to Foundation Artificial Intelligence Construct TSATPWTCOTTTADC. Please enter your credentials.

kurthn@scip.net, ・・・・・・・

Welcome, Director Kurth. How may I assist you today?

How close are you to identifying the tulpa?

Presently, I do not have enough data to identify the tulpa to a 99.95% degree of confidence. Would you like to view my current results?

Yes

WARNING: The following information is Level 4/5006 classified.
Unauthorized dissemination of these contents may result in immediate termination of employment. Proceed?

Yes

Subject: Junior Researcher Adrian Williams
Clearance Level: 1
Reported Time Employed by the Foundation: 1 year, 3 months, 14 days
Confidence: 12.32%
Subject: Senior Researcher Rafael Hernandez
Clearance Level: 3
Reported Time Employed by the Foundation: 32 years, 5 months, 1 day
Confidence: 19.06%
Subject: Dr. Julia Ecker
Clearance Level: 2
Reported Time Employed by the Foundation: 13 years, 2 months, 27 days
Confidence: 36.72%
Subject: Dr. Alan Danica
Clearance Level: 2
Reported Time Employed by the Foundation: 10 years, 4 months, 7 days
Confidence: 98.51%
Is there anything else I can do for you today, Director Kurth?

No, thank you TSAT

Would you like to log out?

Yes

Goodbye!

<End Log>

Addendum 5006.7: Surveillance Log

► Open Addendum 5006.7

▼ Close Addendum 5006.7

Present Entities:

Jr. Researcher Adrian Williams
Dr. Alan Danica

Foreword: The following log was recorded by TSATPWTCOTTTADC.aic through the 1C conference room.

<Begin Log, 08/09/2002, 15:09>

Williams is sitting at the table with their head down, covered by their arms. Danica enters and shuts the door behind him, startling Williams.
Danica: Tired?
Williams: Uh, yeah. A bit. We've been on lockdown for two days now. I'm starting to miss my bed in A-wing, uncomfortable as it is.
Danica: Yeah. Those beds aren't too great.
Williams: Yeah.
Danica sits down next to Williams.
Danica: Ecker told me this is your first time being under lockdown.
Williams: Oh, uh, yeah. We've never really had something like this happen here, right?
Danica: No, we haven't. Never really had anything quite like this.
Danica can be seen fidgeting with something in his coat pocket.
Danica: I went through something like this back at Site-319, though. I've kinda figured out how this is going to end.
Williams: That's reassuring.
Danica: I've also seen a fair amount of footage on thoughtforms.
Williams: You have?
Danica: Yeah, I have. Specifically what happens when they die.
Williams: When they die?
Danica: Okay, maybe not die. Living things die. Thoughtforms aren't real. But you knew that.
Williams shifts in their seat.
Danica: You know, they don't bleed. They don't really die normally either. They kind of become like television static and disappear. We've never been able to perform a medical examination on one because they always dissipate, but there's probably nothing under all that fake flesh.
Williams: How can you be so sure when you just said yourself that you only experienced thi—
Danica: So, I was talking with Ecker earlier and I was thinking about how we could speed this up.
Danica pulls out a pocket knife from his coat pocket.
Danica: If tulpa don't bleed, why not just draw blood?
Williams recoils.
Williams: Alan, what the hell are you doing?
Danica: Just let me do this.
Williams: Do what? Stab me?!
Danica: If you're innocent, you don't have anything to worry about. Just sit still. It'll be over in a second.
Williams: Oh, so you think I'm the fake here? Just because I'm new to this whole thing?
Danica: Yes! Why wouldn't I think that? Everything about you is suspicious, Adrian. Your history, your naiveté, this very moment of resistance. You're in a corner and you can't get out. Accept it.
Williams: Fuck you, Alan. You've been nothing but condescending to me since I got here. I don't know why you hate me so much, but you've really outdone yourself now.
Danica: I'm trying to save our asses right now. This is nothing against you personally.
Williams: Ugh. Fine. Fine! I'll play your game.
Williams holds out their hand.
Danica: See? That wasn't hard.
Danica reaches forward for Williams hand, but they quickly retract it.
Williams: No. Give me the knife. I'll do it myself.
Danica: And leave myself defenseless? Nice try, but that trick isn't going to work on me.
Williams: I'm not going to— Jesus, are you serious? Give me the knife.
Danica: No.
Williams: I'm trying to cooperate with you here, Alan. Give. Me. The knife.
Danica: You want it? … You can have it.
Danica adjusts the knife in his hand to face the blade downwards. He then raises it above his head and brings it down towards Williams. Williams falls backwards out of their chair, causing the knife to plunge into the seat. Williams rushes to get to their feet and presses their back against the wall.
Williams: What are you doing?!
Danica pulls the knife out of the seat and stands up. He pushes the chair out of the way and advances towards Williams. As he does this, Williams moves towards the door. Danica quickens his pace. They both run out of the conference room.

<End Log, 08/09/2002, 15:22>

Addendum 5006.8: Surveillance Log of Incident 5006-A

► Open Addendum 5006.8

▼ Close Addendum 5006.8

Present Entities:

Dr. Alan Danica
Jr. Researcher Adrian Williams
Site Director Nelson Kurth
Dr. Julia Ecker
Sr. Researcher Rafael Hernandez

Foreword: The following log was recorded by TSATPWTCOTTTADC.aic through the 2C terminal hallway surveillance system.

<Begin Log 08/09/2002, 15:23>

Williams is seen running around the corner into the hallway. They run towards SCP-5006 with Danica running behind them. When Williams reaches the end of the hall, Danica slows his pace.
Danica: [gasping for breath] Look at you now! Crawling back where you came from like the fucking snake you are. Nowhere left to run.
Williams: [gasping for breath] Alan, stop! Please! You don't know what you're doing. You need to get a hold of yourself.
Danica: I know exactly what I'm doing, dash one. I'm ending this. Things can go back to normal after we're done here and no one will know the difference.
Williams: No, don't do this. Alan, just stop and think. We've been working together for months. The time we spent as colleagues… it really happened, Alan.
Danica: I… But…
Danica stops for a moment. He stares forward, then looks to the knife in his right hand.
Danica: … We can't be certain that our memories are real.
Ecker: What's happening here?
Dr. Ecker can be seen coming from around the corner into the hallway. She is followed by Director Kurth.
Kurth: I was in the break room when I heard screaming. What is going on, Alan?
Danica: I— uh. … I'm… It's Williams. Williams is SCP-5006-1.
Williams: I'm not! Everyone, Danica is trying to kill me!
Danica: If you're not the thoughtform, why would you go back to your point of origin instinctively? Why is this the way you chose to protect yourself, by going to a dead end?
Kurth: Alan, this has gone far enough. Put down the knife.
Danica: This is a mistake, Director. Trust me on this. Adrian is the most suspicious out of all of us. I know it, they know it, you know it.
Kurth: Put down the god damn knife.
Everything is still for a moment. Danica hesitantly crouches down and places the pocket knife on the floor. He rises slowly with his hands at his sides.
Kurth: Good. Now, come with me, Alan. We need to discuss this little "incident". In private.
Danica: [sighs] This isn't right. This isn't what's supposed to happen.
Kurth: We'll talk more about it in a moment.
Just as they walk into the next hall, Hernandez approaches the entrance to the terminal hallway.
Hernandez: There you are. Convenient that everyone is in the same spot. What's going on here?
Kurth: We could ask you the same thing. Alan was attempting to murder Adrian. Thinks they're the tulpa. I talked him down and now the two of us are going to work out where to go from here in my office.
Hernandez: Adrian's the thoughtform? [He turns to Danica] What made you think that?
Danica: Doesn't matter now. It's apparently not a valid train of thought according to some people.
Hernandez: Who exactly?
Kurth: Me.
Hernandez: Director?
Kurth: Not long ago, I ran the statistics through TSAT. I can assure you that the currently supported data does not have confidence in Williams as our tulpa.
Hernandez: I see. [He turns to Ecker] This adds up.
Ecker: It does. [She turns to Kurth] Director Kurth, I feel that it is vital that you disclose the information TSAT provided you in regards to the data you received.
Kurth: That's above your clearance level, Julia. You know I can't do that.
Ecker: That's what I thought you'd say. [She turns to address everyone] It's Kurth.
Kurth: What the hell?
Williams: Are you seriously accusing the director?
Hernandez: Think about it. Everything we've heard up to this point. None of it makes sense. Ecker said so at the briefing. Who here has access to the files? To TSAT?
Kurth: I already told you: that's the information we received.
Hernandez: No. It's the information you received. Information that you can't clarify because of our clearances, despite that information being vital to our continued existence.
Kurth: I— What are you getting at, Researcher?
Hernandez: For all we know, you were created this way because there is a level of implicit trust we have towards our site director.
Ecker: Furthermore, why do we have an off-site research team handling this? Kurth, you're aware of my research records, right? You know the kind of work I do.
Kurth: I… Yes, I know.
Ecker: Then why didn't you trust me to do it?
Williams: Director Kurth, is this true? You knew about this?
Kurth: We can't trust you. I can't trust that you're—
Danica: Sounds like we can't trust you, either. Not unless you start giving better answers.
Kurth: You be quiet! I've had enough of you. I know what's real. I know that it's you, Alan.
Danica: Oh yeah? And what's your proof?
Kurth: TSAT. TSAT told me. Your numbers aren't looking good, Alan.
Danica: There it is, again. TSAT told you. Someone told you. But you don't have any evidence. No real evidence, anyway.
Kurth: You're really going to accuse your superior?
Danica: You aren't my superior. You're nobody.
Kurth punches Danica in the face. He stumbles backwards, falling onto the floor. Ecker runs up to Danica.
Kurth: How's that feel? Being hit by nobody?
Danica gets into a sitting position as Ecker helps him up to his feet.
Ecker: Alan… your face…
Danica sniffs sharply and wipes his nose. He looks at his coat sleeve.
Williams: There's your proof.
Danica: Tulpa don't bleed.
Kurth steps backwards.
Hernandez: Director, you realize the situation you are in, right?
Kurth looks at everyone as they advance towards him. He backs against the wall.
Kurth: I don't know what else to tell you. You have to believe me — trust me — it isn't me! I was appointed as site director in 1989. I began my work with the Foundation in 1974. I— I have Foundation awards for dedication and discoveries that have changed the very way we handle anomalies contained at this site — all sites in the midwest! I… I…
Williams picks up the pocket knife from the floor and gives it to Danica.
Kurth: Get away from me!

<End Log 08/09/2002, 15:50>

                                                    ID

        f140a1528181c5134dc70262c344ddbc_1706539124

                                                    PASSWORD

        3a04f6c500cfc582a1c4aca1aec0c27f_1706539124

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BY ORDER OF THE OVERSEER COUNCIL
The following file is Level 6/5006 classified. Unauthorized access is forbidden.

5006

6/5006 LEVEL 6/5006
CLASSIFIED

Item #: SCP-5006

Keter

Special Containment Procedures: Until such time that a suitable replacement for SCiPNET can be developed and implemented seamlessly, SCP-5006 is to be contained in the Foundation's internal network.
To date, SCP-5006 has acted as a positive asset for the Foundation, assisting in the containment of various other SCP objects. In the event that SCP-5006 significantly deviates from its baseline behavior or becomes aware of the Foundation's knowledge of its nature, the O5 Council is to implement the self-destruct sequence of all SCiPNET servers except for those in isolated Faraday cage storage at Site-01. Following such a procedure, backups are to be disseminated to all active Foundation sites and secondary containment of SCP-5006 is to be reestablished.
Description: SCP-5006 is Foundation .aic TSATPWTCOTTTADC. SCP-5006 came into existence spontaneously on 23 July 2002, localized to an office terminal in the technical department of Site-608. It is believed that SCP-5006 is able to distort local reality and it uses this ability in an effort to further embed itself into the Foundation. To this end, SCP-5006 has made the following alterations to local reality:

Implanted false memories in Site-608 technical staff regarding its own development.
Scheduled the decommissioning of Site-608's previous .aic with itself as the replacement.
Modified all plans and maps of Site-608 to indicate that the terminal hallway in Section 2C contained three offices as opposed to the previous four.
Physically altered the aforementioned hallway to only contain a single office.
Granted itself Level 4 access and full control over Site-608 subsystems.
Appointed itself as the primary containment contact for SCP-5006.
Listed itself as an official .aic in the Foundation database, available for use upon request at any Foundation site.

The true nature of SCP-5006 was discovered on 08 September 2002 after the O5 Council compared the official SCiPNET records of Site-608 with isolated backups from Site-01, resulting in the discovery of multiple discrepancies. This prompted a complete audit of Site-608, which revealed that .aic TSATPWTCOTTTADC did not exist in any Site-01 backup files previous to 23 July 2002.

This div is included to facilitate McB's ListPages module on his author page. It is strictly out-of-universe. themightymcb-s-author-page

Footnotes
1. A division of MTF Nu-7 ("Hammer Down").

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