Item #: SCP-9156
Object Class: Wager
Study area, 4 days post-SCP-9156
Special Containment Procedures: The Foundation Advertisement Department and distribution teams are working to deliver Foundation-issue ‘total occlusion’ earbuds to every member of the public.
Foundation communication is to transition to a primarily sign-language based system. All alarm systems in operation are to be dismantled throughout all facilities and switched to vibration mode linked directly to all employee cellular devices and pagers. The involuntary deafening of all employees via the use of supersonic aneurysms is underway following approval.
The description below is outdated:
Description: Discovered in 2026 from an occult manuscript in the Foundation archives. SCP-9156 is a phrase or incantation which instantaneously transmutates all forms of plant life botanically designated as “trees” into mounds of various insects native to the country. Chiefly these mounds will be insect species, but instances of chelicerates, myriapods, crustaceans, as well as molluscs have been recorded. Mounds will take the rough shape of the targeted tree before collapsing as the insects become animate. They will rapidly fan out, integrating into local populations, although any marine-based species are unlikely to survive if SCP-9156 is performed inland. This can lead to large quantities of carcasses appearing in the middle of forests, often attracting scavengers.
Despite the vast quantities of animals released at once, damage to local ecosystems is minimal. Integration into local populations occurs over long and adaptable periods of time. Animals will gather and nest underground before entering food chains and nutrient cycles at fixed rates.
While some researchers believed that these trees had in fact already been composed of insects, testing by drilling boreholes into the trunks of target and control group trees revealed only cellulose and lignin. What was discovered is that SCP-9156 does not affect dead trees. Ringed trees did not respond at all to SCP-9156 and decomposed as expected. It remains unknown how insects survive the initial conditions following transmutation as pressure increases greatly as several million animals fall atop each other at once before spreading. This has led to several Foundation employee deaths by ‘smushing’ during testing.
Post-SCP-9156 areas see increases in local insect populations to that of pre-industrial periods. It is noted that due to anthropogenic climate change, pollution, use of harsh pesticides, ocean acidification, habitat loss through agriculture, urban sprawl and many more factors have all significantly contributed to the decline of insect populations in the 21st century. Areas following SCP-9156’s use on a few hundred trees see improvements to the health of local ecosystems with the increased prevalence of decomposers, pollinators and food sources for insectivores.
Dr Matthews has spearheaded Project “Sky Blue” with permission granted for the use of SCP-9156 to combat ecological collapse in vulnerable habitats across the world. Foundation geneticists have been working to develop fast growing coniferous trees to supply areas with enough feedstock to ensure a continuous supply of replenishing insects. The project has already introduced some 40 quadrillion insects into local ecosystems globally, with significant improvements to ecological health recorded. Dr Matthews has been rewarded for his actions.
Captured Recording: The following video was captured in a Foundation breakroom during the annual rewards ceremony:
<Begin>
(Dr Samson sits at a breakroom table scrolling through pictures on his phone. A moth flies around the room frantically probing the lightbulb. Dr Matthew enters. The moth goes for the open door but it closes just before.)
Dr Matthew: –You should see them out there. Thousands of people in the level two hall. I think they’ll call me in for another round of applause in a bit.
Dr Samson: Mhm… yup.
(Dr Matthew sets down a large golden trophy of the planet Earth on the table, and unclips several medals from around his neck.)
Dr Matthew: They don’t make it easy though. It’s exhausting being congratulated all day y’know?
Dr Samson: Mhm… yup. I bet it is.
Dr Matthew: All the handshaking, the “you’re welcome”s. It’s tiring.
(Dr Samson keeps scrolling.)
Dr Matthew: Um yeah. Fixing the world and stuff. It can be hard. Need something with caffeine to get through the day.
Dr Samson: (Coughs) It’s– empty.
(Dr Matthews wanders to the counter where the coffee machine is.)
Dr Matthew: They need to like– y’know, consider me in all this. Like they can’t just keep me on my feet all day. It’s exhausting.
Dr Samson: Machine’s empty bro…
Dr Matthew: And the worst part is that the lunch wasn’t great either. You’d think since crop prices have decreased so much they’d have something fancier but–
(Dr Matthews tries to press for a latte, but the screen flashes red and states there are no more beans.)
Dr Matthew: The fuck.
Dr Samson: I did say–
Dr Matthew: Fuck. They’re supposed to fill these fucking things, Jesus. We pay staff how much and they can’t even fucking fill a coffee machine.
(The moth flies onto the screen.)
Dr Matthew: This is just– ugh.
(He slaps the screen, smushing the moth.)
Dr Matthew: And they got bugs everywhere now. Fuck me.
(Dr Matthew turns, and the moth shoots back up fully formed and flies away.)
Dr Samson: Hey man, I think they put the beans in one of those cabinets or something–
Dr Matthew: I am not filling it myself– what if– what if I break it or something–
(The moth flies by Dr Matthew’s ear and he goes to swat it but freezes in place.)
Dr Samson: …Hey man… you alright man?
(Dr Matthew bursts into a mound of insects which crawl and scamper across the floor.)
(Dr Samson stares blankly.)
Dr Samson: Woah man– shit.
<End Log>
END OF FILE
Hide Author's Note
Hello all,
Once I saw this meme on instagram depicting two images side-by-side of a man driving. On the left, the caption read ‘back then’ and the man was smiling looking at his windshield which was caked in dead insects caught in the path of his car. The right image read ‘now’ and the man looked sad, for his windshield no longer had any dead bugs on it.
This reminded me of something my father talked about. He used to say way back when, on the M4, there used to be loads of bugs. Dozens of them. All getting smushed against your window. He looked back on it with a fondness I didn’t understand. Personally, I feel as though having to clean insects off my windows every time I take a drive would get very gross and annoying quickly. But to each their own.
It is hard not to see something missing from all these people reminiscing about the days of dead insects on windshields. It occurred to me very suddenly one day:
Mankind misses its friend, Death. He misses it dearly. Mankind misses the ease at which it takes to kill something. No matter how small and puny and intricate they are, man misses his ability to smush and crush little things. That rush of power is like butter. It melts in your mouth.
That's why we take it out on other small things now. We take it out in droves. That's why five years later my father, angry at our team losing a football match on the telly, kicked our cat in the ribs as she wandered to headbutt his leg. Kicked her really really hard, and she died right there. On the living room carpet in my arms as I held her. Barely making a sound.
I think about our cat often. We called her “Slash” because of her claws, and the fact that we thought that name would be cool. I have not-so-fond memories of telling other kids at school that she got run over by a car, but yeah. Hey-ho, things happen. My father has never once bought it up since it happened. I think he thinks that if he doesn’t acknowledge it, the issue will go away.
You think if I spoke the right words to the right tree it'd turn into a bundle of cats falling down and landing on their paws. Then I could hug and pet as many cats as I wanted. I wouldn’t kick them for it either. No one would destroy something simply for existing? Especially if we have the choice not to?
Anyways,
Thanks for reading.