Little things, we have become. Once were grand.
LEONARD YVES:
Welcome back to Site-4541’s Thaumaturgical Science Department! As a part of your transition from medical leave back to the office, there are a few key changes we need you to be aware of. New department practices ensure potential circumstances surrounding your injury and subsequent leave will not reoccur:
Specialists above a certain experience level are to be automatically assigned a partner for matters of field research. While not beholden to their decisions, please do consult them. Your assigned partner is: [ Marcus Grady. ]
Specialists will not engage an unclassified anomaly solo.
Specialists will not attempt to communicate with an unclassified, nonhumanoid anomaly.
Specialists are required to record all encounters, even if they may be held liable for accidents in the field.
All personnel are reminded that field mistakes are expected and encouraged. Mishaps are a normal part of our line of work. Report them in a timely fashion.
Currently, you are marked by Foundation medical services as being cleared for “minimal physical labor.” As a result, your transitionary case, designed to aid your sense of normalcy and adjustment period to the office environment, has been assigned to you. Please refer to file: SCP-9564 for further information.
Item#: 9564
Level2
Containment Class:
safe
Secondary Class:
none
Disruption Class:
vlam
Risk Class:
warning
SCP-9564's exterior.
Dr. Leonard Yves has been assigned the responsibility of containing SCP-9564's as a part of a standard Return-To-Work probationary program. As a result, the contents of this file are solely Dr. Yves' responsibility, authorship, and opinion.
This is a living document.
A copy of the original floor plan.
Special Containment Procedures: A 3-kilometer perimeter has been established around SCP-9564's main structure. Given the physical location of SCP-9564, it is classified as low risk to the Veil. In spite of this, personnel stationed at SCP-9564 are required to undergo non-lethal arms and amnestic training, approved for use in the event of trespassing.
SCP-9564-1 instances currently self-isolate to SCP-9564's grounds. Given the nature of SCP-9564's effects, escape risk is minimal. Current containment efforts are focused on visual obstruction of SCP-9564 and -1 instances.
SCP-9564 is expected to require re-classification to Neutralized in three months' time. Following this, SCP-9564 will cease all anomalous effects. It will then be entered into the Oakland Municipal List of Designated Landmarks, following dissemination of a cover story regarding its "rediscovery."
Description: SCP-9564 is the designation for the ruins of the Lake Merritt Theater, an abandoned playhouse in the Oakland Hills, California. Despite being disconnected from all forms of public utilities, SCP-9564 maintains access to electrical power and running water. SCP-9564 also displays two forms of spatial manipulation capabilities:
- If certain forms of damage would be caused to SCP-9564 or those within its effect radius, SCP-9564 will remove the aggressor from its premises via localized spatial anomaly. Those affected will suffer a mild amnestic effect. Testing to determine exact activation conditions continues.
- Thrice weekly, on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, two lights will be cast into the air, similar in appearance to a low-lumen spotlight. These appear to be generated by SCP-9564, emitting from the ground on either side of the main entrance. Excavations have not found any corresponding source.
Addendum 9564.0 - A History of the Theater
SCP-9564, or "Little Lake" as it was called by members of the local theater community, primarily served a low-income customer base. This allowed it to flourish in comparison with many of the "high-class theaters" in nearby cities like San Francisco. Trips to these farther locations would often require poorly paid dockworkers, dishwashers, and other laborers to pay extra fees for transport via ferry or bus.
Charles McCoy.
Land for SCP-9564 was originally offered by local businessman Charles McCoy, a Black mechanic who had built a small fortune with an auto shop business, which quickly grew from one location to 15 across the East Bay. McCoy credited the theater and performance art in general with providing him the "vim and vigor to continue doin' what I love," in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. As a result, McCoy offered a 300-acre plot of land for SCP-9564 to sit upon, and financed the materials, labor, and construction of SCP-9564, primarily hiring individuals that would be of the same background as the eventual visitors to SCP-9564. Ground was broken on November 9th, 1934, with SCP-9564 finishing construction on June 12, 1935.
SCP-9564's location posed a challenge for prospective visitors. As a result, a portion of McCoy's fortune funded buses to take visitors to and from its secluded location in the Oakland Hills. There, visitors would be able to view a single show each night at 6:30 p.m. Attendance remained strong, but began to dwindle with the rise of the motion picture. SCP-9564 served 22 years as a venue strictly for plays and other stage performances until a single-screen theater was added to attempt to capitalize on social trends of the time. This renovation preserved the original stage, but dramatic productions were eventually phased out by 1975.
As the years went on, competition from other theaters, as well as the rise of television, spelled a grim future for SCP-9564. Lobbying efforts refocused finances towards television and film, which meant that previously offered bus services were discontinued by the city. As a result, SCP-9564 was deemed too far to travel to for the average consumer. Crew and playwrights favored easier to access venues, and further availability of housing in San Francisco proved to be a sufficient draw to encourage Oakland dramatists to move away. In addition, the growing cost of living began to greatly restrict the finances of lower-income individuals that SCP-9564 relied upon for ticket sales. After the death of McCoy in 1977, it fell into disrepair and was eventually closed in July 1994, following the opening of a competing multiplex, the "Seven Sinemas," in downtown Oakland.
Some say McCoy's spirit still haunts the grounds. Ghost hunters have attempted to locate SCP-9564, but report only dense forest where it used to be.
Addendum 9564.2 - UAV Log
SCP-9564 was first brought to Foundation attention following an Instagram post, with a photo taken from a flight landing at Oakland International Airport. A spotlight could be seen beaming into the air in spite of no buildings being built at that location. Comments pointing out this flagged the post to Foundation webcrawlers, who marked it as a potential anomalous event. The presence of this light was confirmed to be a repeat occurrence via Foundation UAVs, and further unmanned exploration via the use of a TACDATA drone was approved.
TACDATA models are equipped with:
- Onboard instruments to analyze local environments
- High-magnification camera lens
- Treads and fixed-pitch propellers for multi-environment traversal
- Quadruple jointed arm allowing for interaction, collection, and self-righting capabilities if overturned.
One such model was dispatched to SCP-9564, piloted by Dr. Leonard Yves. Yves recently returned from leave following a severe injury sustained in the field and was determined to be an ideal candidate for exploration given availability and relative freedom of schedule. Below is a transcript of the exploration with written commentary by Dr. Yves.
[BEGIN LOG]
18:30: The drone is released a half kilometer from the border of SCP-9564's effect radius, on a Thursday evening. Using its treads, it heads towards SCP-9564.
18:45: At this point, two lights can be seen in a grove of forests ahead, shining with a bright white glow upon their canopies. The camera pans upwards, aiming at the highest point of the beams. Instead of the expected sight, an amorphous blob flies into frame, blocking the camera view. A loud buzzing can be heard emanating from the obstruction.
18:47: The camera slowly zooms in, revealing the shape to be a small swarm of European paper wasps, Polistes dominula, estimated to consist of roughly 400 individuals. This swarm approaches the drone, stopping three meters away. A further zoom-in reveals that all instances are looking directly at the camera. After approximately five seconds of this behavior, the swarm disperses in the direction of SCP-9564.
18:48: The camera pans downwards. Other arthropods, including Jerusalem crickets (gen. Ammopelmatus), brown centipedes (Lithobius forficatus) and Argentine ants (Linepithema humile), are traveling in the same direction as the P. dominula. Soil samples are automatically collected as they pass by underneath.
18:50: The camera pans upwards again. Though difficult to see with the rapidly darkening sky, thermal imagery reveals hundreds of arthropods around the drone, all headed in the same direction: towards SCP-9564. The large clusters are the sole reason that these are detectable, producing heat as they swarm.
18:52: Yves turns on onboard flashlights to better identify swarming patterns. This causes nearby insects to scatter. Yves promptly shuts them off.
18:55: At this point, the TACDATA unit has been in SCP-9564's radius of effect for ten minutes, and is nearing SCP-9564's entrance. Onboard spectralscopes report a slight uptick in Spectral-class activity, but no other instruments confirm the presence of corresponding markers.
A poster found on the premises.
19:01: The TACDATA unit has reached SCP-9564's entrance. Camera view pans from side to side as Dr. Yves takes in the sight. The walls of the theater appear iridescent with light reflecting off of various shells and carapaces, all streaming into various holes in the wooden walls of the decaying structure.
19:02: Yves lingers for a few minutes.
19:12: The doors are chained shut. The camera pans to examine each potential entry point, before settling on one near the roof, adjacent to the marquee. A small glint catches the camera's lens. Spiders descend from floating on parachute-like webbing and touch down on the roof, crawling quickly through the opening. They leave thin lines of webbing behind as they do.
19:21: A quiet whir can be heard as the four propellers deploy and begin spinning up. The drone slowly ascends and moves forward into the hole without complications. The camera takes a moment to adjust to the dimmed lighting. The drone is in a small crawlspace, surrounded by wood with support beams overhead. Markings can be seen drawn into the floor, using what appears to be tree sap.
19:24: The drone touches down safely. Another wall separates the drone from the theater lobby. This wall contains no openings large enough to fit the TACDATA unit, though it contains smaller holes at varying heights.
19:25: The camera is extended, and the propellers are retracted. The camera arm extends to look through one of the peepholes. The formerly dilapidated theater interior can be seen, having undergone significant repairs. Upholstery and light fixtures appear brand new, and no hint of its former state of neglect can be seen. The concession stand, in its central location in the lobby, obscures the entrance to the single screening room from view. In spite of this, large swarms can be seen entering the screening room.
19:27: The drone proceeds forward, tracing the internal structure of the theater until it stops at a new opening, lower than before. While larger than the previous, it still does not permit passage.
19:28: Camera view now shows a large group of bugs clustered around the front of the screening room. Large structures, similar in appearance to anthills, termite mounds, and wasp nests are visible, and have nearly entirely subsumed the first three rows of seats.
19:29: The camera zooms further. In relatively orderly, close-knit lines, arthropods face the stage, heads and antennae following action on-stage.
19:30: A smaller collection of thirteen instances — with appropriately-sized props — are present on stage. A small section has been redecorated to resemble a miniature forest, complete with trees and bushes. Many of the actors wear wings. One wears a small plastic toy's head: that of a donkey.
19:31: The drone remains motionless. Roughly thirty minutes of extraneous footage have been removed. The play continues for that time, at which point the TACDATA unit's battery displays a low charge warning.
20:02: The camera pans around. After fixing its zoom to appropriately examine the crawlspace in its entirety, the drone takes a photo of the sap markings. Yves then begins piloting with increased urgency, quickly collecting three samples nearby; two small pieces of detritus, and a drop from a pool of blue, opaque liquid.]
20:04: The drone navigates out of the building, deploying propellers for a controlled descent, as Yves pilots it to base. Along the way, the camera pans to focus on members of the swarm of P. dominula. Members appear to be vocalizing rather than simply buzzing, though individual words are impossible to parse as a result of wingbeat noise. Once the swarm exits a 1-kilometer radius around SCP-9564, this vocalization stops.
20:31: The TACDATA unit returns to base. This trip was noted to take significantly longer than previously scheduled.
[END LOG]
I don’t really speak much about the accident these days. They say it’s better because I can compartmentalize and digest it if I treat it as being in the past. First step to healing, and all that.
It’s been a few months. You hear a lot of the same in emails, enough to sort folks out into two main buckets. They're either horribly nice and saccharine, or not quite as nice as you want them to be. No real in-between. Like they just up and forgot how to talk to you when they haven’t seen your face.
When it happened, it was my fault. Got reckless. Careless. Forgot how creaky some of these joints are getting. Can’t react in time to things, these days. All this maybe gave Grady a reason to start implementing some more sweeping changes, soon as I was gone.
Of course, they demoted me. Don’t need someone who can’t come into the office as a head. Marcus took my spot.
Attached below is a small table of samples collected over the course of the first exploration. Dr. Yves tested each on his own, and has attached both analysis results and commentary.
Sample
Analysis
Commentary by Dr. Yves
Soil Sample
Loamy, clay-rich soil. Typical of the well-drained Oakland Hills, but does contain a significant number of seeds of varying size found to be from farm crops. Curiously, no fields that would produce such a variety and quantity of seeds are nearby.
Some pollinators or granivores are known to travel great distances, so it certainly isn't impossible that these are nothing special. However, the closest place with some of these crops (wheat and other grains, mostly) is an hour or so away, in Davis. I saw no birds in the area that would have dropped these off.
Scrap of Paper
Significant water damage and staining.
Aww. Must be an old show.
Cloth Fragment
Silk, dyed red with anthocyanins from crushed flower petals.
The tiniest lines of stitching on this. And I mean tiny. An old costume, perhaps.
Liquid
Weak chemical aroma. Spectroscopy indicating high phosphate content.
Acid rain, or something similar? From a pool, perhaps, or fertilizer. I did see water striders amongst the crowd.
Photograph of Markings
Sigil. Two concentric circles with various symbols in between.
I hope we didn't miss anything. I was only able to pick out bits of high contrast. Brown sap against brown wood is a bit… difficult to parse. Certainly some sort of protection or warding marks. I'll send this off to my old team for some analysis.
Edited from the original sigil.
LONESOME MAN
[He re-enters the room, and sits down on the bed. Plopping down, really, because all he feels right now is the weight of his sheer patheticness. It is not a good feeling.]
A loser never wins. It's why they're called a loser. If I've always been a loser, then that's all I know. They say you have to know the good to understand the bad.
[He looks up, as if asking the moon to respond. The moon does not offer an answer.]
LONESOME MAN
But if you only know the bad, then how the hell do you know when the good comes, if it does at all?
There has to be a better character name than that. Nicknames like that have worked maybe once, with Clint Eastwood. Can we tone down the moping, as well? Audiences like it in moderation.
Addendum 9564.3 - New Classification
Given new information about the nature of SCP-9564's inhabitants, an addition to the description was proposed by Dr. Yves. This can be seen below.
Proposed Addendum: SCP-9564-1 refers to the roughly 70,000 organisms currently residing in SCP-9564. These instances vary in species and group, representing members across the phylum of Arthropoda. All instances display altered behaviors while within SCP-9564's grounds, in a 1-kilometer radius around SCP-9564 itself. This radius is maintained by thaumaturgical sigils of unknown origin. A truncated list of effects include:
- Processes that would require the use of opposable thumbs.
- Altered diets, causing members of carnivorous species to locate other, non-arthropod sources of food, or abandoned carnivorous diets altogether.
- Reduced hostility towards each other and non-predatory, non-arthropod species.
SCP-9564-1 instances, on days where SCP-9564 produces lights, will host a production of a seemingly random stageplay. These typically consist of original works. On days without shows, instances remain on-premises, performing regular upkeep and partaking in humanlike social behavior. The vast majority of instances have constructed multi-species colonies in the first three rows of seating in the sole screening room.
This information was confirmed via further trips utilizing the TACDATA unit. During the third such trip, onboard spectralscopes noted a sharp decline in Spectral-class activity on days of performances. Any noticeable readings were primarily detected at the entrance of SCP-9564.
To: MARCUS GRADY (tni.tenpics|rgm#tni.tenpics|rgm)
From: LEONARD YVES (tni.tenpics|2sevyl#tni.tenpics|2sevyl)
Subject: SCP-9564 Consultation
Hey Marcus,
Long time no talk. Missed hearing from you while I was on medical leave. I was told you had a card for me? Didn't get it yet.
Just wanted to ask; I was told that my request to remove some of the extraneous bits off the TACDATA would be denied? Isn't this against SOP? Activity is declining, and there's no external signs of any possession, haunting, or presence of a Spectral-class. Could just be residual in the area. It'd save battery life, let us get more information.
Hope all is well with the kids.
Best,
Lenny
To: LEONARD YVES (tni.tenpics|2sevyl#tni.tenpics|2sevyl)
From: MARCUS GRADY (tni.tenpics|rgm#tni.tenpics|rgm)
Subject: Re:SCP-9564 Consultation
Yves,
This is SOP. Any degree of Spectral-class presence mandates we attach the full visual platform onboard. I understand you've been out for a while, but this is how we do things now. More trips should not be an issue, if it does not delay progress significantly. If it helps, that time could be written off as more leave, anyhow.
Regards,
Grady
AKBAR
(weeping) Oh, BIRBAL, beloved courtier of mine - you have fallen silent on the battlefield. You have gone off to war, a scholar’s folly, and will never return to me again! Never again will I hear your jokes, never again will I receive your counsel! You have gone and left this place all the worse for it! What is an emperor but the knowledge of his greatest advisor?
It's… serviceable. Not enough pathos. Or too much, perhaps. Not enough believable pathos. If you want to be so melodramatic, shall we make this a musical instead? At least you get a bit more freedom when it comes to a song. Solos, especially.
Addendum 9564.4 - Manned Exploration
Two-way communication was theorized to be possible via the use of an KATAL unit (Kinetic Autonomous Telemetry-Assisted Lifeform). Significantly smaller than the TACDATA units and containing a much larger sensor array, KATAL units are capable of interaction via onboard microphone and speaker. TACDATA units contain only a microphone, and no way to broadcast audio from the pilot.
To: MARCUS GRADY (tni.tenpics|rgm#tni.tenpics|rgm)
From: LEONARD YVES (tni.tenpics|2sevyl#tni.tenpics|2sevyl)
Subject: KATAL
Hi Marcus,
Letting you know I'm planning to use the KATALs for the first time in field tomorrow. Finished up learning how to operate them. I’ll admit they’re good at what they do. Can probably use these to actually talk with the -1s. Assuming they can talk, but they’re putting on performances. Worst case is: I get to learn a new language! Best case is: I get to learn a new language!
Best,
Lenny
To: LEONARD YVES (tni.tenpics|2sevyl#tni.tenpics|2sevyl)
From: MARCUS GRADY (tni.tenpics|rgm#tni.tenpics|rgm)
Subject: KATAL
Yves,
Just got around to checking this. Any reason you’ve disengaged half the sensor matrix on your KATAL unit? These are brand new. I know you’ve gotten very good with them for someone of your age, but there's a process to this.
Regards,
Grady
To: MARCUS GRADY (tni.tenpics|rgm#tni.tenpics|rgm)
From: LEONARD YVES (tni.tenpics|2sevyl#tni.tenpics|2sevyl)
Subject: Sigil Analysis
Hi Marcus,
In my experience, I’ve found a more methodical approach can be effective. In this case, it’s a fairly simple Safe-class entity. No harm in taking things slow. I’ll re-activate as necessary.
Best,
Lenny
To: LEONARD YVES (tni.tenpics|2sevyl#tni.tenpics|2sevyl)
From: MARCUS GRADY (tni.tenpics|rgm#tni.tenpics|rgm)
Subject: Sigil Analysis
Hi,
I’m not convinced the slow, low-scope approach is necessary here. With spectral and other enhanced visual systems, we could identify the actual cause much more efficiently, instead of stretching flight time just so you can “observe.” Containment achieved, and each of us could move onto our own next project.
Power consumption is a known factor, but that’s less of a concern if we identify the particular entity cause. We don’t need to do things the old way, just because you’re lead on this. Respectfully, this entire change on how we do things is a result of your situation.
I’d like to suggest that we move forward using full sensor capability on the next run.
Regards,
Grady
To: MARCUS GRADY (tni.tenpics|rgm#tni.tenpics|rgm)
From: LEONARD YVES (tni.tenpics|2sevyl#tni.tenpics|2sevyl)
Subject: Sigil Analysis
Hi Marcus,
I’m not sure there is a spectral cause of this. If there is a potential presence, it seems unrelated.
If you’d like to assist me, I would need help looking at that sigil I sent you. Please do that soon, Marcus, I could use it.
Whether you like it or not, we’re partners. Trust my expertise, please.
Best,
Lenny
As a result of the power requirements of extra visual systems, intensive processes such as recording audiovisual information only began upon Dr. Yves' initiation. Logs of other, unrecorded activities are attached separately.
[BEGIN LOG]
[The KATAL unit has approached the stage. A larger acorn weevil, Curculio glandium, sits in a small director's chair. The rehearsals occurring on stage appear to be for a rendition of a space opera, inconsistent with any property known to the Foundation.]
Yves: Hello.
[The KATAL unit approaches the chair. The weevil, designated SCP-9564-2, turns and speaks in English.]
9564-2: Hello. It's you.
Yves: You…know me?
9564-2: We, or I, saw you enter. It wasn't exactly inconspicuous, and it's my responsibility to keep a close eye on things.
Yves: I see.
9564-2: The fact we're having this conversation isn't odd to you?
Yves: Seen stranger.
9564-2: Mm. Call me Director Dung Charles. Not a dung beetle. Rather unfortunate name.
Yves: Yves. Doctor Leonard Yves.
9564-2: Here to watch a show?
Yves: In a way. Learning about this place.
9564-2: I see. From down below, are you?
Yves: The town? In a manner of speaking. Just another bug.
9564-2: Please, I know what a robot is. There's a few of us who have been tagged before, a few fruit flies that've escaped labs. Science is no stranger here.
Yves: Understood.
[The two sit in silence. After a few moments, Yves speaks.]
Yves: So, this is nice.
9564-2: I know. I'm very thankful. We tried for the longest time to get some of the bugs here to be more appreciative of the arts. It has worked in some ways, failed in others, but we’ve had a good solid audience for a while.
Yves: How long exactly, do you think?
9564-2: Years at this point. Old enough that members of the troop have come in and out. Passed of varying issues.
Yves: Apologies for your loss.
9564-2: No need. It's the business. You age out of your part.
Yves: And why… you all? Not other insects?
9564-2: Luck? One day, and this is how it went for any of us, and not all of us at the same time, you simply took a step or flew in a certain direction. Then, a rush. Like blood to the head. All of a sudden it was as if a blindfold had been removed, as if you were able to speak when you’ve been mute your whole life, could hear the most beautiful songs when you’ve been deaf. Not that we understand all those, of course, but the concept surely strikes you.
Yves: Must’ve been a shock.
9564-2: In a way—
[SCP-9564-2 raises a limb to pause the conversation.]
9564-2: Tighter movement, Buzzilica, tighter! I understand you've never choreographed a fight before, but the back of the house needs to see your swings.
[SCP-9564-2 clears its non-existent vocal cords.]
9564-2: But in many ways, it felt like a relief. Many of us from more social backgrounds — your ants, your wasps, your bees — felt like it was a much easier way of communicating. As compared to, well, simply shaking an ass whenever we wanted somebody to go somewhere.
Yves: It is the most amazing thing. All of this. This whole operation.
9564-2: Do you enjoy the theater?
Yves: You could say that. Was a bit of an escape growing up. It's eating my time these days again, as well. Lots of free time I've found myself with as of late.
[Yves pauses.]
Yves: How did you stumble upon the theater?
9564-2: Craft, or—
[SCP-9564-2 raises its voice, furiously waving about its limbs.]
9564-2: Sell the death! Sell it. This is the pivotal moment where the Lord is supposed to fall deep into that corrupting influence. You're sabotaging him, Buzzilica! You fucking ass!
[SCP-9564-2 turns back to the KATAL unit.]
SCP-9564-2: Apologies. Craft, or location?
Yves: Either one. Whichever you’d like to start with. Take your time.
9564-2: Can't. Things to do, you see. But when you start — and I begin with the craft itself — when you start being able to think a lot more and perceive a lot more, you have a tendency to do what you can to make use of that. Not to say there were new ideas necessarily, there were, but a lot of it was communicating feelings and things that we had already experienced. You see, we had felt, er—
Yves: Trapped in a way?
9564-2: An apt statement. Certainly not perfect but apt. A few of us might take offense with the word trap.
Yves: Mm. I can see why.
9564-2: I’m sure you do.
[SCP-9564-2 gestures to the KATAL unit.]
SCP-9564-2: Not that appearance seems to matter all that much to you, what with you driving your metal thing around here.
Yves: Just a drone. Nothing more. I’m some ways away.
9564-2: Mm. Well, here or not, you’ll be more than welcome to come be in our audience. Or simply stick around for a bit. I could use a fresh pair of eyes.
Yves: A little more difficult these days, if you mean in person. If you were talking to me a few months ago? I’d be more than happy to. Unfortunately, this isn't then and my body isn’t necessarily as cooperative as I’d like it to be.
9564-2: Born that way?
Yves: No, no, workplace accident. Injured on the job, I mean. Healing though, I promise. In the meantime, I’m stuck here at a desk. Have my cane that I’m supposed to be using to keep the muscle strength up.
9564-2: Supposed to be? Sounds like you’re not necessarily listening to doctor's orders.
Yves: No, not that I am — you know what a doctor is?
9564-2: We're not so far behind you all. We do get sick and all. But continue.
Yves: Anyhow, I suppose the cane taunting me from the corner is better than me being sat in a wheelchair right now talking to you. It was an option, you know. Cheaper even, which is a bit shocking considering all the moving parts that a wheelchair has. I declined the chair because I wanted to feel like I was still myself. You feel a bit lesser than others, than yourself, when you're constantly at torso-height.
9564-2: I understand that more than you know. Being a playwright is dangerous business! Our audience is a tad more unruly than the average human. Venom, pincers, stingers, claws. Predecessors have lost life and limb. Know a body part? You name it, it's been lost on stage. But we make do. We’ve had to.
Yves: Oh? A bit morbid, no?
9564-2: Not as bad as you’d think. You see how some of us behave when outside SCP-9564, yes?
Yves: Forgive my crudeness, but dumber?
9564-2: Indeed. While our “intellect” is geographically bound, we’re also honor bound to be, well, honorable. Raise a hand against another? Think about raising a hand against another? Enjoy being dumped outside of the theater. Far, far less smart than you were a few seconds ago.
Yves: Or exactly as dumb, really, if you choose to be violent in spite of knowing. They do know, right?
9564-2: Indeed. We send out teams to sweep every once in a while. Just to make sure no one’s dawdling around outside.
Yves: Well planned out.
9564-2: We don’t exactly know much else to do. Well, we do — we’ve tried — but it’s a pointless endeavor.
Yves: Mm. Meaning, well, what?
[SCP-9564-2 remains silent.]
Yves: Well?
9564-2: We’ve tried original screenplays. This is the last one you’ll probably see, actually. They just don’t pull a crowd. It’s like a curse. That last batch of shows was dreadful. Our worst numbers in months. Steady decline afterwards.
[It sighs.]
9564-2: Easy come, easy go I suppose.
Yves: If I may change the subject—
9564-2: Gladly.
Yves: All of you are like this?
9564-2: Like me? No, we've different roles and crew and the like. Rather prefer being the director though. Everyone else gets fussy. Sometimes they complain. I’m trying to do what’s best, not what’s efficient. So what if we do three extra hours of dress?
Yves: No, no I mean, well, able to speak normal English.
9564-2: Oh. Well, yes. I wouldn't advise it. They can be a bit rude.
Yves: I see. Thank you.
9564-2: Of—
[SCP-9564-2 throws its papers towards the stage, then walks towards the actors.]
9564-2: Must I do every role myself? Must I?!
[SCP-9564-2 takes a deep breath.]
9564-2: Just. Try harder. Please.
[SCP-9564-2 walks back to its chair, and sits down with a long, deep sigh.]
Yves: Okay if I stick around?
9564-2: You can. Not that it'd be the most… high-quality performance. They don't seem to care as much as they used to anymore.
Yves: Fine with me.
[The two turn back to the stage. As it happens, the cast has deserted the stage.]
SCP-9564-2: You're fucking with me.
[END LOG]
Given new information about the nature of SCP-9564's arthropod inhabitants as a result of a discussion with SCP-9564-2, an addition to the description was proposed by Dr. Yves. This can be seen below.
Proposed Addendum: The aforementioned anomalous effects of SCP-9564 only extend to members of Arthropoda. Larger, predatory animals are unaffected and removed from SCP-9564's grounds. If an anomalous SCP-9564-1 instance leaves SCP-9564's effect radius, it returns to being a non-anomalous arthropod, indistinguishable from other members of its species.
SCP-9564-1 instances display:
- Heightened intelligence, comparable to a human.
- Ability to understand speech, written language, and complex linguistics.
- Verbal communication utilizing sounds that would require vocal cords to produce. SCP-9564-1 instances' language of choice is largely American English.
I'll put this on the file later; I know Marcus would probably send a few angry emails for it. He was always a hardass about these sorts of things. Used to be out of a place of love.
There was some amount of Spectral activity, a few small hits on the spectroscope. It noticed a shape invisible to the naked eye a couple of times. Nothing more.
I remember it being there the next few times I went. Just there. Staring through the hole I entered the first time, or at least, I think it was. Thing didn't have any eyes, after all. Didn't actually see it the last time I was there, now that I think about it.
I'd like to be clear that I don't find it scary in the slightest. I'm just happy to have something to do again, be interested in again. I think it agrees with me. It doesn't seem like it wants to interrupt the actual shows all that much.
Heh. Show must go on. Ghost on. Whatever.
- Yves
LEE
I just can't give up on you. I go to sleep, and I think of you. I'm checking my phone, I'm going mad and hallucinating that I feel a text or hear a call. I don't know what to do, DENISE.
DENISE
You tell me this a month ago so we could start doing this all even sooner.
Shows promise, I think. Parts of our audience might respond well to the sappiness. Some market testing may be appropriate?
Addendum 9564.5 - Notable Autopsy Findings
Picked something interesting up this time.
Door was locked, again. When I entered the usual way with the KATAL, there was a… well, a body. A fly's body, but still a body. As gruesome as you could make it in such a small scale. I took it. I shouldn't have taken it, should have asked about it first, but I took it nonetheless. Brought it back. Didn't watch anything that day.
God, it makes me fear the worst. Sabotage. Who? It's a bunch of fucking bugs playing at drama class. It's so… kind. So pure.
The fly. I snapped a photo before they tossed it in the disposal unit.
Poor thing.
- Yves
....................................................................................................
FOUNDATION VETERINARY SERVICES
AUTOPSY REPORT
Date Received: 05/05/25
Patient: Musca domestica
Age: 18 days
Tag Number: 856159125
CAUSE OF DEATH UNCERTAIN.
PATIENT displays 2mm diameter stab wound to central thorax, clean through-and-through. While initially believed to be cause of death, removal of weapon/implement [large splinter of mahogany] shows no bleed, implying hemocoel has already been drained, or hemolymph has thickened due to exposure to external environment. Closer inspection reveals minimal amount of hemolymph remains; this has been collected for further testing.
Sample of hemolymph reveals incredibly low count of melanin by volume, as well as key markers of dehydration. Immune system disruption may be potential cause of death. However, lack of hydration serves as cause of extreme desiccation of the exoskeleton.
Body was discovered in extreme rigor mortis; curling was observed, presumably due to lack of control of nervous system. Cause uncertain, but a potential explanation is neurodegeneration as a result of infectious disease.
A portion of the left wing has also been removed. Brittle nature of former attachment point implies desecration of body occurred postmortem.
- DR. JACOB PULLMAN
MARTIN
Is it really you? My son? I thought I lost you all those years ago.
[He falls to his knees, crying. JACKSON picks him up.]
Please, you've missed so much. I have missed so much of your life. Come. Sit. Sit down. I'll cook you something, and you tell me what got you in such a state. Where you've been, how you've been, all of it.
You're ripping off the greats.
Addendum 9564.6 - Further Interactions
Since then, Dr. Yves has made multiple return trips to SCP-9564 with the express purpose of deepening relationships with SCP-9564-1 instances and SCP-9564-2. Attached are some examples selected by Dr. Yves.
[BEGIN LOG]
[SCP-9564-2 is found in an upper balcony, viewing the stage below. There is a rehearsal of Romeo and Juliet, and the show is midway through Act II. SCP-9564-2 gestures to the KATAL unit to sit next to it, on its left side.]
9564-2: Sit. I know you have questions.
Yves: That I do.
9564-2: Ask. I need a distraction from this tripe.
[SCP-9564-2 cups its hands around its mouth to yell below.]
SCP-9564-2: You all could clean up every once in a while, y’know!
[It turns back to the KATAL unit.]
Yves: Now that I have your attention, where's that sigil from?
9564-2: Oh, the thing drawn with sap up there? No clue, but I can tell you it wasn't me. I don’t think so at least. My memory isn't what it used to be. I'm certain it’s been here longer than most of us have.
Yves: And do you know what it does?
9564-2: We’re aware, to an extent. I'm intended to be the only one who knows. We try to maintain it as best as we can, but we don’t have all the answers.
Yves: Less effective than it used to be?
9564-2: Indeed. Things have been less "spooky," as you'd put it. Not that I'd know why.
Yves: It wasn’t something that came to you the first time you were made aware?
9564-2: No, not necessarily. That "expansion of the mind" came with minimal new knowledge. Just that we were told that it was important, and that it was there. We figured it out eventually. As it turns out, it’s a little difficult to retain an audience when they leave after our show and forget that this place exists.
Yves: How do you keep them coming back? There's a few regular customers with fairly distinct markings.
9564-2: Let’s avoid the C word. They're patrons of the art. No one pays, but we do accept donations. Mostly of food and other supplies, but power and water would be more helpful these days.
Yves: Worse than it used to be?
9564-2: Very much so. Nearly every single part of this building is worse than it used to be. The area where we are our full selves has shrank, significantly. The plays are worse. The lights outside have grown dimmer.
Yves: And that matters why? I'm sure you'd remember where this place was.
9564-2: You'd be surprised. A lot of folks benefit from the beacon home, and well…
[It trails off.]
Yves: And…? I've been around enough to know there's more. And that you're not just doing this out of the goodness of your heart.
9564-2: Er, well. It’s a little bit manipulative, but we use them to attract customers.
Yves: I thought you said no C word.
[SCP-9564-2 bows, quickly, before looking back at the stage.]
9564-2: Forgive me. A bit more number-minded lately. Sort of have to be.
[Yves laughs.]
Yves: Not like you have much competition.
[SCP-9564-2 nods in the direction of the KATAL unit.]
9564-2: Not in our line of work necessarily, but there’s a great deal of people who don’t bother these days. If I could stop needing to run Romeo and Juliet every month, it'd be swell.
Yves: You and the Bard disagree?
9564-2: I have opinions.
Yves: Do tell.
[SCP-9564-2 pauses for a moment. Its voice is short.]
9564-2: Overrated. A bit of a hack. Lot of old magazines and reviews with their high opinions of him, saying he thought up a lot of tropes with his shows. And maybe I’m a little sick of the tropes themselves, or just those particular shows. Macbeth, for instance, don't get me started.
[There is silence.]
Yves: I won't then. How's the cast? The actors themselves, I mean?
9564-2: Fine. They do have talent. That wasp and that bee have been playing the star-crossed lovers for a year at this point. The wasp, Androney, could recite any of the monologues in his sleep.
Yves: No. How are they?
9564-2: They're fine. Have you spoken to any?
[Yves pauses, responding slowly.]
Yves: Not yet, no. This is only the second time I’m talking with any of you. Is there something I should ask?
9564-2: The opposite. I’d like to think that they’re mostly caught up in their roles to notice how downhill this all is going.
[SCP-9564-2 sighs.]
9564-2: So many of them would rather look the crowd, or the glitz and glamour of the city below. The lights, the advertisements, the cars even. It didn’t used to be this way. I didn’t used to be this way. So concerned with the numbers.
Yves: How did you ever stop yourself from caring about that in the first place? It's a process we all go through. I know I did.
9564-2: I never did. The other way around. Wore me down over the years. You start off caring about the themes, about the message. You’re worrying about symbols, and motifs, and all these other buzzwords, literary vocabulary that they teach you. Of course I didn’t actually get taught directly, but there were some nice books to read when I came.
Yves: You had the time, didn't you?
9564-2: I did. Finding myself with more of it lately.
[A SCP-9564 instance, a helmeted squash bug (Euthochtha galeator) on the stage accidentally bumps into another, an Atlas moth (Attacus atlas). The A. atlas returns the shove.]
9564-2: Knock it off! You're going to—
[They continue fighting, and promptly disappear. SCP-9564-2 yells down at the rest of the cast.]
9564-2: Well? Go find them.
[SCP-9564-2 turns back to the KATAL unit.]
9564-2: Embarrassing. Can't even bring themselves to care about basic, basic bits of how this place works anymore.
Yves: I'm sorry, Dung.
9564-2: It's fine. What were you saying?
[Yves pauses.]
Yves: Dung, I'm going to be honest. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to make these trips.
[9564-2 gestures below.]
9564-2: Not because of well, things like that right?
Yves: No, no, it's out of my control.
9564-2: I won’t claim to understand the workings of your occupation.
Yves: But you see—
9564-2: It’s not entirely about your job, is it?
Yves: No, it’s not.
9564-2: You get an eye for these things as you become other people, write other people. You get good at reading. People, and scripts, and… situations.
Yves: I’m sure. Just thought I should do you the courtesy.
9564-2: And for that I appreciate you. Thank you for coming around, anyhow. I trust you'll still be around? Appreciate us while you can?
Yves: Of course. Before I go for today, though, I’d like to ask. I haven't spoken to anybody about it yet — you are the first — but I did find that fly. The stabbing.
[SCP-9564-2 freezes.]
9564-2: I’d like to not speak of this.
Yves: I just want to ask. I’m not blaming you. I do not think you did it. Or rather, I know. It might be why your customers are declining.
9564-2: I’m listening.
Yves: How long ago was that? His death, I mean?
9564-2: A week ago. Jacques. Used to be one of the leading men. Played Othello, y'know. He's not the first. I hide them. I don't want anyone to know.
[SCP-9564-2 stares out at the stage, wistfully.]
9564-2: You can act out all the monologues you want about death, but it never prepares you for the real thing. Just, well, never got around to getting rid of them. Picked each one up myself.
Yves: Mm. Anyone acting strange?
9564-2: Murder? You know that wouldn't work here. Even still, I don’t know who would be doing it, if anybody. Like I told you — it’s a curse.
Yves: We did detect, well, ghosts. A ghost. Just the one. Might be less of a curse, more of a… presence.
9564-2: Bah. If there’s a haunting, I doubt they’ve stuck around. It’s boring enough here as is.
[END LOG]
KNIVES BAZOOKA-JOHNSON
[Fixing his glasses, he chews on a toothpick with a cocky grin.]
Maybe all I needed was FAMILY. That's right, my FAMILY-brand ROCKET LAUNCHER. New from EXPLODOCORP. Blow up your enemies and protect your FAMILY, with your FAMILY.
Nothing resembling commercialism unless we're going full satire.
Addendum 9564.7 - Thaumaturgical Analysis
Dr. Yves contacted Dr. Marcus Grady to request an analysis of the content of the sigil found in the first visit to SCP-9564. Dr. Grady did not respond until nearly a week had passed. Dr. Yves has attached some portions of their communication below.
To: MARCUS GRADY (tni.tenpics|rgm#tni.tenpics|rgm)
From: LEONARD YVES (tni.tenpics|2sevyl#tni.tenpics|2sevyl)
Subject: Sigil Analysis
Hi Marcus,
I sent a request for eyes on that sigil I sent a little bit ago. Just following up.
Best,
Lenny
To: LEONARD YVES (tni.tenpics|2sevyl#tni.tenpics|2sevyl)
From: MARCUS GRADY (tni.tenpics|rgm#tni.tenpics|rgm)
Subject: Re:SCP-9564 Consultation
Yves,
It'll be done when it is done.
Regards,
Grady
To: LEONARD YVES (tni.tenpics|2sevyl#tni.tenpics|2sevyl)
From: MARCUS GRADY (tni.tenpics|rgm#tni.tenpics|rgm)
Subject: Re:SCP-9564 Consultation
Yves,
Here. Happy?
For your situational awareness, reviews are soon. I'm in the mood to get us both moving onto better things.
Regards,
Grady
D.O.T. CONSULTATION
Thaumaturgy can be seen as a means of simply harnessing a latent energy that is pervasive to the world around us, a tapping in to the metaphorical sap that flows from the tree that is Earth. Therefore, it would be a folly to claim that only humanity can wield thaumaturgy consciously. Numerous sentient species have a storied history utilizing sigils, chants, and other manifestations of "magic," yet we think it strange when a single instance (or in this case, a few hundred) manage to work out how to draw a simple warding mark?
For god's sake, bees' waggle dances are complex enough. And that's performed by normal, non-anomalous individuals. As a result, I suppose I may have filed this to be relatively low-priority. I was expecting more efficiency of you in a lot of ways, Yves, but I am told I must be patient given your… circumstances.
As such, I will keep it brief. I am a busy man. The sigil is simple. It protects against conscious, sentient threats sent against those within its bounds. Thus, the bugs cannot be preyed upon, attacked, swatted carelessly, so on. The extra symbols within the inner circle ensure that threats can be perceived on a metaphorical and thoughtform level, which is confirmation to me that SCP-9564-1 do know what they are doing (to an extent, as you will see). Therefore, were I to so much as think about hurting SCP-9564-1, the circuit would activate, and I'd end up on my keister a ways away.
I applaud SCP-9564-1 for figuring that out! Not many human practitioners would. The reason I must cease my applause early is the fact that the outer circle protects against natural threats. Not artificial ones, you see, even if the hexagram seen on the upper portion of the circle would do that. (Not that it would. It's been drawn at a skew.) That would require blood, guts, or some other form of corporeal remains to seal that protection.
What a proper hexagram should look like.
Protection is often akin to a currency exchange. You are asking the world and reality itself to protect you. It will not do that for free (unless of course, you are favored, but that is a rare sort of magical blessing). Natural threats require a non-tangible payment or investment — think exertion, will, friendship, love, that sort of woo-woo. Artificial ones need something physical, because you are demanded to show reality that this threat is "not all in your head." It goes unnoticed by the laws of nature, and thus you must prove that it isn't simply something that requires an imaginary protection.
Ergo, the need for remains. I posit that disembowling anyone, even if the guts were given voluntarily, would likely lead to a triggering of the inner anti-aggression circle. Therein lies the rub. How were they supposed to set that up, anyhow? Try your best to properly set up your defense, and all of a sudden, your sigil sees your willing sacrifice as a victim. You're teleported out and lose yourself — in all meanings of the word.
What a shame. This could have been refined with just a bit more work. Too late now, I suppose.
- Dr. Marcus Grady
Head Thaumaturgy Researcher
BRUTUS
CAESAR! CAESAR! WE WHO ARE DEAD SALUTE YOU!
[BRUTUS unsheathes his knife, and plunges it into CAESAR. Over and over does he stab, with a wild and crazed expression upon his face. He continues to stab as he speaks.]
BRUTUS
CAESAR! CAESAR! WE WHO ARE DEAD SALUTE YOU!
[BRUTUS drinks CAESAR's spilt blood. He laughs.]
Tone. It. Down. I know I asked for avant-garde, but you're going to drive everyone away at this point. Please.
Addendum 9564.8 - Notes
[BEGIN LOG]
9564-2: Henry V today. You know it?
Yves: Some. Admittedly, the historical Shakespeares were never my favorites. Eyes sort of glaze over, and I never could follow the plot. I usually forget about stuff I don't like.
9564-2: Wish the audience had your taste. I loathe these. Speaking of:
[SCP-9564-2 claps its forelimbs.]
9564-2: Let's take five.
[The actors and crew of SCP-9564-1 instances disperse, with most flying off into other parts of SCP-9564. Just SCP-9564-2 and Yves remain.]
Yves: Ah— I wanted to ask them some questions, actually.
SCP-9564-2: You can ask me.
Yves: But I already—
SCP-9564-2: Ask me. I promise you, they don't know much of anything.
Yves: How bad is it? Be honest with me. I'm not sure I can handle anymore dishonesty.
SCP-9564-2: It's… a dozen. A couple dozen. I don't know how. I don't know why.
Yves: See anything?
SCP-9564-2: No. Like I said, I don't want to talk about it. I don't like this cast, but they have work to do.
Yves: I thought you liked them. It's… kind of your responsibility, no?
SCP-9564-2: Not anymore. They’ve been leaving. Quitting. I say giving up, really, the cowards.
Yves: You just sent them for a break.
SCP-9564-2: Did I? They leave otherwise too. In the night usually. I've been boarding up the windows to try to get them to stay.
Yves: And how would that work, sorry?
SCP-9564-2: If they weren’t so enamored with outside, with the lights and glitz and glamour, they’d stay.
[Yves sighs.]
Yves: I'll go do a sweep for Spectrals.
SCP-9564-2: You do that.
[The KATAL unit takes off. Yves initiates spectralscope boot-up, moving the camera view all over the ground as the unit hovers.]
Yves: I don't think this is going to see anything, anymore. Let me try a little somethin' else.
[The KATAL unit's onboard thermal camera is activated. Lights and other expected sources of heat appear a bright red, white, and orange.]
Yves: Oh, if Marcus could see me now.
[Another unexpected source of heat can be seen below the stage. The KATAL unit touches down. Upon opening the trapdoor leading to the area below the stage, SCP-9564-2 can be seen lighting a small fire in the far right corner.]
Yves: Dung, what on Earth?
SCP-9564-2: Props. Costumes. Some other things.
Yves: All of these; you're not worried about burning this place down?
9564-2: No. It'll be fine. I burn a little at a time.
Yves: How long have you been at this? You can't do this! Think about all that hard work you put in.
SCP-9564-2: Who cares? No one comes to see us these days anyways! We pulled maybe a few hundred? Maybe?
Yves: But the art—
SCP-9564-2: What art? Every single success was years ago! Not even the Shakespeares bring in a crowd these days. It’s fucking infuriating, is what it is. A waste of time. So what if a few mementos aren’t here any longer to bother me?
Yves: Dung, it’s more than a few.
SCP-9564-2: Even better! Go look for your fucking ghost. I’ve accepted reality at this point. This place is doomed.
Yves: There is no ghost anymore!
SCP-9564-2: Oh, so it's left us too, huh? What joy! It's fairly clear what we are, Yves— has beens that the world doesn't fucking need anymore.
Yves: You don't believe that, surely.
SCP-9564-2: And if I do?
Yves: Then my conversation is over.
SCP-9564-2: Fine. Y'know what? Maybe it'd be better off if your phantom murderer kills us all anyways.
[END LOG]
LEONARD YVES:
Site Directors are writing to congratulate you on exceptional work completed during your transition back to the office. As of writing, you will be relieved of these duties in a week’s time. All current projects, namely SCP-9564, will be transferred to other employees outside of your partnership. If documentation requires any changes, please make these edits before that time.
In particular, we would also like to commend you on wonderful teamwork with your partner. Res. Grady reported it himself! This policy has been in the works for some time, so to hear a glowing review gives confidence that this “experience-based” form of participation will work Site-wide.
We are excited to see you in the office full-time next Wednesday.
Guess I'm going back soon.
I want to try something before I leave. Settle this. Maybe I’ll catch this murderer. I’ll set a little trap. Yes, I’m breaking protocol a bit, but you know, the circumstances. On that note:
Got the news back. Prognosis is… odd. Not really sure where it's going, good or bad. Maybe I'm overanalyzing things a bit when I'm determining the angle of my doctor's smile to figure out what they're actually feeling (and if they're hiding anything) from me.
- Yves
[WATER rambles on, taking no pauses but speaking in a monotone voice.]
WATER
When you really look down into it and get down into it and really think about it, all of things is water and water is all of things such that life is birthed from water when the mother's womb is broken and returned to water as the maggots themselves eat you. There is a beauty in the imperfection of the flowing form that only the tall trees and cacti and corn know as they reach their spindly ways towards heaven and I have learned from their mistakes and misdeeds wherein I have simply become water such that the sacred understanding may flow through me too as I am consumed by the ocean below and made whole by the wild and wondrous waves.
I. Well. Hm.
Addendum 9564.9 - Camera Log Transcript
[BEGIN LOG]
The KATAL unit’s camera has been switched on. Power has been routed from the visual matrix to the camera itself, allowing for longer recordings, including overnight.
At approximately 1730 hours, a large swarm of devastator grasshoppers, Melanoplus devastator, approaches SCP-9564. They are visible via a small hole in the wall. Yves zooms. The grasshoppers’ legs are stained with liquid.
Yves continues zooming in. The vast majority of the swarm displays intense discoloration, erratic flight patterns, and abnormal in-flight eye movement.
Three rapidly descend and crash into the overgrown grass below the marquee. One glides through the hole, expiring soon after. Upon examination, its legs are marked with the clear liquid collected on the first day. This corpse, and samples of the liquid are collected by the KATAL unit.
The lights outside dim with each successive death. A pale shape appears, then disappears, with a slight uptick of activity recorded on the spectralscope. At this point, Yves directs the KATAL unit towards the sigil to examine it.
The sigil itself appears unaltered, though onboard thermometers detect a sharp temperature decrease in the area. Switching on spectralscopes, a Spectral entity resembling the previously seen pale shape can be seen attempting to draw additional symbols in the sigil. Given its intangibility, it fails to do so, before noticing the KATAL unit. Quiet thumps can be heard as further M. devastator instances crash into the wall of SCP-9564. Each thump corresponds to the spectralscopes registering a decrease in presence, before the Spectral entity disappears entirely.
Onboard visual matrix is shut off, and power is re-routed to solely the camera feed. Twelve hours of extraneous recording have been removed.
[END LOG]
So, yeah, the ghost was probably McCoy. Still unclear as to the directionality of the relationship here, and whether it's SCP-9564-1 instances powering his presence, or if his presence allows SCP-9564-1 instances to be what they are. Something to consider if I had more time.
Onto more pressing matters: ran some tests. Asked the termites for a bit of soil off the mound, in case it was contaminating the environment. Did the same for the other colonies (except the hornets, who are very rude, I’ve found). -2’s involvement did help push the less than enthusiastic ones into cooperating.
-2 also gave me access to a few other bodies that he’d hidden. One had some liquid residue on it. Took a bigger sample of the stuff, and it matched the drop I picked up earlier.
It’s glyphosate. Roundup. The bad stuff. Kills your nervous system, immune system, dries you out; damn thing is indecisive in how it wants to murder you, so it’d rather just do all of the available options. Probably brought by some of the repeats coming from Davis, or any other field that uses them. For fuck’s sake, some of the elementary schools here still spray it, for lawns and flowers and NIMBY nonsense.
And they didn’t even know. You come, you live in your colony, maybe this poison’s on your wings or a web or some dirt stuck on your thorax. Then you kill everyone slowly and agonizingly.
I don’t know how to tell him. I suppose I’m glad I’m not out in the field.
- Yves
SAGE
You must understand, young one, that you have not yet grown to the expertise required to wield such a powerful spell. My last student attempted to learn it; snuck into archives after hours, and nearly unleashed a being so vile that half of The Citadel was devoured in merely a few hours.
STUDENT
Without this magic, there is no way that I can defend the realm from Vorgolax. You must teach me.
SAGE
If you cannot construct your own magic, there is no point in retaining you as my pupil. It is up to you; you must create, with your own unique touch. Without it, all will be lost.
A bit on the nose, no?
Addendum 9564.10 - Unmanned Log
No real log for this one.
I took the video to -2 today. Brought a little screen we use for handheld displays. World’s worst Netflix movie.
I felt so much shame. I couldn't even take the KATAL today. Took the fucking TAC, because I couldn't, or didn't, want to say anything. I didn't have the heart. The strength.
I got there. Had a little printout with the test results made, for their size and everything. Handed it to -2. And I let him read. Perhaps it was a good thing, that I decided not to record that trip.
I’ve never heard a beetle scream until then. God, he took the TAC aside, had me check for ghosts, nothing. His friends, the company, didn’t even bother to linger. I think that bothered him most. Really hammers it home. I don’t believe much in whatever it is the scopes saw weeks ago. Clearly hasn’t done jack shit for this place.
It’s a few months ago all over again. This time, it’s not me who’s affected, though. ‘Least me getting thrown halfway through a wall was my fault. ‘Least me dying is my fault.
There’s barely anyone left. No one comes by. No repeats I recognize. Two colonies now, and they’re maybe, just barely limping along. The theater is so much quieter. It’s eerie.
He says it’s happening to him too. The poisoning. I had hoped it wasn’t the case.
- Yves
SLICK
I need you to play lookout. You see anything, anything out of the ordinary, you come tell me. Soon as possible. Capiche? Otherwise it'll be your head that's next on the Thanksgiving table with an apple in its mouth, 'stead of some pig.
Must we resort to such tropes?
Addendum 9564.11 - Manned Exploration
[BEGIN LOG]
9564-2: I’ll be up there. Come discuss when you have time. I’d rather do this away from everyone. They’ve heard enough.
Yves: What have they heard?
9564-2: Me yelling. They know why it is. My frustration. That is all.
Yves: Mm. Be right up.
[SCP-9564-2 unfurls its wings, flying to the balcony above. The KATAL unit follows. The two touch down, and talk while looking at the stage below.]
9564-2: The little one today, hm?
Yves: Yes. I can talk now.
9564-2: I know.
Yves: I’m sorry. For not coming in this one last time. And for ambushing you during a rehearsal.
9564-2: I understand. No, scratch that — I want to understand, and I don't.
Yves: I liked being here. It made me forget.
9564-2: And that was all you did. You could have told me? Helped? Aren't you a scientist?
Yves: I am.
9564-2: And a special one too, right? No one with any experience in labs here has said that their captors ever could talk to them. So, you must be special. Your job must be special.
Yves: In a way, yes.
9564-2: So why couldn't you do anything?
Yves: I tried! I tried. There was only so much I could do.
[SCP-9564-2 puts its head in its hands.]
9564-2: There had to be more.
Yves: There isn't. Bureaucracy, rules, regulations, all that. I couldn't just steal something to magically heal you all. You know that.
9564-2: I… do. I know. But the reality is simple. You and I will be gone, in time. And so will all the rest of them. They don’t know. I won’t tell them til it’s time.
Yves: And you’re sure you’ll be around to do that?
[SCP-9564-2 sharply turns to look at the KATAL unit.]
9564-2: Sure? It's the one thing I'm sure of! Killing me hasn’t worked quite yet.
Yves: What does that mean?
9564-2: Do you understand how much I sicken myself? If there’s one thing the Bard understood, it was how to kill yourself properly. I tried all of them. And this damned half-baked “protection measure” would trigger every time, and dump me outside. The company would always have to come find me. I’d tell them I was doing some field research for a script. I couldn’t even die right.
[SCP-9564-2 grumbles louder.]
9564-2: Now I am, and I can’t do anything about it. I don’t even want to die like this. This can’t be it. All because I am what I am, and there is no cure for this. No cure for this ever onwards progression of your science.
[SCP-9564-2 waves its arms.]
9564-2: And it’s not even your fault. It’s ours. It’s mine. God, how I wanted things to be okay. I saw them all die. And I didn’t do a damned thing about it. I let it happen. I didn’t preserve a single thing.
Yves: I know what you’re—
9564-2: Do you? We’re both going to die! So be it! Whatever's going on with you, Yves, you did it to yourself. My claws are clean. I did my time of trying to do myself in. I stopped. I got over it.
[It pauses.]
9564-2: I’m getting over it.
[Silence.]
9564-2: I don’t know anymore.
[Silence.]
9564-2: I just want this place to stay. To live.
[It sighs.]
9564-2: But it won’t anymore, will it? Maybe what you saw those days was whatever god, whatever spirit, whatever deity blessed this place. Gave us what we are. And we displeased it.
Yves: And if it were the other way around? Maybe it needed you.
9564-2: A nice thought. We barely understand how any of this works. I barely understood what any of this was.
Yves: You’re just… basically a child.
9564-2: I know! A decade in this place, a decade I taught myself all this, thought it would be what I did forever. And even without this poison, they stopped caring. Preferred the quick glints in the water, a taste of nectar, the flashing lights and bright screens. A decade trapped here.
[It closes the curtains of the balcony, muffling its yelling from the rest of the theater.]
9564-2: I couldn’t even leave. I haven’t left. Not once.
Yves: At all?
9564-2: No! If I left these four walls, who knows what would have happened? Especially now. Perhaps I would have sipped upon that pesticide and died months ago! Yet it still comes and assaults me in my home. My theater.
[It looks at the hole of the outer wall that the KATAL unit enters through. It is dark outside.]
9564-2: I’m so tired. I miss the sun. I miss the simpler times.
Yves: I’m sorry.
9564-2: If you are, what you can do is leave me alone. I liked it better when you were unable to talk to me.
[END LOG]
ENTIRE CAST
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.
Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.
Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.
I am just a coward. Unable to accept that this place is ending. What it was it will never be again.
And I've figured that out too little, too late.
And with that, curtains.
Addendum 9564.12 - Manned Exploration
To: LEONARD YVES (tni.tenpics|2sevyl#tni.tenpics|2sevyl)
From: MARCUS GRADY (tni.tenpics|rgm#tni.tenpics|rgm)
Subject: Future
Yves,
If the presence is gone, and the bugs are, well, soon to be indisposed, we could make things a little easier on ourselves. Let nature take its course once we’ve confirmed it’s neutralized, y’know? It's not our job to intervene for things beyond the scope of the anomaly.
I’m sure no one would mind if this place falls apart. Barely got checked on in the first place.
Regards,
Grady
To: MARCUS GRADY (tni.tenpics|rgm#tni.tenpics|rgm)
From: LEONARD YVES (tni.tenpics|2sevyl#tni.tenpics|2sevyl)
Subject: Sigil Analysis
Grady:
I can’t do that. Too important. And who knows if things might start again? I’ve something else in mind to at least keep the place safe.
Best,
Yves
[I take my head into my forelimbs. I am thinking about where it all went wrong. Where I failed.]
ME
I suppose I don't actually know where I'm going to end up after this. And I hope none of this is all in my head.
[THEY laugh. I did not hear them approach. I was talking to myself. It is a nice sound. One that we never quite figured out how to make.]
THEM
It's not. I know you haven't seen me. Like, the real, actual me. But it's not. I'm here with you, buddy.
[THEY pause. I hear a noise that I assume is something like drinking coffee. I wish I could have tasted it.]
THEM
It's part of the fun, y'know. Not knowing where you're going. 'Sides, you'll be back again soon.
[I chuckle.]
ME
True, true. Still. It's not fair.
THEM
Never is, you whiner.
ME
I just… wanted to keep everything I love close to me. Is that so wrong?
THEM
I'd… not say so. Letting go is a process.
ME
Why? I shouldn't have to.
THEM
Believe me. You and me both. You and me both.
[I hesitate. I am fearful of a bad answer, an undesirable one, to what I am about to ask.]
ME
Will you take care of this place? While it lasts as what it is now?
[THEY in their metal body cock their head to the side. I am well aware that this is playful. I welcome it.]
THEM
Already planning it.
[I smile, as best as I can with my mouthparts.]
[I can't help but think—]
[The sun feels so very nice today.]
CLOSE CURTAINS.