
An instance of SCP-031-FR
Item #: SCP-031-FR
Threat Level: Yellow ●
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: Specimens of SCP-031-FR are to be contained in a 3x2x1 meter vivarium, access to which will be via an incinerator airlock, in case of any containment breach. The vivarium is composed of two independent sub-parts containing on one side vegetation and a small body of water, and on the other side a feeding area. These two parts will be separated during the operations of food resupply and cleaning of the vivarium. Specimens of SCP-031-FR are to be fed four encyclopedias per week.
Description: SCP-031-FR is a species of centipede, apparently similar to Scolopendra abnormis. The anomalous nature of SCP-031-FR is its diet, which appears to be made up of "knowledge". The eleven specimens of SCP-031-FR owned by the Foundation carry little interest in the usual prey of members of their species, ignoring or killing them, but not eating them.
In the first case, they use their mandibles to pick up the words from the paper, before ingesting them. In the latter case, the specimens will bite their prey in order to paralyze it with the help of their venom, before penetrating inside the body through the orifices closest to the head in order to go up to the brain, then to implant itself in the cerebrospinal fluid. This process is described as extremely painful by the victims, lessening in intensity over time. The duration of absorption is variable, and depends on the amount of knowledge and experience of the victim, but lasts about 24 hours for an adult in their thirties.
Victims of SCP-031-FR lose their intellectual faculties as well as their memory at a regular rate, throughout the process. Ultimately, the victims forget how to speak and how to walk, returning to a post-natal intellectual level. The relearning of these elementary notions is laborious because of the age of the subjects, which is less favorable to the acquisition of knowledge. Once the victim's brain is completely erased, instances of SCP-031-FR emerge from their victim by the same process used to enter it.
Instances of SCP-031-FR only reproduce when they parasitize a human body, and only once a year. One to three eggs are deposited near the brain each time they are laid, when SCP-031-FR clears the body. Victims carrying eggs of SCP-031-FR are easily identifiable among the others, as their memory is not entirely erased. The subjects still know how to walk and speak, despite laborious speech and a fairly long response time. The incubation period is approximately one week. When hatching, the young instances will feed on the victim's remaining knowledge before leaving it. Eggs were surgically removed from test subjects, but never hatched.
When instances of SCP-031-FR are not fed for two weeks, they become aggressive and seek to escape their confinement. When this deprivation reaches a month, they seem to go into hibernation. During this phase, they roll on themselves and dehydrate quickly, losing volume. The maximum duration of this stasis has still not been defined, but is greater than one year and ends when they detect close movement. They then come out of their lethargy, and go in search of food, then water.
No direct observation could be made of the physical action of SCP-031-FR on the human brain, due to a defensive reflex which prompts it to kill its victim when it's under stress or feels a threat, before escaping. For the same reason, anyone affected by SCP-031-FR is considered lost and cannot be saved.
Less invasive means of observation are currently under review for a possible synthesizing of the mind erasing capabilities of SCP-031-FR, in order to discover an additional way to manipulate memory, other than through amnestics. Such a method could have a higher success rate for treating the effects of certain memetics objects.