Item #: SCP-164-FR
Threat Level: Yellow ●
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-164-FR is to be kept inside a secured safe at Storage Site-Kybian, appropriately ventilated and protected from humidity, heat and mold.
All tests on SCP-164-FR must be performed in an Alpha-safety level environment and follow Security Protocol Yod-9. All test subjects are to be terminated immediately after testing. Testing has been discontinued for an indefinite amount of time.
Description: SCP-164-FR is a copy of the Quran written in literary Arabic. It is printed on standard print paper and appears to have been recently issued, but is leather-bound and has a brown gilded cover for aesthetic purposes.1
It contains 114 surahs, like all standard Qurans but does not bear any data regarding the publisher, place of publication of date of publication. Advanced studying of the text revealed evidence that this book is a low quality copy of the standard text of the Quran, bearing frequent spelling errors and altered or absent excerpts.
SCP-164-FR's anomalous effects manifest when a person begins to read its contents. While reading, the person will undergo a series of biological changes including the emergence of scales on the skin, reshaping of the skeleton, an important variation of the muscle mass, vital systems and reproductive system, which goes from viviparous to oviparous. The process is completed by the end of the reading of the surah, regardless of the length of the text. After reading the surah, the subject will have undergone a complete metamorphosis into a member of the super-order Dinosauria, more frequently referred to as dinosaurs.
After a series of tests performed on SCP-164-FR, it was proven that each surah triggers transformation into a different type of dinosaur.
For instance, the first surah, Al-Fatiha, triggers transformation into Stegosaurus armatus, the second surah, Al-Baqara, leads to Allausaurus lucaris, the last one, An-Nas, leads to Triceratops horridus, and the fifty-seventh one, Al-Hadid, leads to Velociraptor mongoliensis.
Of note is that the reader in no way compelled to read the text, and will stop if interrupted. However, they will not be aware of the changes they undergo or the unusual reactions from their audience, and will keep on reading in such a case.
The altered subject, designated SCP-164-FR-1, will retain a human voice and sapient mind all throughout his reading, regardless of physical modifications. However, once done reading, these last human features immediately fade and get replaced by an animal behavior regarded as "normal" for a dinosaur.
Second anomalous effect: the reader will experience a compulsive need to read aloud. Any human individual listening to the reading within a ten meter radius will experience the same effects as the reader, only at a speed half as great. By the end of the process, the listeners have therefore turned into human-saurian hybrids, designated SCP-164-FR-2, and have retained their human voices and sapience.
Hybrids in which transformation is not achieved are seldom viable past 72 hours and typically die of internal bleeding or thermoregulation issues. Resuming the reading of the surah where it was interrupted will not complete the transformation. Resuming the reading of the surah from the beginning will trigger a transformation, but also highlight the already present hybrid traits. Beginning to read another surah will also lead to transformation in another dinosaur species, which will have as a consequence the creation of a multi-species hybrid.
In all cases, the odds of the hybrid surviving are drastically reduced after each new modification of its morphology.
In addition, specimens of SCP-164-FR-1 and -2 have an approximately 23% chance of suffering from rapid cell decay within 24 hours after transformation. In such a case, subject rapidly dies and entirely decompose over the course of 4 minutes, leaving behind only bones. The cause of this decay is still unknown.
Recovery Log: SCP-164-FR was found on ██/██/████ inside a mosque in ██████████, France, after local residents had reported human and animal screams as well as destruction sounds coming from the inside of the place of worship.
A MTF was quickly dispatched in the area before arrival of local forces. Upon arrival, only five specimens of SCP-164-FR-2 were still alive, the remaining audience having been killed by SCP-164-FR-1, a Tarbosaurus bataar, found dead after a section of the roof had collapsed on top of it.
Due to rapid decomposition, only skeletal remains were found by Foundation agents.
Prior to the event, the mosque was operated by imam Mohammad Bahramani, who had started a controversy just before the incident over his extreme creationist speech relayed by local and national media. A note was found in his private residence, bearing the following transcribed text:
To imam Mohammad Bahramani,
We recently learned about your enthusiastic speech opposing evolutionism with creationism, and we can only salute the courage of your initiative.
Our committee is, like you, very involved in this debate.
There was a time when the Truth was much more widespread than today.
May this humble present bring you and your followers one step closer to this blessed age.Salute Allah, the Pure, the Prince of Heaven, the Invincible, the Rich, the Eternal.