ZERO RISK OPERATION
We had little hope, to tell the truth. The frequency of appearance of SCP-482-FR was so low… Once the film was completed, DI&ST researchers uploaded it to Arletty.iaa, an autonomous artificial intelligence that they said was capable of simulating several thousand views per minute. That should have maximized the chances of manifestation, right? It did not work.
After several months of letting the film run on a loop, we stopped believing in it. Specialists have concluded that somehow, SCP-482-FR must need human spectators to appear, for its manifestation to have any real use. For my part, it was necessary to amortize the costs of this operation so as not to look too ridiculous. Zero Risk therefore found itself among these films that are broadcast in the second part of the evening on the site's local channel. This is where the miracle happened.
— Ms. Satine Diasème, Communication and Media Section at Site-Aleph
On ██/██/████ at 10:53 p.m., SCP-482-FR successfully manifested during a nightly broadcast of Zero Risk on the local Site-Aleph television channel.
Agents ███████, ██████, and █████-██████████, while on break at the West Sector guard room, contacted the central at 10:56 p.m., declaring to be witnessing an "abnormal corruption of the TV set". After checking the room's video surveillance system, it turned out that SCP-482-FR had indeed manifested itself in Zero Risk. Everything having been captured by security cameras, this demonstration could be successfully archived.
The essential points of the alteration have been transcribed below. Footage that is irrelevant or contains sensitive information has been redacted.
[BEGIN TRANSCRIPT: 00:45:12]
Following the suicide of Dr. Attano, who committed suicide while studying the Asphildax tablet, Dr. Frog (Medical Department) had Pr. Finalis (Pataphysics Department) undergo a routine psychological examination. who witnessed the scene.
It should be noted that the scene takes place in Dr. Attano's office, where various decorative elements highlight the historical character of the existence of Julius Caesar. In addition, Professor Finalis holds several research files from the Department of Pataphysics, among which is a replica of SCP-482-FR's report.
Dr. Frog: Well, you look a little shaken to me, but you can get back to work real quick, Felter. Just a little rest. How about finishing with a good old Rorschach test?
Pr Finalis: Do these things still happen? I thought you only saw them in the movies.
Dr Frog (taking out a bag of Rorschach cards) : Oh, the classics, you know… (showing a card to Professor Finalis) What do you see you in this spot, Felter?
Pr Finalis: Can I be honest?
Dr. Frog: You have to.
Pr Finalis: Two revolvers. And… You know… Blood. Finally, stains, what.
Dr. Frog: I see. Don't worry, we're just seeing. And this one?
Professor Finalis turns pale and remains silent. His eyes don't leave the map.
Dr. Frog: Felter? Teacher ?
Dr Frog in turn looks at the map and yelps it. The stain forms an exact replica of the demonic face seen on the Assyrian tablet.
Dr. Frog: I… We will…
He draws a new card, but it too seems to represent the demon. After three tries, he empties the bag on the table, panicked. All the cards are with the effigy of the demon.
Dr. Frog: It's not…
Office lights suddenly turn off. The emergency lights come on a few seconds later, revealing drippings of blood that begin to ooze along the bookshelf facing the researchers. Blood gradually forms letters in an ancient Assyrian dialect. Finalis and Frog watch the letters form in silence, in shock.
Dr Frog: Akkadian?
Pr Finalis: Assyrian! Or neo-Assyrian! Look, this is what Attano was working on! There are still the transcription tables on his desk! "AS"…
Dr. Frog: "WIRE"…
Pr Finalis: "DA"… Oh my god! Oh my God!
Dr. Frog: God has nothing to do with it, Professor… I'm afraid…
Unknown voice, coming from their right: God has nothing to do with it, indeed!
The camera reveals SCP-482-FR on a ladder at the other end of the room, placing a roll of papyrus on one of the shelves.
SCP-482-FR: Poseidonius of Apamea. Great man, great scientist. Although a little too prisoner of his determinism. I used to say that a library isn't much different from an armory — except, perhaps, that armories burn less well. Knowledge, my friends, is the only weapon we need when, as here, the times are darker than the forests of Germany.
He climbs down the ladder and walks towards the message in blood letters.
SCP-482-FR: And, as in these forests, I notice that the blood stains the wood…
Dr Frog: Gosh, if it's not the great Julius Caesar himself!
Pr Finalis: Mr. Consul! I… I didn't know that…
SCP-482-FR: Come on, let's stop stammering! I'm just a man who came to consult a library, that's all. But I see that the ink is not the only one to flow here…
He dips his finger in the liquid and sniffs it, frowning.
Dr. Frog: I know what blood looks like, and…
SCP-482-FR: GNR, Non-Road Diesel! Specifically colored red so that it is not accidentally poured into vehicles. Do you still heat with oil around here?
Dr. Frog: What?
Pr Finalis: Actually no, no, it seems to me that the whole site runs on nuclear energy, and…
SCP-482-FR: Haha! Remnants of old installations, then! This would probably explain the pasty consistency of the liquid. Gentlemen, I can bet you that if you move this piece of furniture and tear down this wall, you will discover behind a rust-eaten pipe!
Prof Finalis: What? But that doesn't make any sense.
SCP-482-FR: A little respect. What makes no sense here, gentlemen, is that a corporation as wealthy and powerful as a nation can warm itself with atomic fires but not maintain a library of sanitary standards.
Pr Finalis: But… Letters, finally!
SCP-482-FR: Letters? Which ones? I don't see anything alphabetical in this stained wood!
Pr Finalis: It's Assyrian!
SCP-482-FR: Come on, come on, professor, you are a man of science! The diesel got into the irregularities of the library, that's all. It didn't sound like the Latin alphabet, or the Greek alphabet, but more like Assyrian. If these signs hadn't been close enough to Assyrian, you could have searched all the existing alphabets, from Demotic to Thai, and you would have ended up finding something that looks like text. It's just confirmation bias. A very common phenomenon of pareidolia. Kind of like…
Dr Frog (in a low voice) : …a Rorschach test.
SCP-482-FR: (laughs) Exactly!
Dr. Frog: Very well, Mr Caesar, but then, explain this to me.
With a wave of his arm, Dr. Frog pushes all the documents on the desk to the floor, leaving only the Rorschach cards visible. Among the fallen documents is the report of SCP-482-FR, which Professor Finalis bends down to pick up.
Dr. Frog: Look at that! These cards were in perfect condition, before coming, all different. I made them myself. Take a look at what's on this tablet.
SCP-482-FR bends over the maps, pensive. Next to the desk, Professor Finalis freezes as he picks up the sheets of the report, which he reads more and more carefully
Pr Finalis (in a low voice) : Wait… Wait…
SCP-482-FR: Finally, dear friend, it seems obvious to me. Open your satchel and I'm sure you'll find a pierced style or whatever. An ink leak.
Professor Finalis gets up, fully immersed in reading the report.
Dr Frog: If so, how do you explain that the envelope that contained the cards has no stain?
Pr Finalis (to himself) : Unless…?
SCP-482-FR: But who said the envelope wasn't stained? Take a closer look, and…
Pr Finalis: Shut up! Shut up, y'all! I have to… I… I have to…
Professor Finalis rushes to one of the office windows, and
[DETAILS REMOVED — THE OPACH TEST IS A TEST ALLOWING A GIVEN SUBJECT TO ESTIMATE WITH A MINIMAL MARGIN OF ERROR IF HE IS EVOLVING IN A FICTITIOUS ENVIRONMENT]
[RESUME TRANSCRIPT: 00:47:20]
Dr Frog: …what the hell was that?
Pr Finalis (visibly shocked) : Of course… Of course… (turns to Frog) Opach's test. To each his own, Frog.
Dr. Frog: The test of…? Are we in a fiction?
SCP-482-FR (taking a seat) : Come on! It's psychosis! Overwork! (he turns to the viewer) These two believe themselves in a fiction! (laugh)
Pr Finalis: A film, more precisely. A film made by the Department of Pataphysics. Of which me. The real me. Who's playing… me.
Dr. Frog: What?!
Pr Finalis passes the report to Dr Frog, who reads it.
Pr Finalis: Of course… Of course! (he takes a look at the four corners of the room before positioning himself facing the camera) Normally, given the scene, the camera should be… over there!
Dr. Frog: That's an aberration! A… But it's true! I know it, yet I know it. (he stares at SCP-482-FR) The Roman Empire, it's over! Of antiquity! Ancient history! So why am I… I'm in total dissonance, I have to manage to make sense of things…
Pr Finalis: A screenplay inconsistency that we pay for. On the one hand we have the basic historical knowledge, on the other hand we know that Caesar, and all that goes with it, exists here with us at this very moment. An anachronism that we weren't written to spot.
SCP-482-FR: You know, Foundation philosophers, if my abduction by hackers has taught me anything, it's that nothing is written in advance, and…
Dr. Frog: Oh, shut up, mummy.
Pr Finalis: (sigh) Mr…. Mr. Caesar, it is my duty, finally, I believe, to ask you a few questions, if you allow me. Do you allow it?
SCP-482-FR: On the express condition that your colleague cease his taunting provocations. But yes, as an informed mediator, it is also my duty to answer you.
Pr Finalis: Good, perfect. Let's take a seat, then. (in a low voice) I really hope they record everything. (to SCP-482-FR) Good. Why don't you tell us about your day, to start?
SCP-482-FR: Of my day?
Pr Finalis: Your day, yes. What were you doing before you arrived here in the… at Site-Aleph.
SCP-482-FR remains silent for a moment.
SCP-482-FR: I don't know if there's much to say about it. Finally, it was a very trying day. Everyone is a little on edge around me these days, between my wife who has night terrors and my right-hand man who sees murderers everywhere… And it must also be said that I spent an evening that is a little too long at Lepide's last night, the conversation started to turn on the way we thought we were going to die, I must say that it has been running through my head ever since. But the wine was bad, too. It must play.
Dr. Frog blows his nose.
SCP-482-FR: Are you kidding me, doctor?
Dr Frog (in a low voice) : You really have no idea, do you?
SCP-482-FR: What?
Dr Frog (taking a chair) : What day is it, Jules?
SCP-482-FR: I beg your pardon?
Dr. Frog: The day. The date today.
SCP-482-FR: Well, those are the ideas.
Pr Finalis: Ideas?
Dr. Frog: From Mars, Finalis. The ides of March.
[SAFETY AND/OR SENSITIVE DETAILS REMOVED — ENTIRE EXCHANGE IS AVAILABLE AT DEP. ARCHIVES FOR STAFF AT LEVEL 3 OR HIGHER]
[RESUME TRANSCRIPT: 00:50:14]
SCP-482-FR: As I told you, I would only talk about it in the presence of my lawyer.
Pr Finalis: But they taught you a lot of things.
SCP-482-FR: Definitely. The Education Campaign on Superstition, Augurs and their Risks is a large-scale operation re, and I would like to thank all the actors who got involved.
Prof Finalis: Ah, interesting. But back to technology…
SCP-482-FR: I will only talk about it in the presence of my lawyer.
Dr. Frog wipes his hand over his face in exasperation. Professor Finalis lets out an embarrassed cough.
Pr Finalis: Very good, very good. Good. Can we talk about the actors involved, then? You say the Society needed funds for this mysterious technology.
SCP-482-FR: Definitely. Oh, such a campaign doesn't fund itself, you know. They passed the hat, under false identities and false pretenses. Many are the participants. There are of course all the parental associations which, such as Families of France, denounce the perversion of youth in these films. The World Association of Clowns considers that It causes the decline of the profession. The United Satanist Church feels misrepresented and persecuted by half of the new releases.
Dr Frog: But no chance that either of them knew about the methods used, I guess?
SCP-482-FR: Probably not.
Dr. Frog: You know, Jules, if despite all your withholding information we find the organizers of all this, you know that we can… We can put an end to your educational campaign. Mediation is over. Finished civilizing the terror incognita.
Pr Finalis: He's telling the truth, you know. In fact, our superiors will surely want to see to it. But we can convince them. If you cooperate fully with us, I could touch a word in your favor. Helping you keep going, under the auspices of the SCP Foundation.
SCP-482-FR: Is it Cicero I see over there?
Pr Finalis (turning around) : What? Uh no.
SCP-482-FR: So I won't speak. I was not born yesterday, you know, I know the technique of the good and the bad militiaman. Which you perform very poorly, if I may say so. I will not betray.
Dr Frog: Born yesterday, no, but dead today, on the other hand…
SCP-482-FR: I beg your pardon?
Pr Finalis: Calm down, Frog, damn it!
Dr Frog: You're dead, Jules! You died ages ago! Do you know how to recognize the technique of the good cop and the bad cop? All in good time ! I know how to recognize a state of dissociative fugue induced by a traumatic experience!
The image jitters.
SCP-482-FR: Do you dare to threaten me? Do you have any idea who you're going after, you fool?
Pr Finalis: You're going to screw everything up!
Dr Frog: We don't exist, Finalis! So you don't mind? We don't exist! We waste our time talking to this clown when we are the pale reflections of real people who have a past and a future! You may think you're above that because you're Pataphysics, but fuck the Foundation! I
[SAFETY AND/OR SENSITIVE DETAILS REMOVED — ENTIRE EXCHANGE IS AVAILABLE AT DEP. ARCHIVES FOR STAFF AT LEVEL 3 OR HIGHER]
[RESUME TRANSCRIPT: 00:55:08]
SCP-482-FR: …accountable to no one!
Dr Frog: What's next, Imperator? What did you do, huh? Did you stay home? Have you left? Have you left?
SCP-482-FR (getting angry) : I went there, come on! Of course I went! The people Iulia don't let the augurs get in the way of their duties! I went to the Senate, my head held high and my face serious, never mind the fear of fools!
Dr. Frog: What's next? After what, tell me? What did you do in the Senate? Answer!
SCP-482-FR: Shut up, impudent! Who do you think you are to talk to me like that? You-
Dr Frog: What did you do, Jules?
The movie image starts jerking. A slight chromatic aberration is visible on the screen.
Pr Finalis: Take it easy, Frog, you're destabilizing our media support.
SCP-482-FR: I did what I had to do! This is what I did there! I… I debated, I…
Dr Frog: But do you remember? You don't remember, do you! You don't remember leaving the Senate, because…
SCP-482-FR: Shut up, you stupid disrespectful son of a dog! Traitor to the fatherland! Keep it to me! To me!
A containment alert goes off in the site, plunging the room into a flashing red light. The sound of the alarm makes the rest of the dialogue difficult to understand. Visual anomalies multiply on the screen.
Dr Frog: Because you never got out of the Senate! You died there, Jules! You died two thousand years ago! You have nothing to do here!
Nine guards armed with semi-automatic rifles matics enter the room and surround the protagonists, taking aim at them.
SCP-482-FR: Do you think you are in an exorcism, poor woodlouse? But the only thing haunting this room is your inconsistency! Guards! Kill this man!
Professor Finalis holds up his access card in the view of the guards and pushes Dr. Frog to do the same.
Pr Finalis: Class C personnel! Class C personnel! We have Level 3 accreditation to be here! You know it ! You know us, damn it! Don't listen to this man!
SCP-482-FR: "This man"? What do you think, that I'm just a fellow among many others? I am Caius Iulius Caesar, Consul, Dictator, Father of the Fatherland, and I command you to…
Dr Frog: Then show us your accreditation card!
SCP-482-FR: What?
Dr Frog: Where's your card, huh? Are you only authorized personnel here?
SCP-482-FR: Of course I'm allowed, since I'm here! It's me who enacts the authorizations, imbeciles! Shoot it down! Shoot them down!
Guard (visibly intimidated) : Your access card, imperator. Please show your card. I'm sorry, but whether you're a tsar or a dictator for life, you must identify yourself. It's… Well, protocol, you know.
SCP-482-FR: I… I left it in my other… I…
The quality of the video image deteriorates sharply.
SCP-482-FR: Soldier, you obey orders and it's to your credit, but I'm at the top of the pecking order! To hell with bureaucracy and bureaucrats! Damn the Republic! Yes, to hell with the Republic and all the senators! I am Caius Iulius Caesar, on a mission of enlightened mediation and popularization in the service of the plebs, and as such I summon you…
SCP-482-FR rushes against the guard and tries to grab his weapon, but fails given his physical condition. The guard nudges him against the wall. SCP-482-FR painfully tries to get up, without success. Image quality continues to degrade.
SCP-482-FR: Traitor! You are all traitors! It's a… It's a conspiracy… It's…
Dr Frog (stepping forward and leaning towards him) : Yes, Jules. You remember, don't you? You remember that day in the Senate.
The video stream gets more and more scrambled. Video sound is still audible, but heavily distorted.
SCP-482-FR: All of… No… But… We are at the ides of Mars! Nothing bad happened to me! It's not the day… The day…
Pr Finalis: But the ideas haven't passed yet. The day is not over yet. And it won't end, Jules, they will never pass. They granted you a simulacrum of life, they extended ideas over and over again. You didn't want to give credit to the omens, and neither did they. But it's all fiction. You can't run away from reality forever.
SCP-482-FR's robe darkens; blood spots corresponding to several spontaneous hemorrhages begin to spread. SCP-482-FR seems to have difficulty breathing. The sound quality deteriorates.
Pr Finalis: We can help you, Jules. And you can help us in return. [incomprehensible] has a world on the other side of the screen that you seem to know, that you are trying to educate. [incomprehensible] We are a copy of these people, and I think I speak in their [incomprehensible]
SCP-482-FR: [incomprehensible]
The guards seem to have disappeared from the scene.
Pr Finalis: [incomprehensible] precious. The So[incomprehensible]
SCP-482-FR: Treachery! It is not [incomprehensible] world that [incomprehensible]
Dr. Frog seems to have disappeared from the scene.
Pr Finalis: [incomprehensible]
Professor Finalis extends his hand to SCP-482-FR.
Pr Finalis: Leaving?
Twenty second silence.
SCP-482-FR: [incomprehensible]
Professor Finalis has disappeared from the scene.
The camera performs a slow traveling on the face of SCP-482-FR. The image stabilizes.
SCP-482-FR stands in the empty room. He stares at the viewer.
SCP-482-FR: You too, my film?
[LOST FRAME — END OF TRANSCRIPT: 01:00:01]
Epilogue: SCP-482-FR was observed 38 days later on a blu-ray version of the film It Follows, viewed in Brescia (Italy). The testimonies seem to confirm that the entity was following its usual behavioral pattern. It is assumed that SCP-482-FR has kept neither sequelae nor memory of the incident. Further contact attempts are planned.