SCP-ES-290

Item #: SCP-ES-290

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: The Latin-American Regional Council, in partnership with governments whose jurisdiction encompasses territories inhabited by SCP-ES-290, will create awareness campaigns against the use of unregistered cabs and collective vehicles, as well as support the use of app-based ride-hailing services. All incidents related to SCP-ES-290 will fall under Media Disinformation Protocol X-290 ("Fake Hijacking Taxi Drivers").

Wild instances of SCP-ES-290 will be recovered by Mobile Task Force Pi-1 ("City Slickers") and sent to Facility-57 for containment.

A habitat with a controlled population of SCP-ES-290 will be maintained by the Foundation with advice from members of GoI-466 Wilson Wildlife Solutions (WWS).

Female instance of SCP-ES-290 prior to containment.

Male instance of SCP-ES-290 prior to containment.

Description: SCP-ES-290 is a race of dipnoids that inhabits the main urban centers of Latin America, with populations greater than two million inhabitants. The main anomalous characteristic of SCP-ES-290 is that it has an appearance very similar to that of a 4-passenger cab. SCP-ES-290 uses this as a method of camouflage and specifically females use it as a method of hunting, being able to adapt their appearance to that of vehicles commonly used in their respective habitat. The anomalous ability to camouflage seems to originate in an adaptive evolution of mimicry. Both male and female instances of SCP-ES-290 have evolved to have the appearance of automobiles that have a significant presence in the environment they inhabit.

Instances of SCP-ES-290 are coated with a layer of scale that looks like the brass of a common vehicle, although it exhibits lower strength and hardness compared to real brass. The fins of SCP-ES-290 appear to have evolved into tire/tire-like limbs that allow them to maneuver through water and soil. The female instances appear to be a public-use cab with an average weight of 750kg and a maximum capacity of 4 passengers. Most of this weight is the result of a layer of scales that cover them simulating the chassis of the vehicle. The interior of the mouth resembles the interior of a passenger vehicle, including components such as leather seats. The male instances of SCP-ES-290 are considerably smaller, giving the appearance of being toy cabs. While determined to be organic, these have not moved while under observation.

SCP-ES-290, being a lungfish, are able to dive and move through shallow water without problems and, in fact, tend to spend most of their time hiding in rivers and lakes near their hunting grounds. The pollution present in several of these aquifers does not seem to affect them negatively.

Additionally, the female instances of SCP-ES-290 have an appendage with the appearance of a human being of variable appearance, designated SCP-ES-290-A, which serves as the vehicle's chauffeur. The appearance of this organ varies with each hunting session, usually taking the form of a mixture of its previous victims. SCP-ES-290-A is capable of mimicking human speech, being able to follow a conversation and even temporarily detach itself from SCP-ES-290's body to interact with its victims. Because of this, SCP-ES-290 is suspected to possess human-like sapience.

SCP-ES-290's hunting method is nocturnal and consists of roaming areas with high congestion of passers-by, using SCP-ES-290-A to lure its prey by making use of kindness or offering a lower rate than normally used. When 1-4 individuals enter the mouth of SCP-ES-290 the windows are darkened from the outside and the seats produce a substance that adheres to their victims. Finally, when they are in an area with less congestion they proceed to fill their cabin with an acidic solution that melts the prey while absorbing its nutrients. SCP-ES-290 can survive without nourishment for up to 3 months.

Addendum-1: During a raid on a bar belonging to the Chicago Rum Runners, a document was recovered, "Carroll #043: The Cab Fish", which described SCP-ES-290 and how the organization made use of it. The document would name Raul Riquelme as one of the people in charge of operations related to the object. Two years after the raid, during an illegal immigration control process, Raul Riquelme would be identified by the local police and later recovered by the Foundation. The following is a transcript of an interview conducted shortly thereafter.

Interviewee: PoI-180332, Raúl Riquelme.

Interviewer: Doctor Archibaldo Morris.

BEGIN LOG

Dr. Morris: Good afternoon, Mr. Riquelme. I am Dr. Archibaldo Morris and I am here to ask you some questions.

PoI-180332: Why did the Foundation send me a child in a wheelchair? Do they care so little about squeezing the information I have out of me?

Dr. Morris: My health status is irrelevant to this interview. I have come to ask you a few questions regarding a project you participated in during your time with the Chicago Rum Runners.

PoI-180332: Just kidding, laugh a bit. What specifically do you need from me?

Dr. Morris: Well, I would like you to look at these photographs and tell me if they tell you anything.

Dr. Morris hands him the photographs of the confiscated document and Poi-180332 proceeds to look at them for a moment.

PoI-180332: Yes, I remember. Carroll 043: The Cab Fish. Are you having trouble with those damn things?

Dr. Morris: That's right, we call it SCP-ES-290. What can you tell us about them?

PoI-180332: That information will not be free, doc, I want the Foundation to secure my early release and a compesation for the damages caused to my person.

Dr. Morris: You are in no position to negotiate (The doctor points to the guard.). Look, I am offering you the option of cooperating in a civilized manner. You do not want us to have to do this the hard way.

PoI-180332: All right, forget it. Whatever. Well, me, when I was a kid, my old man had this Soviet sardine can, not a week went by without this one rotting…

Dr. Morris: Mr. Riquelme, I ask you to focus only on the information you have regarding SCP-ES-290.

PoI-180332: (Laughs) Don't get so serious, doc, that's what I do. That crap is Soviet, a former member from the Russians told me…. PRU was it? Never mind. He joined us. He was the one who proposed that we use the fish for smuggling and to get the little snitches off our backs. Igor… something like that was his name.

Dr. Morris: Where is he now?

PoI-180332: Dead… (He looks at his hands) Well, as I was saying, in Cuba it is very common for people to drive these defective cars more than 50 years old imported from the Soviet Union. Many of our Cuban comrades joined the gringos so as not to have to drive these pieces of junk inherited from our families.

Dr. Morris: It is an interesting anecdote but those are not the vehicles that hold my interest at the moment.

PoI-180332: And here I go. The Reds were not only terrible in the auto industry, but also very inconsiderate friends; we got the cars that neither they nor their other allies wanted. That's the way it's done in Mother Russia! I guess. When they saw that even the Nazi scientists they had kidnapped couldn't do anything to keep the engine from blowing up, they came up with the best of their own land. That's about it.

Dr. Morris: So that's it? (Sigh) Soviet human-eating cars? We already know they were part of the countries' economic exchange, the document says so and you saw it. Do you have anything new to tell us?

PoI-180332: Okay. Do you know about them? About the meat worshippers?

Dr. Morris: Maybe we have heard some stories. But I am not sure if they would cooperate with the Soviet government.

PoI-180332: Maybe not cooperate with the Soviets, but force them to serve their homeland, and with a few fallen heroes for their beloved nation, they got a couple of priests capable and cooperative enough to take the job. Modern, functional cars, fueled with blood within reach of the working class! All that was missing was the raw materials.

Dr. Morris: We understand that SCP-ES-290 are marine animals, is this true?

PoI-180332: No marines really, from what he told me, those gutfuckers were just as surprised as the others when they saw them. Hideous snow-covered giant near-fish, more than snow-covered, camouflaged as igloos and caves waiting for some unfortunate to crawl into their mouths for shelter.

Dr. Morris: Did you know of any strange properties in these creatures before the process?

PoI-180332: I don't know, but you are lucky that the old man talked about it all the time. He talked about how he was part of a robbery of one of the machines in a Factory in the United States. Probably to integrate the mechanical parts. It went well but it also went bad, the vehicles drove with blood but they preferred live prey.

Dr. Morris: You talk as if you had been there.

PoI-180332: I wasn't in Russia, I tell you this old man kept talking about it. Where I was, however, was in Cuba, where I imagine everything was worse. At first nobody blamed the vehicles. They were a good way to save resources after the gringo embargo. We fed them with the blood of animals, but something happened and people began to disappear. Then came the rumors, there was a point where it was rare to meet someone who wasn't looking for a missing family member or friend. Some blamed the gringos, and some blamed the revolution, but in reality it was this bullshit.

Dr. Morris: It must have been terrifying.

PoI-180332: I had a cousin who went missing. We assumed she had left with her boyfriend, they wanted to come here from Chile illegally. He was much older than Maria and my aunt couldn't stand him. Still the bastard came to bother me at work and complained about how she had dared to leave him at the docks. I broke his nose and never heard from him again.

Dr. Morris: Did you not come here as undocumented? Who would have thought that a member from the anomalous mafia would be found like this. Ironic (chuckles).

PoI-180332: I see you do have a sense of humor and a very cynical one, I'm telling you about a family tragedy, you know? Anyway, the CMA started doing something they were not really used to: helping the Cubans, and their inexperience was notorious. Or maybe they had other ideas behind these vehicles, you never know with those sons of bitches. So, they ended up asking us for help, and there was a point where they started to force some of us or being tire food. Even with our help it was still bad. We didn't have the equipment or the people to control a plague like this. The Soviets were too busy dying and you disaster cleaners weren't going to give us a hand, so we had to come up with something else. The CMA ended up finding a satisfactory solution to all this, and we helped them do it.

Dr. Morris: And what did they do?

PoI-180332: Tell me, doc, what do you do when you get into a fight with the people in charge of taking the garbage out of your house?

Dr. Morris: You…

PoI-180332: You turn it into someone else's problem

END LOG