Exploration Video Log Transcript

Fourth SCP-4547 Exploration

Date: September 2nd, 2032

Exploration Team: Interstellar Task Force Aleph-Four ("Flectere Si Nequimus Superos")

Mission Abstract: Exploratory Mission 4547.3 had yielded information on the coordinates of a potential unbreached Tìhawnum bunker. ITF ℵ-4 was deployed to breach the bunker and recover information from within.

Team Lead: Acheron

Team Members: Abaddon, Xibalba, Naraka, Pluto

Mission Command: Fetch.aic

The members of ITF ℵ-4 are assembled inside of the entrance to a Tìhawnum bunker. The surface landing pod is positioned next to the bunker doors, which are embedded into a mountain.

ℵ-4 Acheron: When will we be ready to proceed?

ℵ-4 Xibalba: I've interfaced with the door, and Fetch has a connection.

Fetch.aic: I should be able to open the bunker in fifteen minutes. The cryptography is not advanced.

ℵ-4 Naraka: And we can wait in the pod until then?

Fetch.aic: Yes.

ITF ℵ-4 waits in the bay of the landing pod. Wind speeds in the area rapidly begin to intensify, and precipitation increases. The precipitation is noted to measure at 3 pH.

Fetch.aic: The door has been unlocked. I will open it when you approach.

ITF ℵ-4 emerges from the landing pod, and rushes towards the door of the bunker, which open as soon as they approach. They quickly enter, and the doors shut behind them. They are standing in a large airlock.

Fetch.aic: I will cycle the airlock.

Fetch.aic activates the airlock, cycling air from the outside. A liquid of unknown utility (most likely a disinfectant) is sprayed onto ITF ℵ-4, and then washed off. A computerized voice begins playing in the airlock.

ℵ-4 Naraka: There was a Church of the Second Hytoth outside, right?

ℵ-4 Archeron: Yeah, there was. Why?

ℵ-4 Naraka: ℵ-4 Naraka begins to speak Ortothan. For clarity, Ortothan will use an alternative typeface and color. Do you speak Ortothan?

Unknown AI: Ortothan recognized. Taronyu identity confirmed. Reality levels within acceptable bounds. No anomalies detected. Access granted, following Contingency 913.

ℵ-4 Naraka: We're in. It's accepting us as SCP-4547-A of this planet, apparently. I guess whoever programmed it with Ortothan didn't realize it was extraterrestrial.

ℵ-4 Abaddon: Perfect.

ℵ-4 Xibalba: And I didn't even need to hack it.

ℵ-4 Naraka: Just social engineering.

The airlock automated door cycles open, allowing ITF ℵ-4 to enter the main bunker. Lights begin to turn on in multiple directions, revealing a large central computer terminal. Several monitors activate, displaying hallways, presumably within the facility.

Srungsiyu: Welcome to Bunker-00003, primary Tìhawnum installation, safeguarding the future of the taronyu. I am Srungsiyu, an artificial intelligence.

ℵ-4 Naraka: Is the air in here breathable?

ℵ-4 Pluto: Probably. I'll deploy a sensor to see if it is or not.

ℵ-4 Xibalba: What do you think this place is for?

ℵ-4 Naraka: Let's find out. What is the purpose of this installation?

Srungsiyu: Bunker-00003 is a secondary defense against the end of the world. It is designed to allow taronyu society to continue following the reestablishment of global order, in coordination with a series of nine other bunkers.

ℵ-4 Naraka: Looks like it's a doomsday bunker of sorts. Let them restart society. Part of a set of nine.

ℵ-4 Abaddon: Other bunkers? Any of those ones still active?

ℵ-4 Naraka: How many bunkers of this kind are still functional?

Srungsiyu: Zero other bunkers are functional. Bunker-00003 is the only unbreached bunker.

ℵ-4 Naraka: This is the only one that's left, of course. Everything else was breached and destroyed.

ℵ-4 Acheron: What was this bunker's role in restarting the world? Did they have unique ones?

ℵ-4 Naraka: What is the purpose of this bunker?

Srungsiyu: This bunker is meant for the preservation of taronyu, so that when the other bunkers have successfully completed their roles, population levels can be restored.

ℵ-4 Naraka: Basic survival, it seems. Holds a population of SCP-4547-A for their eventual repopulation of the planet.

ℵ-4 Abaddon: Doesn't look like there's anybody around. Nothing on any of the monitors, no trace of anything.

ℵ-4 Xibalba: I wonder what we could do from here. Fetch might be able to interface with the computers, but if this AI is here, then it might be dangerous to risk it.

ℵ-4 Acheron: Agreed. We're not risking Fetch against another AI, especially when they can't communicate with them.

ℵ-4 Xibalba: Well, let's see what we can do in here, then. Any systems remaining?

ℵ-4 Naraka: List functioning systems.

Srungsiyu: Functional systems: Power. Lights. Defenses. Suspended animation. Computer systems. Artificial intelligence. Surface diagnostics. Communications.

ℵ-4 Naraka: Hold on. Suspended animation? Can you display the system summary for the suspended animation on the monitors?

The computer monitors change to display footage of a suspended animation complex, consisting of several pods, each holding a single taronyu. Assorted information appears next to the footage, but little is intelligible to ITF ℵ-4.

ℵ-4 Acheron: What are we looking at?

ℵ-4 Xibalba: Are those stasis pods?

ℵ-4 Naraka: How many taronyu are in those pods?

Srungsiyu: One hundred thousand taronyu are in suspended animation. Optimum capacity.

ℵ-4 Naraka: Find one that speaks Ortothan, then give us a path to find them.

Light strips on the floor light up with a green light, leading down into a hallway off the main computer bank.

Srungsiyu: Follow the green light strip.

ℵ-4 Naraka: Let's go. Srungsiyu is going to take us to a taronyu that can speak Ortothan, we need to get to them.

ℵ-4 Abaddon: A taronyu? Are those SCP-4547-A?

ℵ-4 Naraka: That's what the AI is calling them.

ℵ-4 Acheron: And the stasis pods are still functional, some of them?

ℵ-4 Naraka: All of them!

ℵ-4 Pluto: How many?

ℵ-4 Naraka: A hundred thousand.

ℵ-4 Acheron: Xibalba, Pluto, go to the entrance, get in contact with Fetch. Give them an update: this isn't an exploratory mission anymore. It's a rescue now.

ITF ℵ-4 splits into two groups. Pluto and Xibalba head back to the entrance, and reconvene with Fetch.aic, while Acheron, Naraka and Abaddon follow the green lights into the suspended animation chambers.

ℵ-4 Abaddon: Holy fuck. There really are thousands. And not fucked up, like the zombies, or the mutants, or anything.

ℵ-4 Acheron: I don't know what we're going to do. The ship doesn't have enough space for them, and we can't just leave them. I'm going to need to get in contact with ITF Command, and then probably escalate higher… This is Ethics Committee level.

ℵ-4 Naraka: Let's just focus on getting one out.

ℵ-4 Acheron: Yeah. One step at a time.

The green light path finishes in front of a taronyu in a suspended animation pod.

ℵ-4 Naraka: Wake them up.

Srungsiyu: They will wake up in one minute.

The chamber unseals, and the taronyu within steps outside. They are clutching their head as their eyes apparently adjust to the light. They have a short conversation with Srungsiyu in a native language, before turning to ℵ-4 Naraka.

Taronyu: You speak Ortothan?

ℵ-4 Naraka: Yes. The Koru-Teusa's message traveled far, and visited my world as well as your own. They taught us the holy tongue, which remains eternal.

Tayrangi Sasìlpey: Then I must introduce myself. My name is Tayrangi Sasìlpey, and I am the most senior personnel here who speaks Ortothan, apparently. Not highest overall, but…

ℵ-4 Naraka: Yes, I see. My name is Karishma Chadha. This is my commander, Jason Kriezis, and my teammate, Arthur Penton. We come from a world named Earth.

Tayrangi Sasìlpey: You stand on a world called Mo'ara. It is good to know that the gods have guided you to us. May they live eternal.

ℵ-4 Naraka: Gods… I am sorry. Yorun-leusan is dead. Only Rakmou-leusan remains.

Tayrangi Sasìlpey: When did it happen?

ℵ-4 Naraka: Thirty-two years ago. It wasn't because of the loss of this world. They were swarmed by the Voruteut in the greatest invasion of the cosmos ever. Your planet wouldn't have saved them.

Tayrangi Sasìlpey: I see. It's not well to dwell on the past. I must ask, however: Thirty-two years… How long have I been in stasis?

ℵ-4 Naraka: By our estimation, fifty-six years.

Tayrangi Sasìlpey: The Tìhawnum has failed, then. You did not wake us up early. Is the world outside still ruined?

ℵ-4 Naraka: Utterly. But we are going to do something about it. I don't know what yet, but we'll figure it out.

Tayrangi Sasìlpey: Do you have any ideas?

ℵ-4 Naraka begins to speak, and then pauses. She turns to ℵ-4 Acheron and speaks after a few seconds of silence.

ℵ-4 Naraka: Jason, what are you planning?

ℵ-4 Acheron: Bring them to Earth. Only sane thing to do.

ℵ-4 Naraka: Can we do that? Will we be able to?

ℵ-4 Acheron: If we need to show up on the Foundation's door with thousands of refugees, that's what we'll do. This world is dead, and I know of an entire solar system of thriving planets.

ℵ-4 Naraka: What if we can't convince the higher-ups? What then?

ℵ-4 Acheron: Flectere si nequeo superos, acheronta movebo. If I cannot bend the will of Heaven, then I will raise Hell. I don't care I have to bring the fucking Insurgency here. They're coming to Earth.

ℵ-4 Naraka looks back at Tayrangi Sasìlpey.

ℵ-4 Naraka: We're going to take you back home. Our home. They're the only living worlds we know of.

Tayrangi Sasìlpey: Rakmou-leusan guided you here, I know it. I have faith in vis plans. Do whatever you must.

ℵ-4 Naraka: We might have to spend some time consulting our superiors, and I do not know if they-

Tayrangi Sasìlpey: Then go, beseech them. I have siblings to rouse.

ℵ-4 Naraka summarizes her conversation to the other members of ITF ℵ-4. They say goodbye to Tayrangi Sasìlpey, and then leave. Tayrangi Sasìlpey is observed in the background awakening more taronyu from suspended animation as they depart.

ITF ℵ-4 reconvenes on the SCPS Tiberius, and begins preparations to contact Interstellar Task Force Command, the Ethics Committee and the O5 Council.