Date: 09 August, 2013

Interviewer: NTF Sigma-58 Agent Danielle Torres

Interviewee: SCP-3889

Location: Waterside Marina, Chesapeake VA, USA. Foundation alerted by intercepted local police traffic concerning an “elderly vagrant with a fishing pole” loitering on the marina grounds. Video captured by Agent Torres's chest camera.

(Agent Torres approaches SCP-3889 from the rear. SCP-3889 is seated on the edge of a wooden boat slip at the far end of the marina, legs hanging toward the water. SCP-3889's fishing rod and tacklebox are situated on the pier next to it.)

Agent Torres: Hank?

(SCP-3889 turns slightly, and regards Agent Torres briefly before turning back around.)

SCP-3889: Well hey there, young lady. Fine evening we've got so far, huh?

(Agent Torres remains still, approximately 5 meters from SCP-3889.)

Agent Torres: Um. Yeah, I guess you could say that.

(Pause. Agent Torres begins to speak, but is interrupted by SCP-3889.)

SCP-3889: Why don't you come and sit with me a bit?

Agent Torres: I'm not sure I should do that.

SCP-3889: Oh, c'mon. I barely got any teeth left, I can't bite ya. Old-timers like me don't get to talk to pretty girls like you as often as you'd think. C'mon, take a load off. We'll watch the sun go.

(Agent Torres hesitates, but is given authorization to engage by NTF Sigma-58 central command. She approaches SCP-3889 and sits on the pier next to it, approximately one meter away. Agent Torres is instructed to allow SCP-3889 to speak first, and as a result there is silence for the next 4m22s.)

SCP-3889: You come to try to lock me up today?

Agent Torres: No, Hank. Not today.

SCP-3889: Heh. Well alrighty. And good thing too, I'd hate to have to leave right this second. My knees are killin' something fierce.

(Pause)

Agent Torres: Can I ask you a question?

SCP-3889: Shoot.

Agent Torres: Are you aware of the fact that what you do sometimes hurts people? Sometimes kills them?

(SCP-3889 sighs. It reaches into its jacket pocket and removes a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. It then lights a cigarette and draws once before continuing.)

SCP-3889: Yeah. I know it. Goddammit.

(SCP-3889 smokes silently for a short period of time, showing signs of mild emotional distress.)

SCP-3889: I try, darlin'. I really do. I go to lonely spots when I can feel a bad one on the other end, but sometimes I just don't guess well enough, or they trick me. I've never been a clever man, but cross my heart, I ain't out to hurt no one. Honest to God, sweetheart, I don't like it anymore than you do. I like it best when it's right in the middle. Something amazing, but… y'know. Harmless. Like when I landed that bigmouth shark awhile back. Hah. You see that big sucker? Think they put it in the papers.

Agent Torres: I did, actually. The footage, at least. I don't really know how you were able to pull a basking shark out of a three-meter wide estuary channel.

SCP-3889: Yeah. It's, uh… complicated. But hot damn if it isn't fun. Times like those is when I get to feel like a real man again. A little bit of pride. Give all the folks out there a show, a story to tell, make 'em think about how beautiful the sea can be on the inside. Of course I'm actually a big ol' cheater, but they don't have to know that, do they.

(SCP-3889 laughs.)

Agent Torres: If you know that there's a risk, then why do you keep doing it? Wouldn't it ultimately be better to just stop?

(Pause. SCP-3889 shakes its head.)

SCP-3889: Much as I wish it was different, it doesn't work that way. First off, I'm a fisherman, ma'am. True, I've got an unfair advantage these days, but my catch is the meanest, nastiest, most twisted-up bunch of sons-a-bitches ever spawned. And it's this geezer givin' em what for. I'm not one for tootin' my own horn, but honey, I'm the greatest goddamn fisherman that ever lived. It's all I've ever done and it's all I ever will be. If I give it up, I'll just be a dried up old man that Death forgot about. And secondly…

(Pause)

SCP-3889: I'll put it this way. If your boss came through that little gadget in your ear and told you to try to shoot me right now, would you do it?

(Pause. SCP-3889 smiles during the silence.)

Agent Torres: … I guess I would.

SCP-3889: Yep. You got a duty, even if you don't like the way it tastes sometimes. And so do I. I was given a gift. Or a curse, depending on how you wanna look at it. I gotta trick these bastards and catch 'em up, hook line and sinker, 'cause for better or for worse, I'm the only one that can. It pains me to see people get hurt because of it, but I still gotta. I know you boys and girls in uniform are tough enough to wrangle 'em and put 'em in their place, and you do, every time.

(SCP-3889 looks toward the sun, and grins.)

No matter what they think, we got tough-as-nails fighters on our little world, no mistake. And it makes me damn proud to see. I got to keep finding 'em, I can't just quit, and neither can the rest of you. I've gotta hook 'em, and you've gotta cook 'em! Heh. Who am I kiddin', you're just gonna keep peckin' me until I spill the beans. You wanna know why I can't ever, ever stop? And why you folks need to keep one good eye out as long as you can, 'til the very last man?

Agent Torres: Yes. We want to know.

(SCP-3889 sighs.)

SCP-3889: 'Cause as heavy as our burden is now, the ones I fish are just the babies.