SCP-2693

Covert Site-32.

Item #: SCP-2693

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: Covert Site-32 has been established in close proximity to Pholegandros City. The station also functions as a clinic to aid civilians affected by SCP-2693-3. Staff are to prioritize treatment of children and the elderly, as the Site's capacity renders treatment of all affected civilians infeasible.

Research staff are to monitor academic institutions considered likely to ascertain the existence of SCP-2693. Standard information suppression protocols are in effect.

UPDATE – MARCH 2, 2008: Foundation assets, in full cooperation with the Greek Ministries of National Defense, Interior, and Culture, are undertaking efforts to diminish awareness of and interaction with Pholegandros. These have included the cessation of government sponsored advertisement campaigns aiming to increase local tourism traffic, the expungement of all information pertaining to the island from local media and the gradual disenfranchisement of Pholegandros’ citizenry.

UPDATE – JULY 22, 2017: Access to Pholegandros is restricted only to authorized Foundation personnel. False reports describing a lethal influenza epidemic affecting Pholegandros have been disseminated through regional news outlets. Foundation activity in the area is to be presented as a sustained humanitarian relief effort spearheaded by Heaven Sent, a Foundation-owned nonprofit.

The island of Pholegandros.

Description: SCP-2693 is a system of anomalous phenomena centered around Pholegandros, Greece ; as of this report, no concrete pattern between its various manifestations has been established. These have been assigned sub-designations as follows:

SCP-2693-1: It has been determined that no information regarding Pholegandros existed prior to May 5, 2005. This only emerged following the analysis and interpretation of a series of reports composed by experimental server EE602, a construct employed by the Department of Analytics as part of the WATCHDOG program. These files described a global information influx, flagged as unnatural due to its universal central theme. Similar patterns of data flow established by ancillary monitoring units corroborate this alert. Whether SCP-2693 also carries mind-altering properties is impossible to determine at this time.

SCP-2693-2: Foundation-sponsored field surveys and minor excavations carried out from 2006 onwards have thus far revealed no archaeological sites or artifacts of interest. This is inconsistent with findings on neighboring islands, which indicate human activity in the Western Aegean region since the Late Neolithic era.

SCP-2693-3: The permanent denizens of Pholegandros demonstrate an extreme predisposition for genetic illness. Cursory health surveys revealed that almost 48% of the local population suffers from a condition superficially similar to Duchenne-Aran muscle atrophy, while 17% exhibits symptoms consistent with untreated phenylketonuria. All eight cases of pregnancy observed during Foundation surveillance ended in stillbirth. The Greek Ministry of Health had never acknowledged the situation prior to intervention by undercover assets.

Foundation inquiry following the discovery of SCP-2693-1 has yielded copious amounts of information regarding the island's standing in global affairs. Collectively, the accumulated documents form a narrative incongruous with world history (see Addendum 2693.1). None of the recovered documents portray or allude to the island's health crisis or apparent lack of historical continuity.

Personnel are advised that the prefectural self-government of Cyclades possesses a rudimentary knowledge of the Foundation’s existence and activity in the area. Following documentation of SCP-2693-3, it was ruled by ECRG committee that, due to the anomaly's scale, effective containment could not be achieved through unilateral action. A limited information exchange and public action scheme was proposed, authorized and executed on February 17, 2007. Since then, through the closely coordinated actions of Foundation forces and civilian authorities, migration to and from the island was eliminated entirely, while local morale has improved significantly.

Addendum 2693.1: Major Aberrations in Pholegandritic History

Approximated date: Abridged description of incident: Source: Unspecified. Presumably BCE. Urged by an unnamed oracle, Pholegandrites begin construction of a massive, mast-like structure apparently intended to facilitate communication with celestial dieties. The undertaking is eventually completed but proves somehow dysfunctional. Many locals succumb to illness throughout an ensuing period of general disorder. Various. 454 BCE Following reposition of the Delian League’s joint treasury under Athenian ruler Pericles, Pholegandros attempts to secede from the union. The League responds with force, sparking a minor conflagration. The skirmish culminates with the detonation of several explosive devices, decimating the island’s largest population center. Thucydides, I, 96. 54 CE Christian proto-missionaries arrive at Pholegandros, aspiring to convert influential islanders. The populace wholly rejects their teachings, adhering to a preexisting faith focused on the worship of hereditary ailments. Various. 807 CE A seaborne empire referred to as the Most Hallowed Sphere of Pholegandros annexes all of Asia Minor, declares war on itself. Encyclopedia Britannica, Fourteenth Edition, Volume Six. 1421 CE After decades of intensive development and experimentation, Pholegandritic linguists perfect the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative. This novel consonant rapidly spreads across the Mediterranean Basin, eventually becoming a staple of speech worldwide. Foreword section of every dictionary published under the Merriam-Webster label. 1964 CE At the request of Pholegandritic delegates, the Greek government assembles and deploys a highly trained military task force against the self-proclaimed People's Republic of the Congo. The operation's express purpose is reclaiming the Stanleyville Imperial Biology Institute from its militant communist occupants. Foundation assets fail to intervene. Coeval Belgian press coverage. 1997 CE Reacting to a series of unexplained, undefined events occurring in the vicinity of Pholegandros, the Russian Federation dismantles its automatic Perimeter network in preparation for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Yuli Vorontsov publicly urges the United States Department of Defense to do the same. Various. 2003 CE During a larger civil conflict within Montenegro, Montenegrin “subversive elements” — primarily left-leaning dissidents — are subjected to exile on Pholegandros. Almost 500 individuals are deported. The exiles eventually coalesce into a single sociopolitical entity, dubbed the Balkan Liberation Collective. This body delivers an ultimatum to the Montenegrin military government, calling for its immediate dissolution. Moved by the boldness of this gesture, the People's Republic of China pledges allegiance to the Collective and declares Montenegrin sovereignty a top priority in Chinese foreign policy. The BLC's demand is promptly rejected, instigating hostilities between the involved nations with nuclear exchange being narrowly avoided via UN intervention. Foundation archives.

Addendum 2693.2: Beginning December 2007, a series of clinical trials was carried out in an effort to better understand the link between the Pholegandrites' steadily deteriorating health and SCP-2693. 35 civilians were sequestered and extensively examined. No unexpected observations were made during initial testing. However, following the completion of full genome sequencing for each subject, several recurring genetic deviations came to light:

All examined share identical mitochondrial DNA, which corresponds to no mitochondrial haplogroup documented by mainstream science.

Chromosomal pairs 3 and 8 are absent from the nucleus.

All examined nuclei contain anywhere from 16 to 78 heavily condensed, hexagonal, carbon-based molecules, each 7x10-7m in length. Based on previous research, these have been tentatively identified as the primary gene bearing molecules of an unidentified, non-terrestrial species.

Special Containment Procedures amended accordingly.

Addendum 2693.3: On July 21, 2017, 0605 hours EET, the Foundation Bureau for Emergent Phenomena, European Desk received an automated distress signal originating from Covert Site-32.

An investigative unit was deployed from neighboring Site-14, arriving at 0632 and soon determining that the clinic had been abandoned by both patients and medical staff. The scene did not indicate struggle. However, Covert Site-32's surveillance network had sustained considerable damage by unknown means; the security tapes could not be salvaged. Nearby settlements were found to be similarly abandoned. Through broader inspection of the surrounding area the missing persons were located, congregated around the island’s sole monastery, 449 meters NNE of Ano Meri. All had assumed a completely prone position. The unit noted that those examined demonstrated heart and respiratory rates comparable to those of healthy, resting adults but were entirety unresponsive to external stimuli.

All affected individuals have since regained consciousness while under Foundation custody. Interviewed agents had no memory of events occurring prior to 0200 and claimed they had not left the station. By contrast, affected civilians were able and willing to describe their experiences. Their testimonies are generally consistent on the details of the occurence.

Please note that what follows is an incomplete account of an extranormal event as given by those under its influence, and therefore is unverified and unverifiable. In the early morning hours of July 21, the total native population of Pholegandros embarks upon a pilgrimage to the Monastery of St. Helena. Though the impulse is blanket, the trek itself is slow, haphazard and exhausting, possibly due to the wayfarers' poor health. Most travel individually. The bedridden are assisted by friends and family. A convoy of physically capable Pholegandrites carries the wholly incapacitated Foundation staff across almost four kilometers of rocky expanse to the place of worship. Upon arriving at their destination, the pilgrims find not their local church but a tall, metallic structure superficially resembling a radio tower. After the last travellers arrive, a small group of incandescent, spindling figures emerge from an adjacent corrugated tin shack. They are clad in traditional Eastern Orthodox garb and have been identified by all present as the observant penitents. Their exact number varies between accounts. Speaking as one, the convent proceeds to call, by name, six natives. The summoned persons walk forth and, after being beckoned to do so by one of the clergymen, enter the shack without argument. They are immediately followed by all but one of the penitents. This remaining entity turns to the assembly and delivers a long, charged sermon. He gesticulates wildly towards the sky, the earth, the spire behind him, his audience. Increasingly distressed, he draws two figures in the sand at his feet, the second slightly more elongated than the first. With vigor and speaking louder than before, he points to the first, then the sky, then something indeterminate in the distance, then the second. He falls silent and proceeds to articulate, with significant effort, a phrase in Greek roughly translating to "wait here". Finally, he retreats into the shack, still vocalizing. At this point, a general torpor overcomes the islanders, and all fall asleep.

The significance, context and contents of the penitent's first declamations have been entirely forgotten by those gathered.

Attempts to substantiate the above claims have been fruitless; no sign of the tower remains. The six named individuals were Marianna Konstantinou, Chrysanthi Konstantinou, Ioannis-Iakovos Papageorgiou, Eleftherios Georgiadis, Pavlos Sidiropoulos and Eugenia Theodoromanolaki. All had been admitted to Covert Site-32's permanent care wing in 2007. They are unaccounted for.