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SCP-1927: Camouflage Crawler
by RealSurrealSir, a rewrite of original SCP-1927 article written by TheGlyphstone TheGlyphstone
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The instance of SCP-1927 first taken into Foundation custody just prior to capture, where it had disguised itself within a local pedestrian crosswalk.
Item Number: SCP-1927
Object Class: Keter
Special Containment Procedures: Any current and future instances of SCP-1927 are to be contained in a Specialized Terrestrial Biological Entity Containment Units at Site-45, with said units specially outfitted to allow the application of electric shocks of up to 5kV and adjustable coloration capable of sufficient variation and complexity so as to inhibit its adaptive camouflaging capabilities.
Captive SCP-1927 instances should be regularly fed singular live animals (preferably mammalian) of at least 70 kg each roughly twice a week, unless concurrent testing protocols dictate otherwise. Accelerated changes in growth or reduction in size, should be treated with appropriate precautionary measures for a potential reproductive event (See Addendum 1927 for more details). Singular live examples of any juvenile SCP-1927 instances generated from reproductive events of SCP-1927-1, and/or tissue samples garnered from such instances, are to be collected for study when feasible.
The existence of additional instances of SCP-1927 in the wild is presumed has been confirmed based on a continually-increasing body of local folklore, historical reports, and modern civilian law enforcement reports of unusual creatures largely matching SCP-1927’s description throughout central and western Australia; as such, any further such potential reports or records should be followed up by immediate Foundation investigation.
Description: SCP-1927 is a large, predatory, anomalous species of invertebrate that phenotypically exhibits traits (other than size) most common primarily with the Turbellaria subphylum of flatworms. Despite this, genetic analysis of the only successfully externally apprehended and contained instance to date (hence designated SCP-1927-1) has revealed a unique and highly chimeric genome consisting of genetic material from flatworm, tapeworm, tardigrade, and human genomes, as well as DNA that does not align with any known organisms, anomalous or otherwise. While multiple potential field sightings as well as local oral accounts and tradition all point to at least a small ongoing population of numerous such entities going back at least roughly two centuries, only one instance has so far been successfully apprehended by the Foundation.
SCP-1927 instances are segmented and highly flattened, with a default thickness of no more than 0.3 meters at most beyond the head and a length of up to 18 meters. The skin can produce a unique acidic secretion that can slowly dissolve almost any organic substances as well as most oxidizable metals, along with a sticky adhesive coating to retain moisture and allow it to stick to a wide variety of surfaces and materials. Other than extended periods of extremely low oxygen levels or strong electric shock, SCP-1927’s body is highly resilient to a variety of generally hostile environmental conditions such as rapid temperature fluctuations, sharp objects, blunt force, highly caustic acidic solutions, and/or high localized or full-body pressures.
Though SCP-1927 instances do not appear to host visual or auditory sensory organs, they demonstrate high sensitivity to vibration, which appears to serve as the main method used to detect and pursue nearby prey. Basic olfactory abilities are suspected as well, though not directly confirmed. SCP-1927 has also demonstrated extremely versatile reactive camouflage, recoloring its outer surface in extremely high detail to blend in with its surroundings via the use of chromatophores, though how the organism is able to accurately reproduce colors and patterns without any detectable visual organs is not well understood. SCP-1927's 'head' is distinguished only by the presence of its mouth with circular rows of sharp teeth surrounded by an outer ring of 6 pedipalp-like fangs, and most of its internal biology appears to be related primarily or exclusively to digestion.
SCP-1927 is fully carnivorous. Its usual hunting process involves spreading itself across a suitable flat surface, using acidic secretions to dissolve a shallow cavity to nestle itself within if necessary, and ambushing unsuspecting prey that wanders too close. Larger prey may first be subjected to external constrictions while being subjected to SCP-1927’s acidic secretions to soften the living prey’s tissue for easier consumption. For non-human organisms, the actual consumption process usually occurs upon a resultant cessation of physical struggle by the prey animal.
Broadly speaking, as long as it remains fed and unthreatened, SCP-1927 generally displays relatively docile behavior. It will also enter an even lower-activity state in preparation for reproductive division, regardless of the exact method involved. At least three distinct reproductive processes have been observed from SCP-1927-1 while in Foundation captivity, though further as-yet-unconfirmed unique processes have been alluded to from local accounts and folklore. See the attached addendum for more details.
ADDENDUM: Reproductive Events
In the months following SCP-1927-1’s initial recovery and containment, the organism was subjected to variations in diet and environmental conditions with frequently novel and unexpected results, especially in relation to its reproductive abilities. A sample of particularly notable such results and the relevant preceding circumstances is compiled below:
Event 1927-RE1
Prior context: SCP-1927-1 was fed almost double its preliminarily established quantity of food consistently over a period of five weeks, in order to test for any resulting biological or behavioral changes.
Results: SCP-1927-1 was observed to suddenly enter a highly agitated state one day, attempting to climb the walls of its chamber several times in succession before ceasing and entering a restive state. However, just three hours later, its body was observed split horizontally along its midsection, resulting in two separate entities. The newer organism comprised of the lower half was observed to sport its own nascent mouth structure, and almost immediately began to display independent behavioral patterns and characteristics.
Additional Notes: After applying a precautionary electrical current to both organisms to temporarily inhibit movement, the newer instance of SCP-1927 was extracted from the containment chamber.
Update 1927-RE1: The newly-created instance was reintroduced to its containment chamber after an initial examination. Almost immediately, however, both SCP-1927 instances began engaging in directly hostile behavior towards one another; electrical currents were applied to stun instances before one or both suffered significant injury. However, given a lack of any additional available containment chamber with sufficient properties and precautions already in place, the decision was made to perform vivisection in the second instance, from which much of the Foundation’s current knowledge of the organism’s internal biology has been gleaned.
Event 1927-RE2
Prior context: Varying animal species were provided to SCP-1927 over a period of just over two weeks, often simultaneously, in order to gauge preferences in prey if any.
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Results: Larger prey seems to be preferred regardless of species, with the exception of an even stronger demonstrated preference for human victims when given a choice between large animals (like cattle, kangaroos, or horses) and D-Class Personnel.
Additional Notes: Notably, the subject’s screaming continued for almost three minutes after initial consumption by SCP-1927-1. Subsequent X-rays were arranged and showed that the muffled shouts only ceased once her head was separated from the rest of her body mid-ingestion. Despite this, the subject's mouth and head could be seen to continue moving for around another 137 minutes seemingly of its own accord, before digestion rendered any firm interpretation or conclusions as to the behavior of the head untenable. It remains unclear as to how and for how long the subject's brain and nervous system function were somehow maintained.
Update 1927-RE2.A: Persistent cognitive function and awareness confirmed in subsequent tests involving three other D-Class personnel through use of more specialized technology. However, access to the final analysis data by staff outside the SCP-1927 team and all planned future testing involving human subjects have both been halted following an Ethics Committee injunction.
Update 1927-RE2.B: Singular posterior segments consistently observed to begin to separate following 5 to 6 days after each human subject was consumed, physically somewhat similar in form to the new instance generated during reproductive event 1927-RE1 other than a comparatively smaller size and lack of multiple segments. However, due to a combination of insufficient notice and response time by staff as well as the increased size discrepancy, in each case, these new instances were attacked and cannibalized by their original parent organism before they could be separated for further study.
Event 1927-RE3
Prior Context: SCP-1927-1's diet reduced to 60% of its then-current standard quantity of food consistently over a period of just under four weeks.
Results: SCP-1927-1 became increasingly restless and agitated over the first three weeks, before appearing to drastically weaken throughout the fourth. Eventually, it began to rapidly deteriorate in size, and soon began shedding flakes of skin ranging in size from approximately 0.5 to 3mm in diameter.
Additional Notes: Samples of shed material were collected from the chamber for further study, and food rations ramped back up to standard amounts.
Update 1927-RE3: Localized Biohazard Contamination Event; see Document IL.1927-RE3 for further details.
Incident 1927-RE3
Background: Approximately 22 minutes after initial sample retrieval of shed external material following Event 1927-RE3, Staff researcher Paul Wallace triggered a potential biohazard alarm upon his return to the laboratory, based on the potential of remaining traces of toxic or acidic residue, due to the visible development of rapidly-spreading rashes and lesions on the other members of the SCP-1927 research team shortly after their removal of sterilized biohazard protection suits. Shortly following the initiation of the resulting quarantine procedures, affected research staff (three in total) additionally began to report the onset of other symptoms such as extreme abdominal cramping, significant nausea and dizziness, large hives along the spreading rashes, and a burning sensation on large areas of their skin. Subsequent self-administered medical checks identified rapidly growing, tumor-like cysts within developing dermatological growths, as well as similar bodies dispersed throughout many vital internal organs.
Starting just over another forty-five minutes post-quarantine, small new instances of SCP-1927 began erupting from the hives of one of the attendant researchers, quickly followed by even larger juvenile instances erupting from their torso. A similar process was observed in each of the affected research staff shortly thereafter. These developments proved fatal in all three cases, though all most new SCP-1927 instances resulting from the event were successfully contained and incinerated were destroyed.
Dr. Paul Wallace, the reporting researcher and only survivor of the incident, was taken for a debriefing interview, a truncated log of which is included below.
Interview Log 10.04.22
Interviewer: Internal Compliance and Investigations Agent Ellen Lambert
Interviewed:Dr. Paul Wallace, SCP-1927 Researcher
Date: April 10, 2022
<BEGIN LOG>
Agent Lambert: First off, my condolences once again for the loss of your team, and know that your continued fortitude following the tragic incident is much appreciated.
Dr. Wallace: Thank you, I'm doing my best.
Agent Lambert: That’s all we can ask. Well, metaphorically speaking of course; I do need to ask some pretty literal and direct questions about what happened. So let’s start at the beginning, your initial role on the project. I see that you'd only been assigned to the project about four weeks ago, yes?
Dr. Wallace: That's right, I was brought in in order to investigate any current and historical attestations, records, and cultural aspects of anything potentially related to SCP-1927. My, erm, late teammates were all para-zoology and -ecology, but given the discovery of local historical attestations, I was eventually brought in as well.
Agent Lambert: Yes, that's all well recorded. That being said, while you would usually be considered the least qualified witness on a team like yours to consult on the organism's behavioral changes, you're what we have. All that's to say, do you have any thoughts or theories as to what exactly may have precipitated this new ability and behavior? What changed?
Dr. Wallace: Well, it wasn’t a direct ‘behavior’ so to speak as much as it was a physical reaction if I had to guess. The team had been experimenting with diet and portion sizes for a while by then, which had already led to some interesting results, to say the least. At that point, we were trying to identify a safe lower bound in terms of its diet. Honestly, perhaps we weren't exactly avoiding the possibility of novel reactions or behaviors that may occur in response either, reckless as that now seems.
Agent Lambert: Yes, I’ve read the logs. A risky methodological strategy, one might argue, but alas. Speaking of risky research protocols and your use of the 1st-person plural there, just how involved have you been in recent biological testing? Persons of your background are rarely, how do I say this, directly involved in general biological laboratory research tasks.
Dr. Wallace: Sorry, but how is that relevant?
Agent Lambert: Look, the fact that the only reason you weren't present during the suspected moment of the laboratory's biohazard contamination was that you dropped fragile lab equipment and were subsequently sent to retrieve replacements… It's notable, to say the least. Whether it's actually relevant or not is part of what exactly I'm here to ascertain.
Dr. Wallace: You pompous fuck, you can't even begin to understand the—
(Dr. Wallace pauses for several moments, before resuming in a more measured tone and volume than before.)
Dr. Wallace: I apologize for my outburst, I'm just a little sensitive with everything going on, but you're right. The only reason I wasn’t present for the immediate aftermath of the contamination was that I went to go get extra petri-dishes to examine the shed material the other researchers went to gather. And I only had to do that because my clumsy ass broke the first batch.
Agent Lambert: Don't worry, emotional volatility in a time like this is to be expected, but so is an ability to manage it; I appreciate you showing such an ability in a time like this.
Dr. Wallace: Um, thanks, I guess?
Agent Lambert: Sure thing. Now to be clear, that was meant as a factual observation, not an accusation or subtle implication of any sort. But it is a notable one given your background and particular role on the project; specialized anthropologists aren't usually utilized to do menial laboratory assistance here, such as retrieving equipment.
Dr. Wallace: Yes, well to be honest. I sort of volunteered. Most of the time since my assignment here, I've been kept plenty busy in my role conducting historical and background research on anything and everything that might signal a potential connection to SCP-1927 in every source available. I was flying out to rural Outback towns and farms, dutifully collecting and transcribing accounts from folks usually quite happy to talk about their old family stories and local legends… I learned a lot, to say the least.
That said, my research had reached a snag lately. I genuinely haven't been able to find much in the way of new information since returning to this site and publishing my recent paper on SCP-1927. For some reason, all of my original contacts are almost universally hesitant to discuss things any further, and a planned second jaunt keeps getting continually postponed by administration. It's just been a series of recent disappointments and grasping at the most tangential straws in the meantime. That, despite all that we've recently found accounts of creatures reminiscent of SCP-1927 have been attested in the folklore of disparate Australasian cultures, and we also that the unique genetic relationship with—
Agent Lambert: Please focus on the matter at hand, Dr. Wallace. I already read your paper in preparation for this interview.
Dr. Wallace: Look, the point was that I haven't had any good new leads lately, basically stuck waiting on either more resources to be made available or for existing local contacts to get back to me with more information. Ergo, lately I've just been twiddling my thumbs and aching for some way to be useful.
Agent Lambert: Regardless, what I'm hearing overall is that your team saw a new development with SCP-1927 and noted the shedding of external material. They reasonably elected to gather samples for study. You proceeded to get the appropriate equipment yourself, in order to serve some utility in the process, but then you stumbled and dropped them, necessitating a new supply. When you finally returned to the lab, you noticed the initial stages of what would turn out to be a fatal infection on the skin of several of your colleagues.
Dr. Wallace: More or less, I suppose. Actually, knowing that we were working on a dangerous anomalous organism, I elected to play it safe and pull the potential biohazard alarm instead of re-entering, to my fellow researchers' initial if short-lived chagrin.
Agent Lambert: Did they not suspect the potentially hazardous nature of the newly-retrieved anomalous bio-material?
Dr. Wallace: Of course they did! Even still attached, 1927's skin is frequently covered in caustic acid and potent neurotoxins. Obviously, the team put on the appropriate protective suits to go in and retrieve the samples in the first place, but in this case they just didn't end up providing sufficient protection. Also, before you ask, no I do not have any real explanation for their failure. The suits had been tested against each known secreted substance and bodily fluid ever produced by SCP-1927 before then with nothing close to failure, but this time... I don’t know, they just didn't protect them.
(Dr. Wallace puts his head in his hands and begins to quietly sob.)
Dr. Wallace: I don’t know, I just don’t know... I don’t know why or how this happened, I just know I’d do anything to make it so that it didn’t!
Agent Lambert: The most any of us can do is to make sure it isn't likely to happen again. Now, while I can't say your actions during the episode itself represent a traditional on-the-job competence, at least they may have been fortuitous in the sense that we have a key survivor still with us with intimate knowledge and experience. That isn't nothing.
Dr. Wallace: Thank you. Weird as it sounds, that actually kind of makes me feel better, helps the ‘survivor’s guilt’ so to speak. Reminds me that at least some good came from my dumb mistake...
Agent Lambert: While providing that is not what I'm here for, that's perfectly fine as a bonus if it lifts your spirits enough to have aided you in providing the most cogent and detailed account possible, now and in any future consultations on the matter.
(Agent Lambert begins to gather her things in preparation to terminate the interview and exit, before pausing.)
Agent Lambert: One last thing before we end this session; As you have elected to forgo voluntary amnesticization—
Dr. Wallace: I don’t feel that I deserve to forget.
Agent Lambert: —You will continue to receive mandatory psychiatric care and biweekly psychological counseling sessions with Dr. Roberts for at least the next three months.
Dr. Wallace: Of course; no complaints there.
<END LOG>
Closing Statement: After supervisory consideration following the disciplinary board's post-incident review, the conclusion was reached that Dr. Wallace's physical clumsiness failed to constitute actionable mal-intent or incompetence. Further contextual information is available to members of the board and staff with Level-4 clearance only.
LEVEL 4/1927 SECURITY CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR ACCESS TO FURTHER UPDATES.
Update L4O-13.04.22: Shortly after the above interview, a final analysis from reviewed lab footage identified that the most likely instigating factor behind the initial contamination was small piercings in the sterile biocontainment suits caused by shards of shattered fallen lab materials, the same occurrence which instigated Dr. Wallace's temporary departure from the lab to retrieve replacements in the first place. Furthermore, video analysis has shown that due to the angle and forward momentum of the instruments at the point of contact, only the suits of his three teammates in front of him at the time were likely to be compromised by this event.
After supervisory consideration following the disciplinary review board's decision foregoing any formal punishment or reprimand of Dr. Wallace, resident psychiatric specialist Dr. A.J. Roberts' strong suggestion was that Dr. Wallace not be alerted of his apparent inadvertent role in causing the initial quarantine breach. This suggestion was approved, especially considering his already requested-and-granted project reassignment following a brief period of training assisting in training a new and expanded research and containment team.
NOTE: Any future attempt to access this file from any internal login or device associated with Dr. Wallace, even in the unlikely event of future progression to some position with Level-4 Standard Security Clearance, will be met with false database error messages.
Update L4O-15.04.22: Of additional note, genetic analysis of samples taken from the new SCP-1927 instances prior to their incineration found similar proportions of various DNA from other species as seen in the chimeric genome of the original instance, with all non-human genetic material being virtually identical as would be expected from asexual reproduction. However, human portions of the genome had been replaced with genetic material identical to that of the late researchers of SCP-1927's original staff, depending on which body the given juvenile instances had incubated in. The exact mechanisms and implications of this fact remain poorly understood.
- A subsequent administrative appeal to the Ethics Committee's previous injunction against further D-Class human testing in light of the new development was submitted.
Result: Denied
Update L4O-11.05.22: Anonymous tip led to reinvestigation and subsequent revelations of Dr. Paul Wallace's obfuscation of relevant information in the initial review. Such information includes the first newly-formed SCP-1927 instances from prior to the area's resecurement showing their apparent recognition of him during Incident 1927-RE3, and seemingly intentional sparing of him as a food or reproductive vector, as well as the discovery of attempts by Dr. Wallace to confiscate and destroy associated footage of such an event, as well as footage showing the apparent escape of new instances into the site's ventilation system.
- Disciplinary hearings reopened into Dr. Wallace.
Update L4O-02.06.22: Capture of second and third wild instances of SCP-1927 (since designated SCP-1927-2 and SCP-1927-3) after rapidly increasing local sightings and civilian encounters confirm recent observations in which instances appeared to demonstrate higher-order tactics and strategic behavior.
- A second administrative appeal to the Ethics Committee's previous injunction against further human testing in light of the new development was submitted and fast-tracked with O5 council approval.
Result: Appeal Overturned.
- D-Class testing to resume beginning June 24, 2022.
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"SCP-1927" by RealSurrealSir, from the SCP Wiki. Source: https://scpwiki.com/scp-1927. Licensed under CC BY-SA.
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