Interviewer: Dr. Raymond Hamm, Site-85

Interviewee: SCP-049

[BEGIN LOG]

SCP-049: (In French) So then, how should we begin? An introduction?

Dr. Hamm: (Aside) Is that French? Can we get a translator-

SCP-049: (In English) The King's English! No need for translation, sir, I can speak it well enough.

Dr. Hamm: Good. My name is Dr. Raymond Hamm, and I-

SCP-049: Ah! A doctor! A like-minded individual, no doubt. Wherein is your speciality, sir?

Dr. Hamm: Cryptobiology, why-

SCP-049: (Laughs) A medical man, such as myself. Wonders abound! And here I worried I had been abducted by common street thugs! (Looks around the room) This place, then. This is your laboratory? I had wondered, as clean as it is, and with such little trace of the Pestilence here.

Dr. Hamm: The Pestilence? What do you mean?

SCP-049: The Scourge! The Great Dying. Come now, you know, the, uh… (taps temple furiously) …what is it they call it, the… the… ah, no matter. The Pestilence, yes. It abounds outside these walls, you know. So many have succumbed, and many more will continue to, until such time as a perfect cure can be developed. (Leans back in its chair) Fortunately, I am very close. It is my duty in life to rid the world of it, you see. The Cure To End All Cures!

Dr. Hamm: When you say "The Great Dying", are you talking about the bubonic plague?

SCP-049: (Pauses) I don't know what that is.

Dr. Hamm: I see. Right, well, the entities our agents encountered at that house, they were dead when you encountered them, yes? And you reanimated them?

SCP-049: Hrmm, in a manner of speaking. You see things too simply, doctor! Expand your horizons. Life and death, sickness and health, these are amateur terms for amateur physicians. There is only one ailment that exists in the world of men, and that is the Pestilence. And nothing else! Make no mistake, they were very ill, all of them.

Dr. Hamm: You think you cured those people?

SCP-049: Indeed. My cure is most effective.

Dr. Hamm: The things we recovered were not human.

SCP-049: (Pauses and glares at Dr. Hamm) Yes, well, it is not a perfect cure. But that will come with time. And further experimentation! I have spent a lifetime developing my methods, Dr. Hamm, and will spend a lifetime more, if necessary. Now, we have wasted too much time. There is work to do! I will require a laboratory of my own, one where I can continue my research unimpeded. And assistants, of course, though I can provide those on my own, in time. (Laughs)

Dr. Hamm: I don't think our organization will be willing to-

SCP-049: Nonsense. We are all men of science. Fetch your coat and show me to my quarters, doctor. (Gestures with pointed stick) Our work begins now!

[END LOG]

SCP-049 Interview

[BEGIN LOG]

Dr. Hamm: We've watched you work for several weeks now, and honestly I'm not sure I understand what you're doing. Can you describe your process in detail?

SCP-049: Oh goodness no, the process is most intensive. As I said to your assistant, the best instruction you will find about my methods are here in my journals, as I have kept exhaustive records of my work7 there.

Dr. Hamm: I see. My concern, doctor, is that we still don't understand what you're seeking to cure, or how it manifests, or how turning these creatures into quasi-living, mindless drones helps in that effort.

SCP-049: You do not understand the Pestilence? Even after all this time? Doctor, it is an unspeakable horror, one that has shown its true face many times before and will again. I find myself blessed with the wisdom and good senses needed to root it out and destroy it, but many like yourself cannot. It is a cruel judgement, I fear, to be at the mercy of a disease you cannot fully comprehend!

Dr. Hamm: That still doesn't answer my question. How is your cure any kind of cure at all?

SCP-049: (Growing suddenly agitated) It is a cure! You may laugh at my efforts if you please, but do not besmirch the good name of scientific progress that has developed this great mercy. What you so shortsightedly see here is a life better than any this creature could have hoped for, stricken as it was with Pestilence. This creature is now clean, unable to spread the Pestilence and free from the terror it would have experienced otherwise.

Dr. Hamm: This is hardly a creature at all, doctor, it's not even-

SCP-049: (Very agitated) Do not jape with me, sir! You and your colleagues are like so many others, unable to look past minor setbacks to see the salvation taking place before your very eyes. Do you wait to remove rotten timbers until the hall collapses on top of you? No. You find them and you pull them out and replace them with those untouched by rot! And most of all, you do not simply mock the structure because it now looks different to you. It is strong! It is free of disease.

Dr. Hamm: I'm sorry. I didn't mean to agitate you. I'm just trying to understand.

SCP-049: (Deep breath) Yes, well, do mind your words in the future, doctor. I am a professional, but even professionals may feel the bite of pride in dealing with criticism of their masterpiece. I will forgive this as an act of good faith between colleagues.

Dr. Hamm: Is there anything else I can help you with?

SCP-049: (Pauses, looking away from Dr. Hamm) No, that will be all. Another test subject, on the usual schedule. You know my preference of subjects with more human anatomies.

[END LOG]

Attending Researcher's Note: SCP-049 does seem to genuinely want to help other humans, though it has not yet been able to provide a concrete example of what exactly it is trying to save us all from. I have watched it now over several weeks, and while the outcomes do not seem to ever change, SCP-049 continues to claim that it is growing closer to its perfect cure. I think the entity may be more aware of the reality of these outcomes than it would like us to think.

SCP-049 Follow up interview

[BEGIN LOG]

Dr. Sherman: I need you to explain yourself.

(No response)

Dr. Sherman: SCP-049, you are being directed to explain your actions, and I will remind you that failure to cooperate will result in further restrictions during your containment.

SCP-049: (Pauses) My actions do not need to be explained.

Dr. Sherman: You killed Raymond Hamm and then butchered him until he-

SCP-049: (Interrupting, angrily) Not dead! No! Not… not dead. He is… he is cured.

Dr. Sherman: Cured? Cured of what?

SCP-049: The Pestilence, sir! I had thought you, at least, would realize what luck it is I detected it before-

Dr. Sherman: (Interrupting) What pestilence? You keep going on and on about this pestilence but you have not once been able to properly identify this "disease". What could you have possibly seen in him today that you had not seen so many times before? That it would be worth his life?

SCP-049: He… (pauses) The Pestilence presents and progresses in unforeseeable fashions, and has a queer way of- of creeping into the unprepared, and… (breathing becomes heavier) call it what you want, doctor. It was a mercy I did to him. He is cured.

Dr. Sherman: He is a vegetable!

SCP-049: (Pauses) I… I would not expect you to understand. You and your… your ilk have proven time and time again to be not men of science, but men of- of emotion. You cannot appreciate the horrors I have seen, those many millions who have succumbed to the Pestilence and been changed, who-

Dr. Sherman: Your cure cost Ray his life!

SCP-049: No good SIR I have saved it! You would allow this world to slip back into the, the- the despair of disease and death, ignoring that I have created a miracle and-

Dr. Sherman: (Talking over SCP-049) What disease? What pestilence? He was a healthy man! He was a good doctor!

SCP-049: -am offering it freely to the afflicted! You are not worth this argument, sir. You are shortsighted and foolish. Dr. Hamm was sick, and I… (breath catches) I cured him. I am the only one who can do this. My work must continue, there is so much still to learn, so much to-

Dr. Sherman: I've had enough of this. Consider your allowances revoked. Welcome to containment, oh-four-nine. (Away from mic) We're done here.

SCP-049: -do, and others can be saved! Even you, though you do not deserve it, might be saved! I can save them all! I can cast down this plague, once and for all. I can do this! Only me! I… I… (labored breathing) I saved… I saved him… Dr. Hamm, I… I cured him… he was sick, I know he was sick, I know he was, and I… you are all sick, but I… I can save you. I can save all of you, because I… I am the cure.

[END LOG]

SCP-049 Doctor Hamms Death from 049

Date: 5/7/17

Interviewer: Dr. Elijah Itkin

Interviewee: SCP-049

[BEGIN LOG]

Dr. Itkin: SCP-049, we are conducting this interview to close out our investigation of your actions taken on April 16th that resulted in the death of a staff member. Do you have any comments to make?

SCP-049: Only that I look forward to the day when you will allow me to resume my work! I have spent the last few weeks compiling my notes and constructing a new theory for how the Pestilence was able to infect someone in such an insidious manner that I nearly couldn't detect it.

Dr. Itkin: Have you experienced any remorse for your actions? For the death of Dr. Hamm?

SCP-049: (Waves his hand) Ah, yes. Well, the death of a colleague is always regrettable, but in the face of the Pestilence we must be swift, doctor, and act without hesitation.

Dr. Itkin: Dr. Sherman noted in his report that you seemed to be mournful during your initial interview.

SCP-049: Mourn- (Pauses) Perhaps. I had not thought that… It is lamentable that a fellow doctor became infected, but the work continues. Regrettable as… as it was, Dr. Hamm's death provided important insight. Living human subjects are the only way to proceed forward, I am decided. My cure is of little use on dead flesh, and I have gleaned all I can from your generous supply of corpses. My desires turn towards tending to those still living who suffer from the disease.

Dr. Itkin: I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed.

SCP-049: (Laughs) Oh doctor, I wouldn't be so sure.

[END LOG]

Lord Prime

Popular tracks