Date: [Uncertain - Local chronometers are unreliable. Estimated to be within 72-120 hours post-cessation of primary SCP-8371 activity.]
Location: Site-███, Sub-Level Gamma-9 (Designated Contingency Bunker - Spacetime Integrity Compromised)
Present: O5-12 (via heavily distorted visual and auditory feed), O5-5 (physical presence, severely altered), O5-7 (data constructs, fragmented), O5-10 (physical presence, exhibiting significant temporal displacement).
Absent: O5-1, O5-2, O5-3, O5-4, O5-6, O5-8, O5-9, O5-11, O5-13 (Presumed lost, compromised, or altered by XK-8371-Omega).
[BEGIN TRANSCRIPT]
O5-12 (Distorted, static-laced audio): …can you hear me? Is this line… stable enough?
O5-5 (Visibly altered – skin exhibits crystalline structures, voice raspy and echoing): Barely. The anchors… they flicker. This bunker… it holds, but the seams are… thin.
O5-12: Acknowledged. Status report. Five. Your immediate surroundings.
O5-5: Site-███ is… different. The geometry… it shifts. Angles that shouldn't exist. The air… it tastes of metal and ozone. Life… altered. Fungal growths that pulse with light. Creatures… I can't classify. Not by any standard we knew.
O5-12: Seven. Data integrity? What can you salvage?
O5-7 (Fragmented text appearing on a jury-rigged monitor): …partial… fragmented… Baseline reality… overwritten… Database… corrupted… Key files… irretrievable… Containment procedures… obsolete… Many SCP designations… meaningless…
O5-12: The extent of the damage? Can you quantify the… alteration?
O5-7: …impossible… The laws… have changed… Physics… unrecognizable… Causality… fractured… Memories… unreliable… Even our own histories… are shifting…
O5-10 (Appears to be physically younger than previous records, speaks with a slight stammer and anachronistic phrasing): Indeed. I… I recall attending this very meeting… just moments ago. Or was it… years? The flow… it is…perturbed.
O5-5: Ten… your temporal displacement is worsening. Are you… anchored in this moment?
O5-10: Moments… flicker. Snapshots. I see… glimpses of what was… and what… might be. The threads… they fray.
O5-12: Focus, Ten. Can you perceive any… overarching structure in this new reality? Any patterns?
O5-10: Patterns… yes. But alien. Like… music played on instruments we've never conceived. Harmonies… dissonant. The stars… they whisper secrets… in a language… prior to thought.
O5-5: The stars… O5-1's last transmission… he mentioned… singing stars.
O5-12: Silence, Five. Seven, focus on threat assessment. Are there… emergent threats within this… new order?
O5-7: …unknown… Previously contained entities… are… changed… Some… ceased to exist… Others… amplified… SCP designations… no longer applicable… New… phenomena… arise… constantly… The very concept of 'threat'… may be… irrelevant…
O5-5: Irrelevant? We are surrounded by… by the impossible! Things that defy logic, reason, even basic survival instincts!
O5-7: …survival… a construct of baseline reality… This… is something else… Adaptation… or… dissolution…
O5-12: Adaptation, Seven. That is the only path forward. We are the Foundation. Even in this… this cosmic wreckage… we must find a way to… function. To understand. To… if possible… protect what remains.
O5-10: Protect… what? Ourselves? These… fleeting echoes of what we were? The universe… it no longer cares for our classifications. Our protocols. Our… fears.
O5-5: We still have a duty, Ten. A responsibility. Even if it's just to document what happened. To leave a record.
O5-7: …record… fragmented… unreliable… Subjectivity… amplified… Truth… a casualty…
O5-12: Then we work with fragments. With the unreliable. We piece together the shards of what was and attempt to chart a course through what is. Five, can you ascertain the status of other Foundation sites? Any survivors?
O5-5: Sporadic contact… difficult to verify… Site-17… reported complete temporal inversion before silence… Site-19… fused with… organic matter… Site-██… I received a transmission… They spoke of worshipping… the geometry…
O5-12: Understood. The Scranton Reality Anchors… their effectiveness?
O5-5: Diminished. They hold back… some of the more egregious distortions… within a limited radius. But the fundamental laws… the substrate of reality… that has shifted beyond their capacity to mend.
O5-10: Like trying to hold back the tide with… a sieve. The anchors… they mourn for the reality they once stabilized.
O5-7: …new anomalies… emerging… Related to SCP-8371… Residual energies… spacetime echoes… Potential for… further… restructuring…
O5-12: Can we… predict these events? Anticipate them?
O5-7: …predictability… a baseline concept… Causality… is… suggestion… not law…
O5-5: So… we are adrift. In a sea of… of rewritten reality. With no maps, no compass…
O5-12: We have our training. Our experience. And each other. Those of us who remain. The mission… the core principle… it endures. Secure. Contain. Protect. Even if what we are securing, containing, and protecting… is fundamentally alien to what we once knew.
O5-10: Perhaps… the greatest anomaly… is that we still persist. Fragments of a forgotten order… clinging to a ghost of a purpose… in a universe that has moved on without us.
O5-5: We have to try, Ten. What else is there? To simply… succumb to this… this chaos?
O5-7: …submission… may be… inevitable… The universe… is indifferent…
O5-12: Perhaps. But we are not. We are the O5 Council. Or what remains of it. Our first priority is to understand this new reality. To catalog its dangers. To find any… any vestige of the old order that can be salvaged or protected. Seven, continue attempting to restore data. Five, maintain contact with any surviving personnel. Ten… try to anchor yourself in this present. Your insights may be crucial.
O5-12 (Audio feed degrades further, voice becoming increasingly distorted): We are the… [Unintelligible static] …Foundation… We will… [Complete audio loss].
O5-5 (Looks around the dimly lit bunker, the crystalline structures on his skin pulsing faintly): He's gone. The connection… severed.
O5-10 (Shakes his head, a look of confusion on his face): Gone? Or simply… ahead of us? Behind us? The lines… they blur.
O5-7 (The fragmented text on the monitor flickers erratically): …protocol… Omega-12… failed… No… contingency… for… this…
O5-5: Then we improvise. As always. We are the last line of defense, even if the battlefield… is no longer recognizable.
O5-10 (Looks up, his gaze unfocused): Do you hear it? The singing… It's… beautiful. And terrifying.
O5-5 (Draws a weapon–its design subtly altered, incorporating non-Euclidean geometry): I hear only the silence that follows a storm. And the echoes of what we lost. We have work to do.
O5-7 (The monitor displays a single line of flickering text before going dark): …Secure… Contain… Survive…
[END TRANSCRIPT]