Item#: 7205
Level4
Containment Class:
keter
Secondary Class:
none
Disruption Class:
keneq
Risk Class:
danger
SCP-7205 as seen upon transition from real-space.
SPECIAL CONTAINMENT PROCEDURES:
Access to SCP-7205 can only be obtained by conforming to a wide number of measurable averages. Although this list is not comprehensive and this is not the only known means of egress, entry to SCP-7205 can be reliably achieved when a person meeting all of the following requirements leaves a population center with the intent to reach the city of Leima, OH:
- Driver has been en route for at least 48-minutes, or, has covered a distance of at least 47-kilometers.
- Driver is occupying a 'crossover' vehicle.
- Driver is the sole occupant of the vehicle, and the vehicle contains one or no pets.
- Driver is between the ages of 31 and 45.
- Driver has a personal income approximating 35,977 USD, or, is a member of a household with an approximate income of 67,521 USD.
Update: As the result of a research cooperation agreement, only one scientific observer is permitted at any given time. Any observers present beyond the single, designated unit will be treated by SCP-7205 as a statistical inclusion and are subject to the effects of the anomaly.
CLASSIFIED OBJECT DESCRIPTION:
SCP-7205 is the designation for the collective phenomenon affecting the city of Leima, which is nominally reported to be in central Ohio, USA. Within the boundaries of the city, all demographics and events are representative of 'the average American' on a per capita basis. This representation includes demographics and events which would normally deviate day-by-day but normalize over long periods of time, such as the birth rate and death rate.
The city of Leima, OH has a reported population of 16,200 people. Although available information within SCP-7205 designates the object's location as approximately 80-kilometers northwest of Columbus, Ohio, observable geography does not support this conclusion. The city limits encompasses approximately 200 square kilometers and is bordered by a mountain range, a desert, a large body of salt water, a river, a region of rolling plains, a deciduous forest, and a salt flat. The specific direction in which these geographic features are located is variable, as well as their location relative to other geographic features.
SCP-7205-1 is the designation for a 'probability engine' located in the geographic center of SCP-7205. This object is composed of a polished, black stone and resembles a railroad spike approximately 8 meters in height. The engine produces a significant amount of onto-kinetic radiation which is believed to be responsible for the edits to local space-time. These edits include changes to the personal history and physiology of residents in order to conform to expected statistical models, but has so far not extended beyond the boundaries of the anomaly.
Transition into and out of SCP-7205 is closely regulated by an armed security force which reports to a 'Central Statistical Command'. This command office is located within city hall and is not accessible to the public.
ADDENDUM 1: DISCOVERY
On 23rd September, 2017 Agent Clinton Dureau left the Site-11 facility in Lansing, MI en route to rendezvous with a Level-1 research detachment in the Ohio River Valley. At 2h21m into Agent Dureau's journey, vehicle GPS stopped reporting location data and failed to respond to pings. A visual search was conducted for both the missing agent as well as his vehicle and returned no useful leads.
On 15th May, 2022, almost five years after his disappearance, Agent Dureau and his vehicle began transmitting their location from a truck stop near White Sands, New Mexico. Contact was made and the agent and his vehicle were retrieved.
The following is a debriefing interview with Agent Dureau. A full audio recording is available as an attachment to this file.
CLOSE AND RETURN
Researcher: Ready when you are, Agent Dureau.
Dureau: Alright, are we good to go? If I have to start this over for a third time I won't be a happy camper.
Researcher: I promise; fresh batteries this time.
Dureau: Okay. My name is Clinton Dureau, I'm a Field Investigator stationed at Site-11. I stumbled upon what is provisionally designated SCP-7205 quite some time ago. And…well, I'm here to report on that. I guess.
Researcher: And we picked you up at White Sands National Park, some 1,600 miles from your last known location, almost five years later.
Dureau: Eyup, that sounds about right.
Researcher: Why don't you fill me in on the details of how you got from A to B?
Dureau: Ohio has a funny way of doing that to a person.
Researcher: Doing what, exactly?
Dureau: Never mind, bad joke. The day I left is still very clear to me; I departed Site-11 at little after 08:30. Thermos of coffee, my typical driving tunes at the ready. I had an overnight bag with 2 sets of work clothes and 2 sets of casual clothes, toiletries, and very little else. I was driving Chevy Tahoe from the facility's vehicle bay and as far as I know it was an otherwise normal car. No weird features or experimental gadgets other than the cell antenna for data up-link. And somewhere around Toledo I just kind of…wasn't in Ohio anymore.
Researcher: Is there a moment you can distinctly point to when you realized something was wrong?
Dureau: Yeah, these cliffs. Big rocky cliffs with high-rise apartment buildings on them. I was not on the main highway; I came around this bend in the road out of a little forested valley and as soon as the trees cleared that stuff was just there. Ten or twelve story high-rise apartment buildings on top of some kind of seaside cliffs. I must have been easily 100 miles from Lake Erie at that point though, almost literally in the middle of nowhere. And then hey, high-rise on seaside cliffs.
Researcher: Presumably you stopped for some investigation?
Dureau: Not originally. I mean, yes, but I just needed gas. I pulled in at a roadside station and topped up. Old guy behind the counter gave me funny looks, kept eyeing my vehicle. But that's probably just hindsight talking. Anyway, I left and that's when I got mugged.
Researcher: Beg pardon?
Dureau: Yes, I was mugged at gunpoint. Two men met me outside of the gas station standing near my car. They were wearing some kind of security uniforms with vests over top. Badges that said 'CSC' in gold embroidery.
Researcher: Is this the…'Central Statistical Command' from you report?
Dureau: That's the one. The first guy hit me, cold cocked right in the eye. I fell down pretty hard and they took my wallet but they didn't even take the money out. I heard them say something to each other. It was all pretty fuzzy what because of the shot to the head, but I am certain it was something to the effect of 'might as well double up', and 'we're due on both'.
Dureau: After that, they helped me to my feet, helped me brace against the wall, and then shot me in the shoulder at point blank range. That would be the point when I passed out.
Researcher: Mugged and shot by the local security? Did they know you were Foundation?
Dureau: Nah, there's no way they could have. I woke up hours later in a hospital, surgery already done, and apparently stable. From there I was allowed to recover and then assigned a temporary apartment while a job was arranged.
Researcher: Why did you ask them for a job?
Dureau: I didn't. I, well-…I wasn't allowed to leave.
Researcher: Did they explain why not?
Dureau: Did you know that Americans move states once every five years on average?
[1h43 minutes of logistical details and miscellaneous testimony have been omitted.]
ADDENDUM 2: IN MEDIA RES
After the recovery of Agent Dureau a task force was dispatched to further investigate potentially anomalous activity within SCP-7205. Despite extensive reconciliation with available GPS data, as well as an exhaustive physical search, resources were unable to locate the city of Leima, OH.
A second task force wave was dispatched attempting to more closely mirror the circumstances under which Agent Dureau went missing, patrolling the upper Ohio River Valley in teams of two and four agents. After three days, resources were unable to locate the city of Leima, OH.
Containment specialists assigned to the investigation made a recommendation to assign task force agents to other priorities and conduct the search using less qualified employees with fewer specialize skills. Within the three-day allotted window for this investigation, a pair of field agents were able to re-discover SCP-7205 and successfully return with relevant information. Among objects recovered from the containment zone was a personal invitation from the Mayor of Leima to parlay with a single Foundation designee of our choosing.
To Whom It May Concern,
Your attempts to intrude upon our peace will remain fruitless and ultimately harmful to both institutions. I'd invite you to cease your search and adopt a more civil approach. Please, consider carefully a representative to explain your interest in our fair city and I will ensure their safe passage in and out of Leima.
The Honorable J.D. Wiggins, Esq.
ADDENDUM 3: NEGOTIATION
On 1st July, 2022, Agent Clint Dureau was approved via special request to carry out the parlay with SCP-7205. Dureau was outfitted with relevant recording equipment and escorted to the rendezvous coordinates as designated by the invitation.
CLOSE AND RETURN
Recording begins as Agent Dureau walks across the highway and enters into an SUV. He is flanked by two armed men wear CSC uniforms who sit on either side of him. The vehicle starts, turns toward SCP-7205, and enters the city. The camera records three different checkpoints as the vehicle enters the downtown area and comes to a stop outside of a cafe. This location has a direct view of both a central park as well as SCP-7205-1.
Agent Dureau is escorted inside of the cafe where he is beckoned to a table against the front window by a man who appears to be in his mid-late 50's. He has salt and pepper hair, a well-maintained goatee, and is dressed in a charcoal gray three-piece suit with the jacket slung over the back of his chair. A steaming pot of coffee occupies the middle of the table; the man has already poured himself a cup before Agent Dureau's arrival.
Dureau: Well, Mr. Wiggins, invitation received and here I am. We meet again.
JD Wiggins: I must say I am pleasantly surprised that it's your face I get to see here across this table. And please, you know that just JD is fine.
Dureau: Obviously this place and I have a unique relationship. I'm not sure 'unfinished business' is the right set of words to use but it's not too far off.
JD Wiggins: I can appreciate that. Please, go ahead and pour yourself some coffee. Can I order you anything to eat?
Dureau: That question actually…doesn't make sense. This isn't a time people normally eat.
JD Wiggins: Smiles big as he raises his cup of coffee and takes a long sip. No, no it's not. But you're an outlier to our statistical model. Or at least now you are.
Dureau: Me, personally?
JD Wiggins: Sort of, yes. Clint, I think it's fair to say you never really embraced what we do here, right?
Dureau: Definitely did not embrace it, no. You dehumanize people, you reduce them to statistics and demographics. You've eschewed each and every adjective from a human being except for the ones you have fabricated categories for. Why would I want to embrace that? You're not talking about the entire planet worth of people, this is just a few thousand souls who you're supposed to be looking out for. Their responsibility, your responsibility, is each other's welfare. Not…this. Not what you put me through.
JD Wiggins: Nods as he puts the coffee back down and leans back in his seat. Yes, and that's why your presence here confuses me. There's no way they'd allow someone with such powerful bias to carry out this investigation. So I have to conclude you lied and omitted most things that happen here in your report. Is that true?
Dureau: …Yes, they know very little. I understand what they value and they'd see the manipulation you command as a tool.
JD Wiggins: And so you've come to poison the proverbial well.
Dureau: If I can. Or if not poison it, to convince you that there is nothing to be gained from breaching the veil you've constructed. They're just going to fuck with your numbers.
JD Wiggins: They can't, Clint.
Dureau: Of course they can. If you knew them like I do you'd understand that they see potential value almost anywhere and th—
JD Wiggins: No, Clint. They can't ruin anything. Do you even understand what it is you're orbiting here? How insignificant you are as an individual when compared to the calculus that underlies this thing and everything surrounding us? As a man, you will be married before your 30th birthday to a woman who is just shy of 28. After your wedding, your wife and the other women ages 18 to 44 will be responsible for your fair share of about 880 births each and every year. You'll keep rolling the dice until you get your 1.93 kids and all the while enjoying the safety and security that comes with the model we provide.
Dureau: That's not my path, what's so hard to understand about that? Not to mention what you fill that last seven-hundredths with.
JD Wiggins: That it is your path when you live here. We've taken away all the pain and hardship of not knowing what your future has in store for you, don't you see? Do you know how many young people would kill for the comforting knowledge they'll have a partner before 30 to raise a family with?
Dureau: Ah, just going to ignore my second statement I see. And I suppose you just also conveniently ignore that '50% of marriages end in a divorce' statistic?
JD Wiggins: We don't ignore it, it's just both incorrect and irrelevant.
Dureau: And how is divorce irrelevant?
JD Wiggins: I wouldn't let that happen to you. People who get divorced once are much, much more likely to get divorced again.
Dureau: Wait, what do you mean by that?
JD Wiggins: It's pretty self-evidence, isn't it? We stack up the divorces. It minimizes the number of people effected by the trauma and gives people like you the best odds of making a long, healthy, happy, relationship out of it.
Dureau: But nobody needs statistics for that. That's up to me as a person. And my partner. It's in our hands, not a calculator's!
JD Wiggins: While that's very poetic of you, it's indicative of a rational mind trying to make sense of an irrational world. You cannot handle the dissonance created by thinking any other way and so you've simply fallen back into a defense mechanism. Very understandable, but also ultimately crude. We can do better.
Dureau: You think taking away the ability to determine your own story is somehow 'better'?
JD Wiggins: That's not what we do at all. We simply…remove the extraneous bits that hold the gifted back.
Dureau: At the cost of the well-being of everyone fucking else?
JD Wiggins: Look, Clint, I very literally don't make the rules. The way we do things here is just a reflection. One in ten adults owes more than a grand in medical debt. One in one-hundred owes more than ten grand. Are you either of those? One in ten adults are in poverty, one in ten don't have health insurance, one in ten claim disability. Were you any of those? No, of course not.
Dureau: You expect me to be thankful for that? Any one of those could happen to anybody and often times it's totally beyond their control!
JD Wiggins: Not here it isn't. Not to people like you and me.
Dureau: And what about 'me' makes me anything like you?
Wiggins shrugs, silently, and takes another long sip of his coffee.
JD Wiggins: I see the potential, Clint. It's just that simple. When I look at you I see a younger version of myself. Yes, a little bit physically, but the drive inside of you. Your ambition. Your passions. The same fabric that inspires and drives you also unites us. Like…
Dureau: Like a son you never had?
JD Wiggins: Yes, something like that.
Dureau: So you cheated. Nominally for me, but mostly for yourself. To protect the people you like and heap the bad news on the ones you don't. Does that about sum it up? Look, (sighs long and hard) it's not that I am not grateful for good things that have happened to me. But enjoying the fruits of good things that come at the direct expense of another person's suffering? That's evil. By definition, that is evil. Do you not see that?
JD Wiggins: These things happen in our world each and every day, Clint. The population of Leima is such that every five years there will be a homicide. This year, 16 people will be robbed, 40 people will be the victim of aggravated assault, 75 will be the victim of burglary, and 38 vehicles will be stolen. That's going to happen not by my doing or my compulsion, but because of human nature and the immortality in which we live. Am I evil for making that affect as few people as possible?
Dureau: For that? No. But you choose someone and you decide that they must suffer. Chips fall where they may, at least random chance has a clear conscience. But you sit here in a three-piece suit casually telling me you've rigged the entire thing, and you don't lose a wink of sleep over it.
JD Wiggins: 'Random chance' isn't a person and doesn't have a conscience. The universe doesn't care about you, Clint. It can't. But I can, and I do.
Dureau: If that's the price then I wish you didn't.
JD Wiggins: You're one of the lucky ones, Clint. It's easy to sling statements like that from atop your moral high-ground but you don't know what the muck is like. You're made for something else, something greater. Something that can only come from the advantages our model offers.
Dureau: I thought I had everything here in Leima. But you opened my eyes to show me it was a lie. I thought that was bad enough, to have that realization and feel the joy of five year's of accomplishments turn to ashes in my mouth. But you tore my heart out all over again when you chose to take it away from me. To deport me. Emily, both of my daughters, our house, our neighborhood…my job, my friends, my life….We were just a statistic to you? I've said my piece. I want nothing more from you.
JD Wiggins: You're here representing an organization that exists solely to hide behind the curtain and keep it shut. Yet out of the other side of your mouth you besmirch the fact I let you see behind this one? If your employer wants to keep talking, tell them to send someone more reasonable.
Mayor Wiggins motions to personnel outside; The guards then enter the cafe to retrieve Agent Dureau.
Dureau: Every town has that one rich asshole that wields all the power and sticks his finger in everyone's business. Lucky for you that you drew that lot, huh?
JD Wiggins: And every town has that one rebellious kid raised with a silver spoon up his ass who cuts off his nose to spite his face. Luck has nothing to do with it.
Dureau: It never did.