Link to article: Epilogue.
:root { --header-title: "Shark Punching Centre"; --header-subtitle: "Search, Punch, Conquer"; }
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[[include :scp-wiki:theme:black-highlighter-theme]] [[include :scp-wiki:theme:shark-punching-centre-bhl]] [[module CSS]] :root { --header-title: "Shark Punching Centre"; --header-subtitle: "Search, Punch, Conquer"; } [[/module]] = [[size 150%]]**AFTER**[[/size]] = -- - -- [[div class="blockquote"]] = **<<Begin Log>>** //Hobbes and O-13 are sitting on a pair of elaborate beach chairs in the sand, overseeing a group of Centre agents in the ocean as they repeatedly punch a group of selachians.// **Hobbes:** So, this is what being a member of Oracle is like. **O-13:** Meh, pretty much. **Hobbes:** So you just kind of sit around all day and watch other people do the work? **O-13:** Well, we have to make a bunch of important decisions and oversee a lot of stuff, but for the most part you do get a lot of free time. Or at least, most members do. I spent a lot of my time trying to, well, you know. **Hobbes:** Contain the High Pugilord? **O-13:** Bingo. //Suddenly, O-13 receives a text notification on his phone.// **O-13:** Speak of the fucking devil… //The Oracle briefly checks his phone before placing it in his pocket.// **Hobbes:** What does he want? **O-13:** Oh, he’s just asking when the new shipment of beer will be coming to Compound-01. It can wait. **Hobbes:** Why’s he concerned about that? Can he even drink? **O-13:** No, but when the Centre gets drunk they tend to get rowdy and it tends to lead to antics that keep us funny. **Hobbes:** I see. **O-13:** Remember, above all else, that’s the goal: to get out of this, we have to stay funny long enough to survive. That’s how our world works. It’s how //every// world with a Centre works. If we stop being funny or if we stop punching sharks, it’s all over. The Mistaken Beast will claim us. **Hobbes:** Does that… kind of mean he’s kind of the good guy? **O-13:** Well, he would be if he wasn’t the one preventing us from handling the problem properly. The High Pugilord isn’t like you or me. He’s… what’s the word? Oh, right, conceptual. He’s conceptual, bound to the concept of the Centre. He sends the texts and people listen. It’s his domain whether we like it or not, so that means we have to follow his rules. He wants us to use pugilism when the true answer is //containment//. So, we need to contain him first before we can deal with the Beast. **Hobbes:** I see. How the hell did all this even happen? **O-13:** Are you asking how the High Pugilord got this way? Well, the old High Pugilord, the one who calls himself “Wrath” now for whatever reason; it’s all his fault. He had this way of manipulating the universe no one else could do, but as a result of all that messing around he did, some of him kinda got stuck in there. It became the High Pugilord and bound Wrath to the Centre’s will. **Hobbes:** Fucking hell. **O-13:** It’s just what happens when you mess with forces you can’t understand. I guess that’s why I don’t mind being a member of Oracle. Selachians… they’re… familiar. They’re something I know, and will probably always know. The goal of existence is containment, but a little bit of pugilism never hurt anyone, eh? Or, well, I guess the selachians get hurt. Bad example. **Hobbes:** I suppose that makes sense. I’m sorry for calling you a traitor back when we first met. **O-13:** Meh, water under the bridge. Couldn’t exactly blow my cover. I don’t blame anyone in the Initiative being mad at me. //The two watch the operatives in the ocean for a moment, mesmerized by the sheer potency of the pugilism before them.// //O-13 suddenly starts chuckling.// **Hobbes:** What’s so funny? **O-13:** Oh, I was just thinking about when we had first discovered the Mistaken Beast. We had found it before our old SPC-001, this computer that was meant to help us find selachians, was redesignated as “SPC-001-EX”, so we decided to call it 001 for a while instead. Oh, how naïve we were back then. The truth is that the Beast defies designation entirely. It’s something… different. Different beyond even the High Pugilord. **Hobbes:** Interesting. What’s 001 now? **O-13:** Oh, well, uh, we eventually just started using the 001 designation for whatever fit at the time. At one point it was this black hole thing we thought would save us from financial ruin and another time it was our dress code for some reason, but that last one is inactive now. So, to be honest, it’s pretty much free for whatever we decide to put in it. **Hobbes:** Hm. Hey, you know the World Iris? **O-13:** Ah, [[[SPC-105]]]? Yeah, what about it? **Hobbes:** How much can it see, exactly? **O-13:** Meh, pretty much everything. Why? = **<<End Log>>** [[/div]] = -- - -- [[div class="blockquote"]] = **<<Begin Log>>** //Hobbes is sitting at his laptop in his new bedroom within Compound-01, dragging and organizing files.// //As he works, O-13 approaches the doorway and enters the room.// **O-13:** Hey. **Hobbes:** Oh, hey. How’s it going? **O-13:** Hanging in there. What’re you up to? //Hobbes gestures for O-13 to approach the laptop and the Oracle obliges.// **Hobbes:** I was thinking about what you said earlier, about how SPC-001 was at one point the Mistaken Beast because punching it was the most important duty of the Centre. **O-13:** What about it? **Hobbes:** Well, I decided that because the 001 slot is free now, I’m going to make it be the High Pugilord. Once he’s no longer is pulling the strings of the Centre, we’ll be free to deal with the Mistaken Beast and all its… pataphysical nonsense. Still getting used to these words. Regardless, containment of SPC-001 is the Centre’s highest priority. **O-13:** It’s a shame that it’s not exactly an organization equipped for containment. **Hobbes:** That’s where we come in. It will be Oracle’s job to contain SPC-001. We’ll hire new members of Oracle who have all been enlightened to the ideals of containment. That way, they’ll not only be able to resist it longer, but they’ll help us find a way to stop all this madness. **O-13:** A noble goal, indeed. **Hobbes:** However, I can’t promise that we’re going to be the Oracles that manage to pull it off, so I’ve decided that I’m going to attach all of the recording transcripts taken by SPC-105 of my failures to contain the previous ones to this file. Even if we lose ourselves to the Borealis Constant, the records will still be here, waiting to be unearthed by whoever’s next in line. I think I’m even going to send the documentation to the Overseer Composite. No doubt that they’d want all this info, as well. **O-13:** Great ideas all around. You’re already doing a pretty good job here. //Hobbes’ face appears sullen for a moment.// **O-13:** Ah, yeah. Fresh wound. Sorry. You’ll learn to forgive yourself for what happened with the Initiative, eventually. **Hobbes:** Thanks. **O-13:** Alright, so how much of this new 001 file do you have left to do? **Hobbes:** Well, all I have left to do is the main Project file, actually. Wanna help? **O-13:** Sure, why not? **Hobbes:** Oh, uh, we need a status. I mean it //is// technically Active, but we probably shouldn’t put that. **O-13:** Any ideas? **Hobbes:** Hm, I think I have an idea. //Hobbes briefly types onto his keyboard.// **O-13:** “Principle”? **Hobbes:** It’s an old Navigations Unseen designation for some of the first deviant things they found. It feels important. **O-13:** Works for me. **Hobbes:** Alright, well, now we need its Capabilities for selachian punching. **O-13:** Do we even fucking know? //The two stare at each other silently for a moment.// **Hobbes:** “It is imperative of Oracle to successfully ascertain the selachian combat abilities of SPC-001.” **O-13:** I like it. //Hobbes types the chosen Capabilities on his laptop.// **Hobbes:** Okay, time for the Components. **O-13:** “SPC-001 consists of a conceptual consciousness with immense reality-bending capabilities currently imbedded in the fabric of reality itself which is dedicated to the continued existence of the Shark Punching Centre”? //The two pause for a moment, considering.// **Both:** Nah. **Hobbes:** Oh, I have an idea. **O-13:** What are you thinking? **Hobbes:** “To know the nature of SPC-001 is to know the nature of the Centre.” It’s what he told us, after all. **O-13:** Simple, but effective. Works for me. **Hobbes:** Alright, I’ll put it in. **O-13:** Oh, don’t forget to tell them to consult the other files for more info! **Hobbes:** On it. //The remainder of the documentation is written and Hobbes elects to classify it as requiring Level 6/001 credentials.// **O-13:** Looking good. **Hobbes:** Alright, it’s been a long day. I think I’m going to head off to bed. **O-13:** I’ll get out of your hair, then. Sleep well. **Hobbes:** Thanks, you too. = **<<End Log>>** [[/div]] = -- - -- [[div class="blockquote"]] = **<<Begin Log>>** //Footage opens the next morning, with Hobbes at his laptop once again.// //He checks the database file for SPC-001 and is surprised to find that, not only did someone manage to access and read it, but they left it a negative rating.// **Hobbes:** How in the hell? [[module ListUsers users="."]] //Curious, he investigates the page’s ratings and stares at the individual’s codename, confused.// **Hobbes:** Who the fuck is “%%title%%”? [[/module]] //Suddenly, like so many times before, Hobbes’ cellphone receives a text notification.// //And like he had so many times before, O-1 checks his text messages.// = **<<End Log>>** [[/div]] @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ = [[image https://scp-wiki.wdfiles.com/local--files/fragment:djkaktus-s-proposal-iii-27/fin.png]] @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@