SCP-9340

Link to article: SCP-9340.

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[[include component:preview
text=Focus the Primary. (2.6k words)]]
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**SCP-9340:** Life During Wartime
**Authors:** [[*user AWhiteBoy]], [[*user GraveCreations]] and [[*user whenwerewe]].
[[include :scp-wiki:info:end]]
[[/>]]
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[[div class="modal"]]
[[=]]
[[size 120%]]**NOTICE**[[/size]]

The Ethics Committee has designated the following file a deontic sink. The document and personnel have been reconfigured to mitigate avoidable moral hazard.
[[/=]]
[[/div]]
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**Item #:** SCP-9340

**Object Class:** Cernunnos

**Special Containment Procedures:** All SCP-9340 instances have been recovered. Preservation of SCP-9340-⌘ is a secondary priority.

**Description:** SCP-9340 are a collection of 7[[footnote]]Previously 108.[[/footnote]] 3-dimensional cross-sections of 4-dimensional simplices, formed of an unknown nonbaryonic material. On examination, they appear to be tablets of slate-coloured stone, which perpetually emit smoke. Their surfaces are etched with a variety of pictograms, which anomalously convey a unique message when read. Comprehension of these messages induces one of the strongest agnostic effects known to the Foundation. Personnel bear the responsibility of understanding.

SCP-9340-⌘ are a sapient species of mole-like humanoids, standing an average of 2 metres tall, and possessing claws of incredible keenness, capable of shaving stone. Their native habitat is no longer extant. We --request-- --presume-- --hope-- expect that further settlements of SCP-9340-⌘ exist beyond the Foundation’s reach.
[[=]]
[[size 140%]]
**Course of Events**
[[/size]]
[[/=]]
To restore concrete temporality, the exploitation of SCP-9340 has been chronologised below. Information ascertained from SCP-9340 directly is marked with a **⌘**.

[[div class="modal"]]
[[=]]
[[size 110%]]**Initial Discovery**[[/size]]
[[/=]]
The first SCP-9340 instance was sighted by a local hiker in the Scottish Cairngorns, who recorded video footage of a SCP-9340-⌘ instance watching him as he climbed through various holes in the sides of the mountain. It deposited a tablet of smoke-shrouded stone at its feet. During the recording, the hiker makes no attempts to approach the instance, but calls out to it multiple times. It does not reply.
[[/div]]

Immediately after this video was archived, the Department of Surrealistics demanded the retrieval of the tablet. They then forwarded an expeditionary scheme which they claimed would maximise future artefact yields.

The Department declined to provide field personnel for reconnaissance, citing lymphatic integrity concerns; unanointed operatives were deployed in their stead. Surrealistics offered to supplement their coordination capabilities. Researcher Crumb, under gnosis, assembled an expedition in order to refute SCP-9340-⌘’s cultural complex.

The nucleus of first contact was designated SCP-9340-A. It is not to be considered further.

[[div class="modal"]]
[[=]]
[[size 110%]]**SCP-9340-A Expedition Log**[[/size]]
[[/=]]
**Field Operators:**

Captain Charles Maddock
Agent Greg Crettons
Agent Valerie Park

**Command Operator:**

Researcher Alan Crumb
----
<Begin Log>

**Maddock:** Testing connection. Command, do you copy?

**COMMAND:** Psychocloud assimilation confirmed. Initiate expedition.

**Maddock:** Aye. You two. Yous ready to ride?

**Park:** Whatever you say.

**Crettons:** Aye. Ready to begin.

**Maddock:** Great. Entering now, command.

<The group enters a wide valley. Over three dozen instances of SCP-9340-⌘ are seen on the surface, ranging from infant to elderly. The juvenile and adult instances are lifting infants on their shoulders. All are gathered by a large mural carved into a rockface. Instances look at members of the group upon noticing them, but do not pay them a great deal of attention.>

**Maddock:** Park, try to get through the crowd to get a better look at that thing. We’ll cover you.

**Park:** Aye.

<Park approaches the crowd. One of the figures turns to face her, and steps to one side. An infantile instance attempts to reach towards her; she rebuffs it gently. The rest also step away, until she has a clear view of the mural.>

**Park:** Sending a photo now.
[[=]]
[[image mural1.webp]]
[[/=]]
**COMMAND:** The visuals are immaterial. Seize valuables only.

**Crettons:** Guys! This hole has smoke coming out of it.

<Park and Maddock turn to face Crettons, who has drifted 15 metres away. Beside him, a faint smoke billows from a large pit in the ground. The others meet him there.>

**Maddock:** What happened to standing guard?

**Crettons:** Oh, well, you had that covered, and I saw the smoke and heard a hum so-

**Park:** And what if he //didn’t// have me covered?

**Crettons:** Then I-

**Maddock:** Enough. Don’t walk off without saying anything again. Now, what’s in the hole?

**COMMAND:** Objective.

**Maddock:** Pardon?

**COMMAND:** Objective affirmed. Initiate extraction.

**Maddock:** Oh, aye. Crettons, since you found it, you can grab it. Have a look in there and see what's putting out that smoke.

**Crettons:** Aye.

<Crettons lowers himself into the hole. The smoke is not thick. Inside, a cluster of dormant SCP-9340 instances are piled atop one another. A single functional instance is sat atop the pile. Crettons reaches out

[[=]]
[[size 120%]]**⌘ ACT 1, CRETTONS ⌘**[[/size]]
[[/=]]
[[div class="modal poem"]]
[[>]]
CURIO

Let
Prior cause end, and let
Spoke and hub turn, and let
Sometimes remain, if
This Else intrudes, grain
Sets against all, grain
Aligns all panes, grain
We will gorge.
[[/>]]
[[/div]]
and touches the instance, removing it from the pile and placing it on the surface, before exiting the pit.>

**Crettons:** Found one.

<Maddock picks up

[[=]]
[[size 120%]]**⌘ REPEATED FEEDBACK ⌘**[[/size]]
[[/=]]

the instance before placing it inside his bag. Several instances of SCP-9340-⌘ begin to sing in harmony. The infants struggle to match the tune, but continue regardless.>

**Park:** So that’s what we’re looking for?

**Maddock:** For the most part.

**Crettons:** I don’t think any more of these have what we need. This one’s just full of babies.

**Park:** Babies?

<Park turns and runs towards the hole Crettons gestures towards, panicked. Inside the hole, several infantile instances of SCP-9340-⌘ crawl atop each other. One looks up at her and mewls. Park punches Crettons in the arm.>

**Park:** You fucking idiot!

**Crettons:** What did I do?

**Park:** I thought you meant-

<She scoffs.>

<Maddock approaches Park and touches the SCP-9340 instance to her hand. This defuses the situation.>

**Park:** Okay. Sure. That’ll work.

**Maddock:** Great. Going forward, all of us should handle every instance we come across.

**Crettons:** Good idea. Avoids misunderstandings.

<An instance of SCP-9340-⌘ approaches behind Park, arms open with its claws in the air. Maddock notices, firing twice into the instance. The surrounding instances panic and flee>

**Crettons:** Why did you- It looked like it was going for a hug!

<Maddock shrugs.>

**Maddock:** That’s a kind of emotional attack, right?

**COMMAND:** Entangling with secondary concerns. Focus on caching the primary objective.

**Crettons:** …Right.

<The group survey the space. The majority of SCP-9340-⌘ instances have dispersed and disappeared, with those remaining seen running into a cavernous entrance opposite the valley’s entry point.>

**Park:** Why’d they all-

<Smoke begins to rise from another hole in the distance. The team look at each other before simultaneously striding towards it. Upon reaching it, Park leaps down. A single gunshot follows.>

**Crettons:** Park? Are you-

[[=]]
[[size 120%]]**⌘ ACT 1, PARK⌘**[[/size]]
[[/=]]
[[div class="modal poem"]]
BATTLE:

Wait,
Trap a sometimes
Broken phase that,
Voice by voice
Waits

For what is not, and ––––––[[footnote]]A thought, lost.[[/footnote]]
Winding forgets who
Decline wind
Over bright eyes.
Winding rope
Frays, flay it.

We bare,
Chisel and carve
What Else bends inward
To Our forever.

You were not
For Us.
[[/div]]

<What appears to be an SCP-9340-⌘ instance rises from the hole. Crettons fires a single shot into the body. Park exits the hole, puppeteering it. She is unharmed.>

**Crettons:** I should’ve shot //you//. Jesus.

**Park:** Maybe. Here’s the rock. It might sting a wee bit. Don’t take it personally.

<Park drops the body and retrieves another SCP-9340 instance from her bag. Both remaining members touch the instance.>

**Crettons:** Christ. I think I'm going to be sick. What’s this stuff doing?

**Park:** Isn’t it obvious?

**Crettons:** What? I don’t --

**COMMAND:** Organised obstacles expected. Reminder: ⌘ concern secondary. Proceed.

<All three fall silent for a short period.>

**Crettons:** That’s true, right?

<Park nods.>

**Crettons:** Right. Right.

**Maddock:** Great job, you two. Let’s head inside. It’s going to be warmer there.

<The team approaches the cave entrance and heads inside. The roof is too high to be seen by the camera. Several warrens litter the walls and floors. A thin fog forms a dome over the team.>

**Crettons:** The tunnels are splitting something fierce in here.

**Maddock:** Check the pits, there’s some of the fuckers in there.

**COMMAND:** Do not be diverted by enthusiasm for soft targets. Pursue objectives continually.

**Park:** Got it. Proceeding along the forward path. We’re gonna get some hits soon, aye?

**Crettons:** Isn’t…

<Crettons clutches at his head.>

**Crettons:** Don’t diversions bend towards the mean? We want ‘em soon.

**COMMAND:** Your judgement is unreliable. Results are optimal along the primary route. Proceed.

**Crettons:** But --

**Maddock:** You heard him. Affirmative, command.

<The group continues down the primary cavern. --Irrelevant-- conversation has been removed for brevity. Log proceeds as the group arrive at a large archway leading to a secondary room detached from the main tunnel, which continues. A quiet whimpering can be heard inside the room.>

**Crettons:** This is the primary?

**Maddock:** It’s halfway there. We can make things fit in.

**COMMAND:** There is a possibility of great yield. Divert.

<The group enter the room. A plume of smoke originates from a group of juvenile SCP-9340-⌘ instances, which lie low to the ground, covering something with their bodies.>

**Crettons:** Plenty of juveniles. No claws on ‘em yet. Seeing a few primaries.

**COMMAND:** Act as expected. No-one is watching.

**Park:** Understood.

<Park fires into the smoke. Several instances are killed; the remainder scatter. The group terminate instances as they attempt to flee. --This was not optional.-- Eventually, a single instance remains where the group originally sat. This instance is facing away from the group, squealing and clawing at the ground. The nubs of its limbs bleed as it forces them into the earth. It makes no progress.>

**Crettons:** Couple more rocks ready.

<Crettons and Park holster their weapons and move to collect two SCP-9340 instances present among the corpses. Maddock fires into the remaining SCP-9340-⌘ instance. Both Park and Crettons pause and turn.>

**Crettons:** What did you do that for? It was soft.

**Maddock:** Because.

<Maddock rolls the body over, revealing an instance of SCP-9340.>

**COMMAND:** He’s within redeemable parameters. Eyes forward.

**Crettons:** Copy.

<The group move and take

[[=]]
[[size 120%]]**⌘ ACT 2, MADDOCK⌘**[[/size]]
[[/=]]
[[div class="modal poem"]]
PRACTICE

Eye ever to truth,
Track turning hard,
On Us?
Who Else?

Strife is easy,
When hiding stone
With Our flesh.

Memory belongs to Us,
Faith belongs to Us,
For Us is dark,
Shade grows in We.
[[/div]]
@@ @@
each and every

[[=]]
[[size 120%]]**⌘ ACT 2, CRETTONS⌘**[[/size]]
[[/=]]
[[div class="modal poem"]]
PRACTICE

Wheel’s turn,
Like river raises Our grove.

What is close blots
All light here.

I do not want to look.
[[/div]]
@@ @@
instance, until none remain

[[=]]
[[size 120%]]**⌘ ACT 2, PARK⌘**[[/size]]
[[/=]]

[[div class="modal poem"]]
PRACTICE

I hate them.

–––––– for Else,
Others close ––––––
Around –––––– grasps ––––––’s song, so –––––– waits for
Else which
Is a net.

I hate them.
[[/div]]
@@ @@
untouched.>

<They exit the room and return to the primary path without incident. 8 minutes of footage have been cut. They then arrive at another chamber, whose entryway is next to a pillar bearing symbols similar to those on the mural. The room is enveloped in thick smoke. Incense obscures what it reveals. There is a silence.>
[[=]]
[[image molebeginning.webp]]
[[/=]]
**Maddock:** Jackpot.

**COMMAND:** Preliminary assessment concurs: bingo. Advance.

<The group enter the room. They attempt to waft away the smoke. It still clings. Maddock, leading them, stumbles on the uneven ground and touches an instance of SCP-9340 on a shelf, knocking it onto the ground and breaking it. All three members of the team shiver.>

**Crettons:** Did you see the tower?

**Park:** It fell after the fire.

**Crettons:** We need to do that again.

**COMMAND:** Maximum disaffirmation: do not, repeat, do not. Preserve SCP-9340 instances. Primary.

<Maddock rises to his feet, before feeling around to discover another SCP-9340 instance, which he quickly throws to the ground, shattering it. The group exhibit a similar sense of relief.>

**COMMAND:** Negative.

**Crettons:** Let me try.

**COMMAND:** Negative.

<Crettons runs with his hand extended until bumping into a wall on the other side of the room. In the process, 9 SCP-9340 instances were destroyed.>

**COMMAND:** Cease your jubilation.

**Park:** I have an idea.

<Park grabs and throws an SCP-9340 instance, attempting to shoot it out of the air. She misses, and it breaks on the ground.>

**Park:** Fuck. Slippery things.

**COMMAND:** Cease. Focus on primary.

**Maddock:** Practice makes perfect.

<Maddock grabs an instance and throws it into the air. Park does not attempt to shoot it. It breaks on the floor.>

**COMMAND:** Stop. Arete leak imminent. Focus primary.

**Park:** I wasn’t ready!

**Maddock:** All clear. We have 89 more to go.

**COMMAND:** Stop immediate. Focus primary.

<Maddock throws another instance, which Park successfully shoots out of the air.>

**Park:** Woo!

**COMMAND:** Stop cease prevent.

**Crettons:** Guys! Check this out!

<Crettons has climbed atop a shelf. Only the glow of his goggles is visible. He is then seen falling, followed by a sigh of relief from the other agents>

<He stands up to reveal a pile of crushed SCP-9340 instances.>

**COMMAND:** Focus primary.

<Crettons adopts an expression of intense thought.>

**Crettons:** …Focusing //quaternary//.

**COMMAND:** Negative.

**Maddock:** Positive.

**COMMAND:** Negative. Cease total agnostic immersion. Focus primary.

**Maddock:** Shut up.

<Maddock disables communications.>

**Crettons:** He’s gone?

<Maddock nods.>

**Maddock:** He fell out of the world.

**Park:** Let's get to work.

<Over the next ten minutes, the team destroy a total of 81 instances of SCP-9340. Methods of destruction include: shooting; punching; kicking; determined press; thoughts without prayers; throwing; sawing; acknowledgement of subjectivity; continuity and amoral action.>

<Log continues as Maddock places

[[=]]
[[size 120%]]**⌘ FINALE, MADDOCK ⌘**[[/size]]
[[/=]]
[[div class="modal poem"]]
**KEEPSAKE:**

Lens out of
Sky that was
Our far home.

Copy so We
Who run far
Can spin out

Shells that skein.
Won’t Else be
Soon in sun?
[[/div]]
an instance of SCP-9340 on his head, waiting for Park to shoot it. The room has cleared up nicely. As Maddock kneels on the ground, he offers her a thumbs up.>

**Crettons:** Don’t get care-

<A previously unseen instance of SCP-9340-⌘ appears from behind an alcove in the chamber, hyperventilating. It charges Maddock from behind, beheading him. Park then shoots the instance before rushing over to Maddock. >

**Park:** Fuck!

**Crettons:** What?

**Park:** They fucking- it fucking killed Maddock.

**Crettons:** Like beetles or like branches?

**Park:** Like branches.

**Crettons:** Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

<The two stare at the body for a short period. Crettons re-opens communications.>

**COMMAND:** Appropriate chastisement.

**Crettons:** Agent down, command.

**COMMAND:** Affirmative. Retrieve primary. Continue.

**Park:** Copy.

<Park collects the instance beside Maddock’s body, which remains unbroken. She places it in her bag, before leaving the room with Crettons. Neither look back.>

<The duo continues forward for 40 minutes. They do not speak. Several more openings pass by, and are ignored. No smoke emits from any room they pass. Eventually, the primary path comes to an end. The tunnel opens into a vast and empty space. In the centre, behind a veil of smoke, sits a large throne.

<Instances of SCP-9340-⌘ are present at the back of the room, having clustered far from the centre. They clutch each other periodically.>

<Various mundane artefacts are scattered between the pair and the throne, including weaving-wheels and a clockwork lathe.>

<The two approach in silence. Crettons nudges aside a small clay figure, sculpted with a clumsily-shaped face.>

<For a moment, they stand before the throne. In unison they reach out and

[[=]]
[[size 120%]]**⌘ SYNTHESIS, FINALE ⌘**[[/size]]
[[size 120%]]**⌘ FEEDBACK ERROR: OVERLOAD ⌘**[[/size]]
[[/=]]
[[div class="modal poem"]]
BEGINNING

Arches
Are held by what they hold,
So We descend,
History falls forever
Unfolding fire.

Is not
A thing found if
We persist in it?
Far and further deep
A new thing finds what
Is becomes not.

In Our prior patience
Waits eternity.
[[/div]]
[[=]]
[[size 120%]]**⌘ FEEDBACK ERROR: UNDERLOAD ⌘**[[/size]]
[[/=]]
[[div class="modal poem"]]
ENDING

Encycled,
Prising or preening,
A pirouette spirals
Returning to
Spiraling pirouette, that
Preened and prised
Encycles.
[[/div]]
[[=]]
[[size 120%]]**⌘ FEEDBACK ERROR: HESPERUS ⌘**[[/size]]
[[/=]]

<End log>
[[/div]]

After careful wargaming, the Ethics Committee discovered that the expedition failed to achieve its purpose. SCP-9340-⌘ maintain their interiority. Further attempts to locate it are known to be fruitless. The Department of Surrealistics concluded that agnostic harvest was no longer deontically sound, and subjected all involved perspectives to a raw quicklime bath.

The excess agnosis yield will be diverted to productive concerns throughout the Foundation. For that purpose, this file has been ideatically suspended beyond condemnation.

A final remote survey was extended towards SCP-9340-A, in order to compute their moral weight. Regrettably, SCP-9340-⌘ were found to have abandoned their socialisation, making quantification impossible. They were found in clusters of two and three individuals, scattered over the valley, generally still and uncommunicative. The initial mural was completed, as seen:
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[[image muralsad]]
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No children were present.
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[[footnoteblock]]


[[include :scp-wiki:component:earthworm
| previous-url=/scp-9068
| previous-title=Burning Down the House
| next-url=/scp-1983-ex
| next-title=Making Flippy Floppy
| hub-url=/stop-making-sense
| hub-title=Stop Making Sense
]]

[[div class="footer-wikiwalk-nav"]]
[[=]]
<< [[[SCP-9339]]] | SCP-9340 | [[[SCP-9341]]] >>
[[/=]]
[[/div]]

[[include :scp-wiki:component:license-box
|author=GraveCreations, AWhiteBoy, whenwerewe]]
All images by [[*user bad_data]] and [[*user gravecreations]]

> **Filename:** mural1
> **License:** CC by SA 4.0

> **Filename:** muralsad
> **License:** CC by SA 4.0

These images are a composite of the following:
> **Filename:** Ntunjambili cave in Matopo.jpg
> **Author:** Mqeumoyo
> **License:** CC by SA 4.0
> **Source:** https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ntunjambili_cave_in_Matopo.jpg

> **Filename:** Dungarvan Castle - scratch marks.jpg
> **Author:** A.-K. D.
> **License:** CC by SA 4.0
> **Source:** https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dungarvan_Castle_-_scratch_marks.jpg

> **Filename:** Stone Base with Graffiti in the Harmondsworth Great Barn II (03).jpg
> **Author:** Doyle of London
> **License:** CC by SA 4.0
> **Source:** https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stone_Base_with_Graffiti_in_the_Harmondsworth_Great_Barn_II_(03).jpg

> **Filename:** Polissoir at Aghaviller Church 01.jpg
> **Author:** A.-K. D.
> **License:** CC by SA 4.0
> **Source:** https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Polissoir_at_Aghaviller_Church_01.jpg


> **Filename:** molebeginning
> **License:** CC by SA 4.0

This image is a composite of the following:

> **Filename:** Polissoir at Aghaviller Church 01.jpg
> **Author:** A.-K. D.
> **License:** CC by SA 4.0
> **Source:** https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Polissoir_at_Aghaviller_Church_01.jpg

> **Filename:** Dungarvan Castle - scratch marks.jpg
> **Author:** A.-K. D.
> **License:** CC by SA 4.0
> **Source:** https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dungarvan_Castle_-_scratch_marks.jpg

> **Filename:** Carlsbad Caverns National Park P1012908.jpg
> **Author:** National Park Service Digital Image Archives
> **License:** Public Domain
> **Source:** https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carlsbad_Caverns_National_Park_P1012908.jpg
[[include :scp-wiki:component:license-box-end]]

SCP-9340

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