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| SCP-814-1 with glass color-wheels retracted |
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Item #: SCP-814
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-814 is to be kept in a secure storage locker when not in use, protected by a standard keypad lock. For testing purposes, eyelid speculums and restraints (handcuffs or four-point) are recommended. Researchers should be careful to minimize direct observation of SCP-814 while in operation. Researchers and guards studying audio or video footage should take five-minute breaks every twenty minutes, or more frequently if needed.
Description: SCP-814 consists of several parts, designated SCP-814-1 and SCP-814-2. SCP-814-1 is an antique wax-cylinder phonograph machine, apparently custom made, in a finished mahogany enclosure. The enclosure is carved and gilt with damaged, though intricate, patterns. While the enclosure displays superficial signs of age and wear, the internal mechanisms of the phonograph are in perfect working order. The machine is distinctive for having slots for not one, but twenty wax cylinders, and a mechanism that slides a playing needle onto the next slot after each cylinder is finished.
While the machine is in operation, doors on the front of the cabinet open to reveal one-hundred and ninety-six stained-glass color wheels in a square grid, each 3 centimeters in radius. An internal mechanism rotates each color wheel independently based on the sounds produced by a cylinder.
SCP-814-2 is a leather case with twenty cylindrical pouches, labeled with Roman numerals I through XX, the last six of which are empty. The other fourteen contain phonograph cylinders are made out of solid, high quality steel instead of the expected wax or plastic, and are etched with a corresponding Roman numeral (designated SCP-814-2-I through SCP-814-2-XIV). The cylinders each contain about 4 minutes of sound. The groves on these cylinders appear to have been painstakingly etched by hand. The whereabouts of cylinders XV through XX are unknown.
When one or more cylinders are played in succession, the color wheels spin in response to the vibrations. When typical antique wax records are played, SCP-814-1 acts in the expected fashion and no unusual results are observed. However, when one or more of SCP-814-2 are played in the designated order, subjects who hear the “music” and see the spinning color wheels experience the full effects of SCP-814 - mild to debilitating full-sensory synesthesia. The duration and intensity of each synesthetic attack is proportional to the number of cylinders played, ranging from ten minutes to sixteen hours. Digital analysis of the "music" has shown that it is composed primarily of long, pure notes in a variety of keys and modes.
Pain and bleeding from the ears and eyes inevitably occur after five to ten cylinders.
On several occasions, subjects have experienced tonic-clonic (grand mal) seizures, resulting in two deaths.
Test Log:
One Cylinder (4 minutes): After approximately thirty seconds, test subjects are in a state of hypnosis. By the end of cylinder I, subjects report “hearing rainbows” or “bursts of colored song.” Synesthesia and disorientation lasts approximately ten minutes post-exposure.
Two cylinders (8 minutes): By the end of two cylinders, patients extremely disoriented and synesthetic. Upon recovery, some subjects report olfactory synesthesia, “hearing flowers,” “blinding music,” etc. Synesthesia and disorientation lasts approximately thirty minutes post-exposure.
Five cylinders (20 minutes): Subjects are completely incoherent and synesthetic, and upon recovery report mild to moderate burning or stabbing pains in the ears or eyes. Further external stimuli aggravate the attacks - flashes of light or loud noises, for example. Synesthesia and incoherence lasts approximately two hours post-exposure.
Ten cylinders (40 minutes): Subjects are incoherent and display signs of severe distress. Mild to moderate bleeding from the ears and eyes occasionally results in permanent blindness or deafness. Upon recovery, subjects have difficulty recounting their experiences, saying that they could “hear lightning drilling into their ears” and that they experience flashes of light as physical pain or pleasure. Synesthesia lasts ten to fifteen hours post-exposure. Tonic-clonic (grand mal) seizures occur rarely.
Fourteen cylinders (56 minutes): Subjects are in extreme distress by the end of fourteen cylinders. Bleeding from ears and eyes results in permanent blindness in twenty percent of cases. Sensory perception is very pronounced, especially in auditory/visual and audiovisual/tactile perception. Several subjects have actually orgasmed in response to flashes of light, while others experienced excruciating agony. Tonic-clonic seizures occur in five percent of subjects, twice causing death by head trauma when violent thrashing overturned the chair to which the subjects were handcuffed. Any additional stimuli (light flashes, external noise) inevitably provoke extreme reactions. Attacks last as long as twenty-four hours. Lasting psychological trauma is virtually guaranteed.
Incident Reports:
Incident SCP-814-a: On ██/██/200█, Dr. P████ dosed Dr. L███ with sedatives and managed to move him to SCP-814's testing chamber unobserved. Dr. P████ restrained Dr. L███ with four-point ties and ocular speculums. Dr. P████ held off guards with a stolen assault rifle and [DATA REDACTED] while forcing Dr. L███ to endure two full 56-minute sessions of SCP-814 and 29 minutes of a third session, at which point Dr. P████ was neutralized by gunfire. While Dr. L███ regained proper sensory perception after approximately ten days, he has yet to recover any semblance of sanity.
A search of Dr. P████'s and Dr. L███'s homes revealed that both had connections with groups outside of the Foundation, most likely [DATA REDACTED] or the Chaos Insurgency.