SCP-2714
Billions of Blue Blistering
Special Containment Procedures
SCP-2714 is to be kept in a low-value containment safe at Site-88. On no account are pages 20 and 21 to be opened outside of occasional approved testing. Pages 57 and 58 are to be opened and the contents recorded daily. A standard-issue containment bookmark has been slotted into these pages to avoid opening pages 20 and 21 during the procedure. All documents related to SCP-2714 are to be stored in low-level object supplement folders next to the safe for researcher reference.
All SCP-2714-1 instances are to be contained in biological containment cells at Site 88. Instances may be divided up by -A, -B, and -C within the cells for convenience of researchers, as there is no distinction between them outside of appearance. The air in SCP-2714-1 containment cells are to contain 5% microscopic biological matter, distributed by air vent, for feeding purposes.
Pages 20 and 21, if ever opened for approved testing purposes, are only to be opened in SCP-2714-1 biological containment chambers.
Description
SCP-2714 is a copy of the 1968 graphic novel The Adventures of Tintin: Flight 714 by Belgian artist Georges Remi (known by his pen name Hergé), translated from French into English by Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper and Michael Turner and published by Methuen Children's Books. SCP-2714 shows signs of its age, with some minor damage, but is in mostly good condition.
SCP-2714 has two pages that display separate anomalous properties. Opening the page 20-21 spread will cause the appearance of three sessile organisms resembling barnacles, designated SCP-2714-1, in a varying distance around SCP-2714-1. This will occur every ten minutes until the book is closed. Each SCP-2714-1 instance is, on average, 1 meter tall and 10 meters in circumference at the base, though size does vary (see document 2714-35FN for detailed statistical analysis). There appear to be three distinct types of SCP-2714-1, identified as SCP-2714-1A, SCP-2714-1B, and SCP-2714-1C; all instances of each type of SCP-2714-1 are genetically identical to each other.
The shell plates of each SCP-2714-1 organism are composed of live bone; patches of hair-growing tissue are also present, as are patches of of what appears to be fabric. The bone has been genetically analyzed and identified as belonging to a domestic dog (Canis familiaris) — specifically, the Wire Haired Terrier breed; notably, all bone has been sourced to the same individual. Three colors of hair (white, orange, and black) are present, as are three colors of fabric (green, light blue, and dark blue). The white hair is present on all SCP-2714-1 organisms; genetic analysis of the white-hair follicles indicates that they are canine, and from the same individual as the bone in the shell plates.
Samples taken from the cirri and internal systems of SCP-2714-1 -A, -B and -C instances indicate they are composed of mostly human DNA, as opposed to the canine carapaces. SCP-2714-1 instances feed on biological matter in the surrounding air filtered using their cirri, and lack reproductive organs. Each instance secretes a small amount of corrosive liquid, found to be 68% ethanol and described as having a woody odor, similar to whisky. Part of the musculature contains complex human brain tissue. No electrical activity has been recorded originating from this tissue, and it is most likely vestigial, with no current purpose within the organism. SCP-2714-1 instances have a small, active, primary brain: a clump of neurons that control autonomous bodily functions.
The second anomaly appears upon opening page 58. All text in dialogue bubbles will be replaced with a long, incoherent dialogue by an unknown entity or group of entities. This text changes upon reopening the page. Common themes amongst these texts include purgatory, the nature of reality, and the death of artistic thought. References to other Tintin stories are common, though seemingly disconnected from the text's main ideas.
Sample text observed on █/█/19██. Character actions are recorded for reference.
Captain Haddock: And I saw my comrades make that great and terrible crossing from the boundaries of known art into the land of alph-art1, and into the unknown.
(Captain Haddock is hypnotized by Kanrokitoff.)
Captain Haddock: Yes, but would that be so? We know not what exists for the wicked.
Kanrokitoff: If the world were like that of an oyster, then we are the slime surrounding the pearl, forming the pearl. We create the comic-men stumbling through the woods to some glory we know not what. Picaros.2 Ten thousand thundering typhoons.3
(Kanrokitoff orders the other characters to climb a ladder of the spacecraft. He then does so himself. The volcano then explodes.)
Kanrokitoff: They are the ideal. We hold them past their racist minds and the formless chaos of those old forgotten europeans who destroyed the world. Have you seen the meat made of ink? The blood of paper? The world of doll eyes4 and dashing kings.
Lazlo Carreidas: This is transient. All of it. I am formless, writhing through a great void, waiting to be made flesh. This is meaningless. There is only the word. In the beginning there was the word.
Kanrokitoff: And the word was with God.
Skut: That is true. One cannot dispute that. But what of the pictures? What of those same terrible concepts. They never receive the news.(Kanrokitoff spots the rubber dinghy where the villains are sailing)
Kanrokitoff: I am Castafiore, the Milanese Nightingale,5 and I have been shown an intolerable force. For someone ripped my soul from my ink with a bottle of whisky and tore me apart, according to the way the ancientmost priests of our faith decreed. What nonsense! What did it make of me? I am still waiting.
Allan: Art is dead. Comedy is dead. Adventure is dead. Racism is dead.6
(Rastapopalous fires at the spacecraft.)
Rastapopalous: Should we embrace the hell? The riotous violence of the others? I doubt I would survive even that crossing.
Neo-Sarkic cults throughout Canada and the northern United States.
SCP-2714's anomalous properties first came to the Foundation’s attention when it had been left open to page 21 while local police were emptying Escoffier’s apartment. The next morning, the apartment had been completely colonized by SCP-2714-1 instances of varying sizes. Foundation agents within Quebec police forces were alerted, and contained the anomaly. All SCP-2714-1 specimens were removed to Foundation custody. SCP-2714-1 instances would most likely have exponentially colonized beyond the apartment had Page 20 not been closed.