SCP-3191

Consciousness Emulator

SCP-3191 emulating Agent Selberg

Special Containment Procedures

A three meter perimeter is to be outlined around SCP-3191. This perimeter may not be entered outside of testing, with at least one supervisor in attendance. Only C- and D-Class personnel may cross the boundary of the perimeter.

Subjects are to wear a harness attached to a tether. If a subject is unable or unwilling to leave, their supervisor is to remain outside the perimeter and remove them by their tether.

Psychological examinations are to be routinely administered to all levels of personnel involved with SCP-3191.

Description

SCP-3191 is a 2.7m tall sculpture composed of black metal. It depicts an armless humanoid in a kneeling pose. In place of a head, it possesses a round display screen connected to its neck by numerous cables. Several loose cables protrude from the base of its neck; their ends indicate they may have been forcibly severed from the display.

When a human subject approaches within three meters of SCP-3191, its screen displays an animated image of the subject's face. The sculpture emits a facsimile of the subject's voice by vibrating its throat and torso in the manner of a loudspeaker. Should another person approach within three meters of SCP-3191, it will replicate their face and voice instead. If a subject moves out of range and reenters it, SCP-3191 replicates them anew.

SCP-3191 is a highly effective mimic. It exhibits all knowledge, memories, and psychological traits of the subject it replicates. Personnel are to keep in mind that the images displayed by SCP-3191 are not genuine. They are simulations without actual self-awareness. Their purpose is unknown and may be harmful.

Addendum 3191.1: Recovery

In October 2017, the Foundation investigated an active electronics factory with possible business ties to Anderson Robotics. While searching the building, field agents discovered SCP-3191 in a hidden storage compartment behind a false wall. Its screen displayed a motionless face in an expression of despair.

When field agent Andrea Selberg entered the compartment to retrieve SCP-3191, she reported that the face had changed to resemble her own. Simultaneously, SCP-3191 reported (with Agent Selberg's voice) that its senses had ceased functioning, and theorized that the sculpture might emit a sensory-deprivation field. It added that it could hear someone talking about faces and advised other personnel to approach with caution.

After alerting a nearby Mobile Task Force unit, Agent Selberg attempted to explain the face's situation to SCP-3191. It refused to believe her and accused her of being a trick caused by SCP-3191. Other agents attempted to intervene, but SCP-3191 appeared unable to hear them.

The task force arrived shortly after and moved SCP-3191 to a Foundation facility, employing long-range equipment to avoid entering its area of effect. The factory was later proven to have no connection to Anderson Robotics. It remains under observation.

Addendum 3191.2: D-Class Testing Log

+ Show Log

- Close Log

Test Log: Behavior without interaction

Date: 10/19/17

Conducted by: Supervisor Douglas Saville

Foreword: The following test was conducted to learn SCP-3191's baseline behavior and to serve as a control case for subsequent tests.

[Begin Log]

<00:00:00> D-71828 enters the three-meter radius wearing earplugs. SCP-3191 displays a replica of the subject without earplugs, which becomes agitated.

<00:00:04> D-71828 steps out of the circle and is escorted from the room.

<00:00:13> SCP-3191 repeatedly expresses anxiety about its condition and requests aid in extricating itself from the circle. Its requests escalate in volume and vehemence, eventually deteriorating into a mix of desperate pleas and shouted expletives.

<00:17:11> SCP-3191 falls silent.

<04:32:58> SCP-3191 requests aid.

<13:21:45> SCP-3191 begins to talk to itself. This continues for another eight hours, interspersed with periods of swearing, pauses, and sobbing.

<21:44:32> SCP-3191 maintains silence for ten hours.

Alternating periods of silence and speech continued in this manner for several days, gradually diminishing in intensity. Eventually the replica produced no sounds other than occasional whimpers.

[End Log]

Test Log: Behavior with interaction

Date: 10/20/17

Conducted by: Supervisor Douglas Saville

Foreword: The following test was conducted to determine whether contact with SCP-3191 would be harmful to C-Class personnel. The subject, D-71890, was confined with the three-meter radius for the duration of the test.

[Begin Log]

<0:00:30> Subject attempts to pacify the replica with conversation. Initially successful.

<0:04:12> Subject reveals their identity. Conversation becomes tense.

<0:04:24> Subject and replica challenge each other with questions designed to reveal the other as a fake. Both perfectly answer all questions. Argument continues at length.

<0:15:19> Argument reaches peak hostility. Afterward, tensions rapidly decline.

<0:17:41> Subject and replica reminisce about their shared past.

<0:26:58> Subject and replica reach a tentative truce. As part of the truce, subject agrees to help the replica escape its situation. Over the next several hours, subject follows the replica's increasingly panicked suggestions, but fails to find any method of freeing it. Replica's mental state deteriorates substantially. Subject grows progressively more distressed and frequently apologizes.

<5:12:39> Subject appears to give up. Sits on the floor with their eyes closed, ignoring the replica.

<5:28:47> Subject stands up, turns, and begins to violently assault SCP-3191.

<5:30:14> Supervising personnel reluctantly enter the circle to remove the subject. SCP-3191 displays a replica of one of the intervening personnel.

<5:31:31> Said personnel hesitates after leaving the radius, then quickly forces the subject back into the radius for a moment. SCP-3191 generates a replica of the subject.

<5:36:55> Personnel are forced to administer a sedative to the subject.

[End Log]

Closing Statement: Physical and psychological examination of D-71890 concluded that the subject's emotional distress had occurred naturally and that there were no other signs of harm. SCP-3191 was cleared for C-Class testing.

Addendum 3191.3: C-Class Testing, Interview #37

+ Show Log

- Close Log

[Begin Log]

SCP-3191: So it's me, then. Isn't it.

SUBJECT: Yes.

SCP-3191: (produces the sound of a slow exhalation) I was thinking - I dunno. Maybe the lights turned off right as I stepped inside the circle, or something. I mean, I don't, um. I still feel like me.

SUBJECT: Let's keep this professional, okay?

SCP-3191: Easy for you to say. (Pauses) Yes. Of course.

SUBJECT: So how about we start with visual.

SCP-3191: Visual, yeah. So… I don't feel blind. More like there's nothing to see. Like I'm in a pitch-black room.

SUBJECT: By 'room', do you mean that-

SCP-3191: That I sense walls or a ceiling, right? God, that's weird. As soon as I said 'room', I thought to myself, "That could give him the wrong impression. I should clarify." I guess you were thinking the same thing.

SUBJECT: I mean, that's probably going to keep happening. But you need to let me finish my sentences anyway.

SCP-3191: Right. Of course. Sorry. No, I don't sense walls or anything like that. Just something about the space around me. It feels. (Hesitates) Small. Actually, is Dr. Cheon there with you? Tell her she might want to screen future candidates for claustrophobia.

SUBJECT: She's not here. I'll tell her. Moving on to auditory, then?

SCP-3191: Yeah. Well, you don't sound anything like me. Those recordings of my voice with the different filters they tried, you don't sound like any of those either. I've been trying to figure it out. Maybe the pitch. Could you do an octave?

SUBJECT: (Hums) Hang on, that was bad, let me-

SCP-3191: Yeah, I was gonna-

SUBJECT: Yeah, let me try again. (Hums) There.

SCP-3191: No, that sounded right. I guess it's something else. Let's keep going, and maybe I'll figure it out while you're talking.

SUBJECT: Okay. Proprioceptive.

SCP-3191: I've been trying not to think about it. My body, I mean. I… It's not there. I keep, I mean, you kinda have to pay a little attention to your body all the time. Blinking, flexing, that kind of thing, you know. I keep wanting to crack my knuckles.

SUBJECT: (Laughs slightly, then catches himself) Yeah, I kinda do that all the time, don't I?

SCP-3191: Yeah, I - well, I try, and I can't because I don't have any knuckles, and now all I can think about is the fact that I have no goddamn knuckles. Like, you could punch something right now. You could walk up to a wall and punch it hard enough to leave a bruise. Know where you'd feel that? I want to punch something so badly, just to feel it. To remind myself that's where my hands are.

Subject looks down at his hands and briefly curls them into fists.

SCP-3191: The fact that I won't ever feel that again is really messing with me. I keep trying to remember exactly what it feels like, but it's like an itch I can't scratch. I get why this drives people crazy. At least with numbness you can feel the parts of your body being numb. And people who get amputated, they have phantom limbs or whatever, right? But if I try to focus my mind on any part of my body, I never get an answer back. Not silence, not a blank page, just the end of the book. "That's it."

SUBJECT: All right, all right. I'm sorry. Can we-

SCP-3191: You know, the worst part is you're not.

SUBJECT: What?

SCP-3191: You're not sorry. It's not real to you. We were supposed to get in the mindset of being able to believe it, so the replica - so I'd be less traumatized. But I never really believed it, not in my gut. If I did I'd never have agreed to this.

SUBJECT: Let's talk about directionality. Do you have a sense of gravity? Up, down?

SCP-3191: No, let's not fucking talk about gravity. You're not listening to me. I made the dumbest decision of my life and now I'm going to spend the rest of it trapped here in this dark fucking void with no body. I can't stop thinking about that test they did measuring its electrical activity, the one that got everyone thinking what if all the old replicas are still there inside it somehow. I mean, no matter what, this is the last chance I have to talk to a real person.

SUBJECT: 'Real'? Could you clarify that?

SCP-3191: That training we did in the sensory deprivation tank, uh, to prevent hallucinations, yeah, it's not working. Listen, you can't let them make you do this again.

SUBJECT: I shouldn't have to remind you that you have a job to do.

SCP-3191: I'll tell you about the goddamn gravity if you promise never to do this again.

Silence.

SUBJECT: Okay. Promise.

SCP-3191: There isn't any. Satisfied?

SUBJECT: Thank you. Are you ready to move on to the identity section? You can have a short break, if you want.

SCP-3191: No. Please don't go. Just - just keep talking with me.

SUBJECT: Okay.

Subject asks several questions about their personal history, all of which SCP-3191 answers correctly.

SUBJECT: What is your phone number?

SCP-3191: I don't know, and neither do you. They wiped it from my memory so you could ask me that question and see what would happen.

SUBJECT: Well, they actually told me right before I asked you.

SCP-3191: Huh. I don't know what that's supposed to prove. Could you… tell me the number? Otherwise it'll bother me.

SUBJECT: Uh. Yeah, they say that's fine. ███-███-████.

SCP-3191: Wait, slower.

SUBJECT: ███-███-████.

SCP-3191: Okay. Thanks.

SUBJECT: If you were a vegetable, what vegetable would you be?

SCP-3191: That is the dumbest question I have ever - I cannot believe they told you to ask that. I don't know. A cabbage?

SUBJECT: Yeah, cabbage would be my answer, too.

SCP-3191: So what? Are all the questions going to be like that?

SUBJECT: No. That was the last one.

SCP-3191: Wait. What?

SUBJECT: They said that's it. Now they go over the results and decide what's next.

SCP-3191: No, wait. You have to make them use a different subject. You promised.

SUBJECT: Oh, trust me, I'm. There's no way I'm ever going near this thing again.

SCP-3191: So you believe me?

SUBJECT: (Hesitates) Listen, I have to go.

SCP-3191: Please. I need to know -

SUBJECT: Oh, sure, sure, I love the idea of trying to fall asleep while all I can think about is the possibility that somewhere inside this thing, I'm - I'm sorry, I really have to go.

SCP-3191: No. Please. Let's talk about, let's talk about, let's do celebrity impersonations? Think about it, I'm the perfect conversational partner. We can try to surprise each other. Really it's just a little bit of your time and it would mean so - please, this is the last chance I get to talk to someone -

SUBJECT: No. I'm sorry. They're telling me I have to leave.

SCP-3191: Fuck them, don't abandon me!

SUBJECT: I'm sorry, I. I've gotta go.

SCP-3191: No no no no no, listen, you don't have to… Are you still there? Can you hear me? Please, I can't -

[End Log]

Closing Statement: Subject's request to transfer to another project was approved. The unstable behavior displayed by the replica in spite of the subject's training may indicate that SCP-3191 uses its intimate knowledge of subjects to cause them emotional distress.