SCP-3699

Memoirs of a Shingle Beach

Special Containment Procedures

SCP-3699 is to be cordoned off from public access, with Foundation personnel on-site to guard a perimeter within the marshland behind it. A dedicated taskforce is to track down any SCP-3699-1 instances in the possession of civilians and retrieve them, applying full amnestics to any civilians aware of SCP-3699's or SCP-3699-1's anomalous effects.

Description

SCP-3699 refers to Cley Beach, Norfolk, England. SCP-3699 is a shingle beach, predominantly composed of small rocks and stones. SCP-3699's anomalous properties are not apparent unless a shingle stone is removed from SCP-3699. These stones are henceforth referred to as SCP-3699-1 instances.

Approximately 10 days after being removed from SCP-3699 by a human, SCP-3699-1 instances will begin to vocalise English in a "Received Pronounciation" accent, despite possessing no mechanisms for speech. SCP-3699-1 instances have been described as highly intelligent and articulate, and have proven cooperative with Foundation questioning.

SCP-3699-1 instances are sapient, and possess fully-realised personalities and memories. They ordinarily claim to possess names traditionally found in England. SCP-3699-1 instances are apparently capable of remembering their entire existence as a shingle-rock, while also remembering every larger object they were once part of.

The origin of SCP-3699 is unknown. It is also unknown how SCP-3699-1 instances are capable of vocalisation, given how in all physical aspects they resemble ordinary pieces of rock. SCP-3699-1 instances exhibit no other anomalous behaviour. Returning an SCP-3699-1 instance to SCP-3699 causes their anomalous properties to deactivate, until they are once more removed from SCP-3699.

See below for samples of interviews with SCP-3699-1 instances.

+Interview 3699-3

-Interview 3699-3

Interviewed: SCP-3699-1-1, who goes by the name of "Roderick" and speaks with a male voice.

Interviewer: Dr. Maria F██████, lead researcher on SCP-3699.

Foreword: This interview was conducted 22/06/20██.

<Begin Log>

Dr. F██████: Could you tell us a little about yourself, please?

SCP-3699-1-1: By all means. My name is Roderick. I am a small shingle stone. There isn't really very much to say about me beyond that. I first became me several hundred years ago, when a rock hit my mother. It was mildly traumatic, to say the least.

Dr. F██████: …Your mother?

SCP-3699-1-1: Yes. Well, an approximation thereof. I mean the larger rock from which I was chipped off. I used to be her, and have memories of being her. It's a strange life, being a pebble of good breeding.

Dr. F██████: I…see.

SCP-3699-1-1: This must sound very strange to you. I apologise. You have all been so hospitable here. I don't want to alarm you with what must seem to be deviant practices.

Dr. F██████: Er, no, no, not at all… tell me about your life since then. How did you end up at Cley?

SCP-3699-1-1: Oh, I couldn't possibly tell you all about it. I've been tossed onto shores all across the oceans. I've been swallowed by whales, spat out into Pacific waters, lain untouched on the shores of Africa, Asia, Peru. I've been skimmed over the waves by peasant-boys in medieval France, wedged into miniature sand-pavilions in 17th-century Siam, tossed to and fro along the sea. Most of the time, it's pretty boring.

Dr. F██████: And have you always been able to, erm, think?

SCP-3699-1-1: Oh, I believe so. I remember so many things. Being wedged into the side of a wooden boat- the Mary-Rose, I think it was called. It sank, of course, and I along with it. Like a stone. Hah.

Dr. F██████: When did you first arrive at Cley Beach?

SCP-3699-1-1: Oh… several years ago now, I think. I can't remember the date precisely- you know how it is with these things. It's a nice place to live. We talk, debate, discuss good literature and where the best waters are. We count the stars, and remember when we… when we were them. Out in the void.

I do apologise, Doctor- I'm feeling a little tired. Being a stone gets a little tiring after a while, you see. Could I take a rest?

<End Log>

+Interview 3699-18

-Interview 3699-18

Interviewed: SCP-3699-1-2, who goes by the name of "Maud" and speaks with a female voice.

Interviewer: Dr. F██████

Foreword: This interview was conducted 03/01/20██.

<Begin Log>

Dr. F██████: Could you tell us a little about what you are?

SCP-3699-1-2: Well, that seems like an awfully personal question. But I suppose that your intentions are pure. I am a small rock.

Dr. F██████: I was, erm, more referring to the fact that you're different from the other rocks.

SCP-3699-1-2: Am I? Well, a girl does like to be complimented, but perhaps save that for the second date.

Dr. F██████: …Let's change the subject.

SCP-3699-1-2: A splendid idea, my dear. So, have you ever been in love?

Dr. F██████: Wh- er, yes. I am married.

SCP-3699-1-2: Ah, but your human coupling is so straightforward. It’s different for a small rock. You see, we are inanimate objects, which means that our love-life is entirely dependent upon random chance and circumstance.

Dr. F██████: Sometimes I think ours is as well.

SCP-3699-1-2: Hah! Perhaps you are right. Well, it is worse for us, I'm afraid, and mine is a sad tale.

Many years ago, when I was younger and my surfaces less smooth, I found myself being tossed to and fro by fierce waves. It was somewhere off the coast of Spain, I think, and I ended up being tossed onto a beach in the Basque Country. Well, I wasn’t overly happy about this predicament. I’m not really one for sitting still. It’s an inconvenient habit when you’re a rock.

But then! Out of nowhere, the sea tosses over this limpet-shell, right on top of me. It was love at first sight. She was called Simone, and she was beautiful.

Dr. F██████: You mean- you can talk, even when you haven’t come from Cley Beach?

SCP-3699-1-2: Oh yes. Only to one another, though. You lot can’t hear us normally. You can’t hear sea-shells either, but I don’t blame you. They have odd sounding voices. Very… curved, for want of a better word. Do you understand?

Dr. F██████: I think so. What was special about this seashell, then?

SCP-3699-1-2: Oh, what a gorgeous creature she was. The limpet had died ages ago, so she was free, and happy. She’d fallen on top of me, and stayed there. Oh, the times we had! We discussed theology, history, the works of Sartre. She loved surrealist art, whereas I always preferred cubism. I’ve never met a seashell who was as brilliant, well-educated and serene.

She always knew just how to keep me calm and sane, even when we were in danger of being washed away. We clung together in our little embrace for decades, laughing and talking and loving one another. It was perfect.

Dr. F██████: …So what happened?

SCP-3699-1-2: What always happens to us and ours. She was washed away. I wept for a week, hoping she’d return, but she never did. I was buried beneath the shingle for another year after that, before I was swept away too. I never saw her again- and if she’s even still alive, I likely never will.

Mine is a sad song. But now I am here, in the company of a beautiful woman. It got lonely, on the beach, you know. Listening to the constant chatter of the land-dwellers and newcomers. I much prefer it here.

Dr. F██████: …I think we'd better leave it there.

<End Log>

+Interview 3699-26

-Interview 3699-26

Interviewed: SCP-3699-1-1, SCP-3699-1-2, SCP-3699-1-3 (who goes by the name of "Christine" and speaks with a female voice) and SCP-3699-1-4 (who goes by the name of "Nigel" and speaks with a male voice).

Interviewer: Dr. F██████

Foreword: This interview was conducted 29/11/20██.

<Begin Log>

Dr. F██████: So, of all of the places you have visited, which do you prefer?

SCP-3699-1-2: Cadiz was nice.

SCP-3699-1-3: Ah, Cadiz! I remember the ships there. Coming in and out, towering over me. Things were different then.

SCP-3699-1-2: Yes, they were. Waters were purer. People were more civilised.

SCP-3699-1-4: No they weren’t! I remember what was on some of those ships.

SCP-3699-1-1: Well, at least they were more civilised towards us.

SCP-3699-1-2: Oh yes.

SCP-3699-1-4: Quite.

SCP-3699-1-3: They didn’t pollute the beaches with their bags and litter.

SCP-3699-1-4: Urgh, yes. So vulgar. Metal cans clanking about the place.

SCP-3699-1-2: And the chips…

SCP-3699-1-3: Oh God, yes, the chips! Makes the seagulls flock around in their squawking. So vulgar.

SCP-3699-1-2: Disgraceful.

SCP-3699-1-3: It's a good thing we ended up at Cley, you know. Not as many people to bother us.

SCP-3699-1-2: Well, there is the constant chatter of newcomers. You know what they're like. The humans can't hear them yet, of course, but some stones never listen to what their elders and betters tell them, so they witter on regardless.

SCP-3699-1-3: Quite! The humans can't hear them unless they're off the beach. Dozy bunch of shale. They hear of Cley's reputation and they come here, pig-ignorant, and quite spoil the place for the rest of us with their inane babble!

SCP-3699-1-4: Shocking. Simply shocking.

SCP-3699-1-3: Mind you… there are some good things about the modern day.

SCP-3699-1-2: That’s true. Fewer shipwrecks.

SCP-3699-1-1: Yes, they were always nasty. The sight of the bodies, the stench of the water… the fear in their glassy eyes…

SCP-3699-1-3: The ones who lived were the worst.

SCP-3699-1-1: The way they’d linger.

SCP-3699-1-4: And the rocks are different too. Not so craggy.

SCP-3699-1-3: Less blood.

SCP-3699-1-2: More!

SCP-3699-1-3: No, less. Maybe more gets in the water, but it’s not the same. It’s not like the rivers that would flow in devotion to some pagan deity. The blood of sacrifice.

SCP-3699-1-2: Of faith and war.

SCP-3699-1-1: Yes. Of faith and war.

SCP-3699-1-4: Skies are still the same, though.

SCP-3699-1-3: Indeed. The same greyness in the clouds. The same slightness as the sun shines through it.

SCP-3699-1-1: Same darkness in the shadow of the sun.

SCP-3699-1-3: Ah, we are old my dears, we are old.

SCP-3699-1-2: As old as the universe.

SCP-3699-1-1: Older, maybe. Memories get fuzzy around then.

SCP-3699-1-4: Yes. The same memories.

SCP-3699-1-1: Forever.

<End Log>

+Interview 3699-31

-Interview 3699-31

Interviewed: SCP-3699-1-1.

Interviewer: Dr. F██████

Foreword: This interview was conducted 31/12/20██.

<Begin Log>

Dr. F██████: What is your earliest memory?

SCP-3699-1-1: My earliest? Well, that’s a hard thing to work out. My earliest in my current form, do you mean?

Dr. F██████: No, I meant the earliest memory of any form. Going back as far as possible.

SCP-3699-1-1: Ah, well, that’s tougher. Things get so… mixed-up when you go that far back. I was me, and before that a larger rock, and then a larger, a larger, and so on. All the way back to the greatest rock of all; the earth.

Dr. F██████: The earth? You remember being the earth?

SCP-3699-1-1: Oh yes. We all do. Most of us are from her originally, though there are plenty of space-rocks and moon-chips too. It was a good time. I-we-hurtled through space with the force of a thousand suns. I was on fire, burning through the heavens. Great startling lines and shapes of colour and fury went passed me. No life back then; just the roar, the endless roar as we plummeted through the cosmos. I was vast, limitless, glorious. And now I’m a small pebble. Funny how things work out.

Dr. F██████: Do you remember being anything before the earth?

SCP-3699-1-1: Larger rocks. Parts of separate rocks, merged together in the fire. Little rocks in between. Mostly… mostly I just remember fire and darkness, endlessly cycling together. I was many rocks. I… I’m sorry. This is proving hard to remember.

Dr. F██████: Just take your time. What is the very earliest thing you can remember? Before all of this?

SCP-3699-1-1: I… there… there was one. Just one. Without knowledge or light or life. Compressed into a single instant. Forever, until suddenly it wasn’t forever. And I remember…

I'm sorry, doctor. This is all hard to recall. A lot of our free time is spent gazing upwards, at the fires and lights in the sky, remembering when we were all together. We sometimes sit at twilight, just trying to make everything out in a time we barely recall…

Dr. F██████: It's alright. Take your time.

SCP-3699-1-1: I remember… before. The ghosts. The things before matter. I… I…

No. I don’t recollect anything. It’s not even a memory, you see. It’s just a- a feeling, you know? Like it’s on the tip of your tongue, but you can’t quite recall. Something different. Something strange. Something that was once, and will be again.

Dr. F██████: Will be again?

SCP-3699-1-1: I… I’m sorry, doctor. I think we’ll have to end it here.

<End Log>