 Item number SCP-423 Object Class Safe Special Containment Procedures SCP-423 is contained in a 5x5 meter room containing 3 2x3 meter bookshelves. An incinerator is located adjacent. All personnel entering or leaving the room are to be searched for written material. Any written material must be checked for any trace of SCP-423 and then, if found clean and incinerated. At night, SCP-423 is to remain in a small plain journal marked 423. Failure to remain in this journal at designated time will result in loss of reading material outside of scheduled experiments. Description SCP-423 is no physical form. It appears to exist entirely within textual narratives. It was discovered in a used bookstore in ████, Texas, on ████, 19███, in a copy of Tom Sawyer. The book was purchased by Agent ████, who located it during a routine search. Agent ████ brought the book back to Sector-28 as instructed. The book seemed perfectly normal except for the inclusion of a character named Fred, who was not known to exist in any other version of the story. However, it was not until it was left by a copy of Moby Dick that the anomalous nature of SCP-423 became clear. SCP-423 is able to intertextual narratives, inserting itself as a minor character. The details of the character vary from story to story, but it is always named Fred or something similar, and its role in the story is usually minor. Physical descriptions of the character are rare, but it usually appears as a human male average height in middle years. However, this can change depending on the nature of the narrative. He has appeared as a student in narratives focusing on children and thus presumably of an appropriate age, or even as a non-human in narratives where humans are absent or rare. At no time is his appearance remarked on as being unusual by other characters. SCP-423 is able to move from one narrative to another voluntarily, provided the two works are within one meter of each other. The process takes up to three minutes depending on the length of the new narrative. The entire narrative changes at once. The text on all pages seeming to move. Occasionally the length of the narrative changes. In these cases, the text grows smaller or larger to fit the page count of the book. It is only able to appear in physical textual narratives. It cannot enter electronic storage or affect purely visual narratives. If placed in proximity to a graphic novel or other form of sequential art, it will change the text boxes and dialogue bubbles, but will not affect the pictures. Similarly, illustrations in a textual narrative do not change, and if they no longer match up to the narrative as affected by SCP-423. It prefers fictional narratives. However, it can enter any narrative that has characters, including anecdotes, biographies and research notes. See Addendum 423-1. It could re-enter a narrative that is already exited. If it does so, the new narrative typically differs from the last time SCP-423 entered a story. However, it has displayed a preference for narratives it has not yet entered. It is currently unknown what effect dying in a narrative would have on SCP-423, despite the best effort of researchers. SCP-423 displays a strong grasp of narrative principles, and is usually able to predict the best response in the given circumstance to avoid danger to itself. It has, however, displayed minor injuries. However, these seem to vanish when it enters a new narrative. SCP-423 can be communicated with by coaxing it into a journal. It responds to questions written within, with SCP-423's responses appearing underneath the questions. When it transfers to another narrative, its responses disappear from the journal. It has been largely cooperative since its containment. Its only requests so far have been for more narratives. It has expressed a preference for narratives with a large number of background characters, as this makes it easier for it to blend in and, quote, watch the good stuff, unquote. It has been recommended that, should it become uncooperative, it be confined to the journal until it becomes more amenable to staff requests. Researchers who desire more information on SCP-423 should read Experiment Log 423a. Addendum 423-1 Researchers are reminded that all physical written material is a potential habitat for 423, and that all notes should therefore be taken electronically. If written notes must, for some reason, be taken, be sure to check for Addendum from guest researcher Fred. Addendum 423-2 The use of SCP-583 to destroy SCP-423 has been suggested. While the SCP is not slated for destruction at the present time, it has been noted it should circumstances change. Experiment Log 423a Experiment Log for SCP-423 Approved by O5 ██████ Monitored by O5 ██████ O5 ██████ O5 ██████ Project Head, Dr. E. Mann All researchers working with SCP-423 are encouraged to append their results to this Experiment Log in the following format. Date Test material Results Notes Date ██████ Test material Tom Sawyer By Mark Twain Results A character named Fred is mentioned at several points in the story, largely as an onlooker. No change in the story is noticed. Notes This will serve as a baseline for future effects of SCP-423. Dr. E. Mann Date ██████ Test material The Hobbit By J. R. R. Tolkien Results A 14th dwarf named Pheridor is a member of the party. The narrative is largely the same except that there is no references to a lucky number. Pheridor is mentioned as surviving the battle of five armies, but Oying is killed. Notes SCP-423's role is larger in its work, allowing a better look at its effects. The dialogue written for the character is similar to that written for the other dwarves. Other differences in text match Tolkien's writing style as used in the rest of the book. Dr. E. Mann Date ██████ Test material Plane Journal Results There was no result for some time until one of the researchers wrote his name on the cover. The words, hide there, appeared underneath. A conversation was held during which it was established that SCP-423 possessed both the ability and desire to communicate. Notes This proves that SCP-423 is sentient. If it can be controlled, it can be useful in dealing with certain text-based SCPs. This bears further research. Dr. E. Mann Date ██████ Test material Dragon Quest by Ann McCaffrey Results A minor blue rider named Fred appears in the story. No other changes are noted. Date ██████ Test material Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling Results A wizard named Fred appeared. Very few changes in the story are noted, except one scene in which SCP-423 is confused when the existing character in the series. Notes SCP-423 displayed paranormal abilities in the narrative, though nothing out of note for the fictional universe. However, when returned to the journal, SCP-423 said it couldn't duplicate them outside of that particular narrative universe. Dr. E. Mann Date ████ Test material Ulysses by James Joyce Results SCP-423 immediately returns to the journal, where it wrote out Al-Al Bad Idea Notes Notes This is a potential punishment for SCP-423 if it misbehaves. Dr. E. Mann Date ████ Test material The Draco Tavern by Larry Niven Results A new regular employee of the Draco Tavern showed up named Fred. Only mention in passing saving the story cruel and unusual, where he expressed sympathy for the Terpsithra view. Notes Either he's not completely human in outlook, or only acts that way when dealing with stories of aliens. We should probably test this further. Dr. D. Betier Date ████ Test material The Battle Hymn of the Republic by Julia Ward Howe Results Verse 2, Lines 1 and 3 altered, rather than I have seen him in the watchfires of a hundred circling camps and I can read his righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps. The Lines now state, Fred has seen him in the watchfires of a hundred circling camps, and Fred can read his righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps. Upon returning to the journal, SCP-423 wrote, That was interesting, but I don't think I want to try it again. Date ████ Test material Mary had a little lamb, verses 1 and 2 only, by Sarah Josepha Hale. Results References to Mary in verse 1 are now references to Freddy. References to her in verse 2 are now references to him. Date ████ Test material Mary had a little lamb, full version by Sarah Josepha Hale. Results Verses 1 and 2 are now in altered. A reference to the eager children in verse 4 is now a reference to Fred and the children. Date ████ Test material Color version by Mark Z. Danieluski. Results A mailman named Fred delivers a letter to Will Nabitson in page ████. Fred also appears as the bartender that attends Johnny, and one of the orderlies caring for Pelopina. SCP-423 expressed profound confusion after leaving this work. Of note is that all references of Fred in the text are written in green. Date ████ Test material Champion of Youth by Ernest Vincent Wright. Gatsby is known for being an extended lipogram, a 50,110-word story written without any ease. Results A minor character named Ford appeared in a novel. Date ████ Test material A non-pornographic limerick about a man from Nantucket. Results No change SCP-423 subsequently explained that the given limerick was too small and too tight, with insufficient flexibility. Date ████ Test material A book of 365 haiku. Results Third line of 13 separate haiku replaced with a 5-syllable phrase mentioning Fred. Fred watched silently. Fred is also here. Only Fred remains, etc. Date Test material The Frogs Who Desired a King by Aesop. Written using plastic letters with a magnetic backing applied to a metallic surface. Results The pen ultimate sentence became a big stork that soon set to work gobbling them all up, except for one named Fred who hid. The new letters appeared to be of the same material and design of the original ones, and the weight of the complete setup remained the same. Date ████ Test material by Cormac McCarthy Results In the introductory scene where Holden incites a mob to murder the reverend by falsely accusing the reverend of rape and bestiality, a bystander named Frederick is present in the mob. However, instead of participating, the bystander leaves in disgust. The narrator comments that the weak-coward Frederick was never seen again. Date Test material Telephone directory 2003 Results No change Date ████ Test material Twelve angry men by Reginald Rose Results The list of characters specifies that the courthouse guard is named Fred. He is described as disappointed that he would be excluded from the jurors' deliberations. Date ████ Test material Mind conf by Adolf Hitler, German original Results No change for the first minute, followed by an insertion of multiple brief references to a distant skeptical colleague named Friedrich into autobiographical fragments of chapters 2-8 of Book. The insert for in German, roughly consistent with the original style by containing a number of grammar and stylistic mistakes. Upon return to the journal, SCP-423 remarked, «Woo! That was hard!» Notes I am not sure what is more significant here. That 423 appears to possess a native tongue, or that it was apparently able to obtain fairly good knowledge of German from the contents of a single book. Even as long as this one. We should look deeper into his possible application of translating hitherto undecipherable scripts. Dr. Despair Date ████ Test material Odyssey by Homer English Braille edition Results No change SCP-423 left the book after five minutes saying, «Interesting, but I think I'll leave this one for when I'm really bored. Date Test material A hard copy of this experiment log. Results Identical, except for the insertion of the words, ruggedly handsome in several sections of the log. Date Test material The Kugelmass episode by Woody Allen, a story about a man who is able to travel into fiction. Results Testing forbidden by O5 Date Test material SCP-826 SCP-826 Using SCP-423 communication journal as a book. Results Testing forbidden by O5 Date Test material SCP-701 Results Testing forbidden by O5 Date Test material A Canadian $5 bill, 2008 issue. The reverse of the bill contained the two sentence passage from The Hockey Sweater by Roche Carrier in French and in English. Results First sentence remained intact. Second sentence, which describes how important skating rinks were in Carrier's childhood, now mentions life on the skating rink with Fred. Serla Patounoir, Avak Fred Notes The bill was first tested in a change machine and accepted as legitimate. After SCP-423 looked the bill, it was tested in the same change machine and rejected as counterfeit. Date Test material Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss Results Halfway through the book, Sam I.M. asked the protagonist, would you eat them here with Fred? Would you eat them with some bread? The protagonist refuses. No edited nor additional illustrations were included. Notes After returning to his journal, SCP-423 noted, that was fun. Date Test material The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien Results A Hobbit named Freda Garberos, noted as a friend of Samwise Gamgee, accompanies Frodo Baggins and his party throughout the book. Notes A particular note is that Oyn, noted as having been killed in 423's version of the Hobbit, is mentioned as surviving in this book. Date Test material SCP-140 Results Testing forbidden by O5 Note Mission researcher who was working with SCP-140 at the time put the two books together, despite training and resisting memetic effects. Words appearing rapidly on SCP-140's pages add a rate of roughly one page filled every twelve seconds until SCP-423 returned to his journal, and the words disappeared from the pages of SCP-140. SCP-423 later stated that it was extremely painful and felt like it was being ripped apart. Date Test material SCP-1425 Results Testing forbidden by O5 Date Test material SCP-1230 Results Pending O5 approval Date Test material SCP-1195 Results Pending O5 approval Testing forbidden by O5 Date Test material A list of Class-D personnel to be terminated at the first of the month. Names included. Results The lying Class-D personnel to be decommissioned as of ██████ changed to Class-D personnel to be released as of ██████. All names remain as first written down. SCP-423 writes in the journal. Now, that's just heartless. Note, it is conclusive that SCP-423 has the ability to not only feel emotion, but has the belief in the importance of life. Date Test material A 20-minute ballet for 8 dancers, 4 male and 4 female, described in Ruboff Labn's Laban Notation System for Recording Human Movement. Results Notation indicated halfway through the ballet, a 5th male dancer walks on stage, looks at the other dancers, shrugs his shoulders and walks off. Date Test material A logic puzzle, as published in ████ Logic Puzzle Magazine, describing how 5 different people took their driving test in 5 different vehicles on 5 different days and made 5 different errors, as is standard for logic puzzles of this sort. Solvers are to determine which student drove which vehicle and made which error on which day. Results A driving examiner named Fred is mentioned as having been present during all tests. Upon subsequent questioning, SCP-423 was able to correctly state which driver made which error and which vehicle on which day. When asked how it knew this, SCP-423 did not explain the series' illogical inferences, deductions and conclusions by which such puzzles are typically solved, but rather simply stated that it was right there the whole time. Date Test material The Gardens of the Moon by Stephen Erickson Results The dramatic personae in the Star of the Book now mentions Reader, a soldier in the Bridgeburners, and Fred, a duro patron of the Phoenix Inn. In the second chapter following the fall of Pale, the Bridgeburners that arrive for a hairlock include a fifth person who is unnamed and doesn't speak, but can later be identified as Reader. In many subsequent encounters with the Bridgeburners, the soldier Reader is also present. This character doesn't have any lines and is normally found with a book in his hand. In Chapter 5, during Crups's dream, Crups sees a figure with the Gadroby Shantytown who, he says greatly reminds him of his friend Fred, who he saw just the other day in the Phoenix Inn. From Chapter 6 on, Fred is to be found in the Phoenix Inn. Interestingly, for the Garden Party at Lady Samtills Estate, both Fred and Reader are guests. Bridgeburner and duro viewpoint characters alike comment on how they look vaguely similar. Apart from the minor changes, the book is exactly the same ending as before, though. Upon returning to the journal, SCP-423 wrote only dot-dot-dot when questioned. After a few minutes, it finally wrote sorry that was interesting but exhausting. SCP-423 expressed an interest in the remaining books of the series. This event noted and will be considered as a reward for good behavior. Notes This has proven that 423 can be in multiple places within the same narrative, although it seems to tire it out. Dr. R. Karma Date ██████ Test material Candidate Multilinear Maps by Sanjim Garg Published in 2013 as a doctoral thesis Results Approximately 10 seconds after entering, SCP-423 returned to the journal and wrote sorry not enough room for me. Notes It seems that 423 needs to have a narrative to work off. This has been noted for the future. Dr. R. Karma Date ██████ Test material A printout of source code for a simple Hello World program in C-Sharp. Results The source code now has a number of additional comments alongside the source code professing confusion about certain aspects of programming. On returning to the journal, SCP-423 wrote out, well, that was a first. Date ██████ Test material Head first C-Sharp, third edition first printing, by Andrew Stellman and Jennifer Green. Results A number of examples involving named male characters have had these characters renamed to Fred. The puzzles are all filled in. Around page 100 or so, notes start appearing here and there. No substantial changes are noted until page 698, where a typo identified in the errata for the book was corrected. In subsequent pages, a number of typos and language problems were corrected and code snippets and descriptions, matching the errors reported in the errata, with the exceptions of screenshots. On returning to the journal, SCP-423 reported that it found that fun but unusual. On being questioned on its understanding of the language, SCP-423 stated that it could write and understand C-Sharp, and expressed a desire to use Visual Studio. Notes 423 seems to be both capable and interested in learning, provided there is some narrative reason for it to learn. A potential future experiment could involve us attempting to decant it into a computer without an internet connection. Dr. R. Karma Date ██████ Test material Secret of the Ninja Choose your own adventure number 16 by J. Leibold Results The viewpoint character is initially accompanied by a character named Fred, who is another student at the Dojo. Several of the choice descriptions which lead to a negative ending for the protagonist and his companions are changed to contain a phrase indicating Fred did not accompany the protagonist. Notes 423 does not seem significantly handed by the book's branching narrative, nor by the presence of multiple endings. Researcher ████ Date ████ 2015 Test material Printed copy of an ASCII art rendition of the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci Results All punctuation used to simulate the shading of the original work is replaced with the letters F, R, E, and D, in upper and lower case. Notes When questioned about the extent of its ability to completely modify textual representations of imagery as opposed to merely substituting characters, SCP-423 acknowledged the possibility of responding with, I guess so maybe, but I'm not really good at art. Further inquiry is suggested. Date ████ Test material SCP-085 Results Pending O5 approval Date ████ Test material The frequently asked questions document for the Usenet news group, alt.objective.noun.verb.verb.verb Results This is added to the section of the document which describes the news group's genesis, stating alt.anomalous.fred.perplex.baffle.moderately-amused. Date ████ Test material Lion Eating Poet in the Stone Den by Yuwen Ren Chao Lion Eating Poet is a 92-character poem written in classical Chinese in which every syllable is pronounced Xi, albeit with varying tones. Results SCP-423-D manifested from its journal, but did not manifest within the test document. After 10 minutes, researchers were about to report a containment breach when SCP-423 re-manifested within its journal stating it had gotten lost trying to find a way in. Date ████ World War Z by Max Brooks The book consists of multiple small interview-like stories told from the perspective of survivors of a zombie apocalypse. Results SCP-423-D manifested from the journal and was discovered to have added in the accounts of a character named Fred, who survived in a bookstore on ████ Road in New York. A team has been dispatched to investigate the named location. Date ████ Test material Marvel Masterworks The X-Men Volume 1 by Stan Lee Ryder and Jack Kirby Artist. The book is a trade paperback collection of the first 10 issues of the comic book series The X-Men. Results The collection now contains numerous references to Fred Wordsworth, one of the students of Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. This character is described as a mutant possessing the ability to physically enter and alter any text, but that this power has made him invisible and intangible. By issue ██, the character has become a second-string member of the X-Men unit under the alias Bookworm. The character indirectly participates in several plot points through utilization of his abilities, in one instance distracting a villain by altering nearby signs. Notes SCP-423 was found to have altered certain instances of text within the artwork, but was completely unable to affect other instances upon request. Investigation has revealed that all susceptible text was added by the comic's letterer exclusively responsible for the addition of all text found in the comic, rather than the anchor, exclusively responsible for finalizing artwork. Further study is recommended. Date ██ Test material The poem incident by Count T. Cullen, depicting Cullen's experiences with anti-black racism as a child visiting Baltimore. Results The ninth line of the poem is changed from I Saw the Hole of Baltimore to Fred Showed Me All of Baltimore. Notes SCP-423 seems reluctant to portray itself as either the perpetrator or the victim of racism. Date ██ Test material Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut The novel is a semi-autobiographical account of Vonnegut's experience as an American prisoner of war during the 1945 bombing of Dresden, Germany during World War II. Results All mention of Kurt Vonnegut within the novel, excluding within the forward, is altered to describe SCP-423, such as, that was I, that was me, that was the author of this book, was changed to read, that was Fred, that was not me, that was not the author of this book. Notes As Kurt Vonnegut himself would not mention for most of the novel, he could technically be described as a minor character. Date ██ Test material The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton Results A member of The Sox accompanies Robert during the scene in which Robert is murdered. When Pony Boy wakes up after having attempted to be drowned, Johnny mentions that someone, unimpressively handsome, had introduced himself as Fred, before punching Johnny in the face, then running out of there like lightning. After returning to the journal, SCP-423 remarked, I know that you guys record this and I didn't want to ruin the ending for anyone who hadn't read the book. It is to be noted that at the end of the book ██, ██, ██, date ██, ██, test material, Fred's story, by researcher Torres, a small novella written specifically to test SCP-423's abilities. The novella is set in a fantasy kingdom whose inhabitants are all beautiful women. When the kingdom is attacked by demonic force, the kingdom's queen creates a ritual to summon a hero from another dimension to save them. The hero is never given a name, but it is mentioned that he is male and can transfer his consciousness to different works of fiction. Results, the hero is left nameless and the novella is left unchanged, aside from an added sentence in Chapter 2 which mentions that one of the queen's assistants is named Fredarica. After SCP-423-D manifested from the novella, it noted, I appreciate the offer but I just can't. I never deserved to be in the spotlight. ██, test material, the last question by Isaac Asimov. This test was conducted not using physically printed material but a 9.7-inch ██ e-reader tablet utilizing electronic paper technology. Electronic paper is able to retain a static image indefinitely without electricity, requiring power only for the initial rendering. Image remains as a suspension of pigments in an oil-like base once rendered. Fire story was rendered on a single screen in a small font. Wireless functionality was disabled before testing by physically severing circuit traces on the device's printed circuit board as a precaution. Results, a character named FR-33D is inserted into the third section of the story almost instantaneously, with a single line in response to another character's comment on the rate at which humans are populated in the galaxy. SCP-423 stated afterwards, Good story, but what was that? It felt strange. It was very easy to move through, not at all unpleasant. It felt like there was something below the story, if that makes sense. Can we do more like that? Notes, it is unclear whether SCP-423 moved through the internal circuitry of the device or is simply the physical pigment in oil suspension of the electronic paper material. Memories occurred much faster than in tests with ink on paper. Recommend further testing with other subtrails and form factors. Electronic paper appears to be close enough to print the material as to be compatible with SCP-423. What else might be compatible? Text painted on a wall, stitched into fabric, written on a cake with icing? Dr. ██████ Date ████ Test material, if on a winter night a traveler, by Italo Calvino. Translation by William Weaver A metafictional novel about interrupted and unfinished narratives, half of whose content is a second person narrative describing a reader's increasingly frantic attempts to obtain and read a copy of, if on a winter night a traveler. Only the find that every copy is flawed, such that every other chapter is from a different imaginary novel, and that other half is the aforementioned chapters from imaginary novels. Results, in this section where the protagonist angrily returns the flawed copy of the novel to the bookseller in hopes of either attaining a proper copy or finding out the conclusion to the chapter of the imaginary novel. Another angry customer named Fred tells the bookseller that, if this is a joke, it's not funny. Date ████ Test material, a version of In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust. English translation by DJ Enright, considered one of the longest works of fiction in history, in which all seven volumes have been custom bound into one book with all indications of differing volumes removed. Results, after several minutes, Fred only appears within the first three volumes, Swine's Way in the Shadow of Young Girls and Flower in the Garamond's Way, before all references of him cease. Upon return to the journal, SCP-423 expressed feelings of surprise, stating, Great story, but I took a peek of how long it went, and wow is it long. I'm going to need to come back to this one. Notes, along with the aforementioned Ericsson test, this could be an indicator that SCP-423 has an upper limit as to the length of the works he can manifest in. Date ████ Test materials, SCP-3450, printed on the standard computer paper. Results, testing forbidden by O5 ████ Notes, SCP-423 had learned of this test after denial due to the junior researcher ████ accidentally leaving a notepad expressing disappointment at the test denial during 423's journal. SCP-423 wrote that, the irony of interacting with a self-insert fanfish isn't lost on me. Date ████ Test material, of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. Results, a character named Freddy appears multiple times throughout the book, working as a farmhand on the ranch. The narrator describes him as, a man whose handsomeness is all the more apparent when compared to the other hands of the ranch, as he is not nearly as worn down. His largest appearance is during this section when George Milton and Lenny Small first arrive on the ranch. As he passes the two protagonists by, he comes into the size of Lenny, remarking that he, looks like a bull who learned how to walk on his hind legs. Date ████ Test material, 300 children building block toys. Result, no change. Notes, the result of this test is rather inconclusive. Did SCP-423 consider the letters on the blocks a picture instead of text? Could it only affect one block and not have enough room? Or can it simply not affect this form of writing? More tests like this will have to be conducted. Date ████ Test material, SCP-2236 SCP-2236 was used to examine tests known to have been affected by SCP-423. Result, first few texts examined exhibited no change. In subsequently examined text, references to SCP-423 in the text were, when examined using SCP-2236, interpreted as descriptions of Fred seeking to hide or observe observation. When returned to the journal, a comment in appeared in the journal reading. That was rude. This comment, when examined using SCP-2236, appeared as a string of expletives. Date ████ Test material, a journal with, Mary had a little lamb, but written in invisible ink. Result, same as the last time Mary had a little lamb was used. SCP-423 manifested itself in invisible ink. When asking SCP-423 if he noticed a change in ink, he did admit that the document seemed slightly different. Notes, it seems that SCP-423 might be able to know specific patterns and differences between texts explaining his adherence to story-specific restrictions. This is confirmed by this experiment. Date ████ Test material, a copy of the Voynick manuscript. Result, after five minutes in which the text did not change, SCP-423 explained that the topic was technical up to a level where SCP-423 could not understand. Though SCP-423 explained it did seem that the pictures in the Voynick manuscript matched the captions below. Date ████ Test material, a hard copy of the Wikipedia page on the Poincaré Conjecture. Result, the only place where SCP-423 manifested was in one of the bibliographies. SCP-423 stated that it could not find a good place to appear due to lack of knowledge of the Poincaré Conjecture, though it was impressed by Poincaré's mask skills. Date ████ Test material, metaphors by Sylvia Plath, a nine-line poem in which each lines the nine-syllable metaphor for the same subject. Result, no change. When SCP-423 returned to his journal, it stated that, whatever she's doing in there, it's too crowded, there's no room for me. I really don't think I should be in there, it's kind of private, and refuse to comment further. Date ████ Test material, a copy of the film script for Inception by Christopher Nolan. Result, SCP-423 appeared as a minor character appearing in some of the dreams, as well as the limbo state for the movie. It adhered to the capitalization format of the script, Fred, as well as his name being put in the middle of the page when appearing, with a line after his name each time. SCP-423 stated that it highly enjoyed the script, though he was a bit confused by fade-out, as well as credits, since this was the first time it was exposed to a movie script. Date ████ Test material, a copy of the script for Heaven Sent from Dr. Who. Result, references to sculptures on the wall resembling SCP-423's usual look. SCP-423 explained that the tight story made it too difficult for him to manifest himself with an actual character, though he vastly enjoyed the doctor's fantastic performance, which he claimed he experienced not as four billion years, but only an hour, as long as a TV episode. Notes, it seems that if a story is very contained, any other characters would have a severe change in plot or make no sense, with only a bare minimal amount of main characters. SCP-423 will become an inanimate object in the story instead, though still aware of events occurring. Date ████ Test material, the lyrics to Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. Result, in verses 2 and 3, Mama was replaced by Fredarica. SCP-423 seemed unaware that this was from a song as opposed to a poem. It seems that not all information is given to SCP-423. Pretty enough for him to not interrupt the flow of a poem or song, as well as fulfill any standards set by a story. Date ████ Test material, Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James. Result, a minor character, Fred, appeared in the background. SCP-423 expressed that it was a bit uncomfortable with the explicit scenes within the book and requested that he be sent the stories with more adventure and action next time. Notes, it seems that SCP-423 also has a taste for specific books. This is the first time it was exposed to a sexually explicit book, so it was not used in the situation. Date ████ Test material, This is the title of this story, which is also found several times in the story itself by David Moser, a metafictional story about self-reference. Result, several additional sentences appeared throughout the story, including, This is the sentence in which Fred appears, This is not the sentence in which Fred appears, and This sentence eludes the Fred's presence but does not actually contain Fred. Date ████ Test material, Written by Dr. ████, a list of 100 fictional people doing things simultaneously in different areas, with a tragic end, along with a final over-encompassing statement about each of them contributing to the tragedy. Result, This test was to determine if there was an upper limit to how many locations SCP-423 could reside in at the same time within a book. Out of 100 fictional people, only 83 had to mention of Fred with it. The tragedy was not prevented in the end. SCP-423 noted that it got too tired of being at 83 different places in the story. Date ████ Test material, The file for SCP-055, Result, Inconclusive SCP-423 stated that it was not sure what it was doing other than the fact that something was not spherical. Researchers soon forgot what they sent SCP-423 to do. Date ████ Test material, The experimental data for SCP-2719, Labeled SCP-2719, with no outcomes listed, and with an additional entry with SCP-423 at the bottom, also with no outcome listed. Result, The data was filled precisely identical to the real file of SCP-2719. SCP-423's outcome was, Became Inside. When questioned, SCP-423 responded that it merely observed what occurred with each entity, despite SCP-2719 being an abstract metaphysical concept. It also somehow experienced becoming inside, despite having no knowledge of SCP-2719. More testing to be done with SCP-2719 and SCP-423. Notes, It seems that abstract entities manifesting themselves have the same effect on SCP-423 as any usual person, even if SCP-423 has no idea of what is happening. It also seems it can fill into blanks based on what already happened. Date ████ Test material, Experiment Log 914, Part 2 Result, A record appeared in Test Logs Part 8 of an experiment performed by guest researcher Fred, with the rest of the data present experiment blocked out. Date ████ Total date failure, Test material, The abridged history of Homo sapiens by History Analysis Subroutine No. 7589-3723-5728-6473-NFIZ Results, SCP-423 is featured under the Unknown Periods section, as it featured as humanoid screaming in an infinite white void and rambling incoherently. After being returned, SCP-423 showed signs of prolonged exposure to weak time, suggesting that SCP-423 still understands temporal physics in a manner similar to organic beings. Date ████ Test material, An untitled 50,000-page story created by randomization bound by grammar and basic sentence structure created for this test. Result, The sentence, Joshua went to the diagonal party without a safety ant, was replaced with, Joshua went to the diagonal party without a safety Fred. Notes, SCP-423 noted that being in the document was similar to what it has experienced dreams and other stories which it slept. Date ████ Test material, A printout of the game script for The Secret of Monkey Island. Result was laser scanned and the raw text compiled into a working program after being screamed for anomalies. Results, An NPC named Fred appears near the small building at the pier on Melee Island. When spoken to, the player is presented with a dialogue tree. Questioning him on his backstory reveals that he tried and failed to become a pirate. It is mandatory to recruit him on the ship's crew for the second chapter, where he joins the mutiny. Subsequent cutscenes have him present with the rest of the crew. Notes, Upon returning to the journal, SCP-423 remarked, That was like a two-year-old adventure book, let me know if you find any more. Date ████ Test material, A million random digits with 100,000 normal deviants, published by Rand Corporation 1955. Result, Addition of a Preface by Dr. Frederick McCarthy Explaining the statistical methodology used to generate the numbers in the book. Date ████ Test material, The location, location, location story arc from the first print collection of precocious. Precocious is the webcomic where all characters are anthropomorphic animals. However, none of the dialogue in this particular story states or implies a species. The purpose of this test is to determine if SCP-423 can sense artwork. Results, Mr. Krupp states the name of the father in an off-screen family to be named Fred. Upon returning to the journal, SCP-423 would ask if the cast of this story were human. SCP-423 states that they were animals, and he himself took on the form of an arctic fox. Further questioning reveals that this was the most nondescript species of the choices he was given. Date ████ Test material, The entire script of William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Results, During Act I Scene II, a character by the name of Frederick sneezes halfway through King Claudius' speech. Hamlet laughs, no other changes have been discovered. Notes, When questioned, SCP-423 stated, I got a little bored during the speech. Date ████ Test material, SCP-1459 extended testing log. Results, No change. Notes, SCP-423 stated the following. You all disgust me. So. Fucking. Much.