SCP-354. The Red Pool
There are many aspects of SCPs that can make them interesting. From unique concepts of horror and science fiction,
to gripping emotional writing,
grotesque situations or utterly alien dimensions.
SCP-354 is definitely an interesting one,
although mostly because of two almost completely separate reasons. On the surface it's another SCP filled with
horrific monsters.
But it's not without its layers of complexity, and by the end we'll be left with plenty of questions.
SCp-354 is as the title so eloquently suggests a pool of red liquid in northern, Canada.
Although it is also sometimes referred to as the blood pond due to the consistency and color of the liquid.
The chemical composition of the liquid is still unknown,
although the Foundation can confirm that it is not biological in nature.
It seems to become more dense the further you go down,
and the Foundation has yet to discover a bottom.
The pool was supposedly first discovered by survivors of a plane crash,
and it developed into a local legend before the Foundation stepped in.
Originally the Foundation simply monitored the pool, and deterred anyone from finding it, but after discovering the real danger of the pool a
a site was built around it.
Periodically one or more entities will emerge from the red pool
varying in size, shape, and capabilities.
With nearly all of them being extremely hostile, and dangerous.
The first creature encountered by the Foundation resembled a giant bat
that managed to wipe out the team observing the pool before being eliminated.
After this, a proper site was built around the pool with an enclosure,
to stop any further entities from attacking the personnel.
The next entity was a bear sized creature resembling an echidna
covered in bulletproof spines
although it couldn't get through the enclosure and was eliminated with napalm.
Next a metallic sphere emerged from the pool that was capable of levitation and
emitted concentrated beams of radiation. A
doctor managed to strike it with a sledgehammer causing it to explode.
A few humanoid entities have also been seen, including a reptilian-looking creature roughly 15 feet tall, and
a metallic entity described as a terminator, that was highly adapted combat and possessed some sort of cloaking device.
The reptilian entity was killed by Mobile Task Force Omega-7,
while the metallic one powered down after 60 minutes and was dismantled.
Another humanoid entity that emerged seemed to be a human male of Indian descent. It was killed on site due to the enclosure still
being damaged from a previous encounter.
Testing on the remains seemed to show the entity being identical to an average human being.
Other creatures encountered include feline entities made up of some sort of crystal, and
something possessing large tentacles that retreated back into the pool after sustained gunfire.
So the Foundation really had no way of preventing the pool from creating these entities and
thus they focused on trying to study any of these creatures, a task made difficult due to their hostile nature.
We're not really given any information about how often these emergencies occur, although in one case there was a period of eight months between
encounters.
We then learned that there has been a period of 22 months since the last emergence, with the doctor in charge
believing that either the pool is dying or dead,
or that it is charging up for something big.
The O-5 council believed it was the former, cutting the site's budget.
Sometimes later, the staff of the 354 site evacuated the facility,
shutting down power to the area and taking a number of supplies and vehicles with them.
An MTF was sent to investigate but the site's nuclear warhead was detonated before they could arrive.
Instead they caught up with the fleeing staff, which turned out to be both D-class and
research personnel, as the chain of command had fallen apart.
They were armed and immediately began firing upon the MTF, killing the team.
No further contact has been made with them since.
Due to the detonation of the warhead a new containment facility was built around the pool,
this time focused entirely on containing the threats rather than any study.
This is because the new head of the site believes that the pool is capable of some sort of mental
influence which caused the previous incident.
Finally we're given an interview log with an agent that works at the 354 containment facility.
It seems that a doctor had the idea to try draining the pool, which seemed to everyone to be a good idea,
although he wonders why no one thought of it before.
He claims that although the SCP entry makes it seem as if the Foundation has 354 under control,
that's hardly the case, as every time another entity emerges from the pool it
manages to get loose in the building.
The O-5 council approved the plan to drain the pool, and a massive pump was brought in.
The agent claims that when they put the hose into the pool
everything stopped being real, like they were in a dream but needed to wake up in order to escape it.
Everyone on site felt the sensation and he claims that the pool wouldn't allow them to activate the pump, and
now that they've tried to execute it it's angry.
The agent breaks into hysterics, saying that the pool is growing every day and now they've made it angry.
That might be enough for a good SCP, a deeply mysterious pool that spits out hostile entities
and seems to have a mind of its own.
But many would say it's the exploration log that really makes 354 what it is.
As we'll see the exploration log is really almost its own separate SCP, as
both could be enjoyed independently of one another,
but it does raise some even more interesting questions about 354.
Since the pool gets denser as you descend,
the Foundation sends a team and a vehicle described as a submarine with a drill attached to the front in order to explore the pool,
whether to find the bottom,
something inside of the pool itself, or to find another side.
The crew consists of a doctor, three agents two D-class personnel,
a geologist and a pilot.
The vessel descends through the incredibly dense liquid for two days before
gravity suddenly changed directions and they were now ascending rather than descending.
On the fourth day of the mission, the vessel reached the surface of the pool,
although they were definitely now in a different location than where they left.
The ship analyzes the atmosphere, finding that the air is breathable,
but it was nighttime when they arrived and continues to be dark for over twenty eight hours.
Finally dawn comes, thanks to a huge red star in the sky clearly not Earth's Sun.
The doctor ponders whether they are in a different time, place, dimension, or plane of existence.
They find that the red pool on this side is larger than the one contained by the Foundation,
but the crew took an inflatable raft to the shore, finding the ground to be devoid of plant life aside from a fuzzy moss.
The ground seems to be made up of some type of mineral resembling a mixture of sand and flour.
They begin hiking across the flat terrain in one direction for two hours, until suddenly their compass changes direction.
Rather than risking getting lost, they returned to the ship,
although the doctor swears that it took less than half the amount of time to get back.
The Sun never goes down as they try to sleep and they believe the day/night cycle here is around forty three and a half hours
compared to 24.
They wait out the next night cycle and head out a few hours before the Sun comes up,
finding the green moss and the shore has grown drastically.
Deciding not to walk on it, they waited until the Sun came up, causing the moss to shrivel again.
It's at this point that the doctor realizes that there's no wind whatsoever here, meaning there's practically no sound.
They hike in a single direction for a while, before setting up camp and sleeping despite the Sun still being up.
While they're sleeping, they're all awoken by some kind of roar
from something big and reptilian and it sounded like I couldn't have been further than 20 feet away.
After emerging from their tents, they saw nothing, and the flat terrain for miles would certainly allow them to see a creature moving.
They continued on, eventually leaving the mossy ground behind and finding a vast field of beautiful green grass
resembling a mowed lawn.
The grass turned out to have extremely sharp points, as they discovered when someone tripped and fell,
but their boots allowed them to easily walk through it.
They eventually found a small stream and after testing the water found it to be actually liquid carbon dioxide
despite co2 normally being a gas at this temperature.
Next they moved on to an area where the green grass turned to brown and withered and, there were trees resembling birch,
although the leaves were wrong.
At some point they lost one of the agents while they were walking,
although no one knows when or how he disappeared.
Since the place is so quiet and they don't talk much
the doctor says there was an eight-hour window where he could have gone missing, but it's certainly strange that no one heard anything.
While camping one of the trees fell on to another agents tent,
mangling it but leaving him unharmed.
The agent swears that the tree wasn't that close, and no one knows how it could have fallen,
but they agree not to camp near any trees.
They hear another roar while walking, identical to the last one, although they can't figure out the source or even
agree on what direction it came from.
Finally they experienced their first rainfall setting up their camp, and
analyzing the rain to find that it's actually water, so they fill their canteens.
The rain continues for three days and when it finally subsides they find the ground to be barely damp at all.
They continue on, but some data corruption removes the next few days of logs,
with the next entry being a little over two weeks since they had left the ship.
They had apparently sighted a large cliff in the distance, but now upon approaching it
realize that it's actually an artificially constructed wall,
roughly 50 feet high and made of solid rusty iron.
It extends as far as they can see in both directions and they're unsure of how thick it is.
One of the D-class constructs a jury-rigged blowtorch and they burn through the wall,
discovering it's only about a quarter of an inch thick,
but less than a foot past the wall there's another layer.
They end up burning through eight layers before making it to the other side,
finding an area with black grass and
finally some wind.
At this point massive data corruption causes a log to lose nearly two weeks of material, and
when it comes back the doctor remarks that they've concluded that coming here was a mistake and they have to turn back.
Apparently they had passed through another barrier and gone much farther but we have practically no details about what they found.
The doctor remarks that the geologist has lost a lot of blood and he probably won't make it through the night.
They awoke to find that the geologist has crossed,
whatever that means, and they had no choice but to terminate him.
One of the agents says that something back home might be able to help him but they can't afford to have him slow them down.
The doctor mentions that they only have a few more days until
something happens, but more data corruption cuts him off and we jumped forward another eight days.
He says that they made it back to the ship with only an hour or two to spare and
we learned that only the doctor, the two D-class and the pilot have survived,
although the pilot and one of the D-class hadn't gone on that hike.
The four activate the vessel and begin descending back through the pool, but more data corruption occurs ending the log.
Finally we learned that this document was discovered in the Foundation's database, and that a mission to explore
354 has never been suggested or approved,
no records of any of the personnel mentioned seem to exist.
The exploration log is a bit more divisive than the
354 entry itself.
Since it sets up a really unique and interesting world and then leave so much hanging on its climax.
Depending on your perspective this either serves to make the log even more interesting or more frustrating.
What it certainly does do is raise a lot of questions, both about this other world and the red pool itself:
where is this other world and why does it connect to ours only through a red pool,
why is there no wind,
what was that roaring sound, why did the streams consist of co2 and yet it rains water,
and what built the wall.
Of course the biggest questions are what happened to the team on the other side of the wall,
what did the doctor mean when he said the geologist crossed, and why were they running out of time.
Finally where exactly did this log come from, and is it possible that the red pool connects two different dimensions,
or even somehow managed to fabricate the log to prevent further explorations?
Like I said you can enjoy the red pool without ever reading the exploration log,
and you can enjoy the log of a weird alien dimension
without being interested in the red pool and its monsters.
Together they are one of the more popular SCP entries and much of that popularity is certainly due to the exploration log.
Well it does utilize some heavy-handed tropes,
Both the pool and the mysterious dimension are evocative enough to represent some of the most interesting aspects of early
SCPs