SCP: Find Us Alive - 62: Blackout Revisited

Episode Date: October 3, 2025

We've been here before, haven't we?This episode was written and produced by Anna Maguire and features the voices of Logan Laidlaw (Harley), Jackson McMurray (Lancaster), Tasch Ritter (Klein), Tabitha Bardall (Love), Anna Maguire (Raddagher), and Ashley Quills (Cordell).Original music by Jackson McMurray.Sign up for our newsletter at hodgepodgeaudio.com for updates, info, art, and more.Join us on Patreon for exclusive behind-the-scenes content! Word of mouth is the best advertising, so be sure to share with your friends if you like the show! Patreon.com/hodgepodgeaudioTHIS EPISODE'S SPONSORS: Austin Robinson, sommerspire, TheMilkMan, GiveHarleyAGirlfriend, Gage Jones, Ashley Gay, Jason Dessano, ramox, Evee rThis podcast and all content relating to the SCP Foundation are released under a Creative Commons Sharealike 3.0 license.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Greetings and hello, find us a live listeners. It's me, Anna, writer and director, and too busy person. Wow. There's a lot to do. Today we have a couple of announcements and some new patrons to thank. First, an update scriptbooks are coming out soon. There were some delays with printing that I didn't anticipate and the final editing took longer than expected. But as soon as they are available for purchase, I will put the link in the newsletter and on the website. By the time this episode comes out, may already be available. Also, Hymns for the Road made it as a finalist in the Aesthetica Film Festival in the UK. I won't be able to attend the fest in person, of course, but it's still an honor to be acknowledged. And if you haven't listened to Hymns yet, you should because it is good. And now,

on to our new patrons. A big special thanks to Austin Robinson, Summer Spire, The Milkman, Gage Jones, Ashley Gay, and Jason DeSano. Thank you for supporting us. This show not be possible without people like you. If you want to hear your name at the start of an episode or get other cool stuff like ad-free downloads, merch, and more, consider supporting us at patreon.com slash hodgepodgeoddyo. You can also give a one-time donation at hodgepodgeodio.com. That's patreon.com slash hodgepodge audio. Thank you so much and enjoy the episode. A lot can happen in 36 days. 36 days ago, the location of SCP-632 began to experience earthquakes at a level of severity never before observed in northern Nevada.

Additional personnel were sent to investigate the spike in earthquake frequency, observing no change in SCP-6320's physical appearance or anomalous behavior. Several days later, Site 64's head of communications, Dr. Amelia Cordell, achieved a radio contact with Dr. Harley, head of communications of the lost Site 107. Shortly after Site 64 established radio communications with Site 107, Nevada was hit with its most severe earthquake to date, measuring a 6.4 on the Richter scale. The small town of P. was evacuated completely due to both the extent of the damage and the indication of an increase

in danger presented by the anomaly. Seeing as a sizable portion of the population, approximately a fifth, consisted of foundation employees working mostly at Site 107. Evacuation went smoothly. Following the finalization of the civilian evacuation, Site 107 was briefly decommissioned from the foundation. Site 107 was only severed for a few days, before being temporarily recommissioned,

after a surveillance officer inside discovered a plausible cause, of the initial shift and the subsequent earthquakes. It's a dash one, a big one. Upon being viewed from a perspective centered on SCP 6320, the construction of Site 107 forms what its staff have come to call an anamorphic dash one instance. These instances are formed over a long period of time and created only by multiple non-anomalous individuals who have known

knowledge of their actions. This specific instance is theoretically visible when standing with one's back against the anomaly, looking up toward the main doors out of the AB floor. Naturally, seeing it with the naked eye would require one to be able to see through walls, floors, and other barriers, meaning the anomaly can only be observed using a 3D model that can be viewed from any angle. Considering Site 107 was built partially into the existing infrastructure of the mine shaft, Site 107 research staff hypothesized that the anomaly manipulated Foundation contractors

to finish creating its largest dash-1 instance to date, before, perhaps, beginning its work on the final, immeasurably larger dash-1 instance using seams in the tectonic plates of the earth. To you from my personal recording equipment, We've gone dark again, just like that first time. Familiar. Nostalgamation, even. I'm being sarcastic about that last bit, of course.

I'm on the A-B floor with the others. It is extremely dark. We have flashlights, but they're currently being concentrated in the hands of those who need them most. I see spots of color where people are shining them, fading off into the black and white darkness at the edges. everyone is condensed into little groups. There's, uh, it's weird. Like, psychologically, I mean... What's weird?

The way everybody's talking. Like, so quiet. Like, we don't need to talk quietly. But when the lights go out, suddenly everybody whispers. Like, I... Like, we think there's somebody asleep in the next room or something. That was Lancaster, of course. We're all up here, or at least most of us are. Those who aren't off doing their own respective duties. For our records, Site 107 is... entered into a state of complete synergy with itself. As soon as the lights went off, and everyone figured out that it was the entire site,

and not just limited to the area near the anomaly in my office, we got to work. I made my way to B.H. to plan with the others. We've done this before. There have been other wild card effects. What's the status on your radio pack? Battery isn't looking good. And your main setup?

Down, unless we can hook it up to the backup generator. I'll see if I can get word from engineering on the full breakdown of everything that's still connected to the backup. If the reality anchor is connected to it, don't unplug that. If the reality anchor is disconnected from the outside, I might. It's more important that you get back in contact with Cordell. Roger. What does the time estimate look like on that? Hard to say.

It'll be difficult to see what's plugged into what without access to a terminal. But I'll get the engineer started at least. Until then, I shall run out the battery. the battery on my radio pack. Best of luck. Sounds like the patrol's missed one. Probably won't be the first. That may be the first dash one we've missed in over a week.

Something like that. Well, now Masterson can prove that his decision to dash to his bird was a reasonable one. Does Lala break dash ones too? Like highway? No, she just screams at them, but she moves fast, so... Dr. Cordell, it is very dark in here. I made my way up to the office. siphoning my phone's battery through its flashlight, so I didn't trip over one of the thousand stairs and die.

I somewhat wish engineering would turn the emergency footlights on. And again, our phones are a little used to us now as anything other than flashlights, and we have higher priorities for things that need backup power, like the heating, and the oxygen recycler. It's still quiet. I left when others did, so many of us are scattered through a little. the building now. Engineering is downstairs with the backup generator trying to parse out which cable goes where. Records is helping, providing whatever building plans they have to contribute. Even if the engineers could get a terminal working, getting the intranet backup would be a

severe drain on the power. Patrol groups have been established among the rest of us to sweep the building for dash one instances. We may have circumvented the momentic effects well enough to keep them at bay, but that's when it wasn't pitch dark. Speak of the devil. I don't know if you could hear that small tremor, but it isn't the first one we've missed. Reports from the patrols say they're mostly on the floors. It just goes to show how many instances we've been casually breaking throughout our days when the lights are on.

The first blackout was caused by a dash one, the very first wild card effect. This blackout wasn't caused by anything inside our site at all, and that's good. But at the same time, it's not. On one hand, the fact that a detonation on the exterior of the rift out in the real world would cause a wildcard effect on the inside is clear, tangible evidence that we are connected. As far as we've been able to conclude, this is the first time something on the outside has affected us at all. There is a tether between us and you, and it exists on mirror sides of that rift. But then there's the other hand. This is the first time we've been affected by outside actions,

which means we don't have any precedent, any existing framework for what happens next. Is this blackout something that can be fixed from inside at all? Does it need to be fixed from the outside? Has something else happened on the outside that could prevent them from recovering us? It's extremely fortunate that we have mere hours before the reset. The light at the end of the mineshaft.

Hopefully, and most likely, the cyclical nature of our prison will set us right, just like it did last time. We just have to prevent additional disasters until then. Oh, shit, this is going to be so much easier now that no one's subjected to the memetic effect. Or at least, nobody is subjected to the memetic effect. to the wrong side of the memetic effect. How are you holding up?

What do you mean? Well, last time we had a blackout, you'd, um, you had a hard time. Yeah, because I was trapped in Harley's shitty, tiny office, Lancaster. I'm not scared of the dark or something. Jesus. Okay, I was just checking. Besides, you're the one who's acting weird. Oh, am I acting weird.

You keep staring off into the distance, angrily. I'm not angry. You look angry. I'm just thinking, that's all. About the D-class? They're not D-Class anymore. Maybe not to you, but to the foundation they are. Yeah, I mean, I guess I am angry about something.

So lead a mutiny? I don't know. That's not really how that works. Whatever. It's not like they all deserve to walk around free anyways. No? No, dude. Aren't they all like murderers?

Not all of them. So some of them are. Yeah. But I don't think eternal forfeiture of your body and mind for human experimentation is a fair punishment for a crime. There are some bad crimes. But it doesn't stop more bad crimes from happening. The foundation can't even claim it's discouraging people from committing crimes because barely anybody knows what the punishment actually is. And even if most of the D-class aren't even murderers at all.

Oh. I just think there has to be a better way Ah Hi boy God I keep forgetting he can do that Yep He's talented Do you think he could teleport out

If he could Would they have grabbed him and put him in a box by now Right And also I'm in here Duh Of course he's gonna stay in with his favorite person Bad news Perfect

The radio pack isn't getting anywhere You sure Positive Watch this Greetings and salutations, Overwatch Command. Have you heard of our marvelous memetic discovery? The reasoning for shifting everybody's psychic resilience index to 14B. Well, it turns out the once inside SCP-6320's pocket dimension,

anyone with an index not 14B is subjected to brain fog, confusion, and focus problems pertaining to the creation of dash-1 instances, allowing the replications to proliferate, and then causing them to accidentally create instances themselves. 14B individuals are immune to this, but subject to a secondary effect, the inability to relay information regarding the memetic effect to others not a PRI 14B. This means that if someone were listening on the other side of the radio, I wouldn't be able to talk about it. Damn. That felt bad.

Maybe we should send out more patrols if they're missing bigger ones. I'll talk to somebody about it. How goes progress on the backup power? Engineering has a good hard copy now. We can route power to you, but it'll divert away from the heating. But we can survive a little cold. I'm worried about Lancaster. Why?

He's got a thing about the cold. He'll be fine. He got frostbite as a kid, if I remember right. Damn. Well, he can borrow a spare lab coat or two. Should I make my way to my office then? Yeah, buddy system, though. Take somebody with you.

Has Radiger been any better? I talk to her. She's not some kind of dash four or something. She's just losing her mind the normal way. That's not comforting. Relationship issues. I see. She's 22.

Oh. She'll figure it out. Or she won't. Either way, she'll be fine eventually. Honestly, I feel worse for love. Let's hope they make it. I don't think you should take her down there with you. If anything, it's just going to give her another excuse to avoid talking to love.

Noted. Lank! What? What do you want? Come to the office with me. Why? Buddy system. Maybe I want to be someone else's buddy.

What are you even doing over there? Therapy and stuff. Therapy and stuff. Do therapy and stuff later. Hang out with me instead. Jesus Christ, can you just walk over there? Um, hi. Hi.

Can we talk? Can we? I'm going back out with dump truck and highway in a couple minutes for another patrol. They're already using Lala, but they want our help too. I, um, I, I, I, I, want to... I mean, I don't think I have the time to talk right now. I...

Maybe later. Okay. That's creepy out there. I do not like it very much. Hold this. Damn, they gave you one of the manual ones? We'll have light as long as we need. Or as long as we can keep cranking. Or until medical or security asks for it back. Let's see if she boots up.

That sounds good. It is good. Come in, Dr. Cordell. Come in. This is Site 107. Are we received? Over. SCP 620 exhibits of a memetic effect to ease the creation of replications. God damn it! What? No listeners. Damn it. Now what? Site 64, we have lost power.

What are you doing? This isn't the first time, however. They can't hear us. You will hear of our progress through the recordings I have taken and will continue to take. I am recording myself right now, actually. actually. We have diverted backup power to my radio equipment. I think I just felt another quake. I think it may be better to broadcast periodically and to divert power back to climate control between broadcasts.

I have portable equipment for recording after all. A finite amount of power on that too, but it should be all right. Even if I ran my batteries all the way until the reset, I think I would still have enough power to make it. And until then, I shall talk to you for a few moments more, Sight 64 as I always have. No harm in that, right? Aren't there other listeners, too? And not just Cite 64,

but to anyone else who cares enough to listen to the dulcet tones of my... That means nobody can hear us. I know that. We've lost all connection to the outside. What do you want me to do? I talk into this box. That's what I do.

That's all I can do. Maybe I could find something else. Maybe I could come up with another cipher. Maybe code words for our non-foundation ally. But the most I'm good for is sitting in this chair and talking. So if we had hard evidence that the rift outside had been destroyed and we were trapped in here forever, you would just keep talking? Yes. Why?

What good does that do if no one is listening? Maybe someday someone will listen. Maybe someone will find a way to rescue the ones who got lost between the cracks. Maybe someone will find their way in here eventually and they'll have hundreds of hours of evidence that no matter, matter what the foundation put us through, we were always more than the machine parts they tried to make us into. The foundation can tell us we're exalted, different from the civilians we protect, and we should all try our best to become cold and detached.

We're human. We like each other too much. It's the only reason we've survived this long. What, as a research sign or as a species? one besides it'll be easier with no one listening because we won't have to we won't have to uh I'm losing it's on the it's on the tip of my tongue um Hello

pick it up pick it up cordial Oh Jesus Christ are you guys okay we're okay we're good What happened we all lost you for a while the serpent's hand too? Yeah are you guys talking to them directly now? Yeah no I won't tell me who but after the detonation quake one of the plane clothes volunteers identified themselves What happened? We're dark. Out of power. How are you out of power?

What were you getting electricity from in the first place? I don't know. I've never thought about it. The point is we're on backup power. Got it. How many hours on the radio do you have? I'm not certain, but the time loop will reset soon and then we'll have power back. Nothing else happened? You didn't see anything? We didn't see anything. We've been pitch dark since we counted down to zero.

Why? Did you see something? What did you see? They saw you? For like a split second, right when the bomb went off. What? You saw us. Noah said that for barely a second, they saw a bunch of people standing in this one hallway. Double-checked the connection on the reality anchor. On it.

Klein, do you have someone monitoring the reality anchor? Are we still connected on the outside? Last I checked, yeah. What else? You said there was another quake. Yeah, Noah said they measured like a 5.1 by after the damnation. Wait, go down. Shh, shh. Did you feel that?

It was bigger this time. Like maybe it was closer. Cammett, what's out? out there. I didn't confess. Can you speak up? I can't hear. Shh.

What? We've got another one. A one? A two. Episode 62 was written and produced by Anna McGuire. The voice of Harley is Logan Laidlaw. The voice of Klein is Tosh Ritter. The voice of Lancaster is Jackson McMurray.

The voice of Agent Love is Tabby Bardol. The voice of Radiger is Anna McGuire. The voice of Cordell is Ashley Quills. Original music by Jackson McMurray. If you like our show and want to to support us, sign up for our newsletter at hodpodgeaudio.com. This podcast, along with all content relating to the SCP Foundation, is released under a Creative Commons share-a-like 3.0 license. Thank you for listening.