I feel very conflicted about this, something that almost never happens when I'm reading an SCP. On the one hand, it's a very tale-like SCP, probably better suited for such. The idea is so huge and expansive and interlinks with another SCP (one I dislike a lot) so subtly that I didn't even catch it the first couple times through that it seems really sacrilege. The idea is absurd and, frankly, describing the afterlife and putting it into words flies in the face of a lot of stuff on the site, and probably a number of people's personal views. On the minor side, there's also a few proofreading errors that I didn't edit yet, which would probably take a bit.
However, I really enjoy the story and narrative. I probably shouldn't, but it works somehow. The dialog is a bit hamfisted and eye-roll worthy at times, but the characters feel solid, and somehow, the anomaly makes sense when it doesn't. There should be no reason for a phone to connect someone to the afterlife after they died, yet here we are. How did this happen? Surely it must have been there by someone already in the afterlife. There could be a number of these things that we don't know about, which makes it all the more eerie and captivating really. I have to admit, I'm also a bit of a sucker for interpersonal (right word?) relationships, and I want to say that the use of the husband's suicide is incredibly cheap and tacky. If there's a better way to make it happen without resorting to something silly like that, I'd probably feel better about it.
I dunno. There's a lot of reason to dislike it, but I like it and I'm not sure how I'd vote honestly. So I'm upvoting for now and thinking on this.
Very intelligent critique, I must say. Made my day to be honest. :)
No vote. "Massive Ones" is kinda corny. Also the dialogue could get punched up a bit. I do like the effect, though, and the image of a sea green sky with black clouds is very unique and vivid.
Taking the hint. Changing the name of the tall dudes. (not to "Tall dudes")
Gonna be honest - I downvoted at the clearance thingee at the beginning. Sick and tired of that trope and I want it to go away.
I'm neutral to it, but I think it could honestly go. I think it's implied that only top-level staff are going to know.
Ever eat nothing but enchiladas for a month? (I'm talkinggood enchiladas here, by the way. Like, southern Texas/southern New Mexico cooking. Not whatever "Mexican" food they have in that awful place they call "north". :P) Too much of a good thing is a bad thing. Just slap a line about "such-and-such clearance is required to view the document" in the containment procedures. Ta-da. This is someone who has done this offense talking, by the way.
I'll actually read the thing in a bit and give you real feedback then.
Good lord, this is the most epic thing. I love her directions at the end - it reminds me of 'ritual pastas' as the category is called on Creepypasta in a very good way - and it gives me this awesome sense of adventure. This is my kind of sci-fi/fantasy right here, and it's well-written. Viciously upvoted.
I really have been missing stuff like this, reminds me of some of the earlier works. I do have to admit I am a sucker for cross-references, and I think this one is subtle enough to pull it off without being blatant and frustrating. The characters are good, even though the dialogue is a bit shaky at times, and the story was odd enough to get me thinking. +1
I have numerous issues with this. There's little things like the O5s having a huddle and then suddenly coming to the conclusion that they're receiving a call from Another Dimension(tm). The Foundation making the monumentally stupid decision to not just humor the researcher for the purposes of gathering information and bring her husband to talk to her for reasons. The clumsy lampshading ofSCP-2718. But my main problem is this:
So, out of all the ways I could die in this stupid-ass Foundation, it had to be a non-anomalous car crash.
As soon as I see something other than sand and melancholy, I'll contact you again.
it helps when you have an omniscient demon god on your side
This is Janet, I'm dead, and I still love the living shit out of you.
Dialogue is a weak part of this article. These are the places where I cringed to read it, because it was readily apparent that I was reading someone pretending to be a female middle-aged scientist. And when your article relies entirely on building a character and making them feel authentic, this is a huge problem. This does not sound like someone who has just probably had their entire worldview destroyed and is in an incomprehensible crazy afterlife dimension of some sort. This sounds like a smart-ass teenager that's been put out by some sort of inconvenience.
The inevitable rejoinder to this is always "well there are people who really do talk like that." And yes, I suppose that's true. I too have met the scientist who speaks like a 4chan thread. Thing is, this is kind of an outlier from what I would expect a character like the one you're portraying to speak like, and and it is entirely too close to how, say, a twentysomething dude who hangs out on an internet writing community sounds like. You require authenticity for this to make any sort of impression, and in my reading, this is lacking.
Dialogue is a weak part of this article. These are the places where I cringed to read it, because it was readily apparent that I was reading someone pretending to be a female middle-aged scientist. And when your article relies entirely on building a character and making them feel authentic, this is a huge problem.
This, pretty much, is my problem with the article, though, I'd say it gets slightly better later on (I wouldn't even include the last line on the list, possibly) - it's mainly the first log where he fails to communicate some sort of expected reaction, or fails to build ground for an unexpected one.
Which is a shame because I love the rest of this, especially the encounter with a few kilometres tall primate.
As a final verdict, no vote, at least not yet.
EDIT:
Hmm, the more I think about it, the more I feel that the precise reason they have refused to let her call with her husband is that higher up, what she states is not thought as an accurate representation of afterlife, or in fact anything at all beyond a remainder of her mind kept somewhere and living out its own bizarre concepts in self-generated dreamworld. Which is a part of the reason why exposure to her was thought unhealthy, for him at least.
EDIT2: Upon further pontification, i actually see no statement that'd imply the researcher is middle-aged.
A lot of the notes I've been getting have to do with dialogue. Tell you what - I'm gonna spend a couple days making nitpicky edits to the dialogue to remove a great deal of melodrama. Thanks for letting me know guys.
Once a human is inoculated with SCP-2922….
You've used the word "inoculated" several times, but I suspect that you mean something else (though I can't figure out what). To "inoculate" someone means to render them immune to a disease. For instance, you can be inoculated against the flu with a vaccine.
Does SCP-2922 protect you against some disease or condition? If not, I think you should find another word for what you mean.
SCP-2922 is a method of communication from a human mind to a telephone.
SCP-2922 was developed by the ██████ Corporation, initially as a novelty smartphone app.
So is SCP-2922 the app, or is it the underlying method of communication? How does someone gain the ability to communicate with phones telepathically? By using the smartphone app? If so, then the app probably needs a letter designation that is separate from the telepathic ability. If not, then how does one develop the ability to use SCP-2922?
"Inoculate" also means to transfer a microbial culture to another medium (as in both lab work "inoculate a petri dish" and baking "use a starter culture to create four cups of sourdough inoculum"). Extended to memetics it could mean to transfer a meme to a new carrier.