When it comes to bugs, the SCP Foundation
certainly has its hands full. You might remember SCP-726, a species of blowfly
aptly named the reconstructive maggots, who recreated the bodies of other organisms through
horrible reproduction methods. There’s also SCP-2031, a colony of anomalous
ants that would eat their victim’s insides and burrow themselves in the bodies, puppeting
them around and masquerading as the creature they just ate, even if it was a person. Today on SCP Explained, we’re going to be
talking about a new species of anomalous insect, SCP-378, nicknamed the Brainworm. Well, it’s an anomaly only new to us. For the Foundation, SCP-378’s discovery
and containment dates back to the days of the American Secure Containment Initiative. The American Secure Containment Initiative
could be considered a predecessor to the SCP Foundation, active for the majority of the
first half of the 20th century. While most of the stories go that the ASCI,
alongside several other paranormal investigation organizations, eventually came together and
formed the SCP Foundation in the early 1950s, the reality is a lot murkier. As we all know, it’s very hard to completely
kill off an organization in the anomalous world. The secrecy and decentralization practically
ensures that there’s always going to be some stragglers left, and in the ASCI’s
case, that certainly seems to be the case. SCP-378’s file indicates that by 1963, the
ASCI was still around and kicking, though it was definitely living on borrowed time
due to the rising prominence of the SCP Foundation. The two organizations, the growing Foundation
and the dying ASCI, attempted to keep tabs on one another throughout the decade, but
the Foundation’s espionage programs proved to be more intensive and thorough. For whatever reason, the Foundation was always
getting the best intel, whether it was beating the ASCI to the punch on newly discovered
anomalies, gaining access to otherwise classified information only available in ASCI documents
of the highest security clearances, or finding ways to benefit from the organization’s
detriments through diplomatic meetings that always seemed to work in the Foundation’s
favor, it was clear that the SCP Foundation was the new hotness, and the ASCI would have
a lot of catching up to do if it wanted to remain relevant in this new, post World War
2 world. Unfortunately, we all know what happened. The majority of the ASCI was absorbed into
the Foundation shortly after its formation, and the pieces that remained would fade into
obscurity in the coming years. But why was the Foundation’s intel so good? More funding? Better-trained agents? Luck? The answer, if you’re familiar with the
Foundation’s ways, shouldn’t come as a surprise. Of course there was more going on behind the
scenes, and that’s where SCP-378 comes in. SCP-378 is an arthropod resembling an Amazonian
Giant Centipede, specifically one in the larval stage. SCP-378 measures about 3 meters long, with
a thickness of 233 kilograms, and it possesses otherwise ordinary biological features. Well, about as normal as an anomaly contained
by the SCP Foundation can get. On the dietary side, it eats like a normal
Centipede, consuming primarily other insects and lichen. On the reproductive side, things are a bit
different. SCP-378 reproduces asexually, meaning that
it’s capable of generating offspring entirely through its own biological functions, which
it excretes from its backside. A newly birthed instance, designated SCP-378-A,
resembles a fully grown adult Amazonian Giant Centipede, right from birth. But dissection of these baby-pedes suggests
that this resemblance is superficial, as SCP-378-A’s organ systems, beyond a primitive neural network,
are entirely nonexistent. These babies are essentially shell organisms,
intended to be used by SCP-378 - the host centipede - as remote drones. And that’s how SCP-378 proves to be useful
to the Foundation at large. You see, SCP-378-A are endoparasites, meaning
that they’re organisms that live inside other organisms. Like a tapeworm, but so, so much worse. SCP-378-A are used by SCP-378 to infect advanced
primates, such as ourselves, but also a whole host of offshoots of humanity, such as the
//Homo ignotus//, also known as SCP-655, and the //Gigantopithecus sapiens//, the common
sasquatch, which you might recognize as SCP-1000. SCP-378-A enters a host through an open orifice,
and after infection, the entity will integrate itself with the host’s nervous system through
means that are poorly understood by the Foundation. This includes brain death of the host, and
extending SCP-378’s remote control through its offspring and into the host itself. Vital functions and sensory input remain unaffected,
meaning that the host still retains some semblance of life function, just, you know, without
a brain or anything. They’re not there, they’re just puppets,
but you’d never be able to tell. When you think of someone being puppeted by
an anomalous parasite, you’d probably expect them to act a little weird. Maybe they don’t speak right, or maybe they
start slithering on the floor or eating only small lizards. But that’s not the case with victims of
SCP-378. No, once its offspring have infected a suitable
host, SCP-378 will actually do a pretty decent job of integrating its victims back into their
respective social sphere. This means maintaining all of their previous
relationships as best as possible, such as keeping their jobs, and otherwise fitting
in and not standing above the crowd. You’d probably assume they prefer to keep
a low profile, mainly infecting hosts in small towns and sleepy suburbs, but you’d be wrong
there too. SCP-378 loves the big city, places with high
population density, and a robust entertainment scene. We’ll explain later, but SCP-378 differs
from ordinary insects in that its base instinct isn’t just to infect and reproduce, it’s
to have fun, and the way it entertains itself is by living the lives of people who otherwise
live busy, engaging lives, filled with plenty of social interactivity and places to go. The Foundation has yet to discover the upper
limit of SCP-378, as the centipede has managed to infect quite a number of hosts with its
offspring, which it all seems to maintain simultaneously, without issue. Upon interrogation of a host, SCP-378 confessed
to the existence of twenty-six human hosts, two instances of Guatemalan black howler monkeys,
and three instances of SCP-1000. Considering the complex social hierarchies
of monkeys, it's unsurprising that SCP-378 infected a few of them just to try them out,
on top of infecting a few sasquatches in the form of SCP-1000, which SCP-378 conveniently
is immune to the inherent anomalous effects of. But there’s no question as to which species
SCP-378 prefers. In fact, those other things it infected, according
to the host, were only acquired during periods of heavy intoxication. See, the centipede enjoys getting a little
tipsy too. You can’t have that in the amazon rainforest. As humanity is the dominant species on earth,
we’re the ones with the shiniest toys for SCP-378 to play with, the most exciting lives,
filled with more pointless interaction and labor than a bug would know what to do with. And that’s what makes SCP-378 so intriguing
for the Foundation. It’s an intelligent parasite, whose only
motivation is to keep society running as normal so it can slip behind a few pairs of human
eyes and see what it’s like in the world it would never get to otherwise live in. Some of you are already thinking it, but SCP-378
is the perfect anomaly for the Foundation to use against its foes and adversaries. And as we covered earlier, in the 1960s, the
Foundation had a lot to prove, mainly against the American Secure Containment Initiative. The Foundation knew to classify SCP-378 as
a thaumiel class object. It was promptly contained in an underground
terrarium filled with plenty of juicy lichen and ants for SCP-378 to feed on. Of course, there was also a decontamination
chamber constructed adjacent to the regular containment chamber. Any personnel who would go in would obviously
be at risk to an infection from SCP-378, and we’re sure that living the crazy, exciting
life of a Foundation agent would’ve satisfied the sociable bug, but the SCP Foundation wasn’t
taking any risks. As a result, anyone entering the chamber would
have to wear full-body protection, and if they were found to be infected during the
decontamination process, they would be terminated. After discovery of SCP-378, the Foundation
immediately saw the potential in utilizing the anomaly for espionage purposes. After all, it would be a perfect spy network. Capable of fitting in and maintaining ordinary
roles while also communicating with SCP-378, who would feed information to the Foundation
through another host. The impeccable precision of SCP-378’s maintenance
of its hosts' social personas would make the entity almost impenetrable to sniff out in
the field, even for trained agents who deal with the anomalous. SCP-378’s initial psychological evaluation
was performed by the well-known Foundation psychologist, Dr. Simon Glass. Dr. Glass found that SCP-378 was obviously
unique among arthropods, and possessed either human levels of sapience or at the very least,
the ability to emulate its hosts’ intellectual faculties. Regardless, the anomaly was intelligent, but
a point of interest for Dr. Glass was SCP-378’s relationship with its hosts. It maintained a constant, consistent sense
of identity across multiple hosts, but interviews with SCP-378 revealed that it was fully aware
that it was not those hosts in actuality. SCP-378 was essentially roleplaying various
human identities. It wasn’t just easy for the Foundation to
figure out that the centipede enjoyed masquerading as its hosts, it pretty much spelled it out
with giant letters. SCP-378’s hosts rarely interact with or
send information directly back to SCP-378 or fellow hosts, because SCP-378 is in full
control at all times. This is literally just a game for SCP-378,
a source of entertainment. And if one of the hosts came under duress
or was at-risk of being found out by those in its life, SCP-378 could easily abandon
the host persona, which it had no issues with doing. Dr. Glass found that host behavior was largely
unique to each instance, and extroverted personalities were a favorite for SCP-378. Hosts rarely isolate themselves, except to
sleep or use the bathroom, and SCP-378 appeared to take equal enthusiasm in both stressful
and pleasant situations. After all, this was all a big roleplaying
session for it, SCP-378 appreciated some excitement in the lives of its subjects. In a way, this is like an infinite source
of entertainment. You could live as many lives as you wanted
at once, have almost no attachment to any consequences, because you’re a bug who has
no stake in the real world, and you get to experience things no other member of your
species ever has or ever will. SCP-378 is really living the dream. Even to another human, this sounds pretty
fun. We only get to live one life, SCP-378 gets
to live as many as it wants. But Dr. Glass found another interesting fact
about SCP-378. It was attached to a certain identity. Lisa Martin, a 33 year old Mexican-American
female employee at Digiannantono’s Pies, a pizza chain located in Staten Island, New
York. Dr. Glass was a bit unsure as to why SCP-378
enjoyed Miss Martin so much, but it was clear from the way it talked about her that this
was its favorite persona. And Dr. Glass could see why the more he studied
Martin’s routine. It was the perfect mixture of business, idleness,
routine labor, and general engagement for SCP-378 to experience. Lisa Martin’s routine was static. On every day except Saturday, from 8 AM to
6 PM, Lisa Martin would show up to work at Digiannantono’s Pies. After she finished work, from 6 PM to 11 PM,
Martin would engage in maintenance of one of seventeen rooftop gardens across New York
City. Of these gardens, Glass discovered that thirteen
are maintained by volunteer organizations, twelve of which Martin was not a part of. On Saturdays, from 8 AM to 11 PM, Martin alternated
between socializing with a collection of friends and coworkers, and playing piano for various
high-end bars. On all days, from 11 PM to 12 AM, Martin would
shower and then prepare for bed. She would sleep from 12 AM to 7 AM, and in
the morning, she’d get back up to do it all over again. When you see a person’s schedule laid out
like this, everything seems a bit more routine and less exciting, huh? It’s not an exciting life laid out on paper,
but SCP-378 loved it, for whatever reasons. Attempts to interrupt Lisa Martin’s routine
were unilaterally met with unusual levels of hostility from the bug and its hosts, and
in the event of Lisa Martin’s death, SCP-378 would happily direct another host to assume
her identity. Yeah, we’re not sure either. Regardless, SCP-378 had a hobby. Many hobbies, but Lisa Martin was special. Dr. Glass’s evaluation proved to be popular
with the upper ranks of the Foundation, who, due to SCP-378’s intelligence and awareness
of human sentience, could prove to be useful to the overall mission of the Foundation. As we said before, in 1963, the Foundation
had to contend with a number of powerful, adjacent organizations. The Global Occult Coalition, with their destructive
tendencies and the backing of the world’s governments. GRU-Division “P”, the Soviet Union’s
anomalous research military unit. The remnants of the American Secure Containment
Initiative, who, while not as prominent or powerful as they used to be, still remained
an organization capable of deterring the Foundation. As a result, the Foundation looked into applying
SCP-378 through practical means. Dr. Glass’s work importance couldn’t be
understated, but the prevailing theory was that SCP-378 did not understand the significance
of social dynamics in regards to hierarchy and social capital. This could be observed in its strange defense
of Lisa Martin. Several of SCP-378’s hosts held positions
of power, two of which, David Lockheed and Alfonso Leoz, were even employed by anomalous
organizations, and beyond the reach of the Foundation’s then-capacity to contain. Even holding these powerful positions, SCP-378
displayed a willingness to sacrifice the hosts to defend, replace, or otherwise maintain
Lisa Martin, its favorite host. It was here where the Foundation saw an opportunity. If they could use SCP-378’s favoritism of
Martin to get it to do what they wanted, their dream-spy network had a chance of manifesting
into reality. David Lockheed, one of SCP-378’s hosts,
was a low-level employee of the ASCI, but if the Foundation was able to persuade SCP-378,
using Martin’s safety as collateral, Lockheed could rise through the ranks of the organization
into a position where the Foundation needed a puppet. Second, they realized that Martin herself
could prove to be a useful asset. The Foundation was always looking for new
ways to conduct reconnaissance, and pizza parlors were an ideal meeting spot and espionage
center, if they could be kept from the public eye. Martin’s place of employment would soon
be converted from your average Staten Island pizza parlor to one of the Foundation’s
very own Spicy Crust Pizza chains. See what they did there? Spicy Crust Pizza? SCP? They’re so clever. Regardless, the use of SCP-378’s anomalous
abilities to defend Foundation operations in the United States seemed like a useful
prospect, and the idea was put to a vote by the Overseer Council. It passed, with only minor detration, under
the name of the “Kraken Protocol”. As a result, SCP-378’s containment procedures
were updated, and containment of the anomaly would be focused on 3 primary components. The first host, SCP-378-1, was held in the
Area-19 barracks of the SCP Foundation. -1 was employed as a maintenance technician
with a low security clearance, and in the case of death, a brain-dead or comatose reserve
personnel would be elected to replace it. SCP-378-1 served as the Foundation’s primary
means of communication with SCP-378. After all, they needed a channel to speak
directly to the bug in charge, and -1 was their way of doing so. SCP-378-2 was David Lockheed, an average employee
of the American Secure Containment Initiative working in their clerical sector. Lockheed was tasked with sabotaging ASCI operations
for the Foundation, as well as collecting information in the Foundation’s interests. SCP-378-2 was a little more difficult to replace
than the average SCP-378 host, and was required to follow a strict health and exercise regimen. If something were to happen to Lockheed, there’s
no telling if the Foundation would be able to replace him, and the chances of that happening
were low. Lockheed was the perfect spy, with an established
rapport with the ASCI going back at least a decade, and access to information the Foundation
would use to outsmart the Initiative at every turn. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to you that
the ASCI’s days were numbered, and eventually, they closed their doors entirely. SCP-378-3 was Lisa Martin, who worked at Spicy
Crust Pizza in Staten Island. Martin’s purpose was to maintain a network
for Foundation operatives in New York, and host a place where they could congregate and
meet without issue. On top of that, Martin was still SCP-378’s
favorite persona, and the entire operation hinged on SCP-378 having Martin available
to it. As a result, Lisa Martin would have to be
replaced as soon as possible if anything were to happen to her. And with that, the Kraken Protocol was in
place. Each instance formed a part of the Foundation’s
information-gathering campaign, and was outfitted with a tracking device and an audio recorder. Every week, embedded agents stationed near
each host were to evaluate the health and integrity of them and the equipment they had
inside them. If this initial rollout was a success, the
Foundation would continue to utilize SCP-378-A in further infiltration of its enemies. But the Foundation would have to see how things
played out first. Less than two years later, Lockheed had retrieved
significant information for the Foundation and the Kraken Protocol proved to be a success. A new site, Site-56, located near prominent
anomalous locations, was about to be constructed. SCP-378 seemed excited at the prospects of
a change in scenery and more hosts to infiltrate, but there was also something the Foundation
could never have expected. In an attempt to gain a new host for SCP-378
to control, the Foundation came across something disturbing. Their target was an agent of the FBI’s “Unusual
Incident Unit”. After drugging him and bringing him back to
the Foundation in order to receive an SCP-378-A instance inside him, SCP-378 informed the
Foundation that it couldn’t establish a connection with the agent. The personnel were confused. The agent was still alive, and SCP-378 never
had any difficulty in connecting with hosts before. They did a number of tests on the agent, and
tried to figure out what went wrong. That’s when the Foundation discovered that
there was a different centipede inside the agent’s head, where the SCP-378-A instance
would typically be. It looked like the Foundation had a much bigger
issue on their hand than they ever had realized. Now go check out “SCP-213 - Anti-Matter
Parasite” and “Reconstructive Maggots - SCP-726” for more SCPs that tend to be
a bit anomalously clingy!
