The Consciousness

"hey jake!"

"sup?" i say confused as to why sam is so chipper considering the recent news

"Cafeteria seems to be giving more then usual" he sits down infront of me at the table

"the people who work the cafeteria are staying, it's us gaurds being moved to other sites, they probably feel bad for us" i pull out a pack of cigaretts "want one?"

"nonono, im quitting" he says to my shock

"youve been gloating about smoking since you were 13 and having a perfect score on your 'health test'. why are you quitting now?" considering the timing now would be about the time he gets yelled at for bringing alcohal on the premisis

"you know what they say, cold turky has the highest success rate for people quitting" he says with pride

"that doesnt answer my question." somthings strange sam is the guy known for things like bringing beer to the workplace then spilling it accidentally on his superior. him telling a fact of any kind wasnt fitting

im almost question him on the way hes acting before he mentions "so what site do you think you'll be transferred to?"

"dunno, all they've said is that we should pack our things and be ready for the move. but that was a week ago not sure whats taking them so long esspecially when they've got those weirdos to help them"
early last week there was tons of rumors about what was going to happen. i was one of the gaurds that thought they were all nonsense so imagine my surprise when i found out half of them were right

we're being replaced by an 'ex-scp'. it calls itself 'The Consciousness' and has a legion of 'VOCs' at its beck and call

"never thought a job gaurding scp's would get replaced by scp's gaurding scp's" theres an odd silence. when i complained just yesterday sam had his fair share of complaints as well but now had a odd guilty look on his face.
"its funny really. i can remember the scp's number, that my gaurd post is the door to its room, and that it affects memory. i cant even remember how to get to my post i just wander around until i somhow make it there. im one of the only people in the building able to remember even that much so i thought i was pretty much set for life."

"'one of'?" sam says in confusion "im pretty sure you were the only one"

"no no" i wave a bit embarrased "theres at least one other guy, cant remember his face but after i show up hes usualy second to arrive and stand on the right of the door while im on the left"

sam looks baffled holding his hand over his mouth and darting his eyes around…almost like he's…thinking

"sam? are you…thinking? sam, first you know a 'fact' and now this? your going to overheat if you keep pretending to have a brain"

"harsh…" he says biting his lip and looking conserned

"come on man it was just a joke whats with you?" was he really that bothered?

"no its not that…i uh"

"spit it out already!" i cant help but get annoyed seeing sam of all people acting passive
theres a short pause

"do you know the abilities the 'ex-scp' thats moveing in has?" he says seemingly changing the topic

"mostly from second hand sources. it can apparelty remeber everything about the scp were supposed to be gaurding and even study it, its some kind of 'hive mind' thing and it calls its 'drones' 'VOC's' which apperently stand for 'vessels of the conscienceness'"

"do you know how it gets VOC's?"

"no…" i say feeling a bit wary of where this conversation is going

"you see, when a willing participant, such as a human, asks to join the participant relaxes their mind and the VOC softly holds on to their head bring their forheads together after a short delay that person becomes a VOC and their mind joins the conscienceness"

"how do you-" i quickly look up to see that sams eyes change, his pupils turning into the foundation symbol "wha- you- how-" shocked i fall backwards and scurry away from him on the ground

"i-i joined the conscienceness." he says with a guilty look

"b-but…y-you" i take a moment to let this sink in but sam tries to explain himself

"we, have alot of good memories here jake. even if we constantly lose a bunch of them. i didnt want to leave, i didnt want to get used to a new facility meet new people get yelled at by new bossess…and this was the remedy i thought of"

calming down i warily take my seat "your not going to try to recruit me are you?"

"no! even though all the conscienceness keeps telling me too ill let them do that, im your freind. im not going to take advantage of that"

"good, cause im not interested…why do they want me so bad anyway" the comment 'all the hive mind keeps telling me too' stuck out to me

"you said there was another gaurd at the scp door?"

"yeah?"

"there are no records of somone stationed besides you"

"what!? so your saying…"

"a spy? a persistantly confused gaurd? a possessed gaurd? the only lead we have is you"

"im still not joining"

"i know i know. i just want you to tell us what you can remember"

after explaining what i can of the man i finish my lunch and start to leave

"I-I'll see ya later?" sam says with discomfort as i leave
i dont say anything, simply returning to work

time goes by and eventually i get sent to another facility, lunch time comes around again. im sitting alone at one of the lunch tables but before i take a bite of my food somone approaches me. from his eyes i can tell he's a VOC but doesnt have the wide eyes and the salesman smile most of them have
"sam?"

"this isnt creepy is it?" presumably sam asks

"showing up to have lunch with me in another persons body? not at all" i say sarcastically

"sorry…"

i cant change whats already happened, at regardless if i get along with one or not their still going to be around so i figured i might as well get used to this "have a seat"

with a look of exictement he happily plops down across from me and we yammer about stupid things like we always did.