If you closely study the "needs" of some of our residents, you will surely notice a fairly well-defined pattern. Flesh, blood, bones, space to create nests and colonies. The human body is full of resources... but we are more than that, aren't we? Many in the Foundation follow a spiritual path and speak of the soul or the psyche, a "vital breath" beyond the physical. And then there are those who think we are just electrical impulses, a brain attached to a long chain of nerves. The problem is... that there are things here that also want that.
What Is SCP-1027?
Would you like to see it closer...? No problem, the team feeds it regularly and it becomes more docile after that. A fresh cow brain per week, no more, no less. Obviously, everyone who enters there must be protected, although it is not the most complex containment we have done. The tank contains saline solution. Nothing special, but by its reactions we can calculate that it feels... more comfortable this way.
Your eyes do not deceive you. SCP-1027 is a complete central nervous system, very similar to that of a human being that... lives outside the body. Every single one of its neural structures records mobility capability, and its sensory system seems to work without difficulty. Eyes, cochleas... it sounds strange to say that it can see and hear like any of us, but we have no reason to believe otherwise.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/lMmmNCrBwewAnatomy and Differences
The main difference compared to a human being is in its neuroglia. The lining on SCP-1027's cells is 300% thicker, and the glial coating extends the entire length of the cells. That combination is what allows it to live outside a body, but as you can imagine, it does not tell the whole story. How did it get here? What does it want? Why brains?
I cannot help you with the first question, but SCP-1027 "feeds" on neurotransmitters present in mammalian brains. The process is... similar to osmosis, but we have not been able to determine it exactly. We only know that the neuroglia extract and absorb certain components. In fact, I am not even sure that calling it "feeding" is correct. SCP-1027 has survived for weeks without access to those chemicals. More than a biological necessity to subsist, the extraction suggests... something else. An addiction, perhaps? Pleasure?
How It Kills
One thing is certain: when it has a live prey nearby, it cannot stop itself. SCP-1027 will fuse with the nervous system as soon as it gets the chance, draining neurotransmitters until it kills it. The most disturbing thing is that its behavior changes when the victim is human. Whether it is alive or recently deceased, a part of SCP-1027 enters the brain through the auditory canal, until it perforates the meningeal membranes.
Once it achieves this, SCP-1027 uses its neural ganglia to inject a modified compound similar to dopamine directly into the invaded brain, along with a slight electrical impulse. In more than 90% of cases, the victim's nervous system begins to transform into a new instance of SCP-1027. The separation from the body is completed with a faster decomposition than normal. Basically, the new SCP-1027 rots the body from the inside.
The heads here insist that additional instances of SCP-1027 have no previous memories from before the transformation, and that their intelligence is similar to that of a primate, but personally I have my doubts. Of course... the waters are always divided here. Do we maintain containment, or should we destroy these creatures if there is a possibility? I would like to know your opinion... when you come back for more.
