SCP-199: Spy Ferns

SCP-199: Spy Ferns SCP-199 is a species of fern that grows its own little surveillance balloons. Its fronds develop into bladders about ten centimeters across, fill with hydrogen, and detach. They rise to about a mile above sea level, where they begin transmitting radio reports in a high-pitched male voice speaking Mandarin Chinese. There is no radio equipment or person inside. Most of the balloons are empty. They report on their surroundings and their own condition anyway, starting at roughly one transmission an hour and becoming more active as they ripen. Eventually they burst. Usually nothing comes out, although some release material that grows into more ferns. The plant is unusually hardy. It can attach to most solid surfaces, tolerates environmental damage, resists most pesticides, and seems to thrive around pollution. The Foundation finds it in city gardens, chimneys, and factories. Its first discovery follows reports of floating objects hitting hotels and interfering with radios in Xi'an. It subsequently turns up in other major cities, including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Beijing, and Tokyo. The transmissions make the surveillance behavior clearer. When the Foundation creates a simulated urban environment, the balloons identify targets, follow people, avoid buildings, and report their movements in language that sounds like a military operation. Individual balloons use different names and ranks. A gathering of people prompts one to announce that it is beginning “Armageddon,” then report that the attempt failed. The researchers don't know what a successful attempt would do. Some observations are harder to interpret. A person standing on a balcony is described differently depending on whether flowers are present. An empty balcony with flowers produces another report. The balloons eventually start avoiding balconies altogether. One transmission mentions the Paragon without explaining the connection. Another begins a message asking someone to tell others that it loved them, then cuts off. The file leaves those voices unexplained. There could be more going on than a plant announcing what it sees, but it doesn't establish that human minds are trapped inside or identify anyone controlling the broadcasts. Then a cluster of more than fifty balloons appears over Istanbul. They burst together, releasing acidic slime that damages a road intersection and causes three casualties. When a Foundation team tries to burn the source plants, those explode into the same slime and injure five agents. Soil analysis shows that the patch was planted four weeks earlier. This variant, provisionally called SCP-199-B, is also reported in Mumbai, Lagos, and Mexico City. Near the Lagos patch, investigators find a partly decomposed seed packet bearing an eye symbol and a modified version of the Foundation's emblem. The article gives us the packet and the planting evidence without identifying the people responsible. The contained plants are grown under artificial light at Site-19, with an electrified ceiling to destroy rising balloons and a Faraday cage to block their broadcasts. Keeping them inside a garden takes care of their growth. The difficulty is figuring out what they're reporting, who planted the dangerous variant, and whether those unexplained commands will eventually work. Original Entry: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-199