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Registered Phenomena Code: 057
Object Class: Alpha-Yellow
Hazard Types: Info-Hazard, Ideological Hazard
Containment Protocols: RPC-057-A is currently contained in Site-0421. RPC-057-A is placed inside an unsealed envelope labeled with the object's classification. RPC-057-A must be folded in half with the anomalous text not visible to prevent accidental readings. Access to RPC-057-A must be granted approval by Level-3 Class B personnel or higher.
CSD subjects are to be terminated after testing and high-ranking personnel are to be kept on surveillance to prevent personnel from attempting suicide.
Description: RPC-057-A is a 9 line, single stanza free verse poem titled "My Life in Small Sketches" signed by "Volta"2. The poem is handwritten in the Brescian dialect of Lombard3 sing black pen on a sheet of A4 lined paper. Underneath the signature is a typewritten message in standard Italian which reads: 'All poetry can change our perception.'
Once fully read, the poem's anomalous properties manifest. RPC-057-A causes an affected individual to perceive the world as if they were sat at a desk reading and writing notes about themselves in the third person on lined paper using a black ink fountain pen. The page and the pen are described as unending by subjects and that the page "has a top but no bottom."
Subjects report being unable to move anything other than their eyes consciously and that all notes written by them come without any intention to write but an intention to do the action written. Actions done to subjects appear on the page in front of the subject automatically in print letters of uniform width and height. Past memories, actions, and events appear on the page as the subject reads towards the top but they become more faded as they are forgotten - some events are completely faded such as the first written event which is assumed to be the birth of the subject.4
The area around the subject's perceived body has these consistent descriptions:
- A wooden, "probably oak," desk "covered in papers, books and pens" and "lit by a thin wax candle."
- Warm, "almost uncomfortably stuffy."
- Music playing in the background - typically classical Italian, occasionally modern music in line with the current Italian charts.
- People (Henceforth referred to as RPC-057-B) speaking and moving about in the same room, behind the subject, never5 rarely interacting with the subject. Spoken languages reported are varied but most common are Italian, French and English.
84% of subjects exposed to RPC-057-A have developed at least one of these psychological issues: anxiety, paranoia and/or severe stress; this is not deemed an effect of the poem but as a result of the change in world perception. Of the subjects that have developed psychological damage, 67% have committed or attempted suicide.
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