Summary In a Yellow Wood - SCP Foundation scp-wiki.wikidot.com
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One Line
A scientist discovers a mysterious path in the woods that leads to an unpredictable uphill adventure.
Slides
Slide Presentation (7 slides)
Key Points
- SCP Foundation is a fictional organization focused on securing, containing, and protecting anomalous objects.
- A researcher discovers a mysterious new path in the woods that appears and disappears based on the angle of his head.
- The researcher gets lost on the new path and struggles to find his way back to the original path.
- Despite challenges, the researcher uses his knowledge of equations to try and navigate his way home.
- The story ends with a twist as the researcher realizes he has been walking uphill the entire time.
Summaries
20 word summary
A scientist finds a strange path in the woods that appears and disappears, leading him to a mysterious uphill journey.
69 word summary
A scientist's routine walk in the woods takes a mysterious turn when he discovers a path that appears and disappears based on the angle of his head. He becomes engrossed in mental calculations and accidentally starts walking on the new path, struggling to find his way back. After marking the intersection point with an X, he walks clockwise, but realizes he has been steadily walking uphill the whole time.
111 word summary
A scientist's routine walk through the woods takes a mysterious turn when he discovers a new path that appears and disappears based on the angle of his head. Intrigued, he becomes engrossed in mental calculations and accidentally starts walking on the new path, struggling to find his way back. After a restless night, he marks the intersection point with an X and begins walking clockwise, hoping for inspiration. He spends hours re-creating theoretical intersection equations from years ago, feeling confident they will lead him home. As he stretches his legs and lets his mind wander, he starts walking counter clockwise and realizes he has been steadily walking uphill the whole time.
259 word summary
A scientist leaves his lab and takes a walk through the woods, pondering the beauty of the anomaly he has been studying. While tying his shoe, he notices a new path that appears and disappears based on the angle of his head. Intrigued, he realizes that this path may intersect with the original one near the gate. He becomes so engrossed in mental calculations that he accidentally starts walking on the new path and struggles to find his way back. After a restless night, he marks the intersection point with an X and begins walking clockwise, hoping for inspiration. He spends hours re-creating theoretical intersection equations from years ago, feeling confident they will lead him home. As he stretches his legs and lets his mind wander, he starts walking counter clockwise and realizes he has been steadily walking uphill the whole time.
The scientist's routine walk through the woods takes a mysterious turn when he discovers a new path that appears and disappears based on the angle of his head. Intrigued by this phenomenon, he becomes so engrossed in mental calculations that he accidentally starts walking on the new path and struggles to find his way back. After a restless night, he marks the intersection point with an X and begins walking clockwise, hoping for inspiration. He spends hours re-creating theoretical intersection equations from years ago, feeling confident they will lead him home. As he stretches his legs and lets his mind wander, he starts walking counter clockwise and realizes he has been steadily walking uphill the whole time.
751 word summary
In a Yellow Wood He finished his day like he usually did - he closed his notebook, exited the lab and took the short walk to the gate. As he passed through, he gave a wave to the guard on duty, turned right and began the walk that would bring him back to the starting point in about half an hour - a slight uphill climb the entire way. Autumn had settled on the woods the week before, bringing the trees to their full colors, but the weather remained comfortable. He let his mind drift as his feet automatically followed the path, a small smile creasing the corners of his mouth as he considered the simple beauty of the equations that explained the anomaly.
Close to the halfway point, he noticed that his right shoe was coming untied. As he knelt to re-secure the laces, he glanced to his right, and took a sharp intake of breath. He was looking at another path that curved off into the woods. As he stood to inspect this new discovery, it disappeared. He slowly adjusted the angle of his head, and suddenly it reappeared. With some experimentation, he discovered that, when he held his head at just the right angle, there was a very narrow window, only a centimeter or two wide, that allowed him to see the new path.
He was amazed, but not surprised. Certainly the equations did not preclude the presence of another path (or for that matter, multiple other paths). In fact, he had spent some time several years ago trying to predict possible intersection points, but the theoretical nature of the exercise soon fell to the wayside, overshadowed by the discoveries that he and his team were making at the time. He began running through the equations in his head. The curve of the new path was less pronounced than that of the original, and it appeared that it climbed in a clockwise direction. He made some quick mental calculations, and was fairly certain that the two would intersect again close to the gate.
He was so engrossed in his mental calculations that he didn't realize that he had started walking on the new path. He had only gone 3 or 4 meters, and he quickly returned to where he could see the disturbed gravel that marked the intersection. Or rather, that should have marked the intersection. With increasing desperation, he spent the next several hours trying to find the unique combination of angles that would open the “window”. As darkness was falling, he came to the conclusion that finding the original path was going to take more time. He spent a restless night there, curled up on the cold gravel.
At first light, he spent a fruitless hour trying to locate the original path again. He needed to think, and he had always done his best thinking while walking. He hoped that walking in this place would provide the same inspiration. He used the heel of his shoe to scribe a large X at the intersection point, then began walking clockwise. After two hours of walking uphill, he returned to his mark. He hadn't seen any other paths. Or buildings. Or people. Just the autumn woods spreading off in every direction. But he had formulated an idea.
He pulled out the small notebook and stub of a pencil that he always carried with him and sat down. By mid afternoon, the area surrounding him was covered with pieces of paper, some crumpled, some with large portions crossed out. The majority of the pages, however, were spread out in front of him. He had re-created the “theoretical” intersection equations that he had started years ago. He didn't have the answers yet, but he felt fairly confident these equations would get him back home.
He stood, placed his hands in the small of his back, and bent backwards, eliciting a symphony of snaps, crackles and pops from his spine. He needed to stretch his legs and let his mind wander. He looked both ways, and eventually decided that one way was just as good as the other. His mind preoccupied with the equations, he started walking counter clockwise. He came to stop some time later, a slowly building sense of dread finally breaking through his thoughts. He was surveying his surroundings, trying to discover the cause for the feelings, when the realization hit him hard enough to take his breath away. He had been walking steadily uphill the whole time.