Felgraf's Sandbox
Item #: SCP-XXX
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-XXX is contained at Site ██ in a 20x20x4 meter chamber of a reinforced, double-paned, nanoporous glass insulator, which will itself be contained in a larger, secondary chamber of reinforced concrete, again insulated by nanopourous glass, should the primary containment unit fail.
SCP-XXX’s containment unit is fitted with optical thermometers every 300 millimeters, constantly monitored. Outside of approved tests, the temperature difference between any two thermometers be more than █ Kelvin. At no point should the temperature gradient at any point be more than █ Kelvin per meter.
In the event that the inner chamber is breached, the outer chamber should be flooded with liquid nitrogen, stabilizing the temperature to 70 K. After █ hours, SCP-XXX should enter a hibernation state, at which point the liquid nitrogen can be drained away. Containment crews armed with liquid nitrogen sprayers should keep SCP-XXX’s extremities at approximately 70K (by the application of liquid nitrogen, which will quickly boil away at exactly 70K) while repair crews effect repairs to the containment chamber.
In the event of total containment failure, SCP-XXX will begin to ‘crawl’ towards the nearest source of geothermic energy. Crews armed with liquid-nitrogen sprayers will be dispatched to halt its advance. In the event that SCP-XXX comes within █ km of a geothermic hotspot, contingency plan XXX is to be [Data Expunged]
High casualties are expected and acceptable.
Furthermore, in the event of a total containment failure, all electronic devices should be wiped of any and all sensitive information and all internet connections should be physically terminated, to prevent SCP-XXX from gaining access to potentially dangerous information.
ADDENUM XXX-1: In light of incident XXX-1, all personnel working in close physical proximity to SCP-XXX are to wear class 5 insulation suits, to minimize all ambient body heat.
Description: SCP-XXX appears to be a massive nest of wires and cables, extending radially from a large (1 cubic meter), jet-black box of unknown composition. A tiny fracture is located in one corner of the device. Most of these wires remain unconnected, but █ terminate at a variety of integrated devices, including a microphone, computer monitor and USB-Jump drive (███████ brand). A majority of the wires are composed of a previously undiscovered diamond alloy, and are ‘superconducting’ in a thermal sense: they are almost perfect thermic conductors. The remaining wires instead contain the ceramic alloy ██████, which acts as a ‘standard’ high-temperature electric superconductor.
Interior examination of SCP-XXX via remote microscope inserted into the fracture has revealed a vastly complex interior, with some areas appearing superficially similar to that of a standard supercomputer motherboard, and others appearing to be a seemingly senseless tangle of ultrafine wire. However, the transistors visible through the opening are highly advanced ‘heat transistors’-transistors that control the flow of heat-energy, rather than ones that rely on electric current. Similar transistors have only recently been manufactured by researches at █████████ University, and were far more crude and bulky than those contained within SCP-XXX.
SCP-XXX is, in actuality, a highly complicated, Turing-complete thermodynamic computing engine. It utilizes differences in temperature to ‘power’ itself, much like a normal computer would use differences in electric potential to operate. It is also capable of generating and storing thermo-electric current, though no capacitors can be found in the exposed section of the interior.
SCP-XXX houses an artificial intelligence of unknown origin. Through its electrically-conducting probes, it is capable of interfacing and powering a variety of modern electronics, and seems capable of determining how to ‘use’ them. After allowing SCP-XXX to integrate with a monitor and microphone, it became apparent that SCP-XXX was also capable of understanding human speech. It is most fluent in █████, native to the area in which it was recovered, but is rapidly becoming fluent in English with no formal (or informal) instruction.
When exposed to low temperature gradients (approximately equivalent to ‘standard’ fluctuations of temperature when no extra source of heat is added), SCP-XXX displays an intellect on-par with a standard teenager of IQ ██, although it often displays confusion and appears to have difficulty storing new ‘memories’ at this power level.
SCP-XXX was discovered by a geology team from ████████████, who were retrieving ice and rock samples near a recently discovered, long-dormant volcano in ██████. One of SCP-XXX's tendrils was discovered embedded in the ice and rock at a depth of approximately [REDACTED], at which point it activated and tried to free itself, before a chance ice storm re-entombed the object. The Foundation was tipped off by agents embbeded in local government positions, and retrieved SCP-XXX without incident. The memebers of the geology team were given Class B amnesiacs and released.
Scrapings from the outer shell of the box have been unable to determine the age of the object, nor have they been conclusive in determining its origins. Ice and rock depth suggests that SCP-XXX has been buried for approximately [REDACTED], but the device could be far older, as its efforts to free itself compromised the site.
Interrogations as to its origin return conflicting claims. It has, to date, claimed
It was once part of a massive Jupiter brain and dislodged by a comet or meteor
It was created as a soviet experiment in 19██
It was part of massive network of ancient computers scattered about the globe, though it has no knowledge or memory of its creators. Locations of three other revealed computers correspond to modern-day █████, ████, and Mt. ███████, all confirmed to be active geothermal hotspots)
[DATA EXPUNGED]
Note from Dr. ██████ ██████ I want an interrogation of every member on that research team to confirm everything they’ve ever said in the presence of SCP-XXX. Hopefully, it was just some soon-to-be-Keter-duty researcher that led to its awareness of The Church [DATA EXPUNGED]
Whether SCP-XXX is simply confused as to its origin or intentionally lying is difficult to ascertain. Psychological evaluations of SCP-XXX have all returned inconclusive results, save that SCP-XXX appears to have relatively benign intentions.
In light of incident XXX-1, SCP XXX is to be considered hostile and dangerous.
Incident XXX-1
Approximately █ months after acquisition, the display monitor provided to SCP-XXX appeared to malfunction. When technical staff approached within █ meters of SCP-XXX’s wires, SCP-XXX’s monitor resumed operation, and displayed “You have warmth. I need it.”
SCP-XXX rapidly impaled all █ staff members with its wires, creating a temporary temperature gradient of approximately 17 Kelvin.
SCP-XXX failed to puncture any vital organs or major arteries in its attack, allowing the impaled technicians to survive for ███ minutes at minimum. Review of the incident footage suggests that this was intentional on SCP-XXX’s part.
When exposed to a temperature gradient of this magnitude, SCP-XXX proved capable of breaching containment, and proceeded to
[Data Expunged]
-still alive when containment crews arrived on scene, but did not survive the containment process.
██ casualties total.