From: Jaan Chandrasekhar
To: O5-9
Subject: SCP Proposal Draft
Hello,
I've attached the draft we discussed earlier. Please review it and let me know of any discrepancies or additional information that should be added. Data which, in my opinion, is due for censoring has been denoted as underlined text within brackets. With your approval, I can submit a request to have this entry added to the catalog. However, my concerns still stand and I believe we should discuss it further prior to final submission.
Jaan Chandrasekhar
Sr. Investigative Researcher
Reliquary Research and Containment Site-76
View Attachment:
SCP-XXXX
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-XXXX is to be kept in a locked non-reactive Iridium container with a window made of reinforced glass from which the object may be observed. For proper preservation, the local environment inside of the container should be composed of at least 99.9999% Argon-40, pressurized to 101.325 kPa. Temperature of the container is to be kept within a range of 290-295K.
Every 90 days, SCP-XXXX is allowed to be removed from its container for study for no longer than 24 hours. After the allotted time, it must immediately be returned to containment where it may be studied either remotely or via observation through the provided container window. All researchers and agents who view the object are to record their findings electronically and be given a Class-C amnesiac prior to leaving the site to prevent any leaks of sensitive information. All computers used for study of SCP-XXXX are to be armed with memetic kill agents to be activated if a workstation registers O5-9’s name being entered. Researchers are to be given advanced warning of this contingency prior to working on SCP-XXXX to prevent accidental death.
A focused background check is to be performed on any researcher prior to assignment to SCP-XXXX. Anyone who has, or may have had, contact with anyone with the surname “Barkley”, within 3 degrees of separation at any point in their lifetime, is prohibited from being assigned to SCP-XXXX.
O5-9 has assumed direct control over this item, and all reports/updates concerning SCP-XXXX are to be addressed solely to O5-9.
Description: SCP-XXXX is a letter, addressed to O5-9, and written on a form of paper made entirely from artificial fibers arranged in a microfiber weave. While it is not impossible to imagine an organization or private company generating the material, there are does not currently exist a method to mass-produce it without being prohibitively expensive.
The material itself was identified as a mesh of CNT, (Carbon Nanotubes), spun similarly to a rope and then woven into a sheet. This material has been suggested to be extremely resilient to tearing, however this has not yet been tested in depth on the object itself.
The “ink” with which the letter is written has been identified as an artificial polymer which is not used for printing or writing purposes. This polymer is shown to have adhered to the microfiber lattice using very strong static forces. Investigation has shown that the polymer “anchors” itself into the lattice of the paper, the many walls of which act as “pools” for the polymer to fuse into. Since the polymer is held within these pools, (as opposed to rolling about freely on a flat surface), the ink is prevented from smudging or smearing. While the writing instrument has not been obtained, it is assumed to play a key part in fusing the polymer to the paper. Due to the fashion in which the polymer is attached, however, it cannot be ruled out that the letter was generated via some form of heavily modified laser printer.
SCP-XXXX was discovered on 06/22/2012 at Overwatch HQ, at [approximately 14:35 local site time]. O5-9 has stated that the letter was not on their desk when they stepped out of the office, (security footage confirms [O5-9 leaving their office at 14:21 local site time]). However, upon returning, the letter is claimed to have been the only item which was on their desk. All other desk adornments and paperwork are claimed to have been strewn across the floor. Security footage shows no activity outside the office during O5-9’s absence. Upon auditing the security tapes, all agents present on site can be accounted for during this time frame. No unusual activity has been identified at the site.
The text of the letter has been recorded electronically and may be viewed below:
Hello █████████████████,
Nothing is paranormal. Everything is real, and has reason for being, and a method of functioning, and can be understood. Nothing you have caged up in your little warehouses is anything greater than a curiosity that you do not yet have a foundation for understanding. But that does not make them magic or supernatural.
By now, you have certainly stumbled across a few apocalyptic Skips. Do they bother you? Have you ever wondered about them, late at night? How there are dozens and dozens of world-ending Skips that, as far as the age of the universe is concerned, all seem to have the potential to end the world tomorrow? Here is one that can end the world in a few thousand years, this one in a few hundred, this one will end the universe in a few weeks if you fail to care for it properly… you can not have thought that these all started popping up recently.
You are clearly aware that these curiosities litter the cosmos. Your records show that you have already seen Skips in the asteroid belt, on Io, even in the Sun itself. Is it not self-evident that [other civilizations would need] organizations like The Foundation [to exist on other worlds] to protect themselves from XK events? Would not our existence here today show that ZK events have been prevented from occurring in the past?
So why? Why did Earth get lucky for 4.6 billion years without humans, and not suffer a single XK event? Stranger still, no world in the universe ever had a ZK event occur. 13.7 billion years, on any world around 300 billion trillion stars, and it never happened. Ever. Why? Why did all that time go by without so much as a single occurrence, and why is it that now you find yourself saddled with several hundred of them all capable of glassing the planet or ending existence if you don’t walk on a razor’s edge? What are you going to do about the ticking time bomb on [HD 85512 b? The planet is over 11 parsecs away] and may cause a ZK event very, very soon.
[Except it will not. They never will. That is the secret: they are all in a cold war against each other. An XK/ZK event can never happen and will never happen. The worst that can ever happen is an AK event and those could happen even if Skips never existed.]
I am writing you this because you need to know that none of the players are willing to make the first move. This universe, this reality, whatever you want to call this hell we live in; it is not the only one. There are many others, some are occupied by horrors that even you, █████████████████, can not even begin to imagine. But not all of them originated in those places. Most of them started here, in this reality. Most of them fled out of self preservation. What you see now is the natural result of a universe where beings are able to grow beyond their fertile crescent, beyond their home, beyond their country, beyond their world, beyond their… whatever you want to call it. But mistakes are made along the way. Some more serious than others.
Your organization states you want to protect humanity, but I have not seen a single proposal for ending these Skips for good. Just the occasional neutralization as they are convenient for you. If you want to protect humanity, you have two choices:
Relocate humanity to a place these things can never reach. You may have to take this whole thing public. It is not impossible, and it may be the prerequisite to your other option, which your descendants may be tasked with.
Take out the players. They will not stay in their stalemate forever.
Please act as soon as possible,
Harris Barkley,
O5-6v
Given that the letter does not appear to have any unusual qualities to it other than its alleged and unconfirmed method of arrival, there is debate whether the item itself constitutes its own SCP entry. Indeed, it is just as likely a sub-object related to a more prominent SCP which may or may not be already cataloged. Since there are no video feeds of the insides of an Overseer's office, there is no record of any method of delivery, either. O5-9 has admitted this and acknowledges that the event is more easily explained by way of elaborate prank from within, or a misinformation tactic from an outside organization.
The CNT mesh and polymer ink which constitute the letter itself may provide a hint to its origins. A new mobile task force is being considered for infiltration and examination of Chaos Insurgency, MCD, and other GOIs who may have the resources to develop such an object.