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Item #: SCP-001
Object Class: Thaumiel
Disruption Class: Dark
Risk Class: Notice
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-001 is contained in a controlled-access facility (Area One) in the Putoranksy State Nature Preserve, an ecological preserve under the Russian Federation's "zapovnedik" system. All Area activities are to be automated to the fullest possible extent. Civilian access to the zapovnedik is to be restricted to ecological research and tourist routes; a perimeter of thirty kilometers around Area One shall be maintained under all circumstances.
All major Area activities including construction, research, and any project with the possibility to disrupt the surrounding environment, SCP-001, or SCP-001's containment and secrecy are to be thoroughly evaluated by the Area One Committee according to the procedures laid out in the Area One Operational Standard.
The Area One Committee is currently a twenty-five member advisory and investigatory board, consisting of all members of the O5 Council, the Foundation Ethics Committee, and subject matter experts granted Level 5/ONE subject-specific partial clearance.
The Area One Committee is to be convened at Area One in the event of a K-class scenario that cannot be mitigated by means other than the use of SCP-001.
Description: SCP-001 is a steel ring one meter in diameter, with a thickness of four centimeters. The ring is hollow, with an internal diameter of 2.75 centimeters. X-ray and multi-band monochromated neutron radiography show that the ring is tightly packed with granules of an unknown substance of high density and modest neutron scattering characteristics, inscribed with highly intricate and unique patterns.[1] Currently, a high-voltage, high-current bus bar conduit and redundant fiber optic cables for data communication are installed feeding through the edge of the ring.
The interior of SCP-001 functions as an access to an endodimensional location or frame of reference (undetermined as of this writing), SCP-001-אc (aleph-C). אc functions as a representation of Earth without terrain features, manifesting as a smooth sphere of indeterminate non-Fermionic material. The diameter of this sphere is, according to the most accurate measurements performed, consistent with the average sea level of Earth at the time of its creation or first access. SCP-001 transit is one-way upon completion: an object that has fully passed through SCP-001 cannot be retrieved. Objects that have not fully transited may be removed; electromagnetic energy contained in continuous solid structures passes freely between אc and prime reality, though electrical arcs and free light encounter a discontinuity and are blocked. Due to this one-way nature, exploration and experimentation inside SCP-001-אc is nearly exclusively conducted with remotely operated vehicles, robots, and waldoes.
Nature of אc endodimensional space
Except for a light source in the same location as Sol, the sky of אc is black; no other stars or stellar objects manifest. A breathable atmosphere is present, responding as air in fluid dynamic testing; its composition has proven impossible to quantify thus far, and it does not scatter light. Physical laws are simplified; the speed of light in אc has not been determined, but appears to be infinite (with instantaneous propagation). Temperature and air pressure monitors are fixed to the values last recorded before transit through SCP-001. There is no global magnetic field and gravity is 1 g toward the precise center of the sphere at all recorded locations.
Technologies manipulating and interacting with extradimensional spaces are universally non-functional within אc; it cannot be accessed, located, or interacted with through any known methods other than SCP-001. Extradimensional location systems within אc invariably indicate that they are located in prime reality. There exists no traditional matter of endodimensional origin; all atomic matter within אc has at some point transited SCP-001. The abilities of "reality benders," any equipment manipulating or measuring humes and other reality- or irreality-associated phenomena, and other anomaly-associated equipment, are nonfunctional inside SCP-001-אc.
A defining feature of אc is the presence of אc entities.
Nature of אc entities
אc entities are structures colocated with prime-reality minds, taking the form of a roughly spherical cloud of an uncountably large number of points in constant movement, connected by luminous lines. These structures emit light and can be seen at any point within line of sight of the prime-reality location of a human being or other sapient entity. Minds in Earth orbit, on the Moon, or otherwise above the observer's location can be perceived as points of light at any distance.[2]
A "mind" is any conceptual structure possessing a concomitant אc entity (hereafter referred to as a "traditional entity"). Almost all humans have a mind.[3][4][5] Animals either do not possess אc entities or possess simplified entities, depending on the species and individual.
אc entities maintain orientation consistent with their prime-reality substrate. For humans, this is the brain. Rotation and movement of the head are reflected in the position and orientation of the associated entity. The entity's size is consistent with the size of the substrate.
אc entities reflect, represent, or embody the nature and mental state of their associated mind. Many-dimensional photogrammetric analysis of point movement, generation, light emission, and connection has shown that the spatial, movement, chromatic, and luminous properties of an entity changes markedly with strong emotions, internal thoughts, physical harm, exposure to psychoactive drugs, manifestation of mental illnesses, and a wide variety of other conditions. Of note, exposure to amnestic compounds causes points and connections to fade or vanish, and exposure to mnestic compounds causes the creation of new points and connections, and the restoration of faded ones.
Entities associated with humans inside SCP-001-אc are present within the human head, as verified by exploratory neurosurgery. This appears to have no deleterious effects; entities intersect their associated individuals without physical interaction. The "glow" occasionally noticed by some individuals is hypothesized to be bright light emitted by their entity, shining through the tissue of the head and impacting the retina.
אc entities not associated with humans or animals
Within SCP-001-אc, there exist a number of אc entities not associated with a brain. Every anomalous object examined thus far is associated with an אc entity roughly matching its size and shape (hereafter referred to as an "anomalous entity"). Unlike traditional entities, anomalous entities are static in motion and emit very little light unless the prime-reality object is being interacted with or manifesting anomalous properties, in which case emission increases, and the points and connections generally (but not always) move and reach into any area affected by the anomalous object. Anomalous entities generally have fewer points and connections and less variety in emitted colors than traditional entities. Artificial intelligences generally possess anomalous entities, with properties similar to traditional entities but matching the shape and size of the entire machine substrate.
Anomalous humans have been observed to possess both a traditional and anomalous entity. For most, the traditional entity is encased inside the anomalous entity, but does not interact with it. In the case of "reality benders," the two entities intersect; motion in the traditional entity appears to affect and manipulate the nature of the anomalous entity. It is hypothesized that this is either a reflection of or the means by which reality benders affect reality.
Direct interaction with אc entities
אc entities are extraordinarily delicate, and interaction with atomic matter can cause them serious harm. Anecdotally, any significant impact, tension, or pressure can break a connection between points "like glass," and a disconnected point fades away and disappears. Light, gentle manipulation of אc entity structure can move points and connections.
This is reflected in the mind of the associated individual or the characteristics of the associated object. Memory loss, mental illness, emotional dysregulation, delirium, dementia, catatonia, and death can be induced in humans with gross manipulation or harm. Fine manipulation can produce more subtle effects, though accomplishing specific goals such as non-chemical amnesticization is beyond our current abilities.
Manipulation of anomalous entities can produce anomalous effects in prime reality, or change the nature of the anomalous object. This has proven to be extremely dangerous, and past manipulation has rendered containment procedures ineffective, caused containment breaches or activations of anomalous properties, changed or intensified anomalous properties, and caused uncontrollable activation of reality bender abilities. In several cases experimentation with anomalous entity manipulation has led to potential K-class scenarios, all narrowly averted.
Discovery of SCP-001
SCP-001 was discovered in the Site-83 Research and Development Laboratory, Advanced Containment Division, following the mental assassination of eight of the thirteen members of the O5 Council by Dr. Floyd Dalton in 1975. Dalton, then the Site-83 R&D Director, had been passed over for promotion to O5 two years prior, in part due in part to his advocacy of allowing Foundation exploitation of anomalous objects for containment and decommissioning of other anomalous objects, and in part because his skills as a research director and project manager were more useful to the Foundation in the role he then occupied.
After the incident, forensic investigation showed that Dalton had created and activated SCP-001 over a year prior to the incident, and had been working on its theory and implementation alone and in secret for nearly a decade. Dalton surreptitiously diverted tools, materials, and parts from official projects to enable the construction of SCP-001, and the construction of machinery inside SCP-001-אc from parts and materials delivered to the endodimensional space.
Reconstructed sequence of events
The following events have been forensically reconstructed from surveillance footage, testimony of Floyd Dalton's coworkers, Dalton's personal documentation, and official Foundation documentation.
03/03/1973: O5-5 appointed to O5 Council to replace prior O5-5, deceased of natural causes at 90 years of age.
03/11/1973: Dalton leaves for short-notice sabbatical at Foundation retreat in Oregon. Is observed checking in with a modest amount of luggage, but does not leave cabin for his entire two-week stay.
03/26/1973: Dalton returns; subordinates state he showed a renewed enthusiasm for his work, and immediately became engaged in directing two new containment projects. These projects were unrelated to SCP-001 but later inspection showed he first began diverting materials from these.
4/16/1973: Dalton requisitions a small R&D laboratory, with access restrictions only allowing access to him and his superiors, supposedly as part of one of the aforementioned projects. The Site Director for Site-83 trusted his work, after his fifteen years as R&D director, and did not personally inspect this laboratory at any point.
07/01/1973: Subordinates first note Dalton appears distracted from his work. Dalton's notebooks from this period show he was struggling with the theoretical implementation of SCP-001.
09/28/1973: Dalton's notebooks note a breakthrough. Dalton begins to construct SCP-001.
12/26/1973: Dalton finishes construction of SCP-001, activates it, and begins research using remote equipment. He keeps extensive notes; it appears his intent was to preserve his research for Foundation use.
01/13/1974: Dalton begins to insert custom-built and jury-rigged robotic assembly machinery into SCP-001, including a self-built, roughly humaniform treaded mobile waldo for general-purpose manipulation.
04/26/1974: Dalton, using computer time on the Site-83 R&D vector processing system, exploits an undiscovered vulnerability in RAISA's standard encryption algorithm and learns the location of the O5 Council's (now disused) meeting location on the coast of California and their meeting schedule for the next year.
06/13/1974: Dalton begins inserting parts for a single-seat kit aircraft, a Van's Aircraft RV-4, into SCP-001. Surveillance footage shows the standard airplane parts, plus auxiliary drop tanks of his own manufacture for extended range, and an inertial dead reckoning unit containing a set of missile-grade gyroscopes (stolen from a project to build a containment system for SCP-███).
06/21/1974: Dalton takes his yearly leave, but instead of going on vacation, spends most of a month locked inside the laboratory containing SCP-001, operating remote equipment.
07/15/1974: Dalton returns from vacation, and informs the Site Director he intends to retire next year. He throws himself with renewed vigor into other containment projects, and does not enter the SCP-001 laboratory for some time.
11/30/1974: Dalton, having by now successfully completed the containment projects he was personally directing, enters the laboratory and begins to direct provisions and aviation gasoline diverted from research projects into SCP-001, the latter using an improvised piping system and a hand pump.
12/30/1974: Dalton spends two days in the laboratory, directing remote equipment.
01/01/1975: Dalton sends an encrypted message to the O5 council on a timed delay. Dalton enters SCP-001 with a cavalry saber in a sheath on his belt. O5 Council convenes in California for their annual review and long-term planning meeting.
Surveillance Log 01/01/1975: O5 Safehouse 3 (Inverness, California)
Camera 5. Top-down view of conference table to prevent lip-reading. No audio.
[10:00:00] O5 councilmembers enter meeting room and take seats in counterclockwise numerical order. SHUSH security system activated; safeguards and wards erected.
[10:00:46] Introductions and agenda.
[10:05:10] Discussions.
[12:33:00] Meeting room teleprinter receives message from Floyd Dalton. O5-2 retrieves it and reads it aloud.
[12:33:35] O5-11, class 2 reality bender (anomalously shackled), turns and looks behind herself at nothing.
[12:33:37] O5-11 briefly catches fire, screams.
[12:33:39] O5-11 extinguishes, collapses, and begins convulsing. O5-12 clutches his head. O5-1 triggers emergency evacuation system. Safeguards and wards begin to deactivate.
[12:33:41] O5-10, getting out of his chair, stops moving and falls to the table, cataplexic.
[12:33:45] O5-9 collapses, dead.
[12:33:46] O5-8 collapses, dead.
[12:33:46] O5-7 collapses, dead. Wards drop, door bolts blown open with emergency pyrotechnic charges. MTF Alpha-1 ("Red Right Hand") protection team (four riflemen and one eigenweapons specialist) enters through right side entrance.
[12:33:49] O5-6 clutches their head, drops to the floor, and crawls into the corner of the room, curling into the fetal position. MTF members discharge weapons at space around where O5-6 dropped, to no effect.
[12:33:55] MTF members move standing O5 councilmembers toward the exit. O5-2 shouts in distress at something, briefly covers his face with both hands.
[12:33:56] O5-5 and one MTF rifleman collapse simultaneously, dead.
[12:34:00] O5-4 stops moving, stands still in the doorway despite MTF members' attempts to herd him to safety, and screams.
[12:34:05] O5-11 stops seizing and dies.
[12:34:15] (outside, camera 4) O5-1, O5-2, O5-3, O5-12, and O5-13 enter MTF Alpha-1 escape vehicles.
[12:34:10] O5-10 slumps from his previous position to the floor, dead.
[12:34:20] O5-6's posture relaxes as they die.
[12:34:45] O5-12 collapses onto the table, dead.
[12:34:50] O5-4, still in the doorway, begins to look around wildly, clutches his head, staggers against the wall, and screams continuously.
[12:35:14] O5-4 strikes his head against the wall, leans on it, and collapses, dead.
Surveillance Log 01/01/1975: Site-83 Containment Research Sub-laboratory 12
Camera 1. View from corner, covering laboratory. No audio.
[03:03:00] Floyd Dalton enters SCP-001.
[14:05:34] Door breached by MTF Alpha-1, which enters and clears the room, taking up defensive posture around door. O5-2 enters with Site-83 Director Robinson; O5-2's facial expression shows significant distress. O5-2 is armed with a semi-automatic pistol in a shoulder holster. O5-2 and the Site Director examine the room and SCP-001.
[14:17:30] O5-2 uses the room's secure telephone to converse with another party, hangs up, and dials a second number.
[14:25:02] O5-2 hangs up the telephone, converses with Site Director Robinson. O5-2 points at his temple and shakes his head.
[14:26:20] O5-2's personal assistant arrives and hands him a Lanier microcassette recorder. They shake hands, and the assistant leaves.
[14:26:40] Site Director Robinson shakes hands with O5-2. MTF Alpha-1 members salute him, team commander says something to him.
[14:27:02] O5-2 takes his O5 Council wardcard from his pocket, carefully bends it in half lengthwise, then widthwise. It snaps into four pieces; he drops it and the pieces burn fully, without smoke. O5-2's security clearance and Council membership are revoked; his identifier is temporarily retained for ease of reference.
[14:27:17] O5-2 enters SCP-001.
Audio Log (recovered tape recording)
The following was recovered from SCP-001-אc using remotely operated equipment.
[00:00:00] Sound of body hitting ground.
[00:00:15] O5-2: "Good lord."
[00:00:20] O5-2: "I've gone through the object. There doesn't appear to be an exit, as expected. Presumably you'll find this later. Ground is… a deep violet-brown color, featureless. No sky, but the sun is there. Real bright, shadows are sharp. There's various equipment scattered around. Food wrappers, water bottles. Some sort of robot-looking thing that's turned off, a welder, various tools and scraps."
[00:01:03] O5-2: "I can see the people who were in the room with me. They're… clouds of light. Dots and lines, dancing around. I don't dare get close to them."
[00:03:30] O5-2: "I suppose he'll becoming back here in case one of us came to meet him, considering the message. So I'll just sit here and wait."
[00:25:12] O5-2: "One, three, twelve… I'm going to miss serving on the Council with you. I had so much left to do. I don't remember most of it. I'm sorry it ended like this. I couldn't go on. There are some things you can't lose, or you won't have anything left to have a hold on anymore."
[00:26:30] O5-2: "Thirteen, you were always a prick, but you got done what needed to be done, and I still have the utmost respect for you."
[01:04:02] Footsteps.
[01:06:35] O5-2: "God damn it, I can barely think. It feels like there's holes. Like my mind's about to fall into them if it goes in most of the directions. I'm half gone and it feels like more's going. You can't let this be misused. Seal it off, lock it up, shut it down, chop it apart. Something. Please."
[01:30:00] Tape flipped to side B.
[01:56:02] O5-2: "I can see an object off in the distance."
[02:05:55] O5-2: "There he is. I see how… god. Of course he'd think of that. Ridiculous."
[02:07:00] Sound of an airplane engine.
[02:09:46] Sound of an airplane making a landing attempt, bouncing, and throttling up to go around.
[02:10:35] Sound of an airplane landing; engine cuts off, canopy unlatches.
[02:10:40] O5-2: "Floyd!"
[02:10:45] Dalton: "Oh. Of course you'd get out."
[02:10:47] O5-2: "What the hell do you mean by that?"
[02:10:49] Dalton: "You were the one man I really wanted dead on the Council. You wrote the rejection. You signed off on it. You told me 'we never have and never will use objects to contain objects.' Of course you'd fucking get out. Of course you're fucking here. Did you not read the part of the message that said it was one-way? I thought you'd lost your edge from the moment I read your rejection notice and I was right."
[02:11:15] O5-2: "You killed a majority of the O5 council because we didn't think you were the best fit for it? You spent years on a revenge plot for that?"
[02:11:24] Dalton: "No, Two. I spent years on a revenge plot because you, collectively, stood in my way. Stood in the way of keeping everyone safer. Every man, woman, and child on the planet."
[02:11:36] Dalton: "Anomalous objects are dangers, or they're curiosities, or they're tools. Tools we could use to keep the dangers confined. The Foundation is hoarding tools, and ever since its inception that philosophy has killed people, and all thirteen of you were and are guilty of it. And I brought justice to the goddamn Council for your crimes. As much as I was able to."
[02:13:00] Dalton: You know why I came up with the ring, why I came into this place? You wouldn't let me use the vast array of tools that should be available to containment engineers. I've had half a dozen good people die in breaches under my watch, Two, and they weren't even working directly with the objects! Where would we be if they were still alive? What would we have been able to contain, working together?"
[02:13:27] O5-2: "Anomalies are unpredictable. You can't expose an anomaly to another anomaly and expect it to reliably keep people safe. We've seen it happen time and time again—"
[02:13:37] Dalton: "In breaches. By accident! Not once have any of my proposals to carefully, intentionally expose an anomaly to something that should by all logic contain it been approved by the Council. 27 proposals over the past fifteen years, all shot down. 27! And seventeen of those could have prevented lethal containment breaches down the line! Why do you think this wouldn't work?"
[02:14:03] O5-2: "Because these are anomalies! They're unpredictable! You are an engineer, not a researcher. You cannot af- god, my head. You cannot expect anomalies to behave logically because they are not borne of logic."
[02:14:18] Dalton: "Your head? Did I get you? Were you the one who ran?"
[02:14:40] O5-2: "I used to have a son. Or a kid. I think he was my son. I had a wife, too."
[02:14:55] O5-2: "They died. I knew how before today. I knew what they looked like. I know I held onto them. I know there was a memory we had, us together doing… something. I know that memory kept me from sliding in my darkest moments. I can't find it, Floyd. I don't even know their names."
[02:15:30] Dalton: "I'm sorry. I went in there, I thought it would be quick. You moved too fast, I…"
[02:15:40] Dalton: "Their names were Kathy and Daniel, Rob. They died in a breach. When we worked together in Containment."
[02:15:51] Dalton: "Do you remember I had an idea, with the wall that moves, that would have stopped it? I tried. The Council said no. I told them someone would die, and they did. And I'm so goddamn sorry. I slashed away half of what made someone… someone and I couldn't finish them off. I had hoped it wasn't you. I hoped you'd gone quick or got out… intact. Maybe I thought you'd witness it and learn a lesson. I don't know."
[02:16:25] Dalton: "There's a reason I left my notes. There's a reason I created this anomaly, tore open a doorway to this place, and didn't rig it with timed explosives to make sure you couldn't come after me. I could have. I left it for you. All of you, the Foundation. You can find every anomaly here, every object. Every person. You can destroy the ones you can't contain, the ones that kill people. You saw me remove Eleven's abilities. I sliced that part of her off."
[02:16:00] O5-2: "I saw her die, Floyd. An old woman, in pain, seizing on the floor. We do not destroy anomalies. We are not the Coalition. We are scientists. We learn from these things, Dalton, and we keep them safe from those who would destroy them, and we keep the world safe from things that would destroy it. So many of us have given our lives for that cause."
[02:16:24] Dalton: "You're just as stubborn now as you were then, Rob. Stalwart to the end. You still believe in the mission. You're still an idealist. Your wife and son died and you didn't let it drive you to despair, you held on and kept going. Same old Robert."
[02:16:41] Dalton: "Fine, then. Send more airplanes in here, piloted remotely. Put image intensifiers on them, go where there aren't people. Find the odd-shaped minds. If you're not going to use it to contain the anomalies, to destroy the uncontainable ones like I destroyed the Council, you can at least find them."
[02:17:01] O5-2: "That'll be up to whoever's left, whoever they appoint. I'm not on the Council anymore."
[02:17:15] Dalton: "Why did you come in here, knowing you wouldn't be leaving?"
[02:17:23] O5-2: "I try to reach into my mind, and I barely have anything left. Nothing to hold onto. I can't live like this, putting a hand out for a memory or a name or a skill and finding it's not there."
[02:17:37] O5-2: We worked together. We were friends once, I think. I remember enough to know you wouldn't off yourself. You think I'd let you wither away and run out of water or starve to death? That's not a fitting end for an asshole as smart and driven as you."
[02:17:55] Dalton: "Hence the gun. Of course. I'd expect something poetic from you. Closing the cycle, huh? I took something from you I shouldn't have, and I can't give it back."
[02:18:10] O5-2: "I think there was another reason you didn't lock me out. I think you wanted this."
[02:18:23] Dalton: "I tried not to consider what would happen once I was done. I suppose I thought I'd fall on my sword, and hope whoever was left running the show would see their mistake or that of their predecessors, and set a new course."
[02:18:35] O5-2: "Come at me, you son of a bitch."
[02:18:40] Rapid footsteps. Gunshot. Sound of metal on metal. Sound of a scuffle. Gunshot. Sound of body hitting floor. Gunshot.
[03:00:00] Tape ends.
Proposal: 001-Dalton-01 (12/31/1974)
Abstract: The as-yet-unclassified anomalous object I have constructed can be used as a global failsafe and a weapon against the things that seek to do us harm. I hypothesize, from experimental observations in the endodimensional space accesssible through my object, that every anomalous item and phenomenon has a mind animating it. The properties of this space allow us to destroy minds at will. We can contain everything.
You will need a force of autonomous nuclear-powered aircraft on continuous patrol above the sphere, armed with precision-targeted weapons, conventional or nuclear. Autonomous armed vehicles to patrol the surface. There is no ionosphere, and space launch is likely not feasible, so command and control must be established with a series of radio repeaters evenly spaced around the planet to ensure line of sight at regular intervals; you can power these with RTGs. The small diameter of the entry field makes it infeasible to assemble aircraft from parts, so you will have to bootstrap it. Put a factory through, have it build a factory to build a bigger factory. Precision strike capabilities will allow you to destroy any anomalous object and any individual that threatens our safety, any mind that opposes you. Use my invention to keep the world safe.
Proposal status: Provisionally REJECTED 02/06/1975 per unanimous O5 vote. Inconsistent with current Foundation doctrine.
Proposal: 001-Dalton-02 (12/31/1974)
Abstract: If my first proposal is rejected, and I know it will be if Two's still on the Council, consider this: the same idea, but for reconnaissance, instead. No need for aircraft if you don't have weapons; you could even tether robotic vehicles to the portal and eliminate the need for long-endurance power and the repeater system. Dage-MTI makes cameras with silicon-intensified target tubes that are sensitive enough to identify the dimmest of minds.
Maybe you can do some good outside the field of anomalies, too; search-and-rescue is a potential application here. You'll just have to make sure the things are equipped to take evasive action if someone gets close. I have no idea what happens if a mind brushes against something made of normal matter, or if it could even get close. Just be careful. You don't want anyone innocent getting hurt.
Proposal status: APPROVED 11/31/1978 per plurality O5 vote. SCP reassigned to vacant SCP-001 slot. By plurality consent of O5 Council, "Thaumiel" esoteric classification class approved: anomalies used for containment and mitigation of anomalies. R&D efforts to begin at soonest practical time.
WARNING: The following information is classified LEVEL 6/COSMIC TOP SECRET.
Unauthorized access will display a debilitating cognitohazard and result in immediate detainment and amnesticization. Ensure your access card is properly inserted before continuing.
