Cerily

Item #: Indeterminate

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-I is to be kept in a standard sized room, sitting on a waist height table at the center inside a small iron box. SCP-I is not to be relocated somewhere with other SCPs in the vicinity for any period of extended time. All guards who operate within the location of SCP-I should be made aware of the nature of SCP-I every other week.

SCP-I is not to be removed from its room unless relocation is approved by Dr. James Blackspace. Information about SCP-I or information related to the study of SCP-I is only to be granted to those directly involved with the study or containment of SCP-I. Those who are aware of SCP-I are not to discuss SCP-I with any other personnel who are not cleared by the highest foundation council to be allowed to know about SCP-I. Personnel who work with SCP-I are not to work with any other SCP-I at the same time. Researchers and guards who are aware of SCP-I are to be questioned at regular intervals about subjects which are not SCP-I in order to identify potential spreading of its influence. Individuals accidently exposed to SCP-I are to be given Class-B Amnestics, intended to remove all memory of the length of time the individual was exposed.

Description: SCP-Indeterminate is a standard DeWalt tape measure which cannot be described with quantitative phrases. It has a similar size, shape, colour, and general appearance to an average tape measure. The inability to describe it with quantitative phrases applies to any intelligence in the process of writing, viewing, or thinking about SCP-I. Furthermore, it is impossible to make use of numbers and other such measuring systems in any sentence relating to or involving SCP-I. Indirect references are equally affected, depending on the degree of correlation between SCP-I and the reference being made within the mind of the speaker. Meaning, it is entirely possible to describe everything that is around SCP-I with quantitative phrase, however the moment SCP-I becomes related to what is being described, the ability of the speaker to quantify things disappears.

Furthermore, SCP-I inflicts some long-lasting memetic symptoms. As a person observes, interacts, or is generally exposing themself to the effect of SCP-I, the said individual loses the ability to apply meaning to numerical values. Eventually, after a length of time which cannot be determined due to the primary effect of SCP-I, the very concept of quantitative measurements will become foreign to the affected individual. and they will lack any understanding of numerical or like systems. Upon the cessation of exposure to SCP-I, the individual will be unable to process quantitative information for a length of time presumably dependant on the length and severity of their exposure. The rate at which they recover their memory and understanding is yet undetermined, due to the association of SCP-I with any experiment which could be created to determine the rate.

Note Indeterminate:

Recently, there’s been an increase in the amount of Foundation researchers and personnel who have become aware of SCP-I in even the smallest regard. I can only attribute this uptick to one thing: One of you among the staff has become lax with the job of never talking about SCP-I, and keeping the documents about it limited to only those who absolutely need to know about it. Many of you often wonder, I’m sure: Why does this harmless little tape measure require such strict and serious rules? Because, of course, you’ve all forgotten just how dangerous what you’ve lost is. None of you can even tell me the number of the site you work at. I want you to think about where you work very hard, and try to remember the importance of its number, even if you can’t recall what that number was. That’s the price we pay in order to protect the rest of the Foundation. We’re a number based system. I know it’s very hard to remember what that means, but you just have to remind yourself every day that numbers are important to the foundation. If knowledge of SCP-I gets out, then the whole system the foundation is built on will collapse. Even if you can’t remember why, always keep in mind that there is something very important about SCP-I which is a burden only we must bear. For the sake of the foundation, keep your mouths shut.

Dr. James Blackspace.