The Versatile Duck Machine

Item #: SCP-4XXX

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: All captive SCP-4XXX instances are currently held within a corral built around Site-[]. Outside of controlled testing, containment teams are to unsure that no SCP-4XXX instances come into contact with or witness any form of machinery. Outside of this SCP-4XXX instances require no more care than would be given to a traditional member of their species.

Todo

Description: SCP-4XXX are an indeterminate number of Anas platyrhynchos (mallard ducks), capable of arranging groups of instances in such a way as to form pieces of complex machinery. How this is accomplished is unknown, as no biological or spatial anomalies have ever been detected from SCP-4XXX. Examination of individual portions of SCP-4XXX have revealed the creations to be entirely sound, both logically and mechanically — despite this, attempts to recreate the machines with non-anomalous mallards have failed spectacularly in all cases.

Instances of SCP-4XXX are capable of communicating in American Morse Code via sequences of long and short quacks. To date, the only messages recorded by staff have been "Q U A C K", "B R E A D", and on one occasion, "D U C K". Attempts to verbally communicate with SCP-4XXX have prompted no response, and attempts to communicate via Morse Code have caused extreme aggravation and repeated, nonsensical vocalisations from the entities. Research into SCP-4XXX's possible sapience is ongoing.

Instances of SCP-4XXX are noticeably more docile than their non-anomalous counterparts, and will allow themselves to be picked up and herded as long as they are within view of the main 4XXX group. When separated from the central collection of SCP-4XXX, individual instances will quickly display signs of isolation and will attempt to return to the group through any means possible. The main group of SCP-4XXX will also display signs of aggression, and will immediately attempt to retrieve the instance.

SCP-4XXX instances display a fondness for bread significantly greater than their non-anomalous counterparts. Instances will often go out of there way to acquire pieces of bread which they will then take back to and share with the SCP-4XXX collective. Additionally, all SCP-4XXX configurations seem to use bread as their power source, and inserting bread into any of the instances in a configuration will result in a noticeable increased overall output.

Todo

The following is a list of notable SCP-4XXX configurations:

Date Configuration Notes
todo An ordinary Boeing 747 passenger jet. After it landed a group of ducks popped off the exterior and became a small airport terminal, complete with luggage carts1 and an escalator. First recorded configuration of SCP-4XXX. Manifested prior to containment, flying alongside commercial flight ███████. Prior to its self-deconstruction on ##/##/####, photography of the event reveals that each seat contained a single non-anomalous duck, which departed the construction on landing.
todo A caterpillar, two bulldozers, a dump truck and a crane, along with several other types of common construction equipment. Additionally, several large piles of materials were also formed from ducks. During construction of SCP-4XXX’s primary containment facility, a small group of instances escaped their temporary corral and managed to catch a glimpse of the undergoing construction. After returning to the rest of the group they immediately formed into several various types of construction equipment and materials, and begin to build. What SCP-4XXX was attempting to build is unknown, as the entities deconstructed before nearing completion.
todo A twenty-six hundred metre long roller coaster, constructed both outside and throughout the facility. The coaster consisted of eleven loops, seven corkscrews, four cobra rolls and a log flume2, as well as thirty-one additional common roller coaster components. This was the first test to determine if 4XXX could become something with only pictures for reference. Of the nine roller coasters shown to 4XXX only sections of four of them could be identified, making up a total of about 1/3rd the track. The remaining length could not be matched to any known roller coasters, and is believed to have been designed and created by 4XXX.
todo A twenty metre tall mechanical humanoid with numerous additional limbs, a pair of wing-like appendages, and what appeared to be a fully functional 'clockwork' brain (constructed, as with the rest of the entity, from ducks). All persons observing the entity directly reported feeling faint, and perceived a halo of light surrounding it. During this event, SCP-4XXX began to vocalise in Morse Code. The message conveyed was highly abnormal, and is recorded in Document 4XXX-##. The entity later disassembled and resumed normal activities.


No further tests involving the exposure of SCP-4XXX to any form of mechanical object are being permitted at this time. All research into the anomaly is being postponed for the foreseeable future.






Ok I'm just gonna put some ideas down here. Just in case.

Was originally discovered after an airplane reported a non-authorized airplane next to it, which never landed anywhere, hint: It was the ducks. I am 100% on board with this idea. Is…is that a pun? It wasn't meant to be, but it is now.

The ducks remember things they've become before, and can do it again. When they are a machine that requires a non-electrical energy source, they take bread. If it requires electricity they create it by rubbing their feathers together or something. This makes just a little too much sense. Let's play it by ear, depending on what the actual machine is.

Technology and machinery, or just machinery. Just machinery, I think. Technology would be physically impossible, while machinery is only logically impossible. Imagine ducks somehow rubbing their heads together and forming axles and gears. It's beautiful. Alright. So where do we make the cutoff between tech and mech. We know they can become a gun, but what about a car or a blender or something. Or is it less a matter of "not tech" and more a matter of "not digital tech, eg computers and such"? Not digital tech sounds more like what I was going for, but I don't really mind if we blur the lines a little. A good part of what makes this work is going to be how nonsensical it is. More weird the better, as they say. Indeed.

The ducks have an inherent understanding of what they turn into, and can make it function perfectly even if they have only seen the exterior/very little of it. Well, the duck group as a whole has an understanding. The individual ducks might be better as just dumb creatures with a knack for violating logic and common sense.

How they find out about MEKHANE - During a test they turn into a computer, gain knowledge about the CotBG. Being the curious little water fowl they are, they stage a containment breach using previous DuckTech, find a more important computer, and get all the information. Not sure I like the idea of them becoming a functional computer, it's not really in-keeping with the style. Maybe a Difference Engine or something that somehow gets more and more complex until it ascends to godhood? At first I had the idea that maybe they come across information about 914, but then I decided that was probably to much of the "scp relies on a different scp to function" thing or something. I can see them becoming a difference engine and continuously evolving, but I think that how they come across MEKHANE information is really gonna be what makes or breaks the article. Perhaps something like "On ##/##/####, SCP-3XXX were briefly exposed to SCP-███, an anomaly with known connections to GoI-Whatever ("The Cogwork Orthodoxy"), when the trolley it was situated on moved past SCP-3XXX's containment chamber. This exposure was purely visual, and lasted an estimated 2.3 seconds, after which SCP-3XXX entered a highly irregular state of activity."? Might portray the Foundation as too negligent, I suppose… So what if they don't know whagt caused it. All they know is that they saw somethign the prompted them to turn into this, but they have no idea what it actually was, so they just know that something on the site is connected to MEKHANE but can't figure out what.

DUCKANE or DUCKHANE - depends on how you pronounce MEKHANE I'm team DUCKANE, but open to convincing. I asked around chat, and they were pretty divided. I've always pronounced it "mech - han - ayy," but I would be fine with it going either way. Up to you then, I don't really mind.

Weird idea/daydream/no-idea-it-just-happened that I had: When it goes all DUCKHANE mode all the non-anomalous ducks begin to migrate to it. All of them, all at once, cause they know. Think it's too much?



Various title suggestions:

  • The Versatile Duck Machine
  • What The Duck?!
  • Clusterduck
  • If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's probably a god