What Lies Unseen Fragment 1
Item#: SCP-XXXX
Level3
Containment Class:
safe
Secondary Class:
none
Disruption Class:
dark
Risk Class:
notice

Special Containment Procedures: Knowledge of the existence of SCP-XXXX is to be prohibited to all uncertified persons. Certified persons include the general command and/or high executive structures of Joint Project Nammu associated parties,1 and research personnel participating directly in Project Nammu. Within the Foundation, Project Nammu is designated Level 4/XXXX classified, with related research proceeding at Sites 11, 17, and 19, and SCP-████. Likewise, information regarding the Nereus landing module and the details of its mission to Europa is to remain off limits to those not involved in Project Nammu.

penetration-zone.jpg

Point of penetration by Nereus into the surface of Europa.

Description: SCP-XXXX is a subaquatic megastructure of alien origin, located at the bottom of the Nerean Ocean on Europa, the second moon of Jupiter.

Discovery: In March of 2007, after four years of development, NASA launched the probe Amphitrite 1 from Earth as a follow-up to the Galileo probe's mission to Jupiter and its moons. Amphitrite was equipped with a landing module designated Nereus, intended to land on Europa and penetrate its layers of surface ice using lasers and various chemical agents.

In November of 2012, the mission arrived at the Jupiter system. The Nereus module performed as expected during landing operations and the excavation attempt was approved. After drilling through approximately 3 kilometers of surface ice, Nereus penetrated to the subsurface ocean, confirming its existence. This ocean was subsequently designated the Nerean Ocean.

Nereus was not constructed for subaquatic exploration activities; it carried only limited sonar and other undersea sensor technology. However, within several hours it had conclusively, if not wholly accurately, mapped roughly 230 square kilometers of repetitive hexagonal structures on the ocean floor. Due to the lack of possible chemical, geological, gravitational, or other natural physical explanations for this pattern, embedded agents within NASA censored the findings and amnesticized attending scientists. The loss of Nereus was falsified under a cover story of onboard equipment failure.

In light of the possibility of contact with extraterrestrial intelligent life, the Overseer Council convened a conference with representatives of the GOC and the Pentagram in compliance with mutual defense and information sharing agreements regarding non-human intelligences. Joint Project Nammu was therefore incorporated as a new collaborative effort to explore the Nerean Ocean.