Nemo of Utopia: The Edge-Case Coin

Photos of "The Edge-Case Coin", taken during The Baltimore Appearance during the 2000's.¹

Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Keter
_{(Sub-Class: Tesseract)}

Special Containment Procedures:

All previous attempts to Secure & Contain SCP-XXXX to date have met with near-total failure: due to the costs incurred in the last attempt, (which, as before, failed), the O-5 Council has released a memorandum that no further attempts to actively secure the object will be made until more advanced capture-and-containment methods (that are very strongly believed to be both viable, cost-effective, and likely to ensure success), have been developed.

In the mean-time, the foundation's agents are to be briefed on the object's existence, and tasked to keep watch for incidents where it appears, then alert sanitation teams to administer Amnistics to anyone who is known to have encountered this (thus far impossible to contain, but mostly harmless), anomaly.

Description:

The object in question, (informally dubbed 'The Edge-Case Coin' by Field-Agent █████ ████████ who first encountered and recorded the object's existence), is a mid-size coin approximately 25 MM across, with irregular edges, made entirely from plumbing-grade copper and struck rather than pressed. It bears on one surface the words "SKEPTI" & "BARAK" to either side of a picture of a Queen & King, hands joined and holding an unsheathed sword, point upright, between the two: depicted in a style that is reminiscent of that employed by the coinage of the late Byzantine Empire. Directly below the sword are the Romanji² Characters ASXXXI, and on the inverse, "XX SANCTA HILDEGARD ENSIS ¢" encircling the roman numeral II with a cross superimposed over it. While they researchers have postulated based on the design of the coin and the positioning of the "ASXXXI" printing that those characters appear to be some sort of record of its minting date, this does not correspond to that of any known timekeeping system from the era of the coin's apparent minting.

The coins known and confirmed anomalous properties are five:
1: should the coin be flipped or dropped for any reason, it will, inevitably, land "on edge" despite all attempts to prevent this.
2: having done so, in defiance of any attempt to cause it to return to a normal state of rest, (for a coin), it will remain 'on edge' for exactly twenty-five seconds.³ It may be moved or caused to spin, or otherwise be relocated during this period, but, in utter disregard of known physical laws, will be held perfectly perpendicular to the present gravitic center of the earth for the duration.
3: All known attempts to damage, mar, or alter the coin in any manner; such as to take samples for analysis; have proven fruitless: it appears to be totally impervious to all forms of damage applied through any means that has thus-far been able to be attempted.
4: after remaining in one relativistic location for precisely 5 days, 14 hours, 25 minutes, and 23 seconds; it will randomly trans-locate, by means unknown⁴, to some other place on the surface of the earth, where it will remain, subject to natural laws and/or its anomalous properties for the same duration of time.
5: at any time that the coin is about to be subjected to the effects of, or come into the general vicinity of, any other actively 'anomalous' object, being, area, or effect of which The Foundation is presently aware, (with the sole exception of those that are readily understood and explained, or utterly unremarkable to a member of the Civilian population even if indirectly made aware of their anomalous nature), the coin instantaneously vanishes from that location and re-appears somewhere else on the surface of the earth. Additionally, for this purpose, any Foundation Personnel⁵ above either C-Class or O-2, as-well-as any/all active Foundation Facilities⁶ of any kind, appear to be treated as being 'Anomalous' for this purpose despite having no traits which The Foundation itself would categorize as specifically anomalous.

Addendum:

+ Initial Field Debriefing Excerpt

[Summary of the debriefing where Field-Agent █████ ████████ describes the first known encounter with "The Edge-Case Coin": Excerpted and condensed from the after-action interviews conducted with Field-Agent █████ ████████, ██th ████████, 199█:

Excerpts Begin.

Interviewer █████████ █████: "Tell me about the coin, this object you've dubbed 'The Edge-Case Coin' in your after-action reports from the investigation in Millipedes."
Field-Agent █████ ████████: "Yeah, thought you would ask about that." *Field-Agent █████ ████████ takes a drag from an off-brand cigarillo, then blows a smoke-ring.* "I found it while my partner Agent ████ █████ & I were scoping out that dingy pawn-shop on the west-side of town. One second, the counter was bare, I look away and look back, there's that coin on it: no one else was within 15 feet and it arrived without making a sound. I'm no rookie, I know when an anomaly lands in my lap. Of course, I'm not stupid enough to touch it, that thing could do anything, but I waved Agent ████ █████ over to look at it with me. Unfortunately, the desk-clerk for that area saw and came over too. She wasn't as savvy about these things, Chivies, you know? She picks it up, Agent ████ █████ flinched, can't blame her, honestly, I was flinching on the inside myself, but nothing happens. She goes to put it away with the other coins, but I say that it's mine, a souvenir of the theater program at my high-school, and she hands it over. I slip it into my Stasis-Pocket over my heart. We got the ████ out of there right quick, I'll say that."
Interviewer █████████ █████: "Then where did you go?"
Field-Agent █████ ████████: "Back to the hotel. When we were in the room, I try to retrieve the thing, take some photos, but it falls out of my pocket, and I learn it's first trick: lands on-edge, in the middle of a marine-prepped sheet, and sticks-there, edge-on…"
Interviewer █████████ █████: "You got photos of that?"
Field-Agent █████ ████████: "Agent ████ █████ did, she's quicker with her Polaroid than I am."
Interviewer █████████ █████: "Did you have to do any experimentation to obtain these photos?"
Field-Agent █████ ████████: "Not the first two, the rest were gathered later, after some of the other incidents led me to believe it was non-threatening."

Topic turns away from the coin directly for a while.

Interviewer █████████ █████: "Tell me about what happened with the coin at the shake-down in the abandoned warehouse that evening?"
Field-Agent █████ ████████: "Knew you'd ask about THAT too, not every day you axi-test an anomaly's indestructibility." *Lights another Cigarillo before continuing, takes a drag, blows a smoke-ring…*
Field-Agent █████ ████████: "Don't know where the junky got the midnight-special he shot me with. Thank god the thing was only a .22 or even with the coin those 'cop-killer bullets' he'd loaded would have ended me. Things were alright, the tip was good, they were trying to pull 'Magick' energy out of a corrupted node under the floor of the warehouse. Getting too ████ing close to figuring out how, if you ask me, you could FEEL it in there. I broke left around some old packing crates, Agent ████ █████ went right. We came out at the same time, but I kicked a pebble or something and the Junky whirled on me. Three shots, one him, one her, one me. Pain explodes across my right breast, I almost pass-out, I figure I've been struck down, going to die, but I don't. When the smoke begins to clear a few seconds later: I look at my vest, and there's this hole over my heart, neat as you please. Junky isn't so lucky, one to the head from her side, one right into the center mass from me. Later though, after the detainment and the Sanitation Officer visits, when we're at the local YMCA to scrub-down, I peal away everything and find the bullet smashed flat against that coin, and the coin totally untouched, not so much as a scratch. I knew copper couldn't do that, whatever that thing's made of, it's not copper, though it looks like it is."
Interviewer █████████ █████: "That's when you did the experiments?"
Field-Agent █████ ████████: "Sort of, that's when I drop the thing in shock and it does it's trick again."
Interviewer █████████ █████: "Who else saw this?"
Field-Agent █████ ████████: "Just my partner, Agent ████ █████, like the report says."
Interviewer █████████ █████: "Just her, you're sure?"
Field-Agent █████ ████████: "As far as I can determine, yes."
Interviewer █████████ █████: "I see, thank you." *Takes several notes on a clipboard.*⁷ "And this was when you decided to do a little experimentation out at the farm to gather more data and document the find?"
Field-Agent █████ ████████: "Yeah, it was my idea, I'd decided it was low-risk. Agent ████ █████ went along with it because I'm senior partner, but I knew she didn't like the idea much. I probably should have listened and taken the thing straight to lock-down, but hindsight is 20/20…"

After briefly discussing some basic low-risk field experiments they conducted at a farm a few miles outside of town, topic again turns away from the coin directly for a while.

Interviewer █████████ █████: "Let's talk about what happened when you attempted to bring the coin in to be secured the next morning."
Field-Agent █████ ████████: *Exhales smoke out of her nose.* "Yeah, I don't know what happened, but we were driving it back to Site-59 for further testing when out of no-where I feel it disappear from the Stasis-Bag in my pocket. One moment it's there, the next, it's not. I hit the time-code button in the van instantly, according to the logs, it happened right about the time we got within one mile of the site."
Interviewer █████████ █████: "That's all you know about that part? No other sensations?"
Field-Agent █████ ████████: "Nah, I know one other thing that's not in the report."
Interviewer █████████ █████: *Leans forward.* "Explain?"
Field-Agent █████ ████████: "This thing is going to be a ████-███ Punk of a Keter-Class, I can tell."

Excerpts End.]

+ Summary of the conditions surrounding 'The Alameda Appearance', ██th of ███uary, 201█

[At roughly 11:12 Hours and Minutes, Western Timezone, in Alameda, California, Then Junior-Field-Agent Malcolm Tam was standing at the counter of a local small-chain coffee shop, known as "Coffee of Doom", which appears to be a reference to a certain web-comic, currently popular at the time, when SCP-XXXX appeared on the floor next to his boot. Acting quickly, he secured the coin in the integral Stasis-Pocket of his inner uniform shirt and, having recived his coffee, left the building. Having been read-in on the properties of the coin some months earlier by, (now Senior-Supervisory Field-Agent) █████ ████████, who has been the foundations lead-expert on the coin ever since its discovery, he was aware that the foundation had about 5 days at best to study the object, and that only Class-C/0-2 or less operatives would have any ability to participate in the study. Acting quickly, he called up a number of such personnel who were known to him through his various field assignments and believed to be in the general San-Francisco metro-area at the time, rapidly assembling an ad-hoc team of 11 total young and inexperienced, but motivated and competent, personnel assets. This team would, over the next five days and some hours, conduct a series of twenty five assorted tests on the coin, which would yield the majority of the hard-data that the foundation has about its properties, composition, anomalous attributes, and so-forth. Of especial note, is the final test, Test Twenty-Five, where, knowing they were running out of time, they simply set up intense observation of the coin by both personnel and mechanisms both digital and mechanical, then waited for it to vanish: This was the way in which it was discovered that SCP-XXXX's disappearance-cycle is regulated by metric time-keeping.

The Eleven Members of the team consisted of the following individuals:
[Most actual names expunged for internal security: remainder preserved at request of Senior Supervisory Special-Agent Jennifer Minamoto Prime. Reasons provided for Preservation Request vary.]

Junior-Field-Agent Malcolm Tam: Research Team Organizer, Team Leader: kept physical custody of the anomalous object when active-testing wasn't taking place over the testing period.

Site-17 Senior Research-Assistant C█████ ██████████: Acting Chief-Research-Director for the operation:⁸ Instrumental in devising the majority of the experiments conducted, including "Sub-Operation: So long, and thanks for all the fish!" AKA "Experiment Twenty-Five".

]

+ Relevant Excerpts from First Report on the Tests Conducted during 'The Alameda Appearance', ██th of ███uary, 201█

[Excerpts Begin.

Excerpts End.]

+ Relevant Excerpts from Twelfth Report on the Tests Conducted during 'The Alameda Appearance', ██th of ███uary, 201█

[Excerpts Begin.

Excerpts End.]

+ Relevant Excerpts from Twenty-Third Report on the Tests Conducted during The Alameda Appearance, ██th of ███uary, 201█

[Excerpts Begin.

Excerpts End.]

Footnotes

1. Standard American penny included for size reference as the Sleeper Agent who discovered the coin didn't know if there was time before its next 'relocation' to secure proper forensic measuring references. He has been commended for this small bit of lateral thinking as his guess about the lack of time proved 100% correct.

2. It is unclear if this is a part of this objects anomalous nature, or an unrelated matter that happens to intersect it, but referring to the markings on the coin as "Romanji Characters" rather than letters and such, decreases the time that it takes for fresh incidents of the coin interacting with people and places outside of the foundation's direct observation to be identified by a Statistically Notable amount. This was discovered when the initial report of Dr. Tetsuo Harlow, (who grew-up in japan, thus naturally defaulting to referring to the roman lettering system as "Romanji Characters") was edited and updated by Dr. Titania Underhill working on compiling the report for "The Edge-Case-Coin: Kamchatka Containment Attempt After-Report" at Site ██████ and it was noticed shortly thereafter, (again by Dr. Underhill), that a significant delay appeared in locating such interactions between the anomaly and the Civilian Population. When the original wording of that section was restored, the delay ceased. The Cause of this oddity remains unclear.

3. Another peculiarity of this coin, is that all direct temporal references in this file are written in the "metric timekeeping" of the Revolutionary Steering Comity of France as utilized during the waning days of The Reign of Terror following the French Revolution. Why the coin's internal chronological specifications keep to that temporal standard remains completely undecipherable, but only by using time-pieces built or attuned to that form of temporal standardization has the foundation been able to keep accurate tabs on the temporal cycles exhibited by this Keter-Class object.

4. We have, however, been able to tentatively rule-out standard teleportation. In the final instance of attempting containment, a network of prototype Anomaly-Tech teleportation suppressors were assembled around the coin and simultaneously activated to attempt to place it into containment. The Edge-Case Coin, as you will already be aware, was-not successfully contained in this manner, and whatever means it used to leave the area caused all of the teleportation suppressors to violently destabilize at the molecular level and explode with a force roughly equivalent to small bundles of a few dozen sticks of TNT around 5 minutes later. The collateral damage to surrounding structures and numerous non-fatal casualties caused by this event are believed to be the impetus for the O-5 memorandum against continued attempts to achieve traditional containment. ~ Dr. Titania Underhill: O-█ █-Class Researcher stationed at Site ██████, ██th ████ember 201█.

5. See ^[6], below.

6. A number of reports recovered/received from other GOI organizations through various channels indicate that the similar conditions appear to be true for them. The para-dimensional counterpart organization of The SCP Foundation (known as "Protection → Contact → Security: The Global Foundation") was instrumental in securing some of these documents and on behalf of The SCP Foundation, and I hereby acknowledge their help and assistance in this matter as they requested when offering this aid. ~ Senior Supervisory Special-Agent Jenifer Minamoto Prime, ████ ████████ of Site 19-1/2, ██th ███ember 202█.

7. Field-Agent █████ ████████ was incorrect in this assessment, she was witnessed by two young-adult female civilians. Her decision to examine a known and as-yet uncatalogued Anomalous Object in a public bathing chamber at the local YMCA has been noted for subsequent disciplinary action and continued training. - Prof. █████████ █████.

8. Subsequently dubbed "Operation: Blacked Rutabaga" by the Archival Sub-Director of Site-19 when the hastily written notes of the event were being organized into a genuine after-action file.