Recusor

SCP-XXXX

Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: Instances SCP-XXXX must be kept in a sealed container that allows for at least 87.5 cm² of surface area per instance and is constructed of a transparent material that has a density rating of at least 8.05 g/cm3. Multiple instances may be kept in the same sealed container. Secure ventilation is required. The available light source provided must follow a natural day/night cycle and container furnishings must allow for all SCP-XXXX instances to avoid direct light.

The the interior base of the container should be filled with at least seven to ten centimetre deep, regular, peat-free, potting soil with a pH level between seven and eight. Artificial structures, small plants and rocks are ideal. It is essential that no material is introduced to SCP-XXXX that exceeds the density of the material the container is made of.

Description:

SCP-XXXX resembles the common garden snail (Cornu aspersum) with some key differences. Unlike non-anomalous Cornu aspersum, in all recorded cases of SCP-XXXX the shell is exclusively left-coiled and due to their unique ability often have a noticeable hue or even shine. SCP-XXXX anomalous property is two-fold; It's ability to both absorb, excrete and manipulate particulate elements and minerals from its environment to strengthen itself and its shell¹, in addition to what is believed to be hyper-intelligence.

It is not understood how SCP-XXXX is able to manipulate their environment without appendages. Research is slow but ongoing due to what seems to be a reticence from SCP-XXXX to be observed, in addition to their nocturnal habits.

Despite estimated intelligence levels, Foundation attempts to communicate with SCP-XXXX have not been fruitful.

Discovery:

SCP-XXXX was first discovered in western Europe in after reports of especially resilient snails were received by pest control companies in the area. After six months of attempts by local agriculture pest control companies including the introduction of predators (small snakes), Foundation assets were alerted via contacts within the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA). Initial foundation attempts to locate colonies were hampered by the volume² of non-anomalous instances of Cornu aspersum in the area. Once the anomalous properties of SCP-XXXX were discovered, high-resolution spectroscopic satellites were able to detect significantly higher than average deposits of heavy minerals that the colony was both constructed of and built upon.

Upon arrival, containment personnel inadvertently set off a series of defensive traps and found themselves under fire from improvised explosive ordnance launched from hidden fortifications constructed out of alloyed material. While the size of the ordnance seemed small, the explosive force presented was consistent with modern military anti-personnel capabilities. ██ containment personnel were killed in the initial attack. Upon withdrawal and re-assessment, the threat level was upgraded and more supplies requisitioned. Moving at a much slower pace with much heavier armor, containment personnel detected intense levels of fortification to guard a colony of at least ████ instances of SCP-XXXX . Unfortunately most instances were destroyed when Foundation personnel inadvertently collapsed a chamber where the majority of the population seemed to be taking refuge.

The colony was constructed using a mix of soil, excreted elements including iron, calcium and carbon as well as alloyed materials. Instances of industrial and digital age technology were found as well including computers, communication devices and weapons as well as agriculture implements. The technological instruments that would be otherwise restricted by size were contained in carefully constructed underground storage areas with highly complex custom user interfaces that foundation scientists are still trying to understand.

Incident log:

On August 9, ████ a containment breach occurred at Site-██ at 2:13 am. Using iron and carbon compounds found in the provided soil, SCP-XXXX apparently created an alloyed material that is under study. Because the resultant alloy had a density greater than their container material they were able to easily cut through their containment and attempt escape. While the attempt was detected early via remote camera, it was determined that observation may provide new information so a security response was delayed.

While non-anomalous Cornu aspersum have an average speed of 0.013 m/s with an upper limit of 0.016 m/s, SCP-XXXX was caught on camera moving in formation at a speed of almost 1.6 m/s. It is theorized that this is possible through the integration of compounds into their central nervous system and both material and biomechanical optimization of epithelial cilia on their foot/stomach, though previously estimated physical constraints should still render this near-impossible. Due to the previously low-security designation, in addition to security policy violation by Junior Researcher S██████ who left the door unlocked³, SCP-XXXX was able to get to sub-level ██ before being re-contained. When security personnel were deployed and SCP-XXXX detected observation it immediately stopped and seemingly complied with the orders presented to it by security personnel⁴⁵.

Containment procedures are pending revision, including periodic checks to see if any refined compounds or elements are present. It was determined that SCP-XXXX finished creation the alloyed material nearly 3 months earlier and hid it while waiting for a security failure by Foundation personnel before attempting their escape.

► Submit Level 3 Security Credentials

Hello Agent,

The above SCP description is a lie. Some facts that are presented are true, including its anomalous properties and high intelligence, however the current situation has been constructed to both explain events that happened in France to agents that lost friends, and also to maintain a level of informational security for an otherwise complicated situation.

SCP-XXXX is everywhere. With the advent of colonialism it virtually followed humans through the world and to the untrained eye looks like almost any other snail. It really did come to Foundation attention in ████, but despite the acquisition nightmare that could almost be described as a war crime in terms of the dead civilian population we were in fact able to make communicative contact with members of SCP-XXXX and establish a diplomatic delegation. The "containment" chamber constructed in Site- is an embassy.

SCP-XXXX have existed for the last 900 years. According to the few historical records they have shared with us, which are surprisingly detailed, they first came into existence in central France around the year 1200 through unknown means. It is generally accepted among their population that they were acted upon by an unknown force to enhance their intelligence and abilities. For the first 200 years of their written history they in fact were in active conflict with humans in France. Considering that humans around the world consider snails delicacies and a staple of food and snails consider human agriculture products delicious the conflict at the time was inevitable.

In 1280 as petitions from local landholders dealing with what was described as “invincible snails” reached a crescendo, King Philip III the Bold declared a campaign against what was largely regarded as simple pests, however as SCP-XXXX instances continued to both evade destruction or capture, in addition to hardening their bodies and shells with local shallow iron deposits, there was an escalation that led to the deployment of armored French forces against SCP-XXXX who were by then setting stationary crossbows whose effective penetrating force was comparable to modern day crossbow technology.

Note the left coiled shell

After the establishment of their own agriculture focusing on fruit and vegetables, they shifted their geographical positioning and maintained a low-profile where they adopted a defensive war policy. As French forces attempted to continue their assault they found the local SCP-XXXX had vanished, and as no dead instances were recovered at the time the descriptions by landowners and soldiers at the time were taken as wild exaggeration, though rumours persisted among the intellectual community of the time.

The incidents with human civilians that brought them to our attention in present day were due to recent, repeated failures of crops that left their local community on the edge of starvation leading them to raid local agricultural centres.

After the attempted Foundation acquisition that led to the deaths of what were effectively hundreds of civilians, electronic text based communication was relayed to local Foundation sites that threatened retaliation on a global scale. We have no idea of their effective population. We have seen a hint of their weapons and capabilities and it took our best to bring them down, with significant collateral damage, in what we believe their species considered a backwater village.

They presented a proposal⁶ to establish a line of communication with Foundation leadership, however due to the initial rough start in relations they remain hesitant to share much if any tactical information with us. We are doing our best to find out their capabilities and measure how much of a threat they pose, but they have surveillance everywhere. We need to learn what their capabilities are and develop effective counter-measures.

That part is up to you.

Welcome to MTF Sigma-4. Welcome to the Salt Squad.

Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures:

SCP-XXXX must be kept in a sealed container that is at least 42 cm by 15 cm by 42 cm and constructed of a transparent material that has a density rating of at least 8.05 g/cm3. Secure ventilation is required. The the interior base of the container should be filled with regular, peat-free, potting soil with a pH content between 7 and 8. The available light source provided must follow a natural day/night cycle and container furnishings must allow for all 22 of the SCP-XXXX subjects to avoid direct light at will. Artificial structures, small plants and rocks are ideal. It is essential that no material is introduced to SCP-XXXX that exceeds the density of the material the container is made of.

Description:

SCP-XXXX resembles the common garden snail "Cornu aspersum" with some key differences. Unlike non-anomalous Cornu aspersum, in all recorded cases of SCP-XXXX the shell is exclusively left-coiled and due to their unique ability often have a noticeable hue or even shine. SCP-XXXX anomalous property is two-fold; It's ability to both absorb, excrete and manipulate particulate elements and minerals from its environment to strengthen itself and its shell⁷, in addition to what we believe is hyper-intelligence.

It is not understood how SCP-XXXX is able to manipulate their environment without appendages. Research is slow but ongoing due to what seems to be a reticence from SCP-XXXX to be observed, in addition to their nocturnal habits.

Despite estimated intelligence levels, Foundation attempts to communicate with SCP-XXXX have not been fruitful.

Discovery:

SCP-XXXX was first discovered in western Europe in after reports of especially resilient snails were received by pest control companies in the area. After six months of attempts by local agriculture pest control companies including the introduction of predators (small snakes), Foundation assets were alerted via contacts within the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA). Initial foundation attempts to locate colonies were hampered by the volume⁸ of non-anomalous instances of Cornu aspersum in the area. Once the anomalous properties of SCP-XXXX were discovered, high-resolution spectroscopic satellites were able to detect significantly higher than average deposits of heavy minerals that the colony was both constructed of and built upon.

Upon arrival, containment personnel inadvertently set off a series of defensive traps and found themselves under fire from improvised explosive ordnance launched from hidden fortifications constructed out of alloyed material. While the size of the ordnance seemed small, the explosive force presented was consistent with modern military anti-personnel capabilities. ██ containment personnel were killed in the initial attack. Upon withdrawal and re-assessment, the threat level was upgraded and more supplies requisitioned. Moving at a much slower pace with much heavier armor, containment personnel detected intense levels of fortification to guard a colony of at least ████ instances of SCP-XXXX . Unfortunately most instances were destroyed when Foundation personnel inadvertently collapsed a chamber where the majority of the population seemed to be taking refuge.

The colony was constructed using a mix of soil, excreted elements including iron, calcium and carbon as well as alloyed materials. Instances of industrial and digital age technology were found as well including computers, communication devices and weapons as well as agriculture implements. The technological instruments that would be otherwise restricted by size were contained in carefully constructed underground storage areas with highly complex custom user interfaces that foundation scientists are still trying to understand.

Incident log:

On August 9, ████ a containment breach occurred at Site-██ at 2:13 am. Using iron and carbon compounds found in the provided soil, SCP-XXXX apparently created an alloyed material that is under study. Because the resultant alloy had a density greater than their container material they were able to easily cut through their containment and attempt escape. While the attempt was detected early via remote camera, it was determined that observation may provide new information so a security response was delayed.

While non-anomalous Cornu aspersum have an average speed of 0.013 m/s with an upper limit of 0.016 m/s, SCP-XXXX was caught on camera moving in formation at a speed of almost 1.6 m/s. It is theorized that this is possible through the integration of compounds into their central nervous system and both material and biomechanical optimization of epithelial cilia on their foot/stomach, though previously estimated physical constraints should still render this near-impossible. Due to the previously low-security designation, in addition to security policy violation by Junior Researcher S██████ who left the door unlocked⁹, SCP-XXXX was able to get to sub-level ██ before being re-contained. When security personnel were deployed and SCP-XXXX detected observation it immediately stopped and seemingly complied with the orders presented to it by security personnel¹⁰¹¹.

Containment procedures are pending revision, including periodic checks to see if any refined compounds or elements are present. It was determined that SCP-XXXX finished creation the alloyed material nearly 3 months earlier and hid it while waiting for a security failure by Foundation personnel before attempting their escape.

► Submit Level 3 Security Credentials

Hello Agent,

The above SCP description is a lie. Some facts that are presented are true, including its anomalous properties and high intelligence, however the current situation has been constructed to both explain events that happened in France to agents that lost friends, and also to maintain a level of informational security for an otherwise complicated situation.

SCP-XXXX is everywhere. With the advent of colonialism it virtually followed humans through the world and to the untrained eye looks like almost any other snail. It really did come to Foundation attention in ████, but despite the acquisition nightmare that could almost be described as a war crime in terms of the dead civilian population we were in fact able to make communicative contact with members of SCP-XXXX and establish a diplomatic delegation. The "containment" chamber constructed in Site- is an embassy.

SCP-XXXX have existed for the last 900 years. According to the few historical records they have shared with us, which are surprisingly detailed, they first came into existence in central France around the year 1200 through unknown means. It is generally accepted among their population that they were acted upon by an unknown force to enhance their intelligence and abilities. For the first 200 years of their written history they in fact were in active conflict with humans in France. Considering that humans around the world consider snails delicacies and a staple of food and snails consider human agriculture products delicious the conflict at the time was inevitable.

In 1280 as petitions from local landholders dealing with what was described as “invincible snails” reached a crescendo, King Philip III the Bold declared a campaign against what was largely regarded as simple pests, however as SCP-XXXX instances continued to both evade destruction or capture, in addition to hardening their bodies and shells with local shallow iron deposits, there was an escalation that led to the deployment of armored French forces against SCP-XXXX who were by then setting stationary crossbows whose effective penetrating force was comparable to modern day crossbow technology.

Note the left coiled shell

After the establishment of their own agriculture focusing on fruit and vegetables, they shifted their geographical positioning and maintained a low-profile where they adopted a defensive war policy. As French forces attempted to continue their assault they found the local SCP-XXXX had vanished, and as no dead instances were recovered at the time the descriptions by landowners and soldiers at the time were taken as wild exaggeration, though rumours persisted among the intellectual community of the time.

The incidents with human civilians that brought them to our attention in present day were due to recent, repeated failures of crops that left their local community on the edge of starvation leading them to raid local agricultural centres.

After the attempted Foundation acquisition that led to the deaths of what were effectively hundreds of civilians, electronic text based communication was relayed to local Foundation sites that threatened retaliation on a global scale. We have no idea of their effective population. We have seen a hint of their weapons and capabilities and it took our best to bring them down, with significant collateral damage, in what we believe their species considered a backwater village.

They presented a proposal¹² to establish a line of communication with Foundation leadership, however due to the initial rough start in relations they remain hesitant to share much if any tactical information with us. We are doing our best to find out their capabilities and measure how much of a threat they pose, but they have surveillance everywhere. We need to learn what their capabilities are and develop effective counter-measures.

That part is up to you.

Welcome to MTF Sigma-4. Welcome to the Salt Squad.

Footnotes

1. During acquisition SCP-XXXX was able to resist small arms fire easily, but were vulnerable to intense heat, cold and sodium chloride.

2. Do you have any idea how many snails per kilometre there are in France? A lot.

3. Junior Researcher S██████ has been assigned a three month remedial security policy course. Lock the damn door!

4. A note from responding Security Member J█████████ "All I did was respectfully ask them to stop and pointed out that we had laid a line of salt just behind me on the floor"

5. Additional requests for testing with salt are denied. If you have a problem with that, take it up with Ethics Committee. We aren't here to torture these things.

6. See Morvan Treaty for additional information

7. During acquisition SCP-XXXX was able to resist small arms fire easily, but were vulnerable to intense heat, cold and sodium chloride.

8. Do you have any idea how many snails per kilometre there are in France? A lot.

9. Junior Researcher S██████ has been assigned a three month remedial security policy course. Lock the damn door!

10. A note from responding Security Member J█████████ "All I did was respectfully ask them to stop and pointed out that we had laid a line of salt just behind me on the floor"

11. Additional requests for testing with salt are denied. If you have a problem with that, take it up with Ethics Committee. We aren't here to torture these things.

12. See Morvan Treaty for additional information