Tactless

SCP-QQQQ: The Time Qualia

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SCP-QQQQ

Item #: SCP-QQQQ

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-QQQQ is to be kept in a standard secure locker at Site-N.

Description: SCP-QQQQ is an oval-shaped lens of quartz-like material with a diameter of 38 mm and thickness of 23 mm. If a subject maintains physical contact with SCP-QQQQ (average duration of one second), it will transfer their consciousness to an alternate reality assumed to have been created by it. Said reality appears indistinguishable from our own, other SCPs included.

The subject will first find themselves experiencing the last 24 hours of a person in our reality predicted by SCP-QQQQ to expire (henceforth referred to as the target), with the time of death calculated as exactly 24 hours after the moment of transfer. The target as observed by the subject in the alternate reality appears to be a proxy of the one in our own reality created by SCP-QQQQ, and thus will be referred to as the alt target.

After experiencing the alt target's death, the subject will find themselves in their own body in the alternate reality holding a proxy of SCP-QQQQ and gain awareness of a humanoid apparition, henceforth referred to as SCP-QQQQ-A.

SCP-QQQQ-A is a humanoid apparition bearing the likeness of SCP-QQQQ's previous owner. Said likeness is decided when the previous iteration of SCP-QQQQ-A designates a new owner. The current iteration of SCP-QQQQ-A bears the likeness of PoI-2002 "Josse Passant", the last known owner of SCP-QQQQ who disappeared on ██/██/20██. SCP-QQQQ-A appears able to clearly recall most details of the life of the owner it is based on, from around age 5¹ to their death, and all information gained through communication with the subject. Because documents corroborate its information on PoI-2002, the current iteration specifically will be referred to as PoI-2002 in this document for the sake of clarity. According to interviews with PoI-2002 (see Addendum-Z), SCP-QQQQ-A can also access past information on SCP-QQQQ's previous owners and alt targets starting from the present, so distant events take long times to recall initially.

If SCP-QQQQ-A is meeting the subject for the first time, it is obligated to inform them of the alternate reality's rules so that they can escape it and return to their own.²

• The subject is unable to see or communicate with SCP-QQQQ-A while not in contact with the proxy of SCP-QQQQ.
• Most entities within the alternate reality are unable to perceive or communicate with SCP-QQQQ-A even if they make contact with the proxy of SCP-QQQQ. PoI-2002 has noticed exceptions, such as some SCPs (see Addendum-Y).
• The subject must inform the alt target of their predicted death by any means necessary before the deadline, set as the time of the target's predicted death, passes.
• The subject must help the alt target accept the possibility of their death, even if the predicted death can be prevented.

Listed below are events in the alternate reality that cause it to rewind itself to the moment the subject met SCP-QQQQ-A, with their memories retained:

• Failure to inform the alt target by the deadline to accept their predicted death
• Failure to help the alt target accept the possibility of their death by the deadline, even if the predicted death is prevented
• Death of the subject
• Death of the alt target before the deadline
• Death of any other person in the alternate reality

If the subject has informed the alt target of their predicted death, the subject can choose to have the alt target also retain their memories across rewinds.

It is possible for the subject and the target to be the same person; this was discovered when SCP-QQQQ predicted that a subject would expire exactly 24 hours after making contact with it. According to an interview by PoI-2002 (who itself had experienced this possibility a number of times, most notably the last day before PoI-2002 disappeared), this particular scenario involves a different set of rules:

• The subject is unable to manipulate their own body to avert their predicted death regardless of ease.
• The subject must accept their predicted death in the alternate reality, but can avert it if they want to once they return to our reality.

At the deadline, if the alt target has accepted the possibility of their death, SCP-QQQQ will transfer the subject's consciousness back to our reality and transfer the alt target's memories to the consciousness of the target, regardless of the target's physical distance to SCP-QQQQ. The duration of tests with SCP-QQQQ is one second, but the duration of the subject's debriefing can take several hours depending on the length of time they experienced in SCP-QQQQ's alternate reality.

Observations on SCP-QQQQ's targets (done by synchronizing a number of tests on SCP-QQQQ with scheduled terminations of Class D personnel) reveal that they experience for a variable length of time a sort of epiphany from the memories SCP-QQQQ gives, after which they feel contemplative.

According to PoI-2002, after the subject has been sent back, SCP-QQQQ will no longer affect them as its possessor unless one of two events happen:

• Both the subject and SCP-QQQQ-A allow SCP-QQQQ permission after the subject makes physical contact with it again.
• SCP-QQQQ-A designates the subject as SCP-QQQQ's new owner, after which SCP-QQQQ-A's presence disappears. (See Addendum-X for details of ownership.)

Even if SCP-QQQQ no longer affects the subject as its possessor, it can still affect them as its target; this was discovered when a Class D personnel who had been a subject for SCP-QQQQ felt an epiphany the day before his scheduled termination.

Discovery: The Foundation became aware of SCP-QQQQ on ██/██/20██, when Containment Specialist █████ of Site-██ made a report about events about to occur in the next 24 hours with unusual clarity, as if they were given detailed predictions from an unknown source (now confirmed to be SCP-QQQQ). In the report, they described a memory of PoI-2002, then alive at 27 years old, entering Site-██ and requesting a meeting with her specifically, fully aware of the Site's Foundation-related operations. During said meeting, PoI-2002 detailed a containment breach that would occur the following day (now confirmed to be Incident-████-1), with the Specialist as one of a number of casualties (other people may have also received fatal injuries, but she was predicted to be the first to expire). PoI-2002 then divulged info on every SCP she was scheduled to inspect up to the moment of the breach, followed by intimate knowledge of her activities during her off-hours; this set of actions was PoI-2002's intention to not only corroborate his information regarding the breach but also gain the Specialist's trust. At the report's conclusion, the Specialist decided to bank on PoI-2002's trustworthiness by reinforcing security on the supposed culprit SCP behind the breach with his predictions in mind. Even though the breach still happened, personnel only sustained non-threatening injuries and no casualties were reported.

Following Incident-████-1, said Specialist and the Director of Site-██ informed the O5 Council of both SCP-QQQQ and PoI-2002, and were given clearance to arrange for negotiations with PoI-2002.

+ Open Interview-QQQQ-1

Interviewed: PoI-2002

Interviewer: Negotiator ████

Foreword: Containment Specialist █████ reported having PoI-2002's contact info from the memories given by SCP-QQQQ, which turned out to be accurate when he answered Negotiator ████'s phone call. PoI-2002 accepted an invitation to an interview at Site-██ on ██/██/20██, two days after Incident-████-1, to explain his awareness of the Foundation's existence, his involvement in the events leading up to the incident as perceived by the Specialist, and his knowledge of SCP-QQQQ.

<Begin Log, 8:02 PM>

Negotiator: Thank you for making time to attend this interview on short notice.

PoI-2002: The pleasure's all mine, ████. Besides, when you have all the time in world, and then some, you lose the privilege to say no to most things. (He chuckles.)

Negotiator: Please state your name for the record.

PoI-2002: My name is Josse Passant. You can call me Josse, if you feel like it.

Negotiator: I'll keep that noted, Mr. Passant. How did you come to know about the Foundation?

PoI-2002: Through the eyes of █████, technically. But we both know it was thanks to this little thing. (He pulls out SCP-QQQQ dangling from a necklace inside his shirt and holds it in front of the Negotiator.) My father called this the Time Qualia, and it guides me to the next person fated to die. In █████'s case, it shunted me into her body so that I experienced how her last day would've originally went, then sent me back to this one so that I could tell her about it. How is she, by the way?

Negotiator: She got a bit scuffed up yesterday and is sleeping it off, but she seems happier than ever.

PoI-2002: Yeah, the Qualia tends to have that effect on people. Making people happy, I mean, not getting them injured- that's on her.

Negotiator: Noted. Please elaborate on how you "experienced how █████'s last day would've originally went", as it were.

PoI-2002: Sure. Do you remember everything you did today up to now, from the moment you got out of bed?

Negotiator: Yes…?

PoI-2002: Okay. Now imagine if your body performed those same actions, but with another soul in the cockpit. They would know the surface of your ceiling, the sound of your alarm, the softness of your blanket, the scent of your shampoo, the taste of your breakfast, things like that. I just happened to start my ride in the 2nd-floor ladies' room of Site-██. On the toilet.

Negotiator: Ah… (A long pause.) My condolences.

PoI-2002: Yeah… Moving on, I only figured out the location of the Site after she clocked out for the day and was driving back to her house; I spotted a few intersections and then used good ol' Google Maps to trace back the location. Fast-forward past her off-hours and back to work, she would've done her morning SCP checks, typed up some reports, and gotten slammed into a wall by an escaping SCP-████ while making her way to the break room. I have to say, internal bleeding is not a quick way to die.

Negotiator: You seem to be… speaking from experience.

PoI-2002: (He laughs.) That's one of the Qualia's downsides: live life, then live death, rinse and repeat. Anyway, once her body finally bled out, I found myself back in my own body, at my own house, and with a new mission. That's when I made my way to Site-██ and talked to her in person.

Negotiator:

PoI-2002:

Negotiator:

PoI-2002:

<End Log, [optional time info]>

Closing Statement: [Small summary and passage on what transpired afterward]

Addendum: [Optional additional paragraphs]

SCP Tale 1: The Qualia of Babel

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Qualia.jpg Image Source

This image is borrowed from:

Original Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nimrud_lens_British_Museum.jpg
Creator: Geni [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Footnotes

1. According to PoI-2002, the earliest memory it could find of each previous owner was the moment they began to contemplate their life for the first time.

2. According to PoI-2002, some iterations of SCP-QQQQ-A that tried to withhold information found themselves compelled to speak within minutes, presumably by SCP-QQQQ itself.