The Key to Limbo
rating: 0+x

Item #: SCP-4192

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: Foundation personnel authorized to handle SCP-4192 are prohibited from doing so personally. Only long-distance means such as remote-operated machinery or tongs are permitted. In the event of accidental disappearance, all personnel on duty must switch on their digital stopwatches to mark the time until reappearance. Psychoanalysts, researchers, and doctors (if necessary) should be dispatched to SCP-4192’s containment chamber for subject evaluation.

Description: SCP-4192 is a 10-cm tall statuette of a man of average build with a disdainful expression. Though the object appears to consist of painted and varnished wood, it is clearly much denser than any type of wood currently known. The object, when contacted by a human, will cause both it and the human in question to disappear and reappear in the exact same place for a seemingly random period, though said period is never less than ten seconds and never greater than twenty-four hours. Since initial containment, SCP-4192 has shown no inclination to disappear of its own accord, but will disappear when contacted, usually between one and twelve seconds.

SCP-4192 was initially found on ██/██/19██ in the Chinese province of ███████████ by local archaeologists. According to first-hand accounts, the archaeologist to first lay hands on SCP-4192, ████████, almost instantly disappeared. The Foundation was notified of this anomalous behavior and was dispatched to deliver amnestics to all eyewitnesses. The site was then quarantined and monitored in the event that the subject were to return. She reappeared at the exact same place eight hours and six minutes later, though she had apparently aged about thirty years. Subject was at this point taken into custody. SCP-4192 was moved to Site-83 for containment and further experimentation.

Addendum: To date, seventeen Class D subjects were instructed to handle SCP-4192 until disappearance occurred. Of these, three had the most significant results:

Test #: 01
Date: 05/10/1994
Subject: D-591, Caucasian male, twenty-four years of age
Results: D-591 handled SCP-4192 for twelve seconds before disappearing entirely. Researches noted no flash of light or audible sound at the time of disappearance, and there was no detectable spike in energy readouts in the containment chamber. D-591 returned fifty-six seconds later, and did not appear to have aged noticeably like in the incident with SCP-4192-A. Upon confrontation, D-591 revealed that he had been transported to a “limbo” where time appeared to have stilled. He explained to researchers that he was able to move about the world and interact with objects as normal, but people, animals, and objects did not move or grow. He was also unable to let go of SCP-4192 during this time. Around sixteen months after D-591’s arrival into the limbo-world, he suddenly reappeared back in the containment chamber despite having traveled to southern Italy to sightsee. Researchers agree to modify the experiment to include a digital stopwatch and tracking device for all succeeding tests.

Test #: 07
Date: 09/16/1998
Subject: D-1048, Caucasian male, thirty years of age
Results: Upon coming into contact with SCP-4192, D-1048 disappeared after three seconds. He returned fourteen hours, six minutes, and forty-five seconds later, appearing much older than before. The equipped stopwatch revealed that D-1048 had spent almost forty-two years in the limbo-world. Psychoanalysts began questioning subject immediately and were able to determine right away that D-1048 had lost all mental faculties, in part because of old age (subject was an estimated seventy-one years old) and in part because of no social interaction for an extended period. The equipped GPS tracker revealed that subject had traveled to every continent including Antarctica, and his last location before reappearance was several meters off the coast of California.

Test #: 18 [accidental]
Date: 4/11/2014
Subject: [EXPUNGED]
Results: Upon routine inspection of SCP-4192 and its containment chamber, [EXPUNGED] accidentally bumped into it, causing him and the object to disappear for exactly twenty-four hours. Upon reappearance, researchers rushed to the scene and found the subject to be unresponsive and entering the late stages of postmortem decomposition. The cause of death was determined to be natural causes.