Per 
Number: SCP-4086 "The Desire Drive"
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-4086 is incapable of its own movement and appears to have no will of its own. Therefore it can be placed with the rest of the safe SCPs, though it is to be locked in a small containment box to prevent personnel from tampering with the device. Previous incidents warrant that only personnel with legitimate purposes can have access.
Description: SCP-4086 is an external hard drive that is half an inch tall by 4 inches in width and length and is completely black in color with a 6-foot wire connected to it. It was discovered on September 13th, 1985 by an amateur team of programmers outside of [REDACTED].
Upon questioning the programmers stated that they found SCP-4086 plugged into their computer on the morning of the specified date, with no knowledge of how it got there. When the programmers accessed the device using a console dialogue, the device seemed to respond to them and then provided a prompt: “Do you wish to see what you desire? Y/N” After pressing Y, the device then prompted the user to input their desire, the drive was then able to output a number of programs that seemed to be catered to the exact desire of the user who last used the device that the drive was plugged into. When asked for some basic information, the requested information was displayed in either a text file, an audio file, an image file, or a video file, depending on the information requested.
A small team of SCP computer scientists were able to meet with the group in 1986 and began testing on the device to see what it was capable of. Interestingly, when one of the team pulled out a calculator, the wire connected to the drive, within seconds, transformed into a connector that could easily be rigged to the calculator. They brought in another computer and placed it closer to the drive and the wire transformed again.
If the computer used for the device does not have an operating system, the device will seem to synthesize its own OS from scratch to run programming from. This is believed to be a synthesis as the OS is different, either minimally or majorly, from its previous version with each iteration. Every time it does this, it always includes a file explorer function. The device cannot be opened in a file explorer to further examine its contents, nor can any data be saved to it. However, clicking on the drive in the file explorer will cause a text prompt to appear just as before. If the user answers Y, the drive will bring forth the desire specified by user. If the answer is N, the prompt will simply disappear until the drive is selected again.
Further testing revealed that the wire attached to SCP-4086 will always change into whatever is needed to access the nearest computer device. USB 2.0 & 3.0, Ethernet, HDMI, phone cable. If the device is hooked up to a phone, the user can actually call the drive by simply picking up the phone (if a landline) or pressing the call app (if a smartphone) and talking to the drive to retrieve the data desired in audio form. The voice used is in a neutral, monotonous tone and has the sound of a “text to speech” program.
SCP-4086 seems to have pseudo-omniscience, being capable of bringing forth almost any data in an applicable form. It was tested in a series of mock criminal trials by SCP agents at the [REDACTED] facility. 10 people were implicated in a fake crime, 3 were guilty, and each of the guilty had their own specific role in the crime. The test was conducted 50 times with subject being stored in a separate, sound proof, lead lined room to prevent it from “overhearing” test data. Each time, if the user desired to know who was guilty of the crime and what their role was, they received the information with 100% accuracy.
The drive has since been used in locating other escaped SCP’s as part of its testing, though it seems to be very reluctant in divulging any information of a higher power SCP aside from location, though some specific data has been retrieved in a few cases. It also fails to provide an answer or a program for other random questions and desires on very rare occasions, though the cause has yet to be determined. If an answer is not given, the drive will simply restate the previous starting prompts. Some agents have been caught using the device for various “unofficial purposes” and therefore, access has been restricted to authorized personnel only.
Addendum SCP-4086-A
Summary logged by Dr. James McGavin
We were able to get a volunteer for the further testing of SCP-4086. Dr. Richard Taggart volunteered to ask the subject what the day of his death would be. Dr. Taggart, being a rather old member of the organization at 74 years old, volunteered because he wanted to prevent anyone else from asking the question since he was getting on in years anyways.
Upon asking the drive what the day of his death would be, the drive gave him a prompt that had not been seen before stating: "Are you sure? Y/N". Upon entering Y yet again, the drive displayed a date. The date would indicate that Dr. Taggart will be with us for quite a while longer. He then asked what the cause of his death would be and the same new prompt appeared asking if he was sure. Upon confirming the request, the device gave the information that Dr. Taggart requested.
After the test was finished, Dr. Taggart noted that he actually felt quite relieved by the results. We then requested SCP-4086 to give us the death date of another person, this person being a death row inmate with no defined date of execution other than the fact that it was supposed to take place within the next 12 months. Interestingly, the drive did not prompt the user to re-confirm the request, and gave the answer as it has many times before. After a month and 26 days, the inmate was executed exactly when SCP-4086 said they would be.
Conclusion: We now have an accurate death clock at our disposal.
Addendum SCP-4086-B
Audio transcript of experiment by Dr. James McGavin
Dr. McGavin: "This experiment will hopefully help us to determine the origin of this device. We will be asking the subject, SCP-4086, where it came from, how it knows the vast quantity of information it knows, and who made it. Dr. Richard Taggart and I will be conducting the experiment. Dr. Taggart, are you ready to proceed?"
Dr. Taggart: "Yes Dr. McGavin, entering the first question now." [Typing] "Subject SCP-4086 reports that it came from… What? Look at this doctor. It's displaying symbols that I have never seen before. Perhaps this is the native tongue of the beings who made it. It must be the native name for its home dimension."
Dr. McGavin: "Initial answer for question number one will require further deciphering, let's move on to question two."
Dr. Taggart: "Entering now." [Typing] "At least this one I can read. The subject says that it is a dimensionally permeable device and is capable of peering into other realities to collect data. It is also temporally permeable, which is how it's able to know things that have not happened yet."
Dr. McGavin: "Initial answer for question two is satisfactory and will be logged with subject's files. Now onto out last question."
Dr. Taggart: "Already on it doctor." [Typing] "Look doctor, more of those strange symbols."
Dr. McGavin: "Looks like we will have to decipher that language to get the answers we want. Initial answer for question three will require further deciphering, alongside question one."
[END AUDIO LOG]
