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Item #: SCP-4777
Object Class: Safe (pending Thaumiel)
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-4777 is inert unless directly activated. Due to the number of deliberate steps that must be taken to activate SCP-4777, it is unlikely to accidentally trigger its anomalous effect. As a result, the device may be stored in a standard Anomalous Technology Locker (ATL), under normal security procedures. In the event of an unauthorized activation of significant scale, MTF Sierra-17 will carry out Protocol Space Heater.
Description: SCP-4777 is a device recovered from a debris field located around Phobos, one of the moons of Mars. The debris field was first noticed by the Mars Insight craft on 11/05/2018, prompting Foundation assets to initiate Blackout-3 protocols at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Mission centers in Houston, TX and Cape Kennedy, FL. After discovery, a Foundation sentinel drone ship SCPS Guardian in Martian orbit diverted to the field and retrieved 94.6% of the wreckage, with the remainder being either inaccessible or not attributable to anomalous origin.
After being returned to Earth and processed through standard decontamination procedures, SCP-4777 was identified as a distinct component among the salvage. The device itself is a 1.2 meter tall cylinder with base of .6 meters. A 20 centimeter circumference of the device around the “rim”, are brass-colored, in contrast to the matte carbon of the rest of the device. Between the lower portion of this rim and the main casing is a light emitting strip of indeterminate source, though it has been posited that it may be an advanced form of OLED. The strip glows a faint blue when the device is inert, and a bright red when active. Metallurgical analysis indicates that the device is composed of a seemingly anomalous alloy of vanadium. Disassembly has not been attempted and is restricted by 05 orders.
The otherwise featureless device is reactive to the presence of certain intelligent organisms, and can, through currently unknown means, manifest a multicolor, high fidelity holographic control panel on the facet presenting towards an approaching individual. Tests with intelligent animals, such as dolphins, different ape species, and octopuses, do not result in the cylinder reacting. Anomalous entities that are non-human but sapient, such as SCP-2312 and SCP-173, have triggered the control display.
This display will project in a language or marking seemingly localized to the best understanding of the user. In multilingual users, the language selected is often the one they are most personally: for example, a bilingual Spanish/English speaker belonging to the staff at Site-19, located in the United States, had the panel presented in Spanish; a native English, semi-fluent Mandarin speaker at Site-321, located in China, was presented the controls in English. Similarly, units of time and other metrics presented on the panel automatically adjust to suit the user. These factors suggest some degree of awareness of the device about its surroundings, but it is unclear what mechanism it uses to ascertain this information.
The holographic display will present a series of menus, presented in three square tiles. In addition to these tiles, an “action button” is present on the top right corner of the display, with an icon of a shaded in circle surrounded by a thinner circle. In the language native to the user, the tiles, from the leftmost, read: “Environment”,” Record”, Settings”, and “Activate”. When tapped by the user, each of the four tiles displays various submenus and statistics, as described below:
Environment: Displays various readings about the environment within the device’s diameter of effect. The data presented can be confined to a range, which is changed by pressing the action button and manipulating a slider that is presented. The range from which data can be gathered is seemingly infinite, though the time to load that data changes as distances get larger.
Visual warnings begin once a range of one light second is selected, with a dialogue box appearing in the top left of the display that reads (again, in the native language of the user):
Warning: Due to a distance exceeding 299,792 kilometers [or native unit for distance], environmental data is delayed by [unit of time relative to distance].
If data is available, a significant amount will be accessible to the user, and is searchable by a search bar that appears above the dataset, or voice commands. Examples of data and filterable subcategories available are listed below:
* Local temperature
* Local air pressure (if applicable)
* Local ambient radiation level
* Local lifeform count
* Animal life (individuals)
* Taxonomic sorting
* Microbial life per square meter (or equivalent)
* Viral species present
* Taxonomic sorting
* Bacterial species present
* Taxonomic sorting
* Fungal species present
* Taxonomic sorting
* Prionic strains present
* Sentient life (individuals)
* Quantity of baryonic matter in kilograms or equivalent unit (total or per square meter)
* Quantity of dark matter in kilograms or equivalent unit (total or per square meter)
* Quantity of exotic matter in kilograms or equivalent unit (total or per square meter)
* Anomalous entities present (individual count)
It is not understood how these metrics are determined, with particular puzzlement by study teams over the Anomalous Entity count.
Record: This menu contains a searchable log of past activation events, with the addition of metrics such as:
* Energy consumed
* Number of lifeforms terminated
* Range of effect
* Duration of effect
* Time of activation
* Time of deactivation
Settings: This settings menu is relatively simple, but adapts to the user. It is mostly user interface related, and allows a user to alter the color scheme of menus, range and units of displayed data, and a reset to default settings. Additionally, there is a searchable user manual.
Activate: The activation button enables an individual to use SCP-4777’s primary effect. Upon hitting “Activate”, the device’s lights will change accordingly, and the menu will shift to display a series of settings:
* Initial range
* Duration
* Range limit
* Timed Initiation
All settings but “Initial Range” and “Timed Initiation” can be set to “infinite”, allowing the device’s effect to continue indefinitely.
Anomalous Effects: Upon activation, SCP-4777 will project a “shimmering”, translucent, gray field visible only from either within the field of effect or by the individual who activated the device. Within a period of time proportionate to the range selected, the device will complete a “charging cycle”, during which a percent bar will present on the display, and the lights will intensify on the outer surface.
At full charge, if no timer is set to delay the effect, SCP-4777 will activate, and all energy within the field will disappear. This effect has been observed to impact the entirety of the EM spectrum, with light disappearing at the same instance as heat, microwave radiation, cosmic background, or any other observable electromagnetic phenomena. This is visible to outside observers as a pitch-black void that fills the volume of the effect, in a perfect sphere (the effect has been observed to ignore matter and permeate all barriers).
This “void” effect may be maintained for a significant period of time, but the device will eventually power off. It is believed that the duration of the event, if not set to end prematurely, is proportionate to the amount of energy it consumes. After the deactivation of the field, the matter that was within the void will remain, but may be substantially altered in physical composition, and will be deprived of any previously present energy (e.g.: all material will return to a lower energy state where possible, motion will not have occurred within the field, and no heat or previously extant EM will be gone).
Following deactivation, an “energy cavitation” effect will occur, in which the void of EM and kinetic energy will be suddenly filled by the immediate diffusion of heat and other ambient radiation. The sudden shift in energy states within atmosphere can result in extreme volatility, and personnel should avoid activating the device at higher settings on Earth or in non-vacuum environments to minimize damage to the surrounding area. The cavitation effect is notably weaker at lower settings and with less mass impacted, with localized heating and slight concussive effects comprising the majority of the observed phenomena.
After deactivation, the charge meter on the device will increase proportionate to the amount of matter consumed, measured in kilowatts or equivalent units relative to the user. If the device was powered on for a significant period of time, the charge meter may decrease, suggesting that the amount of energy used to create the “void” effect is efficient, but still energy intensive.
Physical effects to inorganic or nonanomalous matter can be varied and the exact circumstances within the “void” are inherently indeterminable [SEE RESEARCH LOG 1.2]. Research teams have developed several models for the impact of a sudden energy vacuum within the device’s area of effect, but no consensus has been reached. Due to the post-deactivation cavitation effect that is observed, recording equipment and sensors have been unable to survey the enveloped area with accuracy.
Tests conducted so far indicate that organic material placed within the field will be neutralized in entirety. Organisms inside the area of effect will die and suffer environmental effects comparable to inorganic matter in the same conditions. Cause of death has, in most cases, been attributed to sudden collapse of the nervous system, followed by critical failures of vital organs due to environmental trauma.
It has been speculated that anomalous material can also be neutralized within this field, and testing has been authorized to ascertain the efficacy of the device for this purpose.
Protocol “Space Heater”: “Space Heater” is an emergency containment procedure developed by MTF-Sierra 17 to end a runaway or large-scale activation of SCP-4777. As determined by Test 47-A, matter not present within the field at time of activation (the so-called “target radius) may enter the entropic field freely and, through unknown means, remain unscathed until implosion of the field.
In low-yield activations, an individual may enter the void and deactivate the device by using the controls on its display.
In high-yield or overcharge situations, the resulting cavitation effect would result in the deaths of the field entrants and significant damage to the surrounding area, threatening both human populations and containment efforts (refer to Event Log: Breach 182-C).
To prevent an Implosion Event, MTF Sierra-17 will enter the area of effect with a high-yield thermonuclear or, if called for, matter/anti-matter warhead, and activate it within proximity to SCP-4XXX. Upon detonation of the weapon, the SCP-4XXX will enter a low-power state and, instead of collapsing the field, will “dissipate” it. Researchers believe this to be a failsafe state. In this failsafe state, the device will power down and vent excess charge, including the energy generated by the activation of the weapon. Excess energy is discharged in the form of heat and radiation distributed across the EM band up to the ultraviolet range, until the device reaches maximum charge. At this point, the field will dissolve and cavitation may be avoided if the energy levels within the area of effect approach ambient conditions.
