Item #: SCP-5797

Object Class: Euclid Neutralized

Damaged vehicle within SCP-5797 following a Foundation-initiated OVERDRIVE event.

Special Containment Procedures: All roads within a six kilometer radius of Provisional Site-23 are to be monitored by Foundation personnel, and any vehicles susceptible to the effects of SCP-5797 are to be barred from entry. This is to be carried out under the pretense that the area is too geologically unstable.

Description: SCP-5797 is a ten acre lot (Provisional Site-23) occupied by the derelict Gas n’ Go Truck Stop and Café in rural Stevens County, Washington. At the time of Foundation discovery, there were twenty-one vehicles parked on the premises.

Cargo vehicles weighing in excess of two thousand kilograms1 travelling within a six kilometer radius of SCP-5797 will undergo an OVERDRIVE-Class anomalous event.

At the beginning of an OVERDRIVE event, operators of the affected vehicle will lose control over speed, steering, braking, and any other functions typically reliant on manual attention. In the seconds following the initiation of an OVERDRIVE event, human occupants will undergo involuntary flexion and muscle contractions, rendering them incapable of communication. The affected vehicle will then travel autonomously in the direction of SCP-5797.

Saponification2 of flesh and organs begins approximately two minutes into the OVERDRIVE event. This affects not only human occupants but any livestock that may constitute the vehicle’s cargo. By the time an affected vehicle has reached SCP-5797, all non-osseous organic matter within has broken down into a viscous protein slurry.

An OVERDRIVE event concludes when the affected vehicle has reached SCP-5797. Upon entering the lot, the vehicle will park itself in the nearest available space to its point of entry. All attempts to date at blocking a vehicle’s journey to SCP-5797 have failed; even with considerable damage, an impeded vehicle will persist in its efforts to reach the lot.

SCP-5797 first came to the attention of the Foundation on 2019/08/15. A spate of missing truck drivers in the Colville area led to local authorities discovering the associated vehicles on the SCP-5797 lot, along with biological remains. The truck stop had been closed for three decades prior to the first recorded OVERDRIVE event.

+ Experiment Log

- Experiment Log

A number of test vehicles equipped with remote control systems were driven into SCP-5797's radius of effect. In all tests, on-board recording equipment failed shortly after the initiation of an OVERDRIVE event.

TESTED VEHICLE(S)
RESULT

Mack Superliner wrecker and Ford LTL 9000
All fuel had been siphoned from the Ford prior to initiation; vehicle was attached to the Superliner wrecker and driven into the radius of effect. Ford broke free of wrecker and made its way to SCP-5797 in convoy with the Superliner despite its lack of fuel.

Peterbilt 379
Suggestion that SCP-1872 be used in an attempt to counteract the effects of OVERDRIVE scenario. Class-D volunteer was seated at the wheel of subject vehicle to initiate SCP-1872's anomalous effects. Attempts to divert vehicle away from the OVERDRIVE course failed. Though measures were in place to free human subject from the vehicle before saponification could occur, personnel were unable to reach the truck due to its increasing speed. Subject expired and the vehicle in question reached SCP-5797.

LVSR Heavy 10x10
Layers of counter-terrorism barricade were installed along the route, with a heavy military vehicle selected for the test. Affected vehicle avoided the barricades and instead pursued an alternate off-road route through dense forest, uprooting hundreds of trees until entering SCP-5797 from the rear of the lot. This was the last time an OVERDRIVE event occurred; testing had caused SCP-5797 to reach its full capacity of forty-seven vehicles.

+ Incident Log 2019/08/19

- Incident Log 2019/08/19

On the morning of 2019/08/19, approximately twenty-four hours after SCP-5797 reached its full capacity, a geological event caused the collapse of Provisional Site-23. This was identified as a large sinkhole, encompassing the entirety of the site and surrounding terrain. All forty-seven subject vehicles had fallen into the hole, and a successful search and rescue operation was enacted to recover sixteen trapped personnel.

Three hours later, personnel reported mechanical grinding sounds and tremors emanating from the sinkhole. Subsequent exploration was unable to locate any of the forty-seven vehicles; instead, a borehole with an opening measuring six by three meters was discovered in the south-west corner of the crater.

AS A RESULT OF THE INCIDENT ON 2019/08/19, THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REVISED

THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION CONTAINS AN UPDATED OBJECT DESCRIPTION AND APPROPRIATE CONTAINMENT PROCEDURES FOR THE ENTITY BELIEVED TO HAVE CAUSED THE COLLAPSE OF PROVISIONAL SITE-23

Item #: SCP-5797

Object Class: Keter

The clean-up operation following the destruction of Provisional Site-23 remains ongoing.

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-5797's length, and its anomalous properties, have made adequate containment procedures exceedingly difficult to implement. Research into a large-scale containment vessel that SCP-5797 cannot burrow through is ongoing.

SCP-5797 is to be monitored using probe and drone equipment. Foundation personnel embedded in the oil industry are to be on alert for damage or disturbances which may have been caused by SCP-5797. The Foundation will provide appropriate reimbursement and cover stories on a case-by-case basis.

Due to the fact that SCP-5797 inhabits an area of frequent tectonic activity, tremors caused by SCP-5797’s movements are to be blamed on seismic events.

Description: SCP-5797 is a biomechanical organism consisting of forty-seven segments, each comprised of a semi-truck or a similarly-sized cargo vehicle. Segments are connected by an intricate lattice of both metallic and organic matter, granting SCP-5797 a significant degree of articulation. The front segment, a 1990 Kenworth equipped with an industrial snowblower, has adapted in a manner which allows the organism to burrow through rock and hardened soil.

SCP-5797 is currently active beneath the Pacific Northwest of America; since its discovery beneath eastern Washington, the organism has been tracked as far south as Salem, Oregon and as far north as Vancouver, British Columbia. Travelling at an approximate depth of 1.6 kilometers and an average speed of thirty kilometers per hour, SCP-5797 approaches the surface only in the presence of pipelines (both off- and on-shore), rigs, and other sources of oil; it is believed that SCP-5797 relies on these for sustenance. The front unit of SCP-5797 doubles as a mandible, capable of piercing steel pipes, and is equipped with rubber tubing3 through which the ingestion of oil occurs.

SCP-5797 demonstrates an attraction only to man-made sources of oil.

+ Interview Log: Clarissa Boetticher 2020/08/21

- Interview Log: Clarissa Boetticher 2020/08/21

Gert Boetticher in 1996, a year prior to his death.

Interviewed: Clarissa Boetticher

Interviewer: Dr Andrew Fields

Foreword: Clarissa Boetticher, whose late husband Gert had managed the Gas n’ Go Truck Stop until its closure in 1989, was located by the Foundation at a retirement home in Astoria, Oregon. Gert Boetticher died of an aneurysm in 1997. Dr Fields was posing as an FBI agent investigating the now widely-reported disappearances4 in rural Washington.

<Begin Log>

Dr Fields: Hello, Mrs Boetticher. I’m a Federal Agent-

Clarissa Boetticher: Yes, of course. From the telephone. Agent… Fields?

Dr Fields: That’s correct. Now, I've got some questions regarding the site of your old business. General kinda stuff, but I won't dig too hard if it makes you uncomfortable.

Clarissa Boetticher: Oh, no. It’s a pleasure. Not that I expect to be any use, if this really is another… another Bundy, like some folk are saying.

Dr Fields: Now, ma’am, don’t let’s start jumping to any conclusions. We’ve yet to find anyone, deceased or alive. It's very much an active investigation, and we've got people working day and night on this operation.

Clarissa Boetticher: I heard your people’ve been snooping around the old Gas n’ Go. You know, I always expected someone would’a bought it, after Gert packed it up, and turned it into a strip mall or someth-

Dr Fields: Now, may I ask you about Gert? That is, of course, if you’re comfortable with-

Clarissa Boetticher: It’s fine. Well, so long as you’re not suggesting that Gert’s got something to do with it.

Clarissa laughs nervously.

Dr Fields: That… would be something, wouldn’t it? Nah, I'm kidding. Sorry to get all Mulder on you…

Clarissa Boetticher: Well, I’ve always said, my old Gert died an angry man.

Dr Fields: Angry? Violent angry, or…

Clarissa Boetticher: Angry in his heart. The Gas n’ Go, that was our lifeline. I ran the store, but Gert… he was the pumps. He was the garage. You rolled in with a flat on your Pete, you’d roll right on out again with it all patched up and Gert wavin’ in your rear-view from the forecourt.

Dr Fields: What made you give it up? The garage, the store, after all those years?

Clarissa Boetticher: Simple. The interstates. No need to turn off anymore, drive a semi four miles through the boonies just to grab some Lays and a tank of gas. Not when you’ve got them brand-spanking new travel centers or whatever they call them. You have your BP, your Shell, you name it, and it’s all right there on the highway. And – let me tell you something, Mr Fields – you don’t got no chance when you’re up against big oil.

Dr Fields: Would you say Gert held a grudge, then? Against these corporations?

Clarissa Boetticher: Oh, something like that. Right up until he died, he’d go on these rants… you’d chalk it up to senility, if you hadn’t lived with him for half your life.

Dr Fields: I must say, Mrs Boetticher, this is a decent place. Helluva view, as well. Pity there's too much fog to see the bridge.

Clarissa Boetticher: This was the dregs, Mr Fields, of what that garage earned for us. Eighty-nine is when we shut up shop, no kids – that ship had sailed – so we put what was left in the bank. It’s just a pity that Gert… Gert didn’t make it far enough to be here with me right now.

Dr Fields: I’m sorry, Mrs Boetticher.

Clarissa Boetticher: Well… that’s life for you, I suppose. Ain’t nothing you could have done about it. Hell, none of this is any use to your… investigation.

Dr Fields: I mean… we’re gonna have to dig the old place up, Mrs Boetticher. What’s left of it. On the off-chance something’s… someone’s buried under there. Just thought I’d let you know, before we…

Clarissa Boetticher: Actually, Mr Fields, one more thing. You'll find someone under there, but… it's not going to be any of the poor folk you're looking for.

Dr Fields: Oh?

Clarissa Boetticher: It's… when Gert died, we took him back there to, you know, rest. I hope that wasn't breaking any laws, or…

Dr Fields: Environmental law is not my jurisdiction, ma'am, but it's my understanding you still owned the land at the time of his death.

Clarissa Boetticher: I just… I should have mentioned it sooner, Mr Fields. So used to trying to forget all about it, put it to the back of my mind.

Dr Fields: And that's okay. I know what it's like to bury a loved one.

Clarissa Boetticher: Not… not like that. When we put him there, his body… his body…

Dr Fields: Ma'am?

Clarissa Boetticher: It's like he started melting… the skin just drip… dripping away. We threw the soil down over him fast as we could – couldn't afford no casket – and that was that.

Dr Fields: Melting?

Clarissa Boetticher: Yeah, like… you know what, Mr Fields? It's weird, 'cause the way I remember it, all runny like that… it was just like oil.

<End Log>

Closing Statement: The skeletal remains of Gert Boetticher were recovered from the crater at Provisional Site-23 and transferred to an East Coast facility for analysis. To date, SCP-5797 remains an active anomaly beneath the Pacific Northwest.

+ Addendum 2020/06/28

- Addendum 2020/06/28

Excerpt from CNN article, 2020/06/28

MORE PRICE HIKES EXPECTED AFTER DISASTROUS YEAR FOR NORTH AMERICAN OIL

By Hayley North, CNN

Updated 1431 EST June 28, 2020

A joint body of North American oil executives has released its internal report on a fiscal year that some analysts have described as "catastrophic". Reasons cited include earthquakes, poor maintenance, and several acts of sabotage by eco-terrorist movements.

Losses have been blamed primarily on a series of incidents involving infrastructure, including faulty rigs and damaged pipelines - these alone have cost major oil firms over six billion dollars in equipment damage. Critics, however, say that many of these damages could have been largely avoidable. Democratic nominee Bernie Sanders addressed crowds at his rally in Tulsa last night, saying that nationalization of the industry "should never be off the cards."

Over the course of twelve fiscal months, the United States and Canada have seen the price of crude oil and gasoline rise by as much as five percent, a number which is projected to rise if current trends continue. Increased seismic activity on the north-western coast has raised additional concerns about the long-term viability of drilling and pipeline projects in the region.

Footnotes

1. Not including occupants and/or cargo.

2. The conversion of fats or lipids into soap.

3. Formerly part of a vehicular air brake system.

4. The missing persons remain the extent of public knowledge surrounding SCP-5797.