SCP-3662: The Doomsday Clock

「Gat Ritzy's Continuance Cube」

Image Sources:

1) Union Switch and Signal Co. Style CD DC Code (...) by Daderot, CC0 (modified)

2) Young Girl selling cigarettes on the street - Portrait of Angela by David Seymour, Public Domain

3) Newspaper Generator (modified)

Acknowledgements:

Captain Kirby, for critique and help with dialogue.

not_a_seagull does not match any existing user name, for critique and collaboration in the Team Bird storyline.

Lt Flops, for critique and collaboration in the Team Bird storyline.

multizig, for critique and help with Fifthism (of which most elements were cut).

Croquembouche, for in-depth critique and help with Wikidot formatting.

Ensophos, for critiquing the newspaper clipping.

Golden506, for critique.

Pedantique, for in-depth critique and help with the scientific tone.

TSATPWTCOTTTADC, for fixing the newspaper image.

MrPines, for making the hover code.

Revision #105 of this document was prepared by:

THE FOUNDATION AVIAN DIVISION

In accordance with the Pluto Protocol

Note: By order of Dr. Frederick Hoygull, the clearance level required to access this file has been lowered from 3/GENERAL clearance to 1/GENERAL clearance, due to its relevance to the ongoing BE-Class "Migration" Scenario.

SCP-3662 (circa 1950)

Item #: SCP-3662

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-3662 is to be contained within a standard Safe-class containment locker. If SCP-3662 must be relocated, no personnel are to make skin contact with SCP-3662 during transit. The current SCP-3662-2 subject should be changed on a weekly basis as to not expose any individual to the Noosphere1 for an extended period of time.

Description: SCP-3662 is a small cylindrical device encased in plate glass attached to a broad, flat base. The device is clockwork in nature although the mechanisms it utilizes have yet to be reverse-engineered. Similarities between SCP-3662 and SCP-1008 are being investigated.

When a subject makes skin contact with SCP-3662, the subject, hereafter SCP-3662-1, will become increasingly fatigued. Brain functions of SCP-3662-1 will slow and, within one minute, all neural activity will cease. Upon total brain death, SCP-3662 will begin to click, hum and vibrate. SCP-3662-1's neural pathways will drastically change, and neurons will regain function. This massive restructuring causes SCP-3662-1 to believe they are the previous individual to utilize SCP-3662.

It is proposed that SCP-3662 utilizes neural mapping techniques alongside Memetic Resonance Imaging2 to build a memetic construct of SCP-3662-1 which it then stores within its data center, destroying the neural mapping of the individual in the process. SCP-3662-1's body is then injected with the most recently added non-self memetic construct (hereafter SCP-3662-2).

Analysis of SCP-3662 has shown that it stores SCP-3662-2 not as digital or physical information, but rather as an abstract meme complex3, intersecting reality only at a one-dimensional point within SCP-3662. Information compressed this way is lossless, but subjects the meme complex to other memes within the Noosphere, which may affect the quality of the restored individuals. As the human mind is highly fragile in this state4, even a short amount of time in this form can cause severe damage to the individual upon recovery. As subjects are conscious within SCP-3662, psychological effects of isolation may also compound damage to the individual.

Addendum A:

Interview Transcript

Interviewer: Dr █████

Interviewee: Laura Guerrero (occupying D-90832's vessel)

Foreword: Ms. Guerrero was an inhabitant of SCP-3662 for over a decade. Her mental faculties have degraded severely. She is capable of understanding speech and is capable of writing in a certain format, however, all traces of personality and ability to eat, sleep, see, vocalize and move any portion of the body other than the right arm have all been destroyed due to prolonged exposure to aberrant memes.

<Begin Log>

█████: Hello, Laura. Can you hear me?

Guerrero: [Writing]: "Dear Diary5, [line break] Hello! Yes, I can hear you."

█████: Excellent. Would you mind answering a few questions?

Ms Guerrero keeps her pen hovering above the paper.

█████: I'll take that as a yes. Why were you within the object?

Guerrero: "I don't understand you sometimes, Diary. What do you mean by object? Do you mean the clock, the one that the sad man pressed against my forehead?"

█████: I do, yes. Tell me about the sad man.

Guerrero: "I knew the sad man. I saw him around the town all the time. His eyes were always droopy and sad, like he was always about to cry. He would never talk to people unless he had to. My Papa said that his daughter was very, very sick. So sick that she would probably never get better."

█████: And what did this person do?

Guerrero: "I remember one day he was actually crying. He said that I reminded him of his daughter and that I would get along with her. After that, he pressed a clock to my forehead."

█████: And what then?

Guerrero: "I got very tired but once I was just about to fall asleep I woke up. The first thing I felt was being washed away. Like my skin was being pulled apart and all the little bits would go flying off into the wind. "

█████: What was it like in there? In the clock?

Guerrero: [Brief hesistation] "It was lonely. There's nobody else in there and it's very dark. All the time you have this feeling like you're losing parts of yourself. It's a whole other world in there, Diary. It's always black but there's little… jellyfish-people. They glow and blob around unless you get too close, then they try to take away bits of you like an arm or a leg. [Uses right arm to point to other appendages] I got close a couple times."

Guerrero: "I was always running around, looking for a way out or for an adult to help me. Eventually, I gave up. There's no adults in there and there's no way out in there. I just [pause] sat down and cried until the jellies showed up. I didn't know what else to do."

Guerrero: "Sometimes, I'd have time to look up at the sky. A starfish, a big bird, and a monster are all up there. I remember when Papa and I would get the telescope out from the shed and go up the little hill and see the constt konstt stars. [hesitation] Can I see Papa again soon?"

█████: [Quietly, to colleagues] Do we tell her? [pause] well it's just that, to them, Laura only went missing for a few weeks? It's not like we can arrange a– [pause] Alright, fine.

█████: Uh, Laura? Your family is fine. They… they can't see you right now. We're working really hard to find a way to get them to see you.

Guerrero: "I wanna see them."

█████: We know, Laura.

<End Log>

Addendum B: A newspaper clipping detailing Guerrero's disappearance.

[+] Transcript

[–] Transcript

March 1st, 1964

Town Hero Saves Lost Girl

Mr. Light, our very own electrician and town repairman, has recently been crowned as the local hero of ██████████! After the safe return of Laura to her family, there's not enough time in the day to say how thankful we are.

Laura Guerrero, 7, (pictured) was recently kidnapped. It goes without saying that the Guerrero family was shocked to slowly come to the realization that Laura would not be returning from school that fateful February 9th. No ransom notice was given. Even with police investigation, no leads were found to Guerrero's whereabouts.

Laura was escorted to school, as usual. She was present on the register, as usual. When the home bell rang, Laura didn't return home. Laura says she has no memory of the event. The only thing about the whole ordeal she remembers clearly is that Mr. Light was the one who found and saved her from her captors. Psychologists say she's repressed the memories and there's no telling what horrors she experienced. Guerrero's family also note that Laura has been acting more meek and timid than before, which the psychologists have called a symptom of her stress. Hopefully, in time, Laura will return to her vibrant, playful self.

After two weeks of little Laura's disappearance, the Guerrero family had given up hope. We can only imagine the despair and grief they would have experienced in that troubling time.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Mr. Light came to the Guerrero household with, cradled in his arms, the delicate form of little Laura. He states that he heard some hushed voices and muffled cries for help in the night, grabbed his rifle and went to investigate. There, he saw the group of absolutely vile kidnappers and took action: firing with accuracy and grace causing her captors to flee, leaving Laura behind.

But, as God giveth, God taketh away. The price for one child's life seems to have been paid with the blood of another: Mr. Light's own daughter. Emily has recently passed away. The Guerrero family have paid Mr. Light's funeral expenses in full, and the town has raised a fund to serve as both a symbol of our gratitude and our condolences. We, the writers at the █████ ████████ ██████, have chipped in $100 and encourage you to do the same.

Emily was sickly from birth. She had a congenital condition called hemophilia, a disease with no known cure. The lifespans of these individuals are severely reduced. Children are bed-ridden and adults much watch themselves carefully. It's a cruel twist of fate that a brave person like Mr. Light has to burden such grief; if Emily's body were normal, she would still be alive today. I'm sure that she's smiling down on our little town from the heavens.

Luckily, things are going well for Mr. Light, all things considered. Laura often visits her hero and Mr. Light has taken a paternal role for Laura. While life may never return to normal for these two, we can only wish them the best. Here's to Mr. Light and Guerrero family for their acts of bravery and kindness beyond the call of duty.

Footnotes

1. The sphere of human thought.

2. Colloquially known as MemRI

3. Deployment of MTF Omega-0 ("Ará Orún") for investigative purposes is currently pending approval.

4. This is due to the complete removal of the brain's ability to filter out any incoming memes.

5. Among Ms Guerrero's possessions was a well-documented diary. It is proposed that Ms Guerrero used the diary format as a coping mechanism while within SCP-3662.

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