Item #: SCP-5331

Object Class: Keter-provisi Safe-supernus

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-5331 is too distant from the Solar System to be considered a threat to normalcy. Observation cannot be conducted. Following the completion of amnesticization and coverup operations in collaboration with the Brazilian government and various astronomical agencies, no containment procedures are necessary.

Description: SCP-5331 is a severed human skull, traveling at speeds in excess of 0.99999999c towards the constellation Microscopium in the southern celestial hemisphere. Monitoring suggests that the object possesses an extreme durability, maintaining its structural integrity despite repeated relativistic collisions and acceleration-induced stressors that would otherwise break human osseous tissue. At the present moment, its method of thrust is unknown.

The skull formerly belonged to Gracília Melo, an undergraduate astrophysics researcher who worked at the Arecibo Observatory in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. In the months prior to SCP-5331's creation, Melo had studied new ways of analyzing the astronomical radio data brought in by the telescope, applying linguistics, esoteric forms of cryptography, and the analysis of stochastic L-system grammars to yield results claimed by her to be "signs of active extraterrestrial broadcasting." Her work was consistently disregarded due to faulty methodology, and, after the neglect of research duties in favor of furthered analysis, she was removed from her job position. The final paper she submitted for review to Cornell University1 was a study of radio signals from Betelgeuse, interpreted by her to be "a mode for transferring fuel via informational means across otherwise inaccessible interstellar distances." Cornell University rejected the paper.

On returning to her home city of Itanhaém, Brazil in June of 1996, Melo continued astronomical studies with equipment set up in the backyard of her parents' house. She was noted as being reserved during this time, sleeping by the equipment to "better siphon Betelgeuse" or tune into broadcasts she reportedly heard. Halfway through the month she developed a notable interest in motorsports.

At 02:31 on 17/06/1996, Melo's parents were awoken by the sound of an explosion in the backyard. On arrival they found Melo in a state of spontaneous combustion. Plasma fired from her eye sockets, buccal cavity, and foramen magnum, vaporizing her flesh and setting fire to the surroundings in a 11 meter radius. The skeletal system restructured into a form bearing resemblance to multistage rockets and took off from the terrain.

Over the next four hours the Brazilian military tracked SCP-5331 as it accelerated in an upwards trajectory, performing its first stage separation after breaking the sound barrier at a height of 11km. The sonic boom was heard by a passenger airliner 5km away, albeit with abnormal shifts in pitch; the vibrations paralleled the sounds of a cheering crowd, with a flash of green light accompanying the event. Second stage separation was confirmed at 03:01 (height 100km), and at 03:10 the anomaly reached terrestrial escape velocity.

Solar escape velocity was attained at 05:00. At this point SCP-5331 had exited Earth's gravity well and was accelerating towards the speed of light. Monitoring was conducted by observing the gamma rays released as the object relativistically collided with the interplanetary dust cloud.

On 19/06/1996, following a massive burst of blueshifted radiation, SCP-5331 vanished. Owing to a lack of sighted debris or gamma ray emissions, the leading hypothesis is that the anomaly breached the threshold of 1c and entered faster-than-light speeds, though this is unconfirmed. No sightings have been made since.

Responding to a massive anomalous incident, Foundation personnel were scrambled to Itanhaém and began negotiations with the Brazilian government to aid in coverup operations, promising a loosening of restrictions on governmental anomaly usage in exchange for complete military cooperation. Negotiations were concluded that day, and, in cooperation with global astronomical agencies,2 the Foundation began restricting the flow of information on SCP-5331 and amnesticizing where necessary.

Melo's parents were hospitalized prior to Foundation involvement. Both had suffered partial-body burn wounds, ranging from second- to third-degree; owing to otherwise stable conditions, interviews under police report guises could be conducted. The only memorabilia recovered from the house before it burned down from the anomaly was a note written by Melo, taped on the door to the backyard. Fire damage destroyed the majority of its contents, though several remaining fragments were legible. Translations from Portuguese are as follows:

I've entered a race. You know where it's going to be. The track is spanning from […]

[…] thought those were attempts to share their culture with us, but no, it's runoff from their programming, their entertainment venues […]

[…] Betelgeuse though? Amazingly open to newcomer sponsorship. There's enough fuel in that star that even draining it at a rate of […] is more than enough to last both […] I hope it doesn't go supernova before I'm […]

[…] flesh-to-antigravity organs. Sorry about the mess that's going to […]

[…] starting in ten minutes. I have a lot of […]

[…] love you always. Tell Cornell I'm bringing the trophy back.

It is of note that, at the time of SCP-5331's activity, a cluster of unidentified objects traveling at similarly relativistic speeds were recorded passing through the solar system on trajectories towards Microscopium.

Footnotes

1. In charge of the Arecibo Observatory from its construction in the 1960s to 2011.

2. See: The 1959 Bermuda Accords On Responses to Anomalous Extraterrestrial Events and Maintaining the Veil Globally.