Item #: SCP-2406

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: Provisional Site-31 has been built around SCP-2406 and is to maintain the facade of a Kazakhstani military facility. Type A hazmat suits are mandatory when working directly with SCP-2406, as is decontamination upon exit. A security perimeter of armed guards is to remain in place at all times in order to prevent unauthorized access. Direct interaction with SCP-2406-1 requires authorization by Site Command.

Description: SCP-2406 is a mechanical automaton, 93 meters in height and weighing approximately 210 tonnes. Research indicates that SCP-2406 was not sentient and required at least six operators to properly function. It is hypothesized that SCP-2406 was piloted via 160 different valves and levers within its interior. Limbs were controlled through the application of pneumatics, hydraulics, and clockwork, and powered by a nuclear reactor located within the torso.

SCP-2406 was discovered on August 7, 1985 in the Aralkum desert, formerly the eastern basin of the Aral Sea1, during an effort to track the unusually high levels of radiation in the water. Initially contained by GRU Division "P", SCP-2406 would be transferred into Foundation custody following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Despite the location of its recovery, SCP-2406 is believed to have been built somewhere in the Aegean Sea.

Most of SCP-2406 is composed of an alloy consisting of 75-80 percent copper, 15-20 percent zinc, and smaller percentages of nickel, lead and iron; the admixture responsible for its bronze appearance. Inscribed upon the posterior of the exterior torso is the Aegean numeral for 9, suggesting that SCP-2406 may not be an entirely unique construction. However, as of to date, it remains the only of its kind known to the Foundation. The anterior of the exterior torso is engraved with a stylized hammer and anvil.

The right arm was equipped with a nozzle attached to a 20,800 liter tank. Although the tank was discovered empty, chemical testing revealed pine resin, naphtha, quicklime, calcium phosphide, and sulfur within its interior.2 The left arm appears to have been torn from SCP-2406 and was not initially recovered with SCP-2406. See addendum for details.

Human skeletal remains, six in number, have been removed from the interior of SCP-2406 with radiocarbon dating placing their deaths at cal 1200–1000 BCE (1σ). All were found to be attired in armor that, while roughly Mycenaean in design, is composed of material never used in ancient warfare - a lead and copper alloy with an inner lining composed of asbestos fabric. The helmet would have completely covered the head with a green, tinted glass visor over the face. Tubes, constructed from goat intestines, fed outside air directly into the mouths of the pilots. Valve #136 would have caused a momentary release of water into these tubes, allowing those within to remain hydrated while operating SCP-2406. A similar system of tubes attached at the crotch and were presumably used in the expulsion of urine.

SCP-2406 is currently disabled (but could hypothetically be repaired) and displays extensive evidence of combat related damage. The head, torso, and left leg were discovered impaled by organic spines. These spines appear superficially chitinous and, despite showing strong structural similarities to coral, contain human DNA. It is believed that these objects functioned as projectiles, employed by an unidentified anomalous organism. Indentations around the torso are suggestive of constriction by a large, flexible and prehensile appendage. Originally thought to be caused by natural corrosion, SCP-2406's outer layer was damaged by a strong acidic substance likely associated with the previously noted unidentified anomalous organism.

Physical evidence suggests that the reactor core melted through the posterior torso, penetrating the earth and continues to burn at more than 1200 °C. It is estimated to be presently located at approximately 820 meters beneath the surface. The reactor, when intact, has been hypothesized to have functioned in a manner similar to natural nuclear fission reactors3, deviating significantly from modern designs. It is possible that the creators of SCP-2406 were aware of such phenomena and attempted to mimic the process.

Several scrolls were recovered from a watertight cylinder within SCP-2406. Most appear to be of a religious nature and associated with the Followers of Mekhane - the historical precursor to the modern Church of the Broken God. The scrolls are written in a unique script derived from Mycenaean Greek. It required 10 years of research for Foundation linguists to decipher this system of writing.4 These documents included a variation of The Book of Pieces, Chapter 12.

+ SCROLL I

ACCESS GRANTED

The Colossi were constructed in Her Schema.

The Colossi were constructed to [defend/secure/contain?].

The Enemy: Grand Karcist Ion. Betrayer of Man. Destroyer of Progress. Sorcerer King of Adytum.

A desolate domain, a failed and fallen creation, built with the [bodies/flesh] of dead gods.

Upon a throne of black ambition, the Enemy plots. The Enemy is not a priest. They are a merchant. And they have sold the [world/whole/totality].

The Colossi were constructed in Her Schema.

The Colossi were constructed to [defend/secure/contain?].

The Profane Tools must be [broken/"uncreated"].

Drink deep the silver blood of MEKHANE.

May Her sacrifice not [be in vain?].

+ SCROLL II

ACCESS GRANTED

This is the final testament of Matriarch Eupraxia, Legates-Faithful, Servant of MEKHANE.

I am not a warrior.

But all warriors are dead. Breaking themselves upon the Enemy's host.

The Enemy has set their plan into motion. The Sorcerer King surrounds himself with corpses. To fight, is to [grow/increase in number] his legions.

Egypt retreats from [the world/us/contact with us].

The Hittites have fallen into [chaos/strife].

The Conspirators of [Crete]5 have sacrificed their own.

The Aegean6 has fallen into barbarism.

[The city of a thousand pillars]7 is forever lost. Has always been lost.

Even the Daeva grow desperate with the enemy at their border.

The center collapses - kingdoms crumble. The damage is done.

The light of reason [flickers/wanes].

But MEKHANE sacrificed herself so that we might be free.

We refuse to return to that darkness. We would rather die.

But the siege at Gyaros was won. We must strike while the metal is hot.

And thus, we march for Kythera - at the end of all things.

We have crossed the wine-dark sea.

We have seen villages ravaged by the Red Death. We have seen the dead, the dying, and the deathless. We cast the accursed to holy flame.

We enter his desolate domain.

And in our left hand, we carry our ANSWER.

We cannot undo what has been done - but we can delay the Sarkic Dawn.

Addendum: On December 12, 1998, the left arm of SCP-2406 was uncovered 32 km from its body. Evidence of impact suggest the object had been hurled to its location shortly after being severed from SCP-2406's torso. The arm is equipped with what has since been hypothesized to be a weapon of non-terrestrial origins and anomalous manufacture, design, and capabilities. Due to its singular nature when compared to the rest of SCP-2406, this weapon has been separately classified as SCP-2406-1.

The actual purpose of SCP-2406-1 is unknown, the apparatus so foreign as to render it beyond current Foundation knowledge. SCP-2406-1, possibly due to damage, warps spacetime in its vicinity. Kant counters have registered the object at a difference of 30 humes in relation to its surrounding environment. Despite this, there has been no observable effect on reality.

It has been hypothesized that the use of SCP-2406-1 would cause considerable damage to local reality. It remains unknown if SCP-2406-1 was ever used prior to the destruction of SCP-2406. Personnel are not to attempt activation of SCP-2406-1 unless authorized by Site Command.

Footnotes

1. Formerly one of the largest lakes in the world with an area of 68,000 km2, it has been steadily shrinking since the 1960s after the rivers that fed it were diverted by Soviet irrigation projects.

2. Speculated to be the ingredients for Greek fire, an incendiary weapon originally thought to have been first used ca. 672.

3. A natural nuclear fission reactor is a uranium deposit where self-sustaining nuclear chain reactions have occurred.

4. "An incidental outcome but this may lead to a translation of Linear A." - Dr. Judith Low

5. "I am almost positive this word references Crete; possibly the Minoans in a broader sense." - Dr. Judith Low

6. "I believe this is meant to reference all Greek states at the time." - Dr. Judith Low

7. "Do they mean Iram? That can't be possible though. There is no evidence for the existence of Iram of the Pillars nor is it referenced until at least the 7th century CE." - Judith Low