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SCP-4556: Belonging

Author: atomicthumbs

Image: Photograph by atomicthumbs. Box.jpg is hereby licensed under CC-BY. Other instances of this photograph not derived from box.jpg retain copyright. Site-4556.jpg is derived from public domain imagery (obtained from USGS Earth Explorer) and is hereby licensed CC-BY.

SCP-4556. Click to enlarge.

Item #: SCP-4556

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: Personnel at Site-4556 are to maintain watch over SCP-4556 using automated surveillance equipment equipped with telephoto lenses, so as not to disturb it. Any individual approaching SCP-4556 without authorization is to be intercepted and redirected to the border of the Site by unarmed Site security staff; authorization to approach SCP-4556 is only to be granted by the presiding Site Director upon consultation with senior researchers. Due to its remote location, intrusion at Site-4556 is unlikely. [Note 01/18/2018: See incident report.]

As SCP-4556 should not be moved, is immobile, and should not have construction undertaken near it, traffic on the nearby main access road to Site-4556 is to be limited to 25 miles per hour, for purposes of noise control, dust mitigation, and limiting road wear. Other noise-making and potentially disturbing activities are to be evaluated per Document 4556-3.1

Site-4556 is to be used only to contain and sequester Safe-class objects with a minimal likelihood of causing disturbance to SCP-4556 or to the ambience of the Site at large; research activities are to be kept to a minimum. With this in mind, and taking into consideration the location and peacefulness of the Site, and taking inspiration from SCP-4556, Site-4556 represents an optimal retreat, therapy, or decompression location for Foundation personnel who have been traumatized in the line of duty or who are suffering from burnout.

Description: SCP-4556 is an electrical equipment cabinet, located on the property of the former Liberty Moly molybdenum/copper mine. SCP-4556 is not sentient, has no apparent anomalous physical properties, and in all regards appears to be an ordinary, inanimate electrical cabinet, installed exactly where it should be and functioning properly.

SCP-4556 exerts an anomalous influence upon any individual thinking about it, causing them to conclude that they would prefer not to bother it, that the item is where it's meant to be, that the item is at peace, that "though [the item] is isolated here, it prefers this," that the item is "cozy," that the item is secure, and so on.

Although SCP-4556 is installed in the correct location, researchers were unable to verify this through historical construction plans; the documents are assumed to be lost or incorrect. Efforts to observe its history through analysis of historical aerial imagery have also failed.

The item may also suppress cognitive dissonance regarding these thoughts; affected individuals experience no difficulty attributing these emotions to what they know to be an inanimate and non-sentient object. This cannot be confirmed, as proper experimental blinding is impossible.

During testing, D-class personnel (who had not previously been exposed to or informed about the item) invariably concluded that the item possesses these properties. Similar results were produced upon in-person exposure, and with references to the item by description, photograph, or item number. These D-class personnel have since been retired at the Site; the Site Director has granted permission for them to perform zero-clearance maintenance and upkeep work.

SCP-4556 is hypothesized to possess these properties intrinsically, as conceptual tags attached to it; it has been judged to not be an infohazard as the inferred properties are the same regardless of the method of reference. A method to establish whether SCP-4556's nature as "secure" renders it intrinsically protected from harm has yet to be determined.

Testing has established that the item (though subject to normal environmental weathering processes) is immune to intentional harm; researchers and D-class found themselves unwilling and unable to take any action that they perceived as being likely to harm SCP-4556, up to and including formulating stochastic test procedures designed to leave any harm up to chance, and ordering others to do so. Affected individuals reported experiencing guilt about their consideration of these plans, and resolution in their intent to not bother SCP-4556 in the future. All testing carried out has thus been non-destructive and undertaken with a level of care for SCP-4556 and its surroundings above what is usually afforded to non-hazardous, inanimate anomalies. All procedural reviews have concluded that this is appropriate, though these reviews may be fundamentally flawed due to unavoidable influence from SCP-4556.

Additional conceptual testing to determine the extent of SCP-4556's influence, including conceptual contagion (e.g. whether references, both literal and conceptual, to SCP-4556 inherit some or all of its properties) and by extension on the Site and Foundation at large, is on hold, pending the availability of Concepts Division personnel and installation at the Site of a suitable compute cluster to accelerate formal theorem proving and NLP-based hypothesis resolution.

Addendum: Acquisition Notes

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Historical imagery of the Liberty Moly mine prior to its transfer to Foundation ownership. Resolution is insufficient to establish whether SCP-4556 was properly situated at this time. Click to enlarge.

In March of 2013, General Moly began experiencing extreme difficulty with mining operations (including earthmoving and ore extraction, among others) at the Liberty Project open-pit copper/molybdenum mine. Independent Mining Consultants, Inc. was contracted to determine the root causes and create procedures to resume productive activity; they were unsuccessful.

An embedded Foundation agent with IMC determined that the mine and personnel were under anomalous influence, and that this influence was likely intractable. A Nevada front corporation (Smithson Powellite and Copper, LLC) was brought out of dormancy, and began negotiation with IMC and General Moly in order to acquire the Liberty Project.

This acquisition was completed in in August, 2013 (with an associated cover story about failed bioleeching due to fluorine-rich ore2) in exchange for $██.█m and the Foundation undertaking all legally required environmental remediation activities on the site. The administrative and works buildings of the mine have been converted into containment and personnel facilities for Site-4556.

Addendum: Incident Report

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On January 18, 2018, a Chaos Insurgency strike team in an M1126 Stryker ICV (including several anomalously enhanced individuals, and armed with heavy eigenweaponry) passed the perimeter at Site-4556, presumably in search of SCP-████, the subject of signficant interest by GoI-███, with which the CI was at that point involved in conflict.

The strike team had traversed part of the main access road while adhering to the speed limit at the point it was intercepted by Site Security and asked to leave; they stated their understanding and complied, with no further incident. SCP-████ has since been relocated, and all items stored at Site-4556 will in the future be subject to enhanced review to avoid intrusions.

Footnotes

1. Wilson, D. (2018). Let's Leave It Be: Site-4556 Disruptive Activity Review Procedures (Document 4556-3, 2018 revision). Foundation Research Press.

2. See page 23 of the 2014 Liberty Molybdenum Project NI 43-101 Technical Report Pre-Feasibility Study.