Item #: SCP-3364

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-3364 is to be kept in an insulated canister in a standard containment locker in a climate-controlled storage wing at Site-19.

Testing with up to 50 ml of SCP-3364 requires Level-3 approval. Testing with amounts of SCP-3364 greater than 50 ml requires Site Director approval and, dependent on the quantity being tested, the use of Site-19 Hangar Bay 2. Under no circumstances should any amount of SCP-3364 be exposed to temperatures below 10 °C outside of controlled laboratory conditions.

Description: SCP-3364 refers to 13.64 kg of a dark gold metallic substance with a wholly unknown chemical composition. At standard temperature and pressure the full amount measures 1.21 liters in volume, and has a melting point of 282.83 K (9.67 °C.) In a liquid state SCP-3364 is inert and displays no anomalous properties.

If allowed to reach a temperature below its melting point, SCP-3364 begins to crystallize rapidly. The solidified crystals generate a spherical field which causes rapidly shifting, highly randomized temporal distortions within its bounds. Rigorous testing has shown that the radius of the field is directly proportional to the amount of crystallized SCP-3364, at a ratio of 1.16 grams per centimeter. If the entirety of the substance crystallizes the resultant field is 117.88 meters in radius.

As SCP-3364 begins to crystallize the field will grow outwards from the center of mass. During this period the area within the field will be held in stasis. 3-5 minutes after the size of the field stabilizes, temporal shifts within it will begin. These shifts occur over very short intervals (measured at .02-.06 seconds) and can be seen as a change in both the speed and direction of time within the field. At the end of a shift time will appear to freeze for approximately one tenth of a second before the next shift occurs.

Time can be seen to move either more slowly or quickly than normal during a shift. However, as the field persists the maximum possible speed of a shift increases drastically, and shifts at a rate of time slower than normal become extremely rare. Within twelve hours the field can show flickers of time hundreds of years into the past and future. When the Foundation initially encountered SCP-3364, the field ended after persisting for approximately two and a half months and by the end of that time was showing flashes of geology consistent with theories of the Archean Eon (~3,000 Ma).

If an object within the field was in motion such that its movement would remove it from the field during a shift, it will not cross the edge of the field into normal space. Rather, it will simply vanish from sight after crossing the boundary. ‘Where’ such an object goes is currently unknown, but this appears to support the hypothesis that the field creates an independent region of spacetime during its existence.

An effect may be seen where artifacts from a particular shift carry over into subsequent shifts, or appear at random in later shifts. These artifacts can include virtually anything present in the field such as pieces of terrain, objects both natural and man-made, and living things. A ball that was sent rolling through the field when it was established may be seen rolling across the same area hundreds of years in the past in one shift, and then thousands of years in the future in the next. A prehistoric creature that appeared in the field may reappear many shifts later, but in the present day laboratory. And so on.

SCP-3364 itself appears to be completely unaffected by its own field. Most notably, it will react to changes in temperature outside of the field as it would were the field not in place, returning to a liquid state and ending the effect if the ambient temperature rises above its melting point.

Once the field's effect has ended, time will return to the point it was at when the field was established and move forward as normal. Subjects that were within the field will experience several minutes of extreme disorientation, but no further ill effects have been observed. To date, no test subjects have been able to recall anything that occurred while the field was active.

Addendum 3364-01: At the present time most testing with SCP-3364 in its crystalline state has been suspended. Current research on SCP-3364 is focused on the development of a mechanism capable of containing the generated field.

ACCESS RESTRICTED LEVEL-3

Access Granted

Addendum 3364-01a: To date, two separate proposals for a hypothetical shielding mechanism for SCP-3364 have been submitted that have utilized methodology consistent with SCP-2477. Both proposals were rejected per 2477 containment procedures. While the proposed mechanisms differed in several key aspects, mathematical analysis indicates that the fixed reference point for both proposals is SCP-3696. Research as to the potential significance of this remains ongoing.

Addendum 3364-02: SCP-3364 came to attention of the Foundation on 12/12/20██, when communications from the Forest Service at Yellowstone National Park were flagged regarding a flock of geese that were reportedly frozen in midair at a location near the eastern border of the park. Foundation assets were dispatched to investigate, and a perimeter around the edge of the field was quickly established. The field was verified to be centered on a cabin belonging to a Daniel Rasmussen1 (PoI #3364/01), a recluse who had inhabited the site for the last ten years.

Initial containment efforts were focused mainly on isolating and concealing the site. The size of the field remained static until mid-February, when warmer temperatures caused SCP-3364 to partially melt during the day. The correlation between temperature and the size of the field was soon noted. On 02/24/20██ a series of unseasonably warm days culminated in the field shrinking in size to the point that the cabin could be investigated.

No interior walls were present within the cabin, and the majority of the space within was given over to a mass of heavily damaged electrical equipment of unknown purpose and manufacture. All circuits within the equipment had been fused, much of it had been crushed and all exterior surfaces showed signs of fire damage. Hundreds of sheets of hand-drawn schematics of the equipment were found, with notations and calculations written in an undeciphered script. Many schematics displayed plans to augment or repair the device using commercially available appliances and other electronics. Physical evidence in the cabin indicated that none of these plans were successful.

SCP-3364 was discovered in a canister installed in one of the largest and most damaged pieces of equipment. Testing verified that it was the source of the effect, and it was brought to Site-19 for containment. The damaged equipment was catalogued, collected and brought to Site-19 for storage.

ACCESS RESTRICTED LEVEL-3

Access Granted

Addendum 3364-03: Analysis of the schematics found with SCP-3364 suggest that it is intended for use in some form of communication device.2 This interpretation led to a series of experimentation (detailed in Experiment Log 3364-34) that yielded a noticeable change in the behavior of the field generated by 50 ml of SCP-3364. The length of each shift increased to a uniform .2 seconds and the maximum speed of the shifts appeared to increase several orders of magnitude faster than normal. In addition, every device in the laboratory with any kind of audio output began emitting a steady, low-pitched hum. These additional effects persisted for 00:05:23 before ending abruptly.

Based on these results, it was decided to repeat the experiment using the full mass of SCP-3364. A state of the art sound system was placed near the edge of the field, along with a suite of recording devices. The experiment began and went on for fifteen minutes before the field began to behave as it had done during the earlier test. As before, a low pitched hum began to emanate from every nearby audio output.

However, the hum ended after 00:01:22, replaced with garbled, discordant audio static that began cycling through every audio device in range, one by one, before reaching the sound system that had been set for this purpose. The static continued to play for three minutes before cutting off. At this point an entity began speaking through the audio equipment, designated SCP-3364-01.

SCP-3364-01 spoke English in a high-pitched, inflectionless tone, though this 'voice' may have been a synthesized output. Certain points in its speech were replaced with static, and it is believed these mark concepts that are outside of our frame of reference and could not be translated.

Interview Log 3364-1

SCP-3364-01: Does this function? Are you able to understand?

Dr. Oldret: (whispered consultation) This is Dr. Oldret of the SCP Foundation. Please identify yourself.

SCP-3364-01: (Audio static resumes for approximately 20 seconds) Apologies. I am not familiar with this interface. It is extremely limited. Please increase (static) and I can initiate (static)

Dr. Oldret: I’m sorry, we don't understand what you want us to do. Please identify yourself.

SCP-3364-01: (Brief burst of static, then silence)

Dr. Oldret: Are you still there?

SCP-3364-01: Of what life are you?

Dr. Oldret: Of what… life?

SCP-3364-01: You are sentient, yes? Of what… variety of life are you?

Dr. Oldret: (whispered consultation) We are human. Mammalian, carbon-based life forms.

SCP-3364-01: I do not fully understand, but I think that you did not create this device. How did you come to operate it?

Dr. Oldret: We found the device after it had been severely damaged. The only component of it we are currently using is a substance that generates a time distortion field when it solidifies.

SCP-3364-01: You are (static) without safeguard? It is uncontained? This is dangerous. I advise you not to do this. Particularly avoid doing so in places where events of import have occurred. It is unlikely that (static) can directly affect past or future events, but this has happened. Still, it is interesting that (static) to create a usable conduit without shielding and resonance. I wonder, you are in close proximity to a star?

Dr. Oldret: We orbit a star, yes.

SCP-3364-01: The neutrino field emitted by certain stars could create resonance under the right circumstances. This will not last long. I fear our time is short.

Dr. Oldret: What is the purpose of the device?

SCP-3364-01: We are its purpose, you, and I, linked. We communicate. With the substance you have, you may link with any other who also has the substance.

Dr. Oldret: Is it possible to create more?

SCP-3364-01: Your question betrays a limitation indicating that you cannot. It is not created, it is derived. Once derived, it becomes one with all the rest. It is one, throughout all time and space, and with it you can reach out throughout time and space.

Dr. Oldret: So with this you can communicate across time as well as space?

SCP-3364-01: Yes! It is the wonder of it. You reach into the void, and touch one from a place whose light will never reach you. From the echo of your touch, we are far, far removed in time. And yet, we are linked.

Dr. Oldret: If our communication is interrupted, can you tell us how we can reestablish it?

SCP-3364-01: That is very unlikely. That is the limitation of it. You reach into the void, but without knowledge, merely hoping for another to reach back. There are ways to make a second linking more likely, but you do not possess (static). The substance must be shielded, and with shielding, a resonance is created that allows one to reach. Once we separate, we will never touch again.

Dr. Oldret: Can you tell us how to repair the device, or how to build one ourselves?

SCP-3364-01: (At this point there was a series of tones starting low and rising in pitch rapidly) It is very unlikely. Our time is short, and you have such limitations. But it would be well for another to know how to reach. I will try, with what time we have.

(Requests for the remainder of this interview log should be directed to Dr. Oldret. At this point SCP-3364-01 began to attempt to explain how a mechanism that used SCP-3364 might function. Roughly twenty minutes later, communication was abruptly terminated and could not be reestablished. Further attempts to repeat the experiment have resulted in failure, with no change in the field’s behavior nor any other effects.)

Addendum 3364-04: Following the communication with SCP-3364-01, a thorough examination of Hangar Bay 2 uncovered the lone, muddy footprint of a large animal, believed to belong to a member of the family Brontotheriidae. (Such an animal had been observed within the field while it was active.) Based on this, along with the warning given by SCP-3364-01, most testing with SCP-3364 is suspended until a working shielding mechanism has been developed.

Footnotes

1. Last seen several weeks prior to Foundation involvement, current whereabouts unknown.

2. Among other factors, several aspects of the schematics appear to align with principals applied in the construction of SCP-711.