Item #: SCP-1480

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: The SCPS Ockham is presently instructed to maintain observation and communications with SCP-1480 on the surface of Titan, in addition to its regular geological duties. The distance and technological difficulties involved in reaching Titan serve as adequate containment, so long as the existence of SCPS Ockham remains a secret. Only a handful of ESA personnel vetted and briefed by Foundation liaisons are to be informed of the existence and purpose of SCPS Ockham. Select photographs of the surface of Titan have been doctored by Foundation personnel and provided to the ESA for publication; photographs are doctored to remove the presence of SCP-1480.

SCPS Ockham is to continue attempting to establish contact with SCP-1480 and any entities inside of SCP-1480.

Description: SCP-1480 is a 2004 Blue Bird model Type C school bus with all typical school-bus external markings removed other than the number "64", currently resting on the surface of Titan. Based on physical markings and details, SCP-1480 is believed to be either a Weakley County School District school bus declared missing on 11/02/07 from Dresden Elementary School or a carefully crafted replica thereof. No explanation has yet been determined for the temporal discrepancy between the bus's disappearance and the discovery of SCP-1480.

SCP-1480's windows are opaque; no light of any wavelength can be seen through them. Additionally, ultrasound imaging of the object's interior was inconclusive. Periodically, flashing lights can be seen emanating from the windows of SCP-1480; these were detected frequently before SCPS Ockham landed on Titan, but have since become extremely rare. These flashes can be deciphered into Morse code messages; how the entity is familiar with Morse code protocols is unknown. Judging from phrasing and the varying speeds of the flashes, different windows seem to speak from different, but consistent, perspectives or voices. The flashing lights can be translated into English via Morse code; a log of recorded messages can be found in Addendum 1480-A.

Addendum 1480-A: The SCPS Ockham is currently deployed on the surface of Titan as part of an unrelated scientific exchange program led between several high-level officials within the European Space Agency, NASA, and the Foundation; under the terms of that agreement, NASA-ESA provided the interplanetary vehicle and gave the Foundation final control over the vehicle's mission parameters in exchange for certain technological enhancements from the Foundation and the ability to access and use all non-sensitive scientific data from the mission. The Ockham detected the presence of SCP-1480 from a distance of several thousand kilometers away. From a distance, the Ockham could detect SCP-1480 and the flashing lights inside the object. The Ockham made landfall on 14/01/05; the flashing lights within SCP-1480 ceased at that time. Since then, the lights have resumed at periodic intervals. Selected excerpts of communications recorded from SCP-1480 are listed as follows:

11/01/05: Beginning at 0232 hours1 all windows become briefly active for a period of ninety seconds. Because windows can only be seen from one side of the bus at a time, not all parts of a given conversation can be heard at any given time. Content of messages recorded consists largely of short, declarative sentences, such as "nuh uh", "you cannot do that", and "i am telling". At 0234, the windshield flashed the message "settle down back there" and all windows ceased flashing.

13/01/05: Several windows towards the back of the starboard side of the bus begin flashing in apparent conversation with one another. The rearmost window asks "why did not tyler get on the bus", to which the window immediately in front of it replies with "he was chosen by the sender". The first window replies (deciphered literally) with "aww man" followed by a series of complaints about the unidentified entity referred to as "the sender". The third window from the rear flashes "who is the sender", followed by a pause believed to be a reply from a window on the other side of the bus. At the end of that pause, the windshield flashed "what have you done". The windshield remained illuminated at the end of that sequence; all windows between the windshield and the back of the bus began flashing on and remaining on until the lights reached the back of the bus. The windows at the back of the bus flashed a series of distress messages until the line of steadily-illuminated windows reached the back of the bus, at which point the two windows at the back of the bus flashed on as well. All windows then became dark. Those two windows and another on the other side of the bus have not been observed to light up at any point since.

14/01/05: SCPS Ockham made landfall around 22:01. Prior to beginning orbital landing maneuvers that took the Ockham's cameras off of SCP-1480, the windows nearest to the Ockham began flashing messages such as "do you see that", "what is that", and "is that my mommy". As the Ockham approached the surface of Titan, these messages began occurring with greater frequency. However, once the Ockham made contact with Titan, the windows of SCP-1480 flashed bright white once, then went black. As the Ockham began its survey of SCP-1480, the only response it received from the entity was the windshield occasionally flashing "they are not yours". This has been the only significant signal received from SCP-1480 since the Ockham's landfall.

For information regarding additional anomalous events connected to SCP-1480, please consult documentation for SCP-1680 and SCP-1380.

Footnotes

1. For simplicity's sake, all times henceforth are based on estimated UTC on Earth at the time of recording.