Alexander the Great Enters Babylon, by Charles le Brun, believed to incorporate a depiction of SCP-4013

Item #: SCP-4013

Object Class: Pending

Special Containment Procedures: The formal containment of SCP-4013 is currently pending awaiting the construction of a chamber capable of nullifying SCP-4013's unique temporal properties. Such a chamber is currently under construction at Secure Site(s) 19, 45, 76, and/or ███. Afterwards, a formal set of special containment procedures will be written up before SCP-4013 is formally contained and classified.

Construction of this chamber is expected to be completed in the near future, barring any delays from external circumstances that cannot be directly attributed to the Foundation's modus operandi. Examples of this includes but are not limited to:

Individuals or groups of interest whose modus operandi the Foundation or its assets have no direct control over.

Containment breaches as a result of insufficient, but not inappropriate, secure containment procedures.

Containment breaches as a result of anomalies or anomalous objects not currently in secure containment with the Foundation.

Containment breaches as a result of irresponsible Foundation staff members.

Natural disasters.

Bad luck.

In the meantime, under any given moment SCP-4013 is to remain under the security of Mobile Task Force(s) Upsilon-15, -18, -26, and/or -██ (In no particular order, designated as the "Old," "Sick," "Dead," and "Ascetic", or collectively as "Foresight"). Foresight is to supervise, observe, and accompany the transition of SCP-4013 from its point of acquisition to its eventual containment chamber at the aforementioned Foundation Secure Site(s).

Description: SCP-4013 is the collective designation for SCP-████, SCP-████, SCP-████, and/or SCP-████. As such, SCP-4013 cannot be adequately described in a manner that both respects all of its parts and adheres to standard requirements. What follows is an appreciable, if disorderly, description that satisfies the Foundation's motives regarding the physical description, characteristics, and/or properties of a given anomaly, anomalous object, or a group thereof for the explicit purpose of cataloging.

As the specialized chamber meant to contain SCP-4013 has not yet finished construction, SCP-4013 is to remain under the secure supervision of Foresight until formal containment can be realized. Foresight teams are outfitted with standard expeditionary equipment. Given the unique temporal properties exhibited by SCP-4013, teams are specially trained with recognizing and reacting to extreme time-related disturbances. This includes full self-discretion in regards to the transportation of SCP-4013, limited only by their order to safely and securely supervise the transportation of SCP-4013 until it can be formally contained.

SCP-4013 is currently being stored, but not contained, inside of an otherwise unmarked lead-lined and metaphysically-shielded aluminum sarcophagus. This sarcophagus is only labeled with a standard SCP Item Designation label identifying its contents as SCP-4013. Because SCP-4013 is currently unclassified, this label lacks a clear indicator for its object class. Regardless of the fact this sarcophagus is presumed to hold SCP-4013, standard operating procedure should be followed in regards to the handling of questionable objects associated with the transportation of SCPs. An excerpt of these procedures from the Employee Handbook has been copied below for convenience.

If the object in question features labels that are damaged, incomplete, or are otherwise unclear, the object should be treated as being associated with the related SCP. If the object classification of the related SCP is unclear, the questionable object should be assumed Keter. Use all appropriate precautions readily available to ensure the safety of personnel in the vicinity, secure the site, and contact the site directors for the delivering and receiving containment facilities.

Remember, spending time is better than spending lives!

SCP-4013 may change containers whenever Foresight deems it appropriate. As SCP-4013 currently exists in the present, present operating methods for the temporary storage and transportation of SCPs may apply. In the past, past methods may have been more or less suitable depending on the circumstances surrounding its secured, yet not finalized, location. The same will apply to the future. Because SCP-4013 currently exists in the present, has also existed in the past, and will continue to exist into the future, it is prudent that Foresight is capable of maintaining appreciable levels of security at any given time.

Responsible parties of SCP-4013, such as Foresight, express difficulty in identity and time perception, including believing themselves to be individuals in the past and future. Parties may also believe themselves to inhabit locations distinctly not where their bodies are physically present. These claims are often supported by historical record. One noteworthy case involved a member of U-18 claiming to be a Philistine soldier who participated in the capture of the Ark of the Covenant after a battle with the Israelites around 1180 BC. This same individual also identified themselves as a member of U-██ operating outside of [DATA EXPUNGED]. Neither this individual, mobile task force, or location existed within Foundation records at this point in time. They did, however, enter Foundation databases under normal circumstances in 2044, 2051, and 2082 respectively. Investigations into this phenomena are ongoing and will be essential in understanding SCP-4013's unique temporal properties. Interviews have been conducted with this individual and select logs have been attached to this file.

Show selected SCP-4013 interview logs

Hide selected SCP-4013 interview logs

Interviewed: Subject "Sidd," born 21 September 1962. Sidd has been a member of MTF Upsilon-18 since early 1990. Sidd has exhibited no abnormal behavior or deficiencies in their mental, physical, and emotional capacity, and has passed all regular evaluations up until the acquisition of SCP-4013. Despite the apparent mental instability, Sidd (and the rest of U-18) has been deemed psychologically stable and are allowed to remain at their posts when on duty. Sidd is only known to be fluent in the English and Spanish languages.

Interviewer: Researcher "Kant," Foundation associate assigned to the SCP-4013 research team at Site-45. Kant has conducted every interview with Sidd regarding their association with SCP-4013. Kant only knows English.

Interview Date: 8 March 1996

Forward: U-18 had been assisting in the observation of SCP-4013 during its temporary stay at [REDACTED] and oversaw its transportation to its temporary storage location at Site-45. Unless specified, both parties are speaking English.

Kant: Please state your name for the record.

Sidd: My name is Taita.

Kant: Do you know where you are, Taita?

Sidd stares blankly at Kant for several seconds, and then gazes around the room. He mumbles something in an unknown language.

Sidd: I am in Aphek, with my men. [Then, in German:] We have just returned for battle. And we have captured their God.

Sidd then goes on for 22 more seconds in an unknown language. Afterwards he points across himself, but not directly at Kant.

Sidd: Of course not! We have to deliver it to its final resting place.

Kant: Can you repeat that for me?

Sidd: [Speaking in Sanskrit, directed towards Kant:] You can't have it.

Kant: [Sighs.] I think we may be done for now.

Interview Date: 10 March 1996

Forward: Speech-to-text technology with active language detection and translation has been installed in the interview room to assist Kant with the interview process. Kant is to converse with Sidd for as long as possible. If Sidd deviates and grows incoherent in regards to the current question, Kant is to forfeit the topic and proceed to the next question. Unless specified, both parties are speaking English.

Kant: Please state your name for the record.

Sidd: [In German:] My name is Al. [In English:] What's this all about?

Kant: Well, I'm hoping you can help me with that. You have been acting abnormally since you were assigned to SCP-4013.

Sidd: I don't feel… [In German:] Abnormal? I'm just doing my job.

Kant: What is your job, exactly, in regards to SCP-4013?

Sidd: [In Sanskrit:] I'm transporting the Kumbha to its shrine.

Kant: You mean SCP-4013?

Sidd responds at length in an unintelligible language.

Kant: Alright… What can you tell me about the object you and your team have been assigned to supervising?

Sidd: We are to escort SCP-4013 from its present location to its containment chamber for the purpose of permanent storage.

Kant: And where is that?

Note: At this time, the location for SCP-4013's permanent containment has not been finalized.

Sidd: Is it not built yet?

Kant: No, it's not.

Sidd: [In Hebrew:] This is not surprising.

Kant: Why is that? Where is SCP-4013 supposed to be contained?

Sidd: [In Hebrew:] I'm not supposed to be here.

Kant: You're not SCP-4013.

Nothing is said by either party for 18 seconds. Sidd appears to be looking past Kant, who exhibits fright.

Sidd: [In German:] I must return to my post. I have my orders.

Future interviews with the subject Sidd have been suspended pending further review by local site administration.

Interview Date: 22 March 1996

Forward: Interviews with the subject Sidd were allowed to continue per insistence from researcher Kant. Kant is to converse with Sidd for as long as possible. If Sidd deviates and grows incoherent in regards to the current question, Kant is to forfeit the topic and proceed to the next question. Unless specified, both parties are speaking English.

Kant: Please state your name for the record.

Sidd: My name is [Sidd], Upsilon-18.

Kant: It's great to hear from you, [Sidd]. Do you know why you're here?

Sidd: Not really. I've been ordered to escort SCP-4013 from its present location to its containment chamber for the purpose of permanent storage.

Kant: Do you know where this location is?

Sidd: [In German:] No. [In English:] Where is the rest of my team?

Kant: They're currently providing security for SCP-4013 until we can figure out what it's capable of, and what it's doing to you.

Sidd: It isn't doing anything to me. [In Old Norse:] My brothers and I are responsible for it.

Kant: Who's responsible for SCP-4013?

Sidd: We are.

Kant: And… who are we?

Sidd: We are the Foundation. We secure, we contain, and we protect. You, I assume, work with containment.

Kant: In a manner of speaking, yes.

Sidd: [In German:] I work security.

Kant: And together, we protect.

Sidd: [In German:] No. Not like this.

Kant: Can you elaborate?

Sidd: We protect you from yourselves. [In Hebrew:] We always have, and always will. That is our responsibility.

Kant: What is my responsibility, then?

Sidd: [In Middle Chinese:] You contain the dangers of the world.

Kant: That is what we're doing here, isn't it?

Sidd: Keep doing it. And allow myself and the rest of U-██ to do ours.

Kant: Upsilon-…? Please state your name for the record.

Sidd: [REDACTED].

Kant: Do you know why you're here, [REDACTED]?

Sidd then only responds to Kant in an unknown language for several minutes. Afterwards, Kant is unable to restore communication with "[REDACTED]." The interview is then terminated.

Interview Date: [REDACTED]

Forward: Kant is to repeatedly ask Sidd the same set of questions until communication with "[REDACTED]" is achieved in order to learn more about SCP-4013. This same set of interviews has been going on for several days and this interview is the first time sustained communication with "[REDACTED]" has been achieved. Unless specified, both parties are speaking English.

Kant: For the record, please state your name, designation, and orders.

Sidd: [In Hebrew:] This is completely unnecessary.

Kant: For the record, please state your name, designation, and orders.

Sidd: [REDACTED], Mobile Task Force Upsilon-██, and I'm to escort SCP-4013 from its present location to its containment chamber for the purpose of permanent storage.

Kant: Hello, [REDACTED].

Sidd: So we meet again.

Kant: You remember me?

Sidd: I remember everything. [In German:] I don't think I'll ever wrap my head around this.

Kant: Stay with me, [REDACTED]. What can you tell me about SCP-4013 beyond your explicit orders?

Sidd: [In German:] Nobody tells me anything. [In English:] All I know is that SCP-4013 is my responsibility.

Kant: What happens if you were stop providing security for SCP-4013?

Sidd: Nothing good.

Kant: Can you elaborate?

Sidd: [In Sanskrit:] It's our responsibility. Not yours. [In English:] It can't know.

Kant: Know what? Can you elaborate?

Sidd: [In German:] Keep doing your job and I'll keep doing mine. [In English:] That's the only way we can stop them from destroying everything.

Kant: Who is "them?"

Sidd: [Speaks in an unknown language at great length and then briefly in Hebrew:] The Devil's playthings.

Kant: Can you please elaborate?

Sidd: Doing your job depends on me doing my job, right? [In Hebrew:] It can't be allowed to stop. We can't allow it to end.

Kant: I'm afraid I don't follow, [REDACTED].

Sidd: [REDACTED]? My name is [Sidd].

This interview was shortly terminated after Kant failed to reestablish communication with the identity "[REDACTED]."

Following the conclusion of these interviews in 1997, Sidd and a few other members of U-18 received a ceremonial discharge from the Foundation. After which their abnormal behaviors disappeared. Further interviews following this discharge have shown Sidd has no recollection of any event beyond his own association with U-18 and SCP-4013. This includes remembering the previous interviews, but not recalling nor understanding his own responses with the exception of the interview(s) dated [REDACTED].

Discovery: SCP-4013 was first received by the Foundation on 23 October 1995 inside of a wooden crate with Foundation-created warning labels. It was presented by an anonymous group of nine soldiers, presumed mercenaries, to members of the then-newly formed MTF Upsilon-15. Members of U-15 recall the soldiers told them "Some things you just can't contain" before killing themselves by somehow compromising the structural integrity of their skulls and necks with a compression force of [REDACTED] psi. Identifying the remains has proved unsuccessful, but the incident is still the topic of an ongoing investigation. This investigation is currently being handled by Foundation bots and assets, focusing on records predating the acquisition of SCP-4013 per standard protocols, and will be essential in determining SCP-4013's origins.

SCP-4013 was then sent to Secure Storage Site-██ with the intention of being researched, classified, and formally contained per standard operating procedure. After this process was completed, [DATA EXPUNGED].

SCP-4013 was found at the bottom of a crater consistent with the previous location of Site-██'s low-level containment wing. Radiation levels and seismograph readings show the destruction of Site-██ is consistent with its on-site nuclear fail-safe being detonated. A standard wooden pallet, believed to be the location of SCP-4013 as it awaited formal containment while sitting in Site-██'s medium-level storage locker per standard protocol, was also found largely intact, having only sustained damage consistent with a great fall from ground level to its location in the crater. These two are the only surviving artifacts from the event. No personnel, assets, or debris from Site-██ have since been recovered, including Site equipment and staff members and who were at the time off-site. The loss of Site-██ remains under its own investigation. Given the scope of the event and the losses sustained, this investigation is largely demanding on Foundation resources which some argue could achieve higher contributions to Foundation operations if diverted elsewhere. Formal inquires into this specific matter have been deemed low-priority by the O5 Council and will be addressed when more urgent matters are first settled.

Immediately following the loss of Site-██, SCP-4013 underwent further research and cross-referencing at Site-45, where it was discovered the Foundation's history with SCP-4013 up until this point had shared many similarities with various world histories, mythologies, and cultures. In some cases, these records predate human civilization. While no concrete evidence exists to attribute SCP-4013 to these records, the similarities are uncanny. One prominent example is the Ark of the Covenant, which only achieved a permanent residence at Solomon's Temple after an estimated 900 years of relative nomadism. Shortly thereafter, the temple and the whole city of Jerusalem was destroyed. Up until this point, the Ark had no definite residence beyond the mere possession of a people or group of people. This may have also influenced the story of King Sisyphus, who in Ancient Greek mythology found punishment in the underworld by forever pushing a boulder up a hill for his arrogance towards the Gods. Other depictions, such as pre-civilization cave drawings and medieval paintings, depict a group of people carrying around a sarcophagus or cauldron-shaped object. Investigations into connections between these depictions and SCP-4013 are ongoing.

As of ██ September 1996, SCP-4013 has been under the formal supervision of Foresight. At this time, construction of a containment chamber capable of nullifying SCP-4013's anomalous properties began. The supervision of SCP-4013 is expected to last until its anomalous properties are understood to a level of satisfaction comparable to current precedents, its finalized containment chamber has finished construction, and associated technologies with nullifying its unique temporal properties have finished development. These requirements are consistent with standard Foundation operating procedures in regards to the formal containment of anomalous objects such as SCP-4013.