Item #: SCP-2128

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: Site-403 has been constructed around and inside the building that houses SCP-2128.

At least three D-class personnel1 are to be present daily onsite for Experimental Protocol 37-Sparafucile, which is to be carried out as needed. The list of statements to be used in EP 37-Sparafucile will be provided by the O5 Council and may be amended during experimentation at the Site Director's discretion.

EP 37-Sparafucile

1. One D-class employee, referred to as the "messenger," will be laid inside SCP-2128.

2. The messenger will repeat statements as instructed from the prepared list.

3. After each statement, if the messenger remains unharmed, the statement is to be marked as "true."

4. As soon as the messenger is incinerated, a new messenger is to be provided. The statement that triggered the incineration is to be marked as "false."

5. A new messenger will be assigned. Repeat as needed.

Description: SCP-2128 is a vaulted stone furnace in the ruins of a castle, 23km from ████████. The two openings are 1m high, and the length is 3m. Documentation discovered onsite (a sheepskin scroll known as the "Ignis Manuscript") revealed that SCP-2128 was created by agents of the Brazen Heart2 in the late ninth century CE as a torture3 and execution device, named "The Liars' Cradle."

When a human subject fully enters SCP-2128 and makes a true statement, nothing will happen. If the spoken statement should be a lie, the human subject will be completely incinerated by unknown means.

Upon discovery, SCP-2128's two openings were covered in brick and mortar. The Ignis manuscript indicates that SCP-2128 was walled up in 1021 CE and its use was discontinued. This was due to a flaw in the method of lie detection: SCP-2128 considers all factually untrue statements to be lies, regardless of the subject's intention or prior knowledge.

SCP-2128 has displayed knowledge on a true/false basis of highly classified and previously unknown information. While the true scope of SCP-2128's knowledge (and reliability thereof) is unknown, proactive usage of EP 37-Sparafucile has prevented XK-class end-of-the-world scenarios on four separate occasions.

EXPERIMENT LOG

EP 37-Sparafucile-22 "Keter Checkup" log 10/1/14

[Messenger: D-6238]

The human race is in danger of extinction right now. - TRUE

The danger comes from an item in Foundation custody. - TRUE

The dangerous item in question is located at a site in North America. - FALSE

[D-6238 incinerated. New messenger: D-6239.]

The dangerous item in question is located at a site in Europe. - FALSE

[D-6239 incinerated. New messenger: D-6240.]

[Redacted for brevity]

[Messenger: D-6253]

SCP-████ will breach containment within the next month. - TRUE

SCP-████ will breach containment within the next week. - TRUE

SCP-████ will breach containment tomorrow. - FALSE

[D-6253 incinerated. New messenger: D-6254.]

SCP-████ will breach containment today. - TRUE

[Scramble order given to MTF Nu-7. Site-██ secured. Containment breach averted. SK-class dominance shift averted.]

EP 37-Sparafucile-23 "Knowledge Measure" log 10/6/14

[Messenger: D-7784]

SCP-2128 knows everything. FALSE

[D-7784 incinerated. New messenger: D-7785.]

The Liars' Cradle knows everything. TRUE

The Liars' Cradle will tell us everything. FALSE

[D-7785 incinerated. New messenger: D-7786.]

The Liars' Cradle will tell me everything I need to know. TRUE

The Liars' Cradle will tell the Foundation everything they need to know. FALSE

[D-7786 incinerated. D-class supply depleted; procedure concluded for the day.]

EP 37-Sparafucile-24 "Sunday School Song" log 10/3/14

[Messenger: D-7891]

Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. - [DATA EXPUNGED]

EP 37-Sparafucile-25 "Pinocchio Paradox" log 10/10/14

[Messenger: D-8232]

Telling the Liars' Cradle a paradox is dangerous to Foundation personnel. FALSE

[D-8232 incinerated. New messenger: D-8233.]

The Liars' Cradle is going to kill me right now. FALSE

[D-8233 partially incinerated at a lower temperature, resulting in permanent disfigurement. New messenger: D-8234.]

The Liars' Cradle is going to burn me right now. FALSE

[Ten seconds pass without incineration. D-8234 withdrawn. D-8234 complains of a minor cut on his arm from a chunk of broken rock in SCP-2128. D-8234 succumbs to a rapid, previously undiscovered form of gangrene and dies within a minute. New messenger: D-8235.]

The Liars' Cradle is going to inflict physical harm upon me right now. FALSE

[Ten seconds pass without incineration. D-8235 withdrawn. D-8235 begins to sob uncontrollably. D-8235 then screams "goodbye," steals a guard's handgun, and self-terminates. D-8235 did not have any prior history of mental health problems or suicidal tendencies.]

EP 37-Sparafucile-26 "Subjective Opinion" log 10/10/14

[Messenger: D-9224]

Golden retrievers are cute. FALSE

[D-9224 incinerated. New messenger: D-9225]

Golden retrievers are ugly. FALSE

[D-9225 incinerated. New messenger: D-9226.]

Golden retrievers are tasty. TRUE

[D-9226 breaks protocol to comment] Wait, what? That's fuckin' nasty. FALSE

[D-9226 incinerated. New messenger: D-9227.]

I'm a good person.4 TRUE

[D-9227 breaks protocol to comment] Joke's on you, jackasses - apparently I'm Mother Teresa! FALSE

[D-9227 incinerated. New messenger: D-9228.]

The Liars' Cradle is sometimes incorrect. FALSE

[D-9228 incinerated. New messenger: D-9229.]

The Liars' Cradle speaks only infallible empirical truth. TRUE

The Liars' Cradle is hungry. TRUE

The Liars' Cradle's hunger can never be satiated, no matter how full it becomes. TRUE

The Liars' Cradle would like to incinerate me right now. TRUE

The Liars' Cradle is growing impatient. TRUE

The Liars' Cradle sees delicious, warm meat on its plate and would very much like to be fed. TRUE

The Liars' Cradle is angry that it is continually denied its meat. TRUE

People meat is delicious. TRUE

I am delicious. TRUE

My skin is warm. TRUE

The crackling of fire upon boiling drips of fat and rapidly cauterizing flesh gives the Liars' Cradle pleasure. TRUE

[D-9229 withdrawn. New messenger: D-9230.]

The Earth is round. FALSE

[D-9230 is incinerated in a particularly slow, violent fashion. The Site Director believes this to have been caused in part by the fact that "earth" could be vaguely interpreted as "dirt," but mostly because SCP-2128 does not appreciate taunts.]

Footnotes

1. Due to the inevitable death caused by EP 37-Sparafucile, D-class at Site-403 must be already scheduled for termination, and EP 37-Sparafucile is to be considered a method of termination as well as an experiment.

2. Fringe Moloch-worshiping cult, eventually eradicated by the Spanish Inquisition.

3. As shown in illustrations in the Ignis Manuscript, the victim would be placed in SCP-2128 for days at a time, forced to constantly talk about their lives as hot irons were prodded at their feet at every pause. The threat that one false statement could result in immolation made for emotional torment as well as physical.

4. D-9227 was a death row inmate convicted of cannibalism.