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Title: SCP-2626-JP (SCP-262-IE) - Casadh an tSúgáinTangled Thread

Author: ©︎BenjaminChong

Year: 2020

Translated by: tetsusquared

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Notice from the Records and Information Security Administration (RAISA)

Parts of this document have been automatically translated from Irish for ease of viewing.

As such, please note that some sections of the document may be incorrectly translated.

Uimhir Earra: SCP-262-IE
Leibhéal 3

Item #1: SCP-2626-JP
Level 3

Aicme Réada: Euclid
RANGAITHE

Object Class: Euclid
CLASSIFIED

An example of SCP-262-IE-1.

Special Containment Procedures

Due to SCP-262-IE's properties, containment is difficult; it is considered impossible to retrieve all instances of SCP-262-IE-1 in civilian society. Because of this, the current focus of containment is to prevent the spread of SCP-262-IE-2 in civilian society. Foundation owned webcrawler "Morrison's Jig" is to monitor the internet and remove content referencing SCP-262-IE (especially SCP-262-IE-2). Upon discovery of such content, the uploader is to be located and Mobile Task Force Éire-4 "Foxhunter's Reel" is to be dispatched to the location to administer amnestics and retrieve SCP-262-IE-1. All retrieved instances are to be contained in Low-Threat Object Lockers in Site-35369, and assigned personnel are to analyze them using SCP-262-IE-2.

Description

SCP-262-IE is the general term for directed topological changes that autonomously occur in elongated flexible objects when not directly observed. Elongated flexible objects that have undergone these changes are designated SCP-262-IE-1.

SCP-262-IE usually occurs at least 5 hours after external observation is lost. These elongated flexible objects (in the case where both ends are taken to be closed) automatically form non-trivial knots (one object) or tangles (two objects or more). SCP-262-IE-1's knots have been determined to increase in crossing number in proportion to the amount of time unobserved.

SCP-262-IE-2 is a method of extracting meaningful strings of text from SCP-262-IE-1 patterns. This method assigns a concept to each equivalent pattern in the knot, then decomposes SCP-262-IE-1 into prime knots and replaces each knot with its equivalent concept producing a sentence.

SCP-262-IE-2 was initially established by Prof. Tuirtheacht Ó hEidirsceóil at the National University of Ireland, who published it as the result of research at a university presentation. When the Foundation confirmed SCP-262-IE as anomalous and began containment of the object, SCP-262-IE-2's full contents had not yet been clarified. As such, Prof. Ó hEidirsceóil and his sister Earraigh Ní Eidirsceóil, who had also been undertaking the research, were consulted and both are now employed by the Foundation to research SCP-262-IE-2. In addition, all participants present at the presentation were administered Class-A amnestics.

Information of SCP-262-IE-1 extracted via SCP-262-IE-2 generally relates to things the owners of or those related to SCP-262-IE-1 had forgotten or are only unconsciously aware of. Of note is that even memories removed using amnestics can be recalled via SCP-262-IE-1. As such, SCP-262-IE is a potential information leak, and can become a carrier for infohazards.

Addendum 262-IE.01

Interview log with Eidirsceóil siblings

The following is a record of an interview with the Eidirsceóil siblings during the initial stages of SCP-262-IE containment.

Taifead den Agallamh #262-IE.01

Interview Log #262-IE.01

20██/██/██

Agallaí: Tuirtheacht Ó hEidirsceóil, Earraigh Ní Eidirsceóil

Interviewees: Tuirtheacht Ó hEidirsceóil (T), Earraigh Ní Eidirsceóil (E)

Agallóir: Agt. Caoimhe Finn

Interviewer: Agt. Caoimhe Finn (C)

[Begin Recording]

C: Let's begin the interview. Tuirtheacht, Earraigh, could you tell me more about Code Sìdh2?

T: Of course. Well, we don't really have much to say. Well, I suppose it started like this - you've probably experienced it before, like when you leave your headphones in your pocket and they tangle up, or when you want to untangle a ball of yarn you've left out of sight for a while, but somehow can't.

C: Of course. In my case, there's a rule that says we have to wear our ID cards and pagers around our necks, but after a while the strap gets tangled and it's hard to untie it.

E: Our parents' house was a workshop where people worked with súgán3, and on rest days we'd have a lot to help out with. Even so, we started to notice once we left some materials somewhere and we'd come back to it all tangled, so that was how we started. And my brother taught topology in university… (pauses for a moment) Caoimhe, do you know what topology is?

C: (shakes head) … Unfortunately, it's out of my specialization.

T: Topology is the study of "properties that hold after continuous deformation". It sound complex, but I'll offer a simple example: a donut has one hole, and so it is topologically equivalent to a cup with a handle. Imagine the cup is made of unfired clay. If you push together the cup part and keep the handle, it looks like a weird-looking donut, doesn't it?

E: If I may offer an extreme example, the human body has the alimentary canal, which goes from the mouth to the anus, so it's also topologically equivalent to a donut.

T: Earraigh, how did you come up with that… well, it's roughly correct, anyway. Do you understand so far?

C: Yes, for the most part.

T: And in topology, there is a field that studies knots in rope. It's called knot theory. I'll leave out the details, but you can use this theory to determine "which knots are topologically equivalent to one another".

C: Uh huh?

T: Here's the important part… when we'd help out around the house, the súgán we left tended to knot up in a topologically equivalent manner. And most of them had a large crossing number. If I may offer an example, with a crossing number of 15, there are 250,000 possible patterns. It can't be a coincidence that multiple of these "random" knots have the same pattern.

C: And because of that drawing your interest, you started to research it?

T: Yes. Although, initially we had no idea what we were doing. With no prior information, it was like we were trying to decode Linear A. The fact we managed to decode it at all was honestly a coincidence. One day, Earraigh said she couldn't find her book of Yeats' works, and I came to help her find it.

E: It was a book I'd loaned from the library, and I'd just remembered it was overdue… so I hurried to find it. I couldn't find it in the study, or the room, so we looked for it all over the house. After a whole day, we found it in a corner of the basement…

T: Oh, at the time, she was called to carry a bag of flour up from the storage room in the basement. Earraigh was holding the book at the time, so she'd probably left it there then… Anyway. After we'd found what we were looking for, we went to the library to return the book, then went home. When we went into the workshop to continue deciphering the knots. And then… the knots that had all been different had now formed themselves into the same pattern.

C: The same pattern?

T: Yes. As I said earlier, the chances that the knots were forming the same pattern out of pure chance is close to impossible. Now that I think about it, it was around sunset, and it was starting to get dark. A crow on the roof cawed, like it was announcing something, and then flew away. And in the midst of all that, knots with the same face were spread out all over the floor. That must have been eerie, but somehow… I felt it was calling out to me.

C: Calling out?

T: I can't put it into words, but… I had a feeling the knots, one by one, were calling out to me, trying to tell me something with all their might. I was crawling on the floor, scrawling a correspondence chart between the knots and sentences. A few days ago, the thoughts I'd had when Earraigh read the book. A few years ago, when I'd borrowed the same book from the library and read it. The sentences from the book that I'd memorized and then forgotten. That's what they were trying to tell me, and I somehow realized it… and that's how we started decoding.

C: … (motioning for interviewees to continue)

T: But we haven't decoded all of it. The correspondence chart we have only has a few tens of lines. Even then, knots forming on their own to express memories… it's very strange, and it might even it might exceed science and pass right into the realm of the occult. Perhaps it could be a prank of the fairiesSìdhe.

C: In fact… there is an organization that has offered to support your research…

[The following contents are of low importance and have been omitted]

[End Recording]

Addendum 262-IE.02

Decoded SCP-262-IE-1 (excerpt)

The following is an excerpt from SCP-262-IE-1 decoding logs. For the full version, please contact Researcher Ó hEidirsceóil

Taifead an Tuairisc (Sliocht)

Decoding Log (Excerpt)

#1

Related Person: Tuirtheacht Ó hEidirsceóil

Knot Structure: Crossing numbers 10-16, 8 prime knots

Result: Memories of the Eidirsceóil siblings relating to William Butler Yeats' The Secret Rose, which was loaned from Galway City Library

Note: This was the first string decoded by Ó hEidirsceóil.

#8

Related Person: Agt. Caoimhe Finn

Knot Structure: Crossing numbers 12-16, 8 prime knots

Result: Information that Addendum 262-IE.01's interview log had been left in a ditch on ██████████ Street

Note: Agent Finn had lost the recording media on which Interview 262-IE.01 had been recorded while returning from conducting the interview. After the decryption of #8, the recording media was discovered in a drain on ██████████ Street. While it was determined that there was no risk of information leakage, Agent Finn was disciplined appropriately.

#9

Related Person: Agt. Caoimhe Finn

Knot Structure: Crossing numbers 13-15, 7 prime knots

Result: Information that the initial investigation report on SCP-262-IE was in his personal locker

Note: I'd looked for it. — Agt. Finn

#10

Related Person: Agt. Caoimhe Finn

Knot Structure: Crossing numbers 10-16, 15 prime knots

Result: [Not displayed due to privacy policy]

Note: It really helped with my records and reports, but I didn't expect it to open old wounds like this. — Agt. Finn

#19

Related Person: D-353687

Knot Structure: Crossing numbers 10-16, 13 prime knots

Result: Partial information relating to SCP-███-IE

Note: D-353687 had previously been assigned to testing on SCP-███-IE. Related personnel confirmed that during reassignment, Class-A amnestics were successfully administered to the subject.

#27

Related Person: Seán Ó Súilleabháin

Knot Structure: Crossing numbers 10-19, 15 prime knots

Result: The death of his lover in an explosion

Note: An example of SCP-262-IE-1 found in civilian society. Following investigation, it was determined that [REDACTED], who had been in contact with Ó Súilleabháin, had died in a terrorist attack on 1998/08/15. Ó Súilleabháin himself had been suffering from dissociative amnesia as a result of the attack.

#36

Related Person: Tadhg Ó Dúgáin

Knot Structure: Crossing numbers 8-20, 40 prime knots

Result: The beginning of the poem Lament for Art Ó LaoghaireCaoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire, by Irish poet Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill

Note: An example of SCP-262-IE-1 found in civilian society. Ó Dúgáin stated that he was born in a family of literati and had previously memorized this poem.

#48

Related Person: Maelsheachlainn Mac Cárthaigh

Knot Structure: Crossing numbers 8-17, 367 prime knots

Result: A description of the use of the residue theorem in complex analysis.

Note: An example of SCP-262-IE-1 found in civilian society. Mac Cárthaigh was a professor teaching complex analysis at the National University of Ireland, and is currently suffering from memory loss due to Alzheimer's.

#52

Related Person: Tuirtheacht Ó hEidirsceóil

Knot Structure: Crossing numbers 10-12, 4 prime knots

Result: "The sky was blue."

Note: What does this mean? — Researcher Ó hEidirsceóil

#56

Related Person: D-353687

Knot Structure: Crossing numbers 10-15, 13 prime knots

Result: [INFOHAZARD REDACTED]

Note: The result was a string carrying a vector of the cognitohazard associated with SCP-███-IE. D-353687 had been administered Class-B amnestics and currently does not show any effects of the cognitohazard. Since only information that has been forgotten as a result of amnestics can be retrieved with this method, decoding work will continue.

Footnotes

1. Item number allocated for use in the Japan branch database.

2. The name given to SCP-262-IE-2 by Ó hEidirsceóil.

3. Irish for straw-rope.

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