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SCP-3176: Estimated Time Of Arrival

Author: MaliceAforethought

Image Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:English_-_Gun_Shield_-_Walters_511414.jpg

Related Tales:

Conservation of Bullshit

Related SCPs:

SCP-4856 — "Test Case One"

SCP-4417 — "The Long Way Round"

Prototype temporal distortion engine 3176-Echo.

Item №: SCP-3176

Anomaly Class: Euclid Neutralised

Threat Level: Blue ●

Special Containment Procedures: As SCP-3176 is technically composed of loyal Foundation personnel, and temporally delocalised, no active containment is either necessary or feasible at the present time. Containment Procedures for SCP-3176 therefore revolve around maintaining causality and preventing paradoxical event series, either through the direction of MTF-η-⊃ or the manufacture and activation of temporally manipulative technology.

Documentation on SCP-3176 is to be placed in variable ChronoLock, as is standard for temporal anomalies of this type. Queries may be brought up at any time with the current project lead — if they are not available, contact may be established with a predecessor or successor (dependent on circumstance).

Notice (██/██/████): The following section of this document (created 01/02/2025) contains outdated information (i.e. that the anomaly in question is still extant), and should not be considered an accurate representation of its current effects. It is preserved here for archival purposes.

~ Dr. Alice Forth, Department of Temporal Anomalies, Retcon Division

Description: The designation SCP-3176 refers to a series of temporal anomalies, revolving around an as-yet unformed Mobile Task Force. The Task Force in question (MTF-Eta-Then, "Cause and Effective") will apparently be created with the aim of retroactively preventing containment breaches that could otherwise have posed a large-scale threat to Foundation personnel or infrastructure. The devices capable of allowing MTF-η-⊃ to travel backwards through time are expected to be developed by Foundation scientists at some point in the late 2600s — said Foundation scientists have agreed to trade such technology for samples of present-day literature, fossil fuels, and endangered species of plant and animal.

The following is a timeline of all major events relating to either SCP-3176 or MTF-η-⊃:

Event Number
Date
Nature of event

001
09/02/2024
First recorded manifestation of MTF-η-⊃. All sixteen members appear, and successfully halt a breach of SCP-███. Entities provide Foundation personnel with documents relating to their formation, but are unable to be conclusively interviewed before de-manifesting.

002
04/11/2024
MTF-η-⊃ manifests, and attempts to enter SCP-████'s containment cell. All members of the team are apprehended, and several interviews are conducted. The team's date of formation remains unclear, as no agent possesses knowledge of events prior to their deployment, but their scheduled date for 'return' is identified as 04/09/2029. While personnel are attempting to discern the nature of the anomaly, a second iteration of MTF-η-⊃ covertly manifests and performs routine maintenance on SCP-████'s chamber. Both iterations de-manifest shortly afterwards.

003
19/02/2025
Plans are made for the future development of MTF-η-⊃, with advised recruitment from task forces Beta-10 and Rho-5. Research begins into the development of required equipment.

004
28/08/2025
Prototype temporal distortion engine 3176-Alfa is developed.

005
17/03/2026
Official completion of Prototype 3176-Bravo, and birth of Agent Miguel (leader of MTF-Rho-5, and later member of MTF-η-⊃).

006
20/04/2026
Initiation of Prototype 3176-Golf. Due to an unforeseen malfunction, this results in a DT-Class Split Timeline scenario, in which two versions of the same timeline run parallel to one another. Both timelines are aware of this, thanks to enhanced cross-temporal detection software.

007A
22/04/2026-I
Attempt to activate Forth-Xyank Concatenators fails, due to lack of a corresponding unit in the secondary timeline.

007B
22/04/2026-II
Forth-Xyank Concatenator violently disabled by MTF-η-⊃, apparently originating from 08/09/2029 with orders to prevent the merging of the two timelines. Agent ███ unintentionally terminated during the event's hostilities.

008
23/04/2026-I to 01/05/2026-I
Additional attempts to activate Forth-Xyank Concatenators fail, due to continued lack of a corresponding unit.

009
26/05/2026-I/II
Breach on 04/11/2024 halted by MTF-η-⊃, launched backwards simultaneously in both iterations. Task Force re-manifests, apparently sent from 04/09/2029, renamed to "Time Consumers" for unknown reasons.

010
15/06/2026
Concatenation of timelines achieved manually by replacing Prototype 3176-Golf with a functioning model (Prototype 3176-Zulu-Zulu-Lima) acquired from 2670 AD. Note that this causes the reversion of events from 20/04/2026 to 15/06/2026, resulting in no such Split Timeline scenario ever occurring. As the deployment of MTF-η-⊃ on 26/05/2026-I/II never happened, the breach continued to have happened. Dr. Forth expresses extreme concern regarding the convolution of logical causation.

011
23/08/2026
First recorded deployment of MTF-η-⊃. Task Force successfully deployed to 04/11/2024, with instructions to prevent the breach. Excursion deemed successful, with Task Force returning to 04/09/2029 as instructed. Re-manifests the following day (re-named "Bootstrappers"), confirming lack of paradoxes.

012
09/11/2026
Task force successfully prevents containment breach on 09/02/2024, with no identified incidents.

013
02/01/2027
Noted that the manifestation of a duplicate task force on 04/11/2024, originally believed to have originated from 26/05/2026-I/II, should have been reverted following the replacement of the prototype. MTF-η-⊃ sent back to 20/04/2026 to covertly replace Prototype 3176-Zulu-Zulu-Lima with a faulty model. Split Timeline scenario is thus caused to have always happened as originally documented. Pending re-manifestation of various iterations of MTF-η-⊃, the project is put on hiatus.

014
04/09/2029
Both iterations of MTF-η-⊃ return from 04/11/2024. The iteration launched from 26/05/2026-I/II to 04/11/2024 is renamed to "Time Consumers" to preserve continuity, amnesticised, and sent back to 26/05/2026-I/II. The MTF launched from 23/08/2026 to 04/11/2024 is renamed to "Bootstrappers" to preserve continuity, amnesticised, and sent back to 23/08/2026.

015
08/09/2029
Noted that concatenation at 22/04/2026-I/II would prevent the launching of the alternate iteration of MTF-η-⊃. Task force deployed to 22/04/2026-II, preventing said concatenation. All malignant paradoxes considered resolved, project immediately discontinued by Dr. Forth due to a massive increase in work-related stress among the Department's staff.

Addendum (24/12/2056): The attempts to establish Mobile Task Force Russell-9 ("Self Containing Sets"), a group specialising in altering the Foundation's history to better facilitate containment, were violently halted today by an unknown iteration of MTF-η-⊃, accompanied by the late Site Director Alice Forth, who physically assaulted the project lead, Dr. Teller. Due to the Task Force's apparent vehemence on the matter, and Dr. Teller's recent aversion to continuing the attempt, the project is being postponed indefinitely.