by stormbreath

TIME: 0427 UTC EARTH
DATE: DAY 18 MONTH 03 YEAR 2016
WARNING TO ALL FOUNDATION SITES - CODE LEVEL RED - HIGHEST PRIORITY
CERTAIN CK-CLASS SCENARIO DETECTED - 99.99% PROBABILITY
6,738,281,472 DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN EXTRADIMENSIONAL SITE RECORDS AND FOUNDATION SITE RECORDS DETECTED
ESTIMATED SEVERITY OF CK-CLASS EVENT IS TOTAL REALITY FAILURE
ALL FOUNDATION SITES ARE TO INDEFINITELY ENTER LOCKDOWN IMMEDIATELY
EQUIPMENT OPERATING STATUS: FUNCTIONING PROPERLY

TIME: 0430 UTC EARTH
DATE: DAY 18 MONTH 03 YEAR 2016
EMERGENCY BULLETIN
CURRENT SITE STATUS
SITE-01: LOCKDOWN - SECURE
SITE-02: LOCKDOWN - SECURE
SITE-03: LOCKDOWN - SECURE
SITE-04: NOT RESPONDING - PRESUMED LOST
SITE-06: LOCKDOWN - SECURE
SITE-07: LOCKDOWN - SECURE
SITE-08: PARTIAL LOCKDOWN - NOT SECURE
SITE-09: LOCKDOWN - SECURE
SITE-10: LOCKDOWN - SECURE
OPEN FULL MESSAGE

TIME: 0511 UTC EARTH
DATE: DAY 18 MONTH 03 YEAR 2016
ATTENTION ALL SITES - O5-6 UPDATE
The Black Moon howls to let us know it is still there.
Universal lockdown declared over.
It appears that the warning that was sent out 45 minutes ago was nothing more than a false alarm, or a device malfunction. We don't have any current indication of a CK-Class Scenario. Reality is safe. Proceed as normal and standby for future updates.
— O5-6 VERIFIED OVERSEER ACCOUNT

[ Submit Operational Clearance Level ]

Clearance Accepted. Retrieving Documents. Welcome, O5-6.

From:
O5-6

To:
Overseer Council

Subject:
re: What happened?

Date:
26/03/2016

Everyone seems to have bought the cover story about a false alarm. That's good. Now we just need to figure out what actually happened.
Yolas has gotten back to me. I've forwarded her initial documentation concerning the detected CK-Class scenario and her email to you. I'm scheduling a vote in 24 hours on the Special Containment Procedures she's created and to decide on an object class.

opened attachment1 - preliminary3557.scp

Item Number: SCP-3557
Object Class: Pending1
Special Containment Procedures: Any containment procedures focused around SCP-3557 must focus on the design and construction of more reliable and accurate devices used to measure baseline reality. Direct containment of SCP-3557 itself is not possible, as it is an event that has already taken place to completion. Prevention of future, similar events falls under standard CK-Class Restructuring Scenario Procedures.

CK-Class Restructuring Procedures Abstract2
Previous evidence regarding CK-Class Restructuring Scenarios has indicated that it may not be possible to prevent such a scenario, as they may not have an easily recognizable cause. For such scenarios, the best course of action would be to put devices capable of detecting such events in locations outside the theoretical range of effect for a CK-Class Restructuring Scenario event, in addition to multiple database backups for comparison purposes. In the wake of a CK-Class event, personnel in these locations would necessarily have to research methodology of reverting any possible change, or, failing that, integrate into the new reality.

$3,000,000 is to be allocated to the Ontokinetics Division for the purposes of designing and rigorously testing Mark II CK-Class Scenario Detectors (CSDs). These new devices are to utilize a wider spectrum of mechanisms in order to detect any potential changes to reality.3 Ontokinetics Division personnel are to test these Mark II CSDs by inducing localized, minor restructuring events.
Once all Mark II CSDs have been constructed and rigorously tested, they are to be installed in any and all sites that meet the Ontokinetics Division's guidelines on a reality-anchored location.4 Depending on the total cost of a single Mark II CSD, this could cost anywhere from $10,000,000 to $75,000,000.
Additional research is to be put into the refinement and development of previously outdated Scranton Box technology, with Boxes containing appropriate files to be distributed to all Sites.5
Ongoing research into the nature and origin of SCP-3557 is to continue indefinitely.
Description: SCP-3557 refers to an event believed to be a CK-Class (Reality Restructuring) Scenario of unknown magnitude that occurred at 0427 UTC on 03/18/2016.
The only evidence for SCP-3557's occurrence is the simultaneous activation of all CSDs (CK-Class Scenario Detectors) located at every extradimensionally located or reality-anchored Foundation site.6 At 0427 UTC, 18/03/2016, all Foundation sites received an automated message denoting a CK-Class Scenario occurred.7
All CSDs used by the Foundation activated, giving the same report of likely CK-Class Scenario of high severity. While changes that were previously believed to be indicative of a CK-Class Scenario were noted, no corresponding CK-Class Scenario was observed.8 Detectors either denoted a change at 0427 UTC, 18/03/2016 and only at that time, or became unsynced at that time.

CSD Operation Theory9
CK-Class Scenario Detectors will use a variety of detection methods in order to detect a possible CK-Class Scenario event. These devices will use several methods of determining a change, such as the comparison of a live reading of a quality in baseline to a past reading, the comparison of two qualities in both baseline and anchored realities, or the monitoring for a change in a quality of baseline reality. The potential severity of a CK-Class Scenario will be determined by the number of changes noted at any given time. Planned detection methods will include, but not be limited to:

Synced pseudo-random number generators located in baseline and extradimensional; designed to generate numbers in the same fashion, and thus, provide the same numbers
Kant and Geiger counters physically located in extradimensional/anchored reality but monitoring baseline reality
Atomic clocks synced to one another
Regular database cross-references, functioning by hashing random sections of the database and comparing hashes to each other
Applied thaumaturgical sensors set up to alarm if a large change in the state of reality is detected
Electromagnetic sensors detecting any sudden changes in background electromagnetic radiation patterns in baseline

However, despite the simultaneous activation of all equipment in extradimensional sites, no change has been recorded between baseline reality before and after 0427 UTC, 18/03/2016. No differences between Extradimensional Site Records and any Foundation Site Records have been noted that were not a result of improperly updated records.10 No differences or changes between reality before and after 0427 UTC, 18/03/2016 have been noted by personnel who were located in extradimensional sites or within reality-anchored locations.11
Under the operating terms of various Foundation/GoI treaties, including the Triumvirate, the Swiss Information Security Act and the SUSEOCT, information regarding the events of 0427 UTC, 18/03/2016 has been requested. These groups have confirmed that a disturbance of some kind was noted, although no actual change has been detected. Foundation moles in various other GoIs have confirmed similar circumstances in their organizations.12
Foundation assets deployed to investigate CSDs have concluded that all equipment was functioning as expected, without any noticeable flaws. A uniform malfunction of the equipment has been ruled out.
SCP-3557 did not coincide with any heightened levels of activity of any SCP or known phenomenon with the potential to cause a CK-Class Scenario. No suitable cause for SCP-3557 has been discovered.
Several theories have been created behind SCP-3557:

SCP-3557 represents a CK-Class Scenario that affected the baseline reality before "rippling" outward and affected extradimensional realities shortly afterward. This restructuring changed the past and present of the baseline reality and then altered other realities to match.13
SCP-3557 was not a CK-Class Scenario, but a previously unencountered phenomenon which triggers CSDs in the same ways that a CK-Class Scenario would.14
SCP-3557 was a CK-Class Scenario that restructured reality and happened to produce a reality that was identical to the original reality. CSDs detected changes to reality while it was in flux and sent the warning message during that time.
SCP-3557 was not a CK-Class Scenario, but a sudden, currently unexplained and simultaneous technical failure of every CSD employed by the Foundation, which all produced the same result.15

Footnotes
1. I'll go over this in the email. The Division hasn't come to a consensus on what the Object Class should be. (Mostly because we can't decide what the Object is.) - Dr. Yolas
2. Excerpted here from the main guide on K-Class Scenarios and how to prevent/deal with them. - Dr. Yolas
3. Some of the new ideas we've had suggested are Akiva radiation, gravitational sensors, and SCP-2608 (as a note, our populations of 2608 in baseline all died off at 0427 UTC, and only the individuals we had under cryogenics or in extradimensional/anchored sites survived) - Dr. Yolas
4. This is any site, area or LoI that is either extradimensional or has an abnormally high Hume level. - Dr. Yolas
5. Yes, Boxes, not Anchors. I know we phased out Box usage thirty years ago, but they were much better at preserving information than Anchors. Reality accurate information would have been incredibly helpful for this situation. - Dr. Yolas
6. We only put CSDs in places where they have an external reference point, so only at locations that are either extradimensional or reality-anchored. This includes, for example, Site-62, Site-64T, Extratemporal Site 000, Exclusionary Site-01, Site-2000, or Facility T. - Dr. Yolas
7. Obviously, you know what I'm talking about, but I may want to add it to the document in an Addendum for future reference. - Dr. Yolas
8. To note: changes were detected by all of our CSDs, but no discernible reason for them has been found. Our database crosschecker was set up to only tell us if there were discrepancies and where they were, not to actually tell us what they were: it was assumed we would be able to do that, and that a human eye would be preferred. - Dr. Yolas
9. I've excerpted a portion of the operation philosophy of our CSDs so that you can understand the techniques we were using, since you asked. - Dr. Yolas
10. That is to say, any differences we found were because of clerical error, not actual differences. No differences noted were beyond what would normally be expected. - Dr. Yolas
11. Some examples of personnel who were outside are personnel who were in Universe Kappa-Erikesh, visiting the Third Antarctican Empire, or inside SCP-2627. - Dr. Yolas
12. I'm taking this as verification that this wasn't merely somebody trying to trick us. - Dr. Yolas
13. Thus, the warning message was sent within the brief moments between SCP-3557 affected baseline reality and associated realities. - Dr. Yolas
14. CSDs and their operation procedures were specifically designed to avoid situations like this, since we predicted it. - Dr. Yolas
15. No one in my Division thinks this. - Dr. Yolas

opened attachment2 - re:whathappened.eml

From:
Ontokinetics Division Lead Researcher Dr. Leslie Yolas

To:
O5-6

Subject:
re: What happened?

Date:
25/03/2016

Dear O5-6,
I wish I could give you some better answers than what you're about to get.
To answer your first question: after the reception of SCP-3557, we went and checked every CSD we have. All the monitoring systems we used had been tripped and turned on, but we could not determine any reason for them to have activated. For instance, our synced atomic clocks between CSDs in baseline, reality-anchored and extradimensional sites had been unsynced, but there was no reason for that to have happened. (Also: our database cross checkers were only set up to register if there were discrepancies and where they were, but not what those discrepancies actually were. The idea was that we'd have the data to actually crosscheck.)
Next: no, we don't have an object class for SCP-3557 yet. There's been some debate, but the jury's still out on this one. The following have been suggested:

Extranormal Event: SCP-3557 is one and done with - there's nothing to contain.
Apollyon: SCP-3557 may have already ended the world, and there's nothing we can do about: we're living in a new reality that may have nothing to do with the old one.
Keter: There is a possibility that SCP-3557 could happen again, and it's something that we'd want to prevent if it does. It's nearly impossible to contain, so we have to be vigilant.
None: SCP-3557 was a technical malfunction, not an anomaly. It doesn't deserve an Object Class.

My official position on the matter of SCP-3557 is that I have no idea what actually happened last week other than I believe something anomalous happened. There is not a single theory that I find explanatory, and I'll go over why. The majority of my Division shares in this belief.
The first theory was that it was a CK that was a bit slow to affect extradimensional/reality-anchored locations, and the message was sent during the lag period. However, I don't like this. For one, we've never seen a CK that was capable of affecting either of those locations. While we had theorized for a CK to affect Branches and associated universes, we've never thought it would be possible for a CK to affect a completely different Hub. Personnel we had in different Hub worlds came back and didn't find anything odd with what happened here, and their worlds didn't have their CSDs go off. Not only that, a CK like that would have had to punch through every Reality Anchor we have, and those tell us when they've been breached - they didn't think they were.
The second theory is that SCP-3557 is something that just happened to trip all of our detectors for CK-Class Scenarios without being one itself. Now, this sounds promising, but there's no possible thing that could have done that while also not being a CK-Class scenario. For instance, somebody in the Division suggested a massive Hume level flux, but we would currently consider that to be a CK-Class Scenario, as it would have corresponding changes to reality.
You indicated in your letter that you were concerned that this may have been a deliberate attack by a GoI directed at triggering our alarms, either as a test of their abilities or as a distraction. I have a couple flaws with that, mostly that we have intensely high information security practices about CSDs (meaning that it's unlikely anyone could have figured out how every mechanism of every single CSD functioned), and the amount of effort it would have taken to set every mechanism off simultaneously would have to be astronomical.
The third theory is that SCP-3557 restructured reality in a way that happened to line up exactly with the way that reality was before the CK-Class scenario. This is theoretically possible, and contains two possibilities: that reality wound up in its current state through an incredibly unlikely chance event, or that something did in fact change, but we missed it. Both of these have the idea there was a brief flux period in which a reality shift was visible.
The first event is incredibly unlikely but entirely possible. Our knowledge of CK-Class events has major holes and gaps - we've only seen one total CK-Class shift, and everything else has been small. There could very well be the possibility that reality wants to snap back to its original state, and thus, the most likely position for reality to end up back into after being destroyed was the original. Some in the Division have suggested that all of the subrealities we had attuned to our own - with plentiful information on baseline - "guided" reality back to normal. This is a somewhat naive and overly hopeful thought.
If something small was changed, it begs the question of why we detected a total reality failure. It's like destroying an entire house and rebuilding it just to change a single wall. It would involve considerably more effort than would be needed. It's certainly possible that something changed, but we haven't noticed it. One possibility I've been considering is that some alien civilization caused the CK, and they had a massive shift, but we'd have no way to prove that.
The last possibility that we've suggested is that there was no anomaly. I just want to take a brief moment of my time to say that, at the very least, there was an anomalous malfunction of our devices. The idea there was no anomaly is absurd, and I won't waste any time on it.
In short, we don't have a good explanation that accurately describes SCP-3557. We have some ideas about to how to proceed, but our best bet is to set up some blanket containment procedures that could hopefully cover a repeat event, because the event itself doesn't really make much sense. The big problem is that our understanding of CK-Class events was just enough to observe an event, but not enough to really understand an event. It's like an early man watching lightning and trying to figure out what happened from an objective, scientific perspective - they aren't going to figure it out.
Your final question was whether or not SCP-3557 represents something that we actually need to worry about. I understand that you feel that nothing evidently occurred in the long run, but the implications of SCP-3557 are incredibly startling and worrisome. I do understand the approach of not worrying about that which you can't prevent or stop, but that's not my personal philosophy.
The biggest cause for alarm is that we have no idea what caused SCP-3557. No matter what it was, it seemingly came out of nowhere and has no reason for existing. Another repeat event could strike at any moment, and we'd have no means of preventing it or knowing about in the future. We may have narrowly dodged a bullet this time, and I doubt we'll be as fortunate in the future.
The first theory represents a CK-Class that is wholly uncontainable and covers up the evidence of what happened. Sure, this current iteration may not care about a past iteration, but neither will the next. The second and fourth theories are both something that is capable of rendering all of our CSDs worthless, meaning we'll have no way to tell if an actual CK happens. The third theory comes with no guarantee that reality will snap back to its original state - we may have gotten lucky, and I've never been one to rely on luck.
I understand if the O5 Council is apprehensive about approving the Containment Procedures we've suggested, but if they are, tell them that the procedures would help for any CK-Class Scenario, as well as several other K-Classes. Our methodology at the Foundation is one of the utmost caution, at any cost.
Let me know if you need anything else.
With respect,
Dr. Leslie Yolas
Secure, Contain, Protect

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