Item #: SCP-XXXX
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: All incoming Class D Personnel are to undergo non-invasive ultrasound screening for SCP-XXXX. Class D Personnel who consistently proclaim innocence are to be referred to site medical staff to undergo a colonoscopy.
Identified hosts are to be administered a Class-B Amnesiac and undergo surgery to remove the parasite, before being given a new identity and relocated to independent communities.
Personnel permitted direct contact to hosts of SCP-XXXX are to be preemptively assumed to be exposed, and any orders with the potential to affect hosts must be seconded by non-exposed personnel. In matters unrelated to hosts of SCP-XXXX, exposed personnel retain their authority.
Field teams are to be been equipped with mobile ultrasound systems and dispatched on a routine basis to any countries that do not participate in the Class D initiative, under the guise of missionary doctors, to attempt to discover and extradite hosts. Given the likelyhood of exposure during normal operations, they are explicitly instructed to extradite hosts regardless of their opinion on the hosts guilt or innocence.
Funds amounting to ███████ per annum are to be diverted to a variety of reputable charities running public information campaigns about the importance of cooking food, sponsoring United Nations Health Inspectors to visit livestock farms worldwide, and subsidizing the purchase of anti-parasite medication by farmers. (see Report SCP-XXXX-A: “Budget Analysis")
Description: SCP-XXXX is species of intestinal parasite similar to a common Beef Tapeworm (Taenia saginata), and genetic testing reveals the two species to be closely related. Conventional anti-parasite medication is effective against it, but only in doses considered unsafe to an organism of human mass. In humans, invasive surgery is the preferred procedure.
Like other species of tapeworm, SCP-XXXX requires two hosts to complete it's lifecycle. Within an intermediate host (generally a domestic herbivore), the juvenile members of SCP-XXXX form cysts that exhibit no anomalous properties. Effects only occur when SCP-XXXX reaches an adult form in the gut of a definite host.
SCP-XXXX causes a variety of psychological effects in people exposed to its host, though the host themselves exhibit no abnormal behavior. The effects appear to require a direct line of sight to the target and several minutes exposure to manifest. It is hypothesised the parasite may be changing the hosts biology to emit a subliminal visual or audible signal, though testing is currently inconclusive.
These effects primarily consist of abnormal rationalization regarding the host: affected individuals will spontaneously conclude that the host is guilty of a certain crime, regardless of logic and proof of the host's innocence. The crime which the host is accused of is consistent across all individuals exposed to that specific host, and invariably of a serious, typically violent, nature. Examples include accusations of serial torture and murder, occult rituals, the poisoning or bombing of large groups of people, and a variety of abusive crimes performed specifically against innocents or children.
These conclusions appear to be permanent: there is no known way to convince an individual experiencing these effects of the hosts innocence, even after removal of the parasite. Contradictory evidence is generally dismissed as isolated, coincidental or untrustworthy. If pressed further on the subject, exposed individuals often become defensive or angry, and may accuse the questioner of conspiracy or fraud.
SCP-XXXX's anomalous effects are not specific to humans: the prevailing theory is that the effects on humans are a side-effect of a feature that evolved to target carrion birds, possibly amplified by the human capacity for rationalization. Members of the Corvidae family are most strongly affected, and will mob, kill and attempt to eat the host. This behaviour is hypothesised to benefit the parasite by accelerating its lifecycle, reducing the need for an intermediate host during periods of scarcity.
Transmission of SCP-XXXX to humans is predominantly food-based: it has been found using several domestic animals as intermediate hosts, including cows and pigs, and it's cysts can survive low levels of cooking. For this reason human infestation rates are much lower in countries with primarily vegetarian diet, though the species has been found in most countries with a standing population of dedicated, meat-producing livestock.
Given the impossibility of giving hosts a fair trial (as in a conventional courtroom, the judge and jury will invariably be subjected to the parasites effects), the rate of infection amongst the SCP foundations Class-D personnel is significantly higher than that found in the general population: at the time of SCP-XXXX's discovery, it was over ██%. The SCP Foundation estimates that as many as ██% of all serious criminals across the world may be hosts.
Addendum: SCP-XXXX's discovery was referenced in the note found by Dr. ██████████'s body, and is believed to have been a primary contributer to his psychological breakdown and subsequent suicide.
Document XXXX-1: Note found in Dr. ██████████'s quarters, alongside body.
Cause of Death: Suicide (Overdose).
Date: ██-██-████
Document Text:
"I can't do this any more. We were tricked. We used people as fodder for those godforsaken things, and we told ourselves it was okay because they were criminals. Because they were evil. And only now do we learn about this thing? How did we miss this?
We're the evil ones. We're the ones who deserve to die. I'm sorry. This is the only thing I can do. It won’t make things right, but maybe this way the innocents I killed will forgive me.
Please forgive me. I didn't know."
Item #: SCP-XXXX
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-XXXX poses no risk if not handled. It is to be stored in a secure lockbox. Scientific testing with the item is currently forbidden.
Description: SCP-XXXX appears to be a standard 68mm round downpipe join cover, made from standard black acrylic plastic. Visually, it is unremarkable.
The object exhibits the anomalous property that any matter passed through it will emerge slightly more than a second prior to passing through a plane at the approximate mid-point of the pipe. SCP-XXXX was recovered from the possession of ████ ████████, a petty criminal who had been using it to duplicate currency after discovering it in a local hardware store.
Addendum A: Initial Scientific Testing
Date: - ██-██-████
Performed by: Senior Researcher Marcus Johan, Junior Researcher May Schuultz assisting.
Test 1
Apparatus: 1x red rubber ball, 3cm diameter.
Procedure: Ball was dropped by Research Assistant Schuultz through SCP-XXXX's event horison.
Results: A duplicate emerged 1.14 seconds before the original impacted the event horison. Slow motion recording shows the ball disappearing smoothly as it passes an invisible plane. No visual effects or sounds were observed to accompany this process.
Test 2
Apparatus: 1x red rubber ball, 3cm diameter.
Procedure: Schuultz was instructed by Dr. Johan to "go to drop the ball, but then don't."
Results: No effect was observed, though Dr. Johan expressed doubts that Assistant Schuultz had really *meant* to drop the ball.
Test 3
Apparatus: 1x red rubber ball, 3cm diameter.
Procedure: Schuultz was instructed by Dr. Johan to "actually drop the ball, but stop if you see it emerging from the pipe".
Results: This experiment produced a duplicate 3cm diameter red rubber ball. Close examination of both balls could find no differences. An odd sound, not observed in the earlier tests, was noted when the duplicate ball emerged. (The recording of this sound was forwarded to the Audio division for further study: see Appendix B)
Note: Interesting. It appears to work on multiversal rules: that is, a stable time loop does not have to be established. This test confirms reports from the recovery team of the objects ability to duplicate small items.
Test 4
Apparatus: 1x portable USB harddrive, 2GB, 2cm x 1cm, containing 1.43GB worth of text data.
Procedure: Schuultz repeated the prodedure of Test 3.
Results: A duplicate harddrive was produced. Comparison of duplicate data to that of original demonstrated no discrepencies. The sound observed in test 3 was also noted in this test, and added to the samples forwarded to the Audio division.
Test 5
Apparatus: 1x stopwatch, running.
Procedure: Clock was dropped by Schuultz through SCP-XXXX's event horison.
Results: Stopwatch emerged 1.14 seconds early. Video recording shows the post-emergence copy of the stopwatch displaying a time 1.14 seconds later than that of the pre-emergence one.
Note: I think we can just about wrap this one up. It's barely even an SCP: it just sends stuff 1 second backwards in time. We'll do another set of tests tomorrow and if nothing more interesting comes up, I'll request this be downgraded to an anomalous object.
Test 6
Apparatus: 1x red rubber ball, 3cm diameter.
Procedure: Repeat of test 3. Equipment sent by Audio divison was used was used to record the sound SCP-XXXX makes when duplicating an item.
Results: Identical to test 3.
Note: Results sent immediately to audio division, per their request.
Test 7
Apparatus: 1x wooden baton, 65 cm long, 1cm diameter.
Procedure: Schuultz attempted to push baton at a constant speed through SCP-XXXX
Results: 32 cm of baton emerged before being severed cleanly and falling to the table. This co-incided with the original baton tip touching the objects event horison, 1.14 seconds after emergence. As Schuultz continued to push the baton in, new segments were severed between 2 and 3 seconds. Assistant Schuultz reported no resistance on the baton, and was able to retrieve the last 10cm without incident.
Note: 2-3 seconds is about the human reaction time. It's possible watching the baton emerge had some response on my assistant's movements, hense the severing?
Test 8
Apparatus: 1x wooden baton, 65 cm long, 1cm diameter.
Procedure: Schuultz, blindfolded, attempted to push baton at a constant speed through SCP-XXXX
Results: Other end of baton emerged
Note: Hypothesis confirmed.
Test 9
Subject: 1x Class D Personnel, blindfolded.
Procedure: Class D Personnel ██████ ████ was blindfolded and guided to place his index finger through SCP-XXXX.
Results: The finger was observed emerging before he moved to do so, and moving approximately 1 second out of sync with other muscle movements. Subject was able to retrieve his finger with no ill effects.
Test 10
Subject: 1x Class D Personnel.
Procedure: Class D Personnel ██████ ████ was instructed to remove the blindfold, then to place his index finger through SCP-XXXX.
Results: Subject moved to follow instructions, but flinched and pulled his hand back when the duplicate finger emerged. The duplicate was cleanly severed at the knuckle and fell onto the table, accompanied by a similar sound to the one recorded in Test 3. (The recording of this sound was forwarded to the Audio lab in ██████ for further study: see Appendix B)
Testing was ceased at this juncture until facility cleaners could be summoned.
Addendum A: Audio Report 1
"The samples sent to us by Site-[] are unintelligable, highly-pitched and last for 1.14 seconds. Their frequency rises exponentially over the course of the sample, exceeding the pitch the original recording was capable of capturing at the end.
The sounds themselves appear to be overlayed with an ultrasonic signal of very high complexity, containing a wide range of variation. We are authorising the transfer of higher quality recording equipment to site-[] in the hopes of retrieving a better quality sample."
Addendum B: Audio Report 2