Killer Gas

Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: Item SCP-XXXX is to be contained in a hermetically sealed glass box. The box may contain a lock for a Type B Hermetic Pipette. The box must be placed in an hermetically sealed room out of which all air has been removed. The chamber must also be equipped with at least 4 infrared cameras and at least 2 infrared lamps. Access to the room must go through an airlock, also equipped with infrared cameras and light bulbs. The cameras must be placed in such a manner that every part of the containment room can be seen in the control room.

Description: SPC-XXXX can best be described as a cloud of gas, that can take a volume of up to 1.2 litres in normal circumstances. SPC-XXXX is invisible to the naked eye, but does reflect light with an exact wavelength of 820 nanometres. This makes it visible as a purple tinted cloud when filmed by an infrared camera. Tests to determine what SPC-XXXX is made of have all been unsuccessful.

Experiments have shown that if the gas comes into contact with any form of water, it can expand up to 600 times its original size. This means that 0.01 litres of SPC-XXXX is enough to completely fill the lungs of an adult male, leading to death by suffocation. The lethal dosis is estimated in between 0.001 and 0.005 litres, depending on the victims height, gender and the expanding coefficient of SPC-XXXX.

Discovery: SPC-XXXX was discovered in the TauTona gold mine in South Africa in 1957. It was discovered when 3 miners suddenly suffocated. It was thought this was due to a methane leak and the mine was evacuated. Attempts to ignite the gas failed, leading to the deaths of 2 more miners.
At this point the South African government was informed, and after 2 more unsuccessful attempts to remove SPC-XXXX, the Foundation was called in. SPC-XXXX was recovered, with much effort, and transported to Site-19. After incident SPC-XXXX-I1, it was labelled a Keter and transported to Area-179.

Interaction: The containment chamber may only be entered for repairing purposes and the box must be checked for any damage on a biweekly basis. As incident SPC-XXXX-I1 has shown, a crack in the box will not necessarily lead to SPC-XXXX leaking out making it impossible to check the boxes integrity from the control room. When entering, subjects must wear Class III life support suits, Class II suits have proven ineffective against SPC-XXXX. The suits must also be equipped with a water supply, and possibly a food supply, enough for at least 24 hours in case of a breach. The approval of 2 Class 4 personnel is needed for testing SPC-XXXX. In that case a Hermetic Pipette must be used to extract no more than 1µl of SPC-XXXX. The sample must be handled with the utmost care.