Item #: SCP-1019
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-1019 may only be accessed by personnel with the express purpose of conducting research. Otherwise, its containment room is to remain locked at all times. Researchers wishing to experiment with SCP-1019 must await approval from Level 4 personnel. SCP-1019 does not require resources in order to function. Specimens of SCP-1019-1 are to be confined to minimum-security cells, except during testing, and provided with any items and furnishings they request, provided they are inexpensive and do not violate Foundation protocol.
Description: SCP-1019 consists of two glass spherical compartments (one 310 cm in diameter and positioned 1 m off the ground, the other 440 cm in diameter and positioned 5.1 m off the ground) connected by two 30 cm wide glass tubes (forming a loop), held in place by a steel scaffold. The larger compartment (designated the atmospheric compartment) contains methane, ammonia, and hydrogen, and has a pair of tungsten electrodes inserted into it. The smaller compartment (designated the oceanic compartment) contains water, and has a gas burner directly underneath it.
Both the tungsten electrodes and the gas burner are wired up to a simple console. The console has four gauges (one for each of the four substances inside the array), two switches, and two buttons. The switches' functions are perfectly mundane; one activates/deactivates the electrodes, and the other activates/deactivates the burner. The properties of the buttons are not so well understood; one causes a seamless, otherwise invisible hatch to open in the side of the oceanic compartment, and the other causes the array to replenish its contents by unknown means after they have been exhausted.
It has been noted that SCP-1019 is essentially a large-scale version of the Miller-Urey experiment. However, when activated, instead of merely producing amino acids and other simple biomolecules, it produces a live human specimen of variable appearance and physical age (designated SCP-1019-1). The process of "birth" always lasts 5 hours:
- Hour 1 – the experiment follows the cycle of evaporation and condensation as per the original.
- Hour 2 – the water in the oceanic compartment becomes green and opaque.
- Hour 3 – the green water becomes viscous.
- Hour 4 – the viscous green fluid congeals and hardens, forming a soft cocoon-like structure.
- Hour 5 – the cocoon-like structure splits and SCP-1019-1 emerges, naked, fully formed, and covered in viscous green fluid. SCP-1019-1 is to be released from SCP-1019 as soon as this happens.
So far, researchers have been unable to study the process because the hatch refuses to open at any point when the experiment is activated. They have also been unable to study the viscous green fluid coating SCP-1019-1 because it evaporates within minutes, leaving no trace.
All specimens of SCP-1019-1 are subject to intensive physical and psychological examination and profiling, in which they are invariably found to possess no anomalous properties that reveal their artificial nature, nor do they show any signs of their true age; not only does the length of their telomeres reflect their apparent age, but they have all the learned skills expected of normal humans (e.g. language) and even detailed memories of (typically unremarkable) lives prior to their creation. They believe that they are real people and the lives they remember are genuine, although none of the names and background information given or DNA samples, fingerprints, and dental records collected match those in any database, and report feeling immense surprise, confusion, and distress upon waking up inside SCP-1019 with no idea of how they got there. Most specimens believe that the foundation has captured them, and as such are unwilling to cooperate.
Addendum-1: It has been observed that within approximately 2 months after being "born," specimens of SCP-1019-1 inevitably undergo a strange and poorly understood form of accelerated decay. This process (like that of birth) always lasts exactly 5 hours:
- Hour 1 - specimens report feeling nauseous, often vomiting copiously.
- Hour 2 - specimens begin to "sweat" watery green fluid.
- Hour 3 - specimens' epidermis starts to becomes soft and spongy. The watery green fluid increases in volume and viscosity.
- Hour 4 - specimens' epidermis is now so soft and spongy that it is starting to slough off. Bones and connective tissue also start to become soft and spongy.
- Hour 5 - specimens disintegrate, and their remains dissolve into puddles of viscous green fluid.
Analysis of the fluid reveals that it contains water, amino acids, nucleotides, sugars, fats, various ions, and traces of other elements. It is presumably the same as the fluid that forms in the oceanic compartment of SCP-1019, though this has not been confirmed. A few specimens of SCP-1019-1 have been cryogenically preserved so that they do not undergo the decay process, and can be researched more thoroughly at a later date.
Addendum-2: Rechecking of databases after specimens of SCP-1019-1 have expired yields evidence of their existence that was not present prior to their deaths. They are usually on record as having gone missing at a time coinciding with that of their "creation."
