SCP-3628
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3628.jpg

SCP-3628 was recovered from the home of one Trevor Ames, an antiques dealer who died under suspicious circumstances following a public feud with known members of a Sarkic cult.

Item #: SCP-3628

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-3628 may not be handled by permanent Foundation personnel except with written permission of an O5 council member, or Site 36's Director of Research. The object is to be stored inside a non-reactive plastic case suitable for permanent preservation of antique metal or lacquered objects, inside a standard locking cylindrical Foundation carrier filled with pressurized argon gas.

Description: SCP-3628 is a bronze inkwell measuring 8cm tall and 6cm in diameter, engraved with an intricate design. The object has a deep patina, suggestive of advanced age, but carbon dating of the object is inconclusive.1

SCP-3628 may be touched or handled without the object's anomalous effect triggering, so long as for the duration of handling, the subject's mind remains focused on the present moment and does not drift into reminiscence or abstract thought.2 If the subject's attention wavers even briefly, he or she will experience an intensely absorbing and tangential thought, usually relating to matters the subject has put off and can no longer address.

Once triggered, the subject is permanently designated an instance of SCP-3628-1.3

Instances of SCP-3628-1 are compelled by unknown means to recite the time remaining before their death. If they are already speaking, the recitation will match their pre-existing volume and cadence; otherwise, it will be recited at conversational volume typical for the speaker.4

The remaining time announced by the subject decreases linearly as time passes from initial exposure, and no known method has been devised to alter the indicated time. At the conclusion of the self-narrated countdown, referred to hereafter as the Expiration Date, every instance of SCP-3628-1 has expired, within a one-minute margin of error.

Subjects respond to their countdown in a variety of ways, with a majority presenting panic or despair. It is unclear whether this is another anomalous effect of exposure, or a property of normal psychology. Many subjects are on record responding with resignation, terror, bargaining, or denial.

It is currently theorized that SCP-3628 is not infohazardous or memetic in nature, as amnestic treatment is ineffective in preventing either the narration or the predicted time of death.

Cause of death is loosely correlated with exposure to SCP-3628's anomalous effect, with roughly 3█% of subjects succumbing to chronic exhaustion, exhaustion-related accidental death,5 or suicide. The majority of subjects' expiration dates will coincide with their pre-scheduled termination, where applicable.

Unless dictated otherwise by an approved test plan, all D-Class personnel involved in experimentation must have their terminations scheduled, with copies of all related paperwork filed with the Head of Research at Site 70 no less than 24 hours before the experiment. D-Class who are eligible for amnestic cycling are not eligible for testing SCP-3628 under any circumstances. Termination dates must be memorized by at least two (2) personnel holding Class 8 inforesistance and temporal recall certificates. Breach of secrecy regarding an individual D-Class's termination date is grounds for rejection of that D-Class from all associated testing.

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