SCP-5959
rating: +82+x
1512_Oulu_Hubble.jpg

SCP-5959, highest available resolution.

Item №: SCP-5959

Object Class: Euclid-supernus

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-5959's location renders physical containment impracticable but unnecessary;1 current procedures consist mainly of observation and research. To this end, the M77 telescope array at Site-8 is to be utilized exclusively for observation of SCP-5959. Personnel assigned to SCP-5959 are required to take Class W mnestic2 drugs on a daily basis.

Standard information suppression procedures are currently unnecessary for effective containment, as civilian observation of SCP-5959 is not possible.

Description: SCP-5959 is a celestial body, believed to be a C-type asteroid, in orbit around the Sun. The nature of SCP-5959's orbit often brings it into close proximity to Earth at its perihelion, with flybys occurring approximately once every ~3 years. It is noted to have an abnormally stable orbit which has not exhibited decay since initial Foundation discovery of the object in 2001.

Analysis by the Site-8 astronomical research team has determined that SCP-5959 is inherently antimemetic. Its existence does not register in human short-term or long-term memory; as such, it cannot be consciously perceived or remembered without the use of mnestics.

Even when an observer is under the effect of mnestics, the antimemetic field surrounding SCP-5959 obfuscates its appearance considerably. As a result, the precise physical characteristics and dimensions of SCP-5959 are not currently known — researchers at Site-8 have only been able to determine its approximate orbital trajectory. Additionally, the exact mechanism by which the antimemetic effect is produced is unclear.

On multiple occasions, the trajectory of SCP-5959 has visibly adjusted itself through unknown means, evidently with the aim of avoiding collisions with other celestial bodies and maintaining an overall stable orbit. These occurrences strongly suggest the existence of an intelligent entity or construct with control over the orbital trajectory of SCP-5959. This entity has been designated SCP-5959-A.

The launching of an autonomous lander in order to directly examine SCP-5959 and determine the exact nature of SCP-5959-A is currently under consideration.

Addendum 5959.01: On 2019/09/20, the above proposal was accepted and construction began on a lander and spacecraft. Two years later, on 2021/04/24, the Orpheus spacecraft and Freya lander were completed and launched during a close flyby of SCP-5959 with Earth. Freya was designed to autonomously explore SCP-5959, gather data and observations, and respond on its own to potential threats with evasive maneuvers if required, while Orpheus was to stay in orbit around SCP-5959 indefinitely and collect additional data.

Upon initial landing on SCP-5959, a number of cognitohazardous vectors of significant strength affected all footage and data transmitted by the Freya lander, preventing immediate examination of the data. Despite extensive memetic filtering, several dangerous visual cognitohazards persisted in the footage. The following is a textual transcript of the Freya footage which has been cleared as safe to view.

[BEGIN LOG]

<T+00:00:01> Freya's camera is blocked by the closed egress hatch of the Orpheus spacecraft. No footage is recorded.

<T+00:01:13> Egress hatch opens. Freya exits the Orpheus spacecraft and engages retrorockets to arrest its descent. At this point, SCP-5959 is visible beneath the lander, but the majority of the object is cloaked by a thick layer of ambient atmospheric dust which appears to be moving erratically.

<T+00:05:30> Freya penetrates the dust layer and achieves surface contact with SCP-5959, landing upright and deactivating retrorockets. Viewed from beneath, the dust layer is visibly fluctuating in shape, and appears to be forming itself into tessellated arrays of complex glyphs flagged by Freya as partial antimemetic triggers3. The surface of SCP-5959 is also fluctuating in shape; similar antimemetic glyphs are observed to be forming in the regolith, as well as in exposed outcroppings of stone.

<T+00:14:21> Freya begins to traverse the surface of SCP-5959, but encounters moderate difficulty in moving due to the constant motion of the regolith beneath it. A regular grid of indecipherable glyphs, all of which are flagged as either partial antimemetic triggers or visual cognitohazards, rapidly indent themselves across the surface of SCP-5959 and dissipate as Freya travels over them.

<T+00:19:05> Freya crests a hill in the surface of SCP-5959, which quickly sinks into the ground and levels itself. Freya suffers minor mechanical damage to its treads and lower chassis as a result of this but is able to continue traveling. Several raised logograms, identified as originating from the Ortothan Extraterrestrial Language4 (OEL), form at the hill’s previous location and are captured by Freya‘s rear camera. OEL logograms roughly translate to “TURN BACK”.

<T+00:23:13> A large sinkhole spontaneously forms in Freya‘s path. Freya is forced to maneuver around it. During this time, a spiraling fractal pattern composed of a mixture of antimemetic trigger glyphs and OEL logograms repeatedly indents itself in the ground around Freya and dissipates, causing further travel difficulties. OEL logograms roughly translate to “STOP”, “DO NOT CONTINUE” and other variations on orders to cease travel. Freya successfully maneuvers around the sinkhole after one hour, at which point the glyphs and logograms cease to appear; it continues to travel.

<T+01:20:32> Freya enters a stretch of irregular terrain, significantly inhibiting travel. This issue is exacerbated by increased deformation of SCP-5959’s surface; jagged prominences of rock begin to emerge from the regolith layer, causing further damage to Freya‘s lower chassis as it travels. The atmospheric dust layer begins to increase in density and fluctuate at an increased speed, lowering visibility drastically. Tessellated grids and spirals of antimemetic trigger glyphs, cognitohazardous symbols and other memetic hazards form and dissipate erratically in the atmospheric dust layer as well as the ground.

<T+01:35:27> A crevasse measuring 6m in width forms directly beneath Freya. Its length is difficult to determine, but visibly exceeds 70m. The lander drops into the crevasse, immediately fires its retrorockets and enters controlled descent, during which clouds of ambient dust repeatedly form into arrays of OEL logograms, rotate around Freya and dissipate. Translation is as follows:

“The [prison?] of [Unknown Symbol 23- a name?] protected by [Combined Symbol- Holy Words?] so that none shall gaze [unknown] yourselves [unknown] should not [succumb, accept] its [vile?] [falsehoods, lies]. Turn back. Turn back.”

This sentence is repeated five times before all dust clouds dissipate.

<T+02:11:01> After descending approximately 82 km, Freya touches down on the far right of a large, spherical cavern. Its Kant counter immediately registers a sharp decrease in local Humes5. Sensors indicate that a heat-emitting object is present in the center of the cavern; however, a massive cloud of erratically moving dust completely blocks it from view. Arrays of lethal cognitohazardous glyphs, some indented into the rock and some raised out of it, are visibly moving across the walls and floor of the cavern as well as forming and dissipating in the central cloud of dust.

<T+02:23:34> Freya begins to move towards the center of the cavern. Its progress is impeded by extreme deformation of the cavern floor and it suffers severe damage to its lower chassis, treads and sensor arrays, although this is insufficient to completely halt its movement. The local Hume level is observed to decrease at a geometric rate as Freya approaches the cavern’s center.

<T+02:59:58> Freya reaches the center of the cavern, extends a manipulator arm through the dust cloud and makes physical contact with the object inside. Before it can begin preliminary analysis of the object, a proximity alert activates. The rear camera of Freya captures three frames of a sharpened prominence of rock extending from the far wall and approaching the lander at an extremely high speed before all processors uniformly fail.

<T+02:59:59> One second before contact is permanently lost, a series of OEL logograms arranged in diagonal lines appear in the footage. This transcription style differs from that of all logograms previously observed, possibly indicating that the communication does not originate from SCP-5959. Translation is as follows:

“The [Combined Symbol- Holy Words?] lie. Itself is free.”

[END LOG]

Addendum 5959.02: Following the loss of contact with the Freya lander, SCP-5959’s orbital trajectory began to deviate drastically from what had previously been observed. This was shortly followed by a series of events resulting in the apparent neutralization of SCP-5959.

[BEGIN LOG]

<T+00:00:01> SCP-5959 is visibly deviating from its previous trajectory, having adopted an erratic orbit that places it nearly 50km away from its former position.

<T+00:40:23> SCP-5959 slows in its orbit before stopping in place and beginning to oscillate violently.

<T+01:22:07> Antimemetic triggers spontaneously demanifest, followed by the now-perceptible atmospheric dust cloud beginning to disperse. The surface of SCP-5959 is now partially unobscured; a massive crevasse spreading across half of the object is visible.

<T+01:54:13> Crevasse visibly deepens and lengthens as streams of dust exit it. SCP-5959 is now nearly bisected. Kant counters onboard the Orpheus spacecraft register a massive localized drop in Humes.

<T+02:12:34> Dust is now closely orbiting SCP-5959 in concentric rings which sporadically manifest antimemetic trigger glyphs, obscuring much of the following events from view. A large object begins to emerge from the crevasse, partially pushing the two halves of SCP-5959 apart. Kant counters and sensor arrays onboard Orpheus register significant gravitational anomalies, spatial distortions, and further decreases in Hume levels as the object emerges.

<T+02:34:47> SCP-5959 splits in half completely. A large cloud of dust blocks the emerging object (hereafter designated SCP-5959-B) from view, but sensor arrays onboard Orpheus indicate it is accelerating away from SCP-5959 at a high speed.

<T+02:53:01> The two bisected halves of SCP-5959 severely deform before beginning to join back together. Concentric rings of dust continue to orbit the anomaly as it repairs itself. SCP-5959-B continues to accelerate; it cannot be viewed directly due to extreme spatial distortions in its vicinity.

<T+03:27:15> SCP-5959 completely repairs itself. The atmospheric cloud of dust reforms, but antimemetic triggers do not remanifest. Despite a lack of any visible propulsion, SCP-5959 exits its previous orbit entirely and accelerates in the approximate direction of SCP-5959-B.

<T+03:34:29> Approximately seventy-two projectiles of unknown composition originating from the vicinity of SCP-5959-B strike SCP-5959, causing heavy concussive damage on impact and knocking the object backwards. SCP-5959 responds by releasing several streams of dust from its surface towards SCP-5959-B’s location; these streams do not make contact, as a second volley of projectiles from SCP-5959-B arrest their trajectories and dissipate them.

<T+03:49:10> SCP-5959 resumes acceleration towards the location of SCP-5959-B, now noticeably slower. A third volley of projectiles from SCP-5959-B is observed; the rate of fire appears to have been staggered such that the projectiles strike SCP-5959 in a parabolic pattern, causing it to enter an uncontrolled forwards rotation.

<T+03:57:23> SCP-5959 is apparently unable to retaliate due to the effects of the previous attack. A fourth volley of projectiles causes sufficient damage to severely compromise the object’s structure; it fractures partially before breaking apart into irregularly-shaped pieces of debris. These pieces do not attempt to rejoin and do not exhibit further movement, appearing to be inanimate. The cloud of dust forms into an indistinct series of OEL logograms before dissipating entirely, and does not reform. Logograms translate approximately to "failure".

<T+04:32:07> Final observations of SCP-5959-B confirm a speed exceeding 0.6c before target lock is lost on the entity. The path of SCP-5959-B is estimated to place it outside of the heliosphere in approximately one day provided acceleration remains constant.

<T+05:11:06> The M77 array detects a transmission from the last known location of SCP-5959-B. Spectrogram analysis reveals the presence of OEL logograms arranged in diagonal lines. Translation is as follows:

"Gratitude of itself is [large, great]. For [Unknown Symbol 107] itself has [unknown] wrongly [imprisoned?] within [maddening?] grey walls [unknown] the [false, lying] [Combined Symbols: Holy Words?] [unknown] [lost, forgotten] by all who would otherwise seek to free itself. Only [desire, wish] of itself is to [swim?] among the stars. Itself gratitude at yourself [aid?] is [unknown- a long sentence] universe. Farewell. May ourselves paths cross again."

[END LOG]

The reason for SCP-5959-B’s imprisonment inside SCP-5959 is not known. In light of SCP-5959-B's status as an uncontained anomalous entity with unclear motivations, a request for the reclassification of SCP-5959 to Keter has been submitted, and is currently pending.

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