Item #: SCP-7378
Object Class: Safe Thaumiel
Special Containment Procedures: A provisional observation and containment outpost occupying an area of 1600 square meters has been established around the location at which SCP-7378-1 periodically manifests. SCP-7378-1's containment zone is to be vacuumed from all air and filled with Aerosol Compound 7378-S, a specially designed mixture of gas which is not harmful to SCP-7378. Once an instance of SCP-7378 is ejected from SCP-7378-1, the instance is to be immediately secured and equipped with a gas mask connecting to a supply tank of Compound 7378-S. The instance is to be then transported to Site-21, the nearest available Foundation facility, to await transfer to another site. Because of the costly nature of keeping SCP-7378 alive, instances are to be transported to a different site within 1-3 weeks following their arrival to Site-21.
Description: SCP-7378 denotes individual specimens of a species of omnivorous mammals showing physiological similarities to baseline apes. Instances of SCP-7378 measure 48-50 centimeters tall and weigh 3-4 kilograms. Inhalation of baseline universe's air for prolonged amounts of time is usually lethal for SCP-7378, making them extremely vulnerable once ejected from SCP-7378-1. The average life span of SCP-7378 is unknown, however, because of their convenience as test subjects and susceptibility to even minor environmental stress; instances which come under Foundation custody typically expire within 1-12 weeks.
SCP-7378 are not inherently aggressive and do not appear to be sapient. SCP-7378 possess an internal skeleton, the outer surface of their bodies are covered with a soft biological layer that serves to sustain their bodily temperature. Surgically removing this layer is intensely painful for SCP-7378 and typically causes them to expire from shock or hypothermia. SCP-7378's cognitive extent is on par with a non-anomalous infant child approximately 1-3 months of age.
SCP-7378-1 is a recurring and stable space-time anomaly periodically manifesting and demanifesting over the course of approximately 0.05 seconds once every week. The date and time of SCP-7378-1's weekly occurrence cannot be meaningfully predicted, making observation difficult. Once it appears, SCP-7378-1 will eject a single alive specimen of SCP-7378 and disappear instantly after. It is believed that manifestations of SCP-7378-1 are gateways leading into SCP-7378's universe of origin, although this presumption is unverified.
Since its first recorded occurrence in 2008, SCP-7378-1 has not stopped appearing and ejecting a single instance of SCP-7378 once every week. Instances of SCP-7378 have been deemed suitable for use as "lab rats" because of the similarities between their physical and behavioral reactions to anomalous hazards and those of non-anomalous test subjects. In addition, many Tartarean entities1 contained by the Foundation which require the periodic execution of sacrificial rituals to subdue them have been documented to accept sacrifices of SCP-7378 as an alternative to those of regular infant children. For these reasons, SCP-7378 are widely regarded as a more "ethical" alternative to D Class test subjects in many areas of anomalous research and are widely exploited by Foundation personnel for purposes of containment and testing.
Currently, the ritualistic sacrificing of SCP-7378 plays a central role in the containment of 31 various Keter and Euclid Class SCP objects. Most anomalous drugs developed by the Foundation are usually tested on SCP-7378 specimens before further trials can be approved. Proposal to upgrade SCP-7378's object class to Thaumiel is pending approval.2
