Rolling in the deep.
Artist's impression depicting the last known formation of Earth's landmasses.
Item #: SCP-8943
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: Non-critical Foundation physicists are re-assigned to SCP-8943 to forecast the likeliest trajectories taken by SCP-8943-M. Foundation assets lying within these trajectories are to be relocated to safer sites. Federal governments may be warned by their respective Foundation ambassadors at their discretion.
Foundation personnel are to cooperate with the remaining human population in matters concerning SCP-8943. A censored revision of this document is available to the public, and research findings pertaining to SCP-8943 should be disseminated to the wider scientific community.
Surviving and emerging religious denominations are to be convinced that SCP-8943 is an act of divine mercy, rather than that of retribution. Conspiracy theorists or dissenters that otherwise disrupt morale are to be incarcerated in the nearest detention centre or Foundation site1.
Foundation personnel and civilians with backgrounds in fields adjacent to geography are to leverage functioning buoy networks and seismographs maintain a best-effort approach to analyse ocean current and tectonic activity, while accounting for Earth's slowing rotational period2. This information shall be used to identify population centres habitable regions with long-term prospects to avoid volatile seismic activity and tidal waves up to 3,000m 2,000 1,000m in height. As an interim solution for long-distance communication, radio stations are to be constructed atop mountain ranges deemed unlikely to collapse within the next 10 years.
Foundation personnel and civilians with backgrounds in fields adjacent to biology and/or materials chemistry are tasked with investigating samples collected from SCP-8943-M. Samples may only be collected via remotely-controlled machinery and human individuals donned with hazmat suits. Cures, treatments and preventative measures for the human inhalation or consumption of SCP-8943-M residue, and contamination of machinery by SCP-8943-M residue, are to be developed and refined. Concurrently, they are to develop similar protective measures for crops and livestock comprising humanity's food staples.
Foundation personnel and civilians with backgrounds in fields adjacent to physics are to observe SCP-8943-M's reduction in velocity3, and predict an approximate timeframe when SCP-8943-M's movement would cease. With the expectation of this outcome, they are to design an orbital algorithm that compensates for the non-uniform gravitational field around Earth, and re-establish a satellite network for reliable long-distance communication. Once established, satellite imaging should also be used to track the relative positions of stars and constellations4, to assess the stability of the Earth-Sun orbit.
Foundation personnel and civilians with backgrounds in fields adjacent to agriculture are tasked with cultivating edible crop species resilient to SCP-8943-M contamination, temperature fluctuations of ±25oC and extended periods lacking sunlight. As SCP-8943-M's movement stabilises, they are to identify regions on Earth and/or SCP-8943-M most suitable for long-term human habitation and/or cultivation of these species. Furthermore, they are to maintain a best-effort approach to monitor the rate at which SCP-8943-M subsumes the atmosphere and liquid water over the former Pacific Ocean, and if possible, cultivate crop species capable of growth in air pressure 40,000 Pa lower than Earth's original atmospheric pressure.
Description: According to Earth's Roche limit, mainstream physics asserts that SCP-8943-M should have fractured immediately after its initial appearance, collapsing under Earth's gravity. Releasing 7.63 x 1010 terajoules of energy, the debris and heat would have ruptured Earth's mantle and evaporated the oceans, leading to an XK-Class End of World Scenario.
A satellite body is expected to disintegrate within the Roche limit of a larger celestial body.
SCP-8943 refers to the absence of the expected Roche limit between Earth and SCP-8943-M. Material spectroscopy of SCP-8943-M residue reveals an exotic carbon-arsenic crystal lattice, exhibiting rigidity and hardness indices superseding diamond. Assuming the majority of SCP-8943-M maintains this crystal structure, SCP-8943-M should resist dramatic gravitational deformation, and instead slowly shed its upper strata as it circumnavigates Earth.
SCP-8943-M is formerly Earth's moon. The moon spontaneously translocated from its orbit to Site-02 on 21/07/1968, suspected to be a consequence of an unauthorised experiment with SCP-8630. Its appearance has aggravated global volcanic activity; in some cases inducing magma to be expelled deeper from Earth's core. Once cooled, the material composition of such magma matches the residue left by SCP-8943-M, supporting the theory that Earth and SCP-8943-M once formed the same planetary body.
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