Item #: SCP-9205
Object Class: Euclid (Formerly Safe)
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-9205 is to be contained in a secure storage locker at Site 76. Personnel assigned to study or handle it are to undergo full psychological evaluations every month: those with misgivings concerning their age, health, and appearance are to be immediately reassigned.
All captive instances of SCP-9205-A are to be held in separate humanoid containment cells. If removed for exercise or testing, instances must be fitted with handcuffs, weighted manacles, and restraint masks. If any instance deploys its nictitating membranes, personnel are to retreat to a safe distance until it is fed, sedated, or terminated, depending on the circumstances.
Meals for SCP-9205-A instances must consist solely of raw meat and bone, delivered twice daily. Though they cannot derive nutrition from fruit, vegetables, or cooked meat, they still enjoy the taste and can be given food from the cafeteria as a reward for good behaviour.
Description: SCP-9205 is a cylindrical jar made of polished black marble, 14 cm in height and 6 cm in diameter, undecorated except for the Latin words carved into the lid: Male parta male dilabuntur.1 The jar is capable of self-repair, having survived multiple gunshots during attempts to acquire it, and it is not known if it can be permanently damaged or destroyed.
The contents of the jar consist of an opaque grey gel, which cannot be completely extracted or exhausted, as SCP-9205 automatically generates more to replace it. This substance is chemically identical to cold cream and exhibits no anomalous traits until exposed to the skin of a human being of at least forty years of age. If used on any other individual, animal, or object, or held in any container other than SCP-9205, it will harmlessly dissolve.
Once applied to the face of an individual of the minimum age, SCP-9205's gel produces an immediate and irreversible rejuvenating effect across the entire body within one minute of application. Regardless of the quantity used, users will be regressed to approximately 20-30 years of age, experiencing a full restoration of physical health and mental acuity in the process.
Twenty-four hours after application, users begin manifesting negative symptoms, including patches of discoloured skin, hair loss, loose teeth, and intramuscular pain, all of which escalate over time, often prompting users to make use of SCP-9205 again in the erroneous belief that they are now aging at an accelerated rate.
SCP-9205 is the only means of treating these symptoms, restoring the subject's initial state of rejuvenation within one minute of application regardless of symptom severity; drugs, surgeries, or even other anomalous items have proved ineffectual. However, the efficacy of SCP-9205 diminishes with repeated uses, progressively halving the time in which positive symptoms are exhibited2, often forcing users to apply more over shorter periods until they cannot meet the accelerated demands and enter the final stage of transformation.
Those who do not reuse SCP-9205 continue to degenerate over the next twenty-four hours following the initial manifestation of negative symptoms, ultimately escalating from mutation to transformation in the final minutes. This process cannot be reversed or undone in any way, making the metamorphosis into an instance of SCP-9205-A inevitable and permanent as soon as a compatible user is exposed.
SCP-9205-A instances are similar in appearance to human children between 5-11 years of age. All specimens are completely bald and exhibit translucent grey skin prominently marked with black-tinted veins, which they disguise with makeup and wigs in public.
SCP-9205-A instances also sport nictitating membranes that deploy in response to fear, hunger, or anger as an instinctive defence mechanism, being dense enough to shield the eyes from bludgeoning, stabbing, and even chemical weapons.3 When these membranes are in use, their eyes appear to turn opaque black, possibly as a threat display to potential enemies.
SCP-9205-A instances possess enhanced regenerative capabilities and though they cannot survive decapitation or perforating head injuries, research indicates that they can fully regenerate amputated limbs and even fractured spines over the course of a month. Because of this, instances no longer physically age: several captive specimens were reportedly converted during the 1920s and have not exhibited any signs of senescence or even basic maturation.
Though they demonstrate no enhanced strength, anomalous mutations to the nerves, muscles, joints, and cardiovascular system make SCP-9205-A instances notably faster and more agile than the human norm. Top speed varies between instances, though most instances can reach speeds in excess of 70 kph with very little effort.
SCP-9205-A instances exhibit anomalously powerful jaws capable of exerting a bite-force in excess of 2000 PSI, with two additional rows of incisors and molars hidden behind their human front teeth. Unusually elastic muscles and tendons allow instances to distend their jaws to more than quadruple their normal size, often resulting in their bites being mistaken for the results of animal attacks.
All instances are obligate predators subsisting entirely on raw meat and bone. Those lacking the funds to buy meat survive on livestock, pets, carrion, and human beings.
Discovery Log: SCP-9205 was first brought to the Foundation's attention in 1987, following several unexplained disappearances among Los Angeles' wealthier inhabitants. Initially attributed to kidnappings, anomalous commonalities in police reports and a lack of ransom demands eventually led to the Foundation being notified.
According to witnesses, the missing individuals had all undergone major cosmetic surgery in the days prior to their disappearance and appeared significantly younger than their chronological age. This was not considered unusual, as the victims had expressed frustration with aging and were often described as “vain”, but none of them would admit the name of the clinic or professional responsible for the surgery. All the victims had been keeping a black marble jar in their home, though none admitted where they had acquired it, and in all cases, the jar had been removed by the time police arrived to investigate the disappearances.
Though the Foundation was able to determine that the jar was responsible for the rejuvenating effects of the “surgeries”, the reason for the disappearances remained unknown, and the identity of the vendor could not be determined through mundane forensic accounting.
On 15/10/1987, wiretaps of witnesses revealed that that the brother of one of the victims had observed the initial effects of the object in action and decided to purchase it after his sister’s disappearance, intending to use it once he had “worked up the nerve." Two hours later, Foundation agents successfully confiscated the item shortly after the owner had applied his first dose. Following a brief analysis by a field researcher to determine that it was safe to handle, it was given the formal designation of SCP-9205 and prepared for transportation.
However, while SCP-9205 was being removed, the team was attacked by seven individuals now recognized as SCP-9205-A instances. Five Foundation agents were killed in the attack, and though the two remaining agents were able to terminate three of their assailants, the surviving instances and their apparent ringleader were able to escape with SCP-9205.
In the aftermath, fingerprint analysis revealed that the attackers had all been individuals listed among the missing, with the ringleader identified as the sister of SCP-9205's previous owner. Upon being transformed, all prior owners had been hired by the vendor's organization as security guards, with available evidence suggesting that the vendor had deliberately withheld information on SCP-9205's long-term effects from their clients in order to guarantee their eventual metamorphosis and recruitment.
Combined with the previous owner's interrogation, transformation, and subsequent containment, SCP-9205's anomalous attributes were finally documented and understood.
Addendum 05/04/2014): Subsequent research has found that SCP-9205-A instances are not recent developments, with obscure references to “grey cannibal brats with the jaws of sharks” found in rare archives of anomalous activity dating back to 1920, though their connection to SCP-9205 was not understood at the time, with any missing persons associated with them believed to have been eaten rather than converted.
It is also believed that the distinctive appearance of hungry SCP-9205-A instances may have led to the urban legend of the “black-eyed children"4.
However, SCP-9205’s vendor has continued to elude the Foundation. Investigation has revealed that this was initially because the stock market crash of 19/10/1987 discouraged further sales, allowing the vendor and their staff of SCP-9205-A instances time to move their base of operations. Afterwards, it is believed the vendor was able to avoid detection by restricting sales to more discreet clientele who avoided public life wherever possible5, all of whom could be more easily exploited, defrauded, converted, and subsequently recruited into the vendor's organization without drawing significant attention.
No evidence has been found to confirm that SCP-9205 is being smuggled internationally through mundane methods, suggesting that the vendor is employing a thaumaturge or some other anomalous means of transportation.
On the rare occasions Foundation agents have been able to find and intercept a courier believed to be carrying SCP-9205, a security team of SCP-9205-A instances was able to retrieve the objective and escape before Foundation backup could arrive.
At present, it is still not known why the vendor's former clients willingly become employees of the organization that defrauded and transformed them.