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| suspected SCP-9678 manifestation aftermath |
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-9678 being uncontainable, efforts are to be focused on identifying infected individuals and preventing them from coming into prolonged contact with critical infrastructure. This applies to civilians (e.g., nuclear power plant staff, pilots, air traffic controllers), military personnel (e.g., nuclear silo operators, ammunition depot staff), and Foundation employees (e.g., field operatives, containment specialists).
Systematic screening of individuals whose professions require proximity to critical infrastructure is mandatory and must be conducted annually.
If an infected individual is found occupying a high-risk position, UNLUCKY STAR Protocol (removal from such a position through subterfuge and engineered career setbacks) is to be enacted.
Description: SCP-9678 is classified as a stochastic field disruption that anomalously manifests in specific individuals (designated SCP-9678-1). The mechanism of selection remains unknown.
SCP-9678-1 instances carry a stochastic disruption charge (SDC) of high intensity, expressed as consistent patterns of statistically improbable adverse events (“bad luck”). Family and close friends absorb a small fraction of this charge, lessening its impact on the infected individual. This characteristic renders personal relationships especially important to SCP-9678-1, not only for charge distribution but also for the emotional support that mitigates stress caused by SCP-9678.
Social isolation of SCP-9678-1 has been observed to result in rapid SDC escalation, frequently correlating with severe equipment malfunctions in their proximity.
Accumulated SDC may, under certain conditions, undergo catastrophic discharge. These discharge events present as single, high-intensity anomalies rather than distributed low-level disruptions, often resulting in significant systemic failure or infrastructural compromise.
Research into the mechanisms governing SDC accumulation and discharge remains ongoing.
Addendum-01 : Incident log 9678-L1
Foreword: The following log details Operation PUNKLOVER via video transcription. The operation involved the investigation of a suspected Chaos Insurgency hideout located in an abandoned asylum, away from urban centers.
While the initial operational goals were not achieved, this prompted the Foundation to further investigate the events, which later revealed the existence of SCP-9678.
Exploration Video Log Transcript
Date: 10/08/2016
Exploration Team: Busters
Subject: Operation PunkLover
[BEGIN LOG]
The video begins as Agent Brooks (communications and technical specialist) turns the handle and opens a metallic door. His attempt at doing so quietly is defeated by the creak of the rusty hinges, followed by a loud metallic bang as the door falls from its frame.
The team responds with a collective eye roll directed at him except for Agent Holt (team lead).
Agent Holt: The asylum’s large. Maybe nobody heard that. Valdez (retrieval/containment), move ahead and demonstrate for the new recruit how to proceed quietly.
New recruit, stay back. Monitor your readings for anomalous activity, and try not to break anything. Everyone else, eyes open, mouths shut. Standard procedure.
Holt gestures toward the doorless frame.
The video feed shows a dilapidated interior, illuminated only by a few surviving lights. The team advances silently as Agent Brooks slowly waves a Foundation-issued multipurpose field scanner in a smooth arc. Several minutes pass without incident. Agent Marquis (weapons specialist) is seen looking over Agent Brooks’s shoulder several times, trying to glimpse his wrist computer’s readings, before Holt finally notices.
Agent Holt: Marquis, problem? New guy’s not doing his job right?
Agent Marquis: I don’t know boss, this place feels wrong, it’s like all my body is itching. Like that time in Amazonia, it co—
Agent Holt: New guy, are the readings nominal??
Agent Brooks: I might be new to this team, but this is my sixth OP, Holt. I know how this gear works. All readings are flat. Zero across the board.
Agent Vance: Yeah, and this is clearly not anomalous.
Vance points at a fluid on the wall. Closer inspection reveals the purple-red liquid flowing upward against gravity. The video feed from Agent Valdez slowly pans toward the ceiling, where the liquid collects into an eye the size of a fist, darting erratically left and right, then up and down.
Agent Marquis: That is what I thought, look at that, a Sarkic surveillance system!
Agent Marquis gestures toward the eye, moments before it explodes. His video feed shifts to Agent Rodrigue (silent operations specialist), whose suppressed rifle is seen emitting a faint trail of smoke.
Agent Rodrigue approaches Agent Brooks and secures his wrist to get a closer view of the display. Video feed confirms all readings remain nominal until physical contact, at which point the wrist-mounted scanner’s screen displays a brief glitch before resetting. This anomaly is not immediately noticed by the rest of the team. A red warning dot then activates, indicating a spike in Hume1 levels. Agent Rodrigue raises Agent Brooks’s arm to present the data to the unit.
Agent Brooks: What the hell, Rodrigue?
Agent Rodrigue points at the scanner’s display. Brooks appears visibly surprised and withdraws his arm.
Agent Brooks: The spike occurred the moment you touched it.
Agent Rodrigue slowly shakes his head.
Agent Holt: Stand down, Rodrigue. Brooks, report.
Agent Brooks: Hume levels are elevated beyond baseline. Whatever is present here, it’s significant.
(Holt stares at Brooks.)
Agent Holt: Anything else?
Agent Brooks: Negative. All other readings remain nominal.
Agent Holt: Relay to Overwatch.
Brooks attempts to establish contact with HQ using the long-range communications transceiver. No response is received.
Agent Brooks: The signal is scrambled. Could be anomaly interference or structural shielding. Either way, we have to get out if we want to re-establish contact with Overwatch.
Agent Holt: We’re leaving then. We need to report Sarkic activity.
Agent Brooks: Affirmative.
The team advances without incident for several minutes. Marquis, leading, halts upon opening a door.
Agent Marquis: I’m sure we took the exact same path on the way back. We never used a staircase.
His video feed confirms the presence of a staircase.
Agent Marquis: Yet here we are.
Agent Brooks: This makes no sense. If there was a spatial anomaly, the field scanner should have detected it.
Agent Vance: Maybe the equipment is compromised. Or maybe you don’t know how to use it.
Agent Holt: Vance…
Agent Vance: Just saying!
Agent Holt: Enough, Vance. I don’t want to hear any more of it. We’re moving up. The signal can’t be worse going higher.
Agent Valdez: Unless “up” leads down…
Agent Holt: Duly noted. Ascend one floor and reassess signal integrity.
The team arrive on the next floor. As the team progresses in a corridor, the remaining light bulbs still functioning briefly flare with intense brightness before popping one by one.
Agent Brooks: At least the floor hasn’t given up on us.
Agent Vance: Shut the fuck up, Brooks.
A loud cracking noise is heard as the video feeds collectively shift toward Agent Brooks. The floor gives way entirely, leaving the team incapacitated for several moments. As the team regains its footing, significant environmental changes become apparent: surfaces appear cleaner and the overall condition markedly improved. The only visible damage in the room, which appears to be a cafeteria, is the hole in the ceiling above them, from which they fell.
Agent Holt: Nothing broken?
The team confirm.
Agent Brooks: Hume levels have returned to normal values.
Agent Valdez: You are not going to like this, Brooks, but I think I understand what is going on. Look.
Agent Valdez slowly takes hold of the display on Agent Brooks’s wrist and presses the reset button. The screen shows elevated Hume levels along with temporal and spatial anomaly readings. Agent Valdez releases the display, and the values remain consistent for several moments before reverting to nominal. When Agent Valdez takes hold of the device again, the readings spike once more.
Agent Holt: Valdez? Explanation.
Agent Valdez: It’s not only the environment affecting the reading, I think Brooks himself is. I believe he’s suffering from some form of affliction. I heard rumors about him, that he was unlucky or whatever. But it is the first time I can see bad luck manifest so constantly and measurably. I bet that if he fired his gun right now, it would jam or blow up in your hand.
Agent Brooks: I have always had tough luck, but that is no anomaly.
Agent Valdez: Then maybe there is something here amplifying it. Anomaly or not, you are a liability.
Agent Holt: We can’t take chances. Give your equipment to Valdez and secure the cafeteria. You are staying here.
[END LOG]
Subsequent operation remained uneventful. Follow-up investigation yielded no confirmation of Chaos Insurgency or Sarkic presence; however, multiple indicators of spatial and temporal distortion were documented throughout the site.**
Unbeknownst to Agent Brooks, multiple family members and close acquaintances died mere hours before Operation PUNKLOVER. Analysis confirms this event directly corresponded with an extreme SDC spike.
Addendum-02 : Test log 9678-T
Foreword: Comprehensive background analysis confirmed a statistically significant clustering of adverse events in Agent Nathan Brooks' personal life. These include repeated failures of digital authentication systems, light bulbs breaking spontaneously upon activation, abnormally frequent vending machine malfunctions and repeated injury from falling objects (including three separate air conditioning units).
Tests T01 to T03 were carried out with the consent of Agent Brooks.
Test Designation: 9678-T01
Date: 10/12/2016
Subject: Agent Brooks (male, 34, former Field operative)
Procedure: Subject instructed to access a restricted Foundation portal requiring completion of a simple arithmetic CAPTCHA (“7 + 5 = ?”).
Result: Despite correct input (“12”), system rejected entry attempt with on-screen error: “Incorrect value. Try again.” Repeated attempts with correct input produced identical rejections. (See attached capture, Figure 9678-T05-A.)
Control: Technician attempted the same CAPTCHA on the same terminal immediately after Subject vacated.
Result: Accepted on first attempt; login successful.
Notes: This marks the first documented case of SCP-9678 influencing deterministic arithmetic validation.
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| example of consistent SCP-9678 manifestation |
Test Designation: 9678-T02
Date: 10/12/2016
Subject: Agent Brooks (male, 34, former Field operative)
Procedure: Subject instructed to withdraw $20 from a standard ATM unit located at Site-404.
Result: Machine produced an error message, card was retained, and transaction was voided.
Control: Technician attempted same transaction immediately after.
Result: No error observed. Repeated several times with consistent success.
Notes: Event supports theory of computational state corruption.
Test Designation: 9678-T03
Date: 10/12/2016
Subject: Agent Brooks (male, 34, former Field operative)
Procedure: Subject instructed to fire his service weapon at the site’s shooting range.
Result: Weapon misfire, causing temporary blindness and minor burn injuries on the right hand of the subject.
Control: Technician attempted to fire the same weapon, using rounds from the same magazine.
Result: Target successfully hit.
Notes: Event considered baseline SCP-9678 manifestation.
Test Designation: 9678-T05
Date: 10/12/2016
Subject: D-91737 (male, 52, victim of numerous hit-and-run accidents)
Procedure: Test of blood samples to determine if any anomalous agent can be found.
Result: Sample mislabeled as “waste” and discarded prior to testing. No result.
Procedure: Test of blood samples to determine if any anomalous agent can be found.
Result: Blood sample tube accidentally broken before test could be conducted. No result.
Procedure: Test of blood samples to determine if any anomalous agent can be found.
Result: Subject resisted sampling procedure and required physical restraint. Analysis of acquired sample yielded no anomalous findings.
Notes: When questioned, D-91737 attributed his resistance to severe trypanophobia (fear of needles), reporting that he had reached his tolerance limit following the third venipuncture conducted that morning.
Test Designation: 9678-T07
Date: 10/12/2016
Subject: D-91797 (female, 23, previously employed as a “cooler”2 by multiple casinos in Las Vegas, suggesting awareness of SCP-9678’s effect by her employers)
Procedure: Subject instructed to access banking account through standard Foundation-issued laptop.
Result: Browser opens the page with no problem, then crashes as the subject enters credentials.
Control: A technician (holding an account with the same bank) attempted access using the same hardware.
Result: Technician unable to access the bank’s website. Subsequent testing confirmed worldwide service outages affecting the institution for several hours.
Notes: First documented case of a 9678-related event producing a direct negative effect on others. If this can be reproduced consistently, the potential for weaponization should be formally evaluated.
Test Designation: 9678-T08
Date: 10/18/2016
Subject: D-91866 (female, 32, history of multiple lightning strikes)
Procedure: Subject is tied to a pole during a storm. One meter away, a taller and more conductive lightning rod is installed (measurements confirm higher conductivity).
Result: Subject is struck by lightning nearly instantly.
Control: Lightning rod remains untouched.
Additional subject: D-91590 (male, 43, documented history of multiple lottery wins)
Procedure: D-91590 is tied to the same pole as D-91866 and left exposed.
Result: Lightning strikes the lightning rod, leaving the subjects completely unharmed for 14 minutes and 12 seconds. The lightning then strikes the subjects repeatedly, with the rod remaining untouched until the end of the storm.
Notes: Data suggests that close physical proximity to an SCP-9678-1 instance, sustained over a set period of time, can be sufficient to induce adverse outcomes—even in individuals otherwise characterized by statistically improbable “good fortune.”
Addendum-03 : Ethics Committee Review
The Ethics Committee has ruled against the proposed weaponization of SCP-9678 by employing SCP-9678-1 instances. The rationale is twofold:
1. Effective weaponization would necessitate total isolation of the instance and, in certain cases, the termination of their SDC-buffer. Such measures would create an institutional incentive to deliberately inflict suffering, rendering the proposal ethically unacceptable.
2. Weaponization offers no guarantee of reliable targeting. Owing to SCP-9678’s anomalous properties, the probability of collateral malfunction or operational backfire is assessed as unacceptably high.
Proposal closed. Further attempts at weaponization are prohibited.
Personal note: please, ensure Agent Brooks gets proper psychological care. Dr. Linburg, Ethics Committee.