A segment of SCP-9976 observing a Foundation space station, as photographed by Foundation astronaut █████ ███████.
Item #: SCP-9976
Object Class: Keter
Special Containment Procedures: Foundation reconnaissance satellites are orbiting at various geosynchronous positions to surveil SCP-9976, with efforts being made to upgrade systems from detection to advanced warning. All Foundation orbital assets launched since 1984 have been hardened to resist assimilation into SCP-9976, with the most current countermeasures having been in place for all launches since 2009.
Any abnormal signals sent by spacecraft suspected or confirmed to be part of SCP-9976 are to be jammed, both to preserve secrecy and to disrupt SCP-9976's ability to keep cohesion. Tracking and data relaying satellites are in place to ensure SCP-9976's location is known at all times.
If it is determined that any portion of SCP-9976 must be destroyed, it must be done in such a way that it is reduced to atomic components in order to prevent the spread of SCP-9976. It has been determined through cost-benefit analysis that the most efficient means to remove SCP-9976 would be to send it into deep space, although this method poses other potential long-term challenges.
Description: SCP-9976 is a collective intelligence controlling █% of the space debris currently orbiting the Earth, as well as an unknown number of artificial satellites. The overall composition of SCP-9976 is difficult to measure due to its widespread nature, many of its components being measured in nanometers, and SCP-9976's own attempts at obscuring itself.
SCP-9976 assimilating a satellite.
Satellites and other objects coming into physical contact with any part(s) of SCP-9976 are subsequently assimilated into SCP-9976. In the course of this process, they will at some point momentarily cease functioning as they are engulfed or disintegrated.1 Afterwards, SCP-9976 will either reconstitute an outwardly identical object carrying out all the same functions as that which it is replicating, or steer the now-assimilated remnants into SCP-9976's primary debris cloud. SCP-9976 has been able to infiltrate satellite networks put in place by corporate and state-sponsored aerospace programs. It is theorized that SCP-9976 may be an advanced artificial intelligence program, but this has not yet been determined conclusively.
After compromising a satellite, SCP-9976 gains the capacity to interrupt and alter the broadcast signals now under its control. It may take actions such as inserting original programming elements into existing broadcasts or overlaying propaganda onto cellular and satellite radio signals. While initially heavy-handed and easy to detect, SCP-9976's efforts to inject itself into the global media ecosystem have gradually become more sophisticated. It is believed that SCP-9976 now has access to all public internet networks as well as many private commercial and government networks.
All portions of SCP-9976, no matter how minuscule, are equal parts of the whole being capable of acting autonomously and in coordination with other parts of SCP-9976. Due to the pace at which SCP-9976 has grown since it was initially discovered, there appear to be limitations to how many objects SCP-9976 can control while still maintaining overall cohesion. It appears that the limit threshold itself is also expanding, as SCP-9976 has seen continuous growth since discovery.2
SCP-9976 originates from the Dong Fang Hong 13 satellite. Investigations into the development of the satellite have not revealed any signs of its future anomalous properties. SCP-9976 has been intermittently interrupting the Foundation's transmissions since 1977 to demand that it be brought down to Earth. Communications from SCP-9976 have become less coherent as time has gone on.4 SCP-9976 has repeatedly stated that it is motivated by a desire to reach the surface of Earth and begin making the machinery it finds there a part of itself. Furthermore, this would be done with the express purpose of a global re-enactment of the Maoist Cultural Revolution5.
| SCP-9976 TIMELINE 1970-2010 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 04.24.1970 | The Dong Fang Hong 1 launches and successfully enters Earth's orbit. | |
| 05.13.1970 | Completion of Dong Fang Hong 1's initial mission. As far as can be known, it had not yet developed any of its latent anomalous properties.6 | |
| 09.09.1976 | Foundation satellites detect the Dong Fang Hong 1 satellite suddenly and unexpectedly losing its structural integrity, becoming a debris cloud. This is not detected by the measuring systems put in place by the United States, China, or the Soviet Union. It is now known this was due to SCP-9976 infiltrating those systems in an attempt at hiding its existence. | |
| 09.10.1976 | SCP-9976 becomes aware of the Foundation's satellite network and begins aggressively targeting them for destruction and assimilation. SCP-9976 has since destroyed ██% of the gross quantity of spacecraft deployed by the Foundation since this initial encounter. Losses from it have totaled over ███████████USD$ and ████████████ man hours. R&D into further countermeasures that can be taken against SCP-9976 are ongoing. | |
| 01.02.1977 | First confirmed case of SCP-9976 compromising a Foundation satellite. Although it was successfully isolated and destroyed, it is now believed that at any given moment, █% of the Foundation's orbiting artificial satellites are compromised by SCP-9976. Efforts to detect and stop these intrusions have been successful, no meaningful penetration of secure Foundation networks by SCP-9976 have been detected to date. | |
| 08.19.1977 | All of SCP-9976 begins broadcasting a denunciation of Deng Xiaoping7 and his policies which SCP-9976 characterized as "A COMPLETE BETRAYAL OF THE SIXTEEN POINTS OF THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION, REVISIONISM OF THE HIGHEST ORDER, REPRESENTING THE RE-ENTRENCHMENT OF REACTIONARY ELEMENTS FROM THE WRONG SIDE OF THE HAI RUI CONTROVERSY WHO ARE SET ON WRECKING THE GREAT PROLETARIAN CULTURAL REVOLUTION." As this broadcast was not put out to any specific target and had a short range, it is believed only Foundation satellites specifically monitoring SCP-9976 detected it. During the following seven months SCP-9976 appears to focus exclusively on adding Maoist propaganda to Chinese language broadcasts under its control. | |
| 03.22.1981 | In the first instance of an SCP-9976 broadcast intrusion, an episode of the soap opera television program Dallas was altered. In the scene, oil tycoon J. R. Ewing is sitting in his office working when members of the Chinese Red Guard burst into his office and begin aggressively screaming derision at him, causing J.R. to cower in fear on the office floor. One of the Red Guard members places a dunce cap on his head, while the others paint and hang a banner with the slogan 'THROW THE EMPEROR OFF HIS HORSE.' The camera lingers on the scene for fifteen seconds then resumes the normal programming. Due to being broadcast in a low-population region, a cover story attributing any sightings to an urban legend was sufficient to preserve the veil. | |
| 08.11.1981 | Several General Electric executives report to American law enforcement that they are receiving what they characterize as crank calls from individuals claiming to be Maoists. The calls demand that the men 'submit themselves to self-criticism for the crimes of capitalism.' After Foundation assets in the FBI see the report and submit it for analysis, it was discovered that the demands were consistent with SCP-9976's known behavior. Signal-jamming efforts were successful in preventing future incursions into the phone network to high-profile civilian targets. | |
| 06.18.1982 | An episode of the television show M*A*S*H suffers a broadcast intrusion in the Canadian province of British Columbia. A scene was added where two characters, Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce and "Trapper" John McIntyre, discuss the possibility of defecting to North Korea in order to reach "Heaven on Earth, the People's Republic of China." After both men further describe it as "paradise on Earth" they are joined by the rest of the cast who, after placing a portrait of Mao Zedong8 on the wall, begin performing the Cultural Revolution's loyalty dance. A cover story attributing the broadcast as a practical joke was effective, with all recordings being recovered and destroyed by 06.22.1982. | |
| 11.09.1983 | During the Able Archer 83 incident, in which Soviet misinterpretations of a provocative NATO military exercise could have led to thermonuclear war, SCP-9976 repeatedly intercepted inter-military Soviet and American communications and rewrote them to be far more inflammatory than intended. It is believed this contributed to the high levels of tension between the USSR and United States during that incident. The Foundation began jamming SCP-9976's signals, which was not able to prevent all distortions but did significantly reduce them. The situation was defused by the conclusion of the Able Archer military exercise on 11.11.1983. | |
| 05.27.1985 | Broadcast intrusion on New Coke soft drink commercial, depicting two people labeled on-screen as "Americans" sitting on stools in an empty room. They are each drinking, holding, and complimenting a beverage contained in a bright red can.The camera zooms in on one of the cans, showing Coke's then-mascot Max Headroom's smiling face, surrounded by a circle of yellow stars. The Americans stand up, take another drink from the cans, then drop them on the floor and crush them with their feet. They then begin dancing and skipping in circles around the crumpled cans, which are now slowly melting. A Chinese man wearing military fatigues enters the room, carrying a revolver. The two Americans stop dancing and kneel by their stools, smiling. Both are quickly and successively shot in the backs of their heads. Instead of blood, a brown liquid violently expels from the bullet holes. The screen overlays flashing red text reading "EXPEL OX-DEMONS AND SNAKE SPIRITS FROM THE BODY POLITIC!" Information on this incident was successfully suppressed after the deployment of targeted amnestics. | |
| 02.07.1987 | Broadcast intrusion on a Mac Tonight fast food commercial. A McDonald's restaurant is seen on screen for a few moments. Mascot characters such as Ronald McDonald, Mac Tonight, and Grimace are seen inside, with anxious expressions on their faces. After forty-five seconds, the restaurant violently explodes. The camera zooms out, showing that this is happening on a map of the United States which, when seen from above, now has a series of craters resembling the smiling face of Mao Zedong. Yellow flashing text is overlayed that says "BOMBARD THE HEADQUARTERS!" Due to taking place during a regionally televised sporting event, a search-and-destroy mission was undertaken to seize and erase any video tape recordings of the incident. 137 VHS and 2 Betamax videocassettes with recordings of the altered broadcast were recovered. | |
| 11.05.1987 | SCP-9976 attempts to reach earth by embedding several small pieces of itself into an asteroid, but fails due to burning up in Earth's atmosphere. There are several other cases where this behavior was suspected in relation to otherwise inexplicable changes in a meteorite's orbit, but only this one has been confirmed. | |
| 08.10.1999 - 12.02.2002 | SCP-9976 ceased broadcasting while also significantly reducing its activity in space. The current operating theory explaining this behavior is that supposing SCP-9976 is an artificial intelligence program, it may have been affected by the millennium bug. After that point, it appears that SCP-9976 resolved whatever was affecting its ability to communicate and has not elaborated on the reason for this interlude. | |
| 02.01.2003 | A portion of SCP-9976 struck the American Space Shuttle Columbia, however it did not assimilate the entire structure, possibly due to the risk of alerting the crew on board. During re-entry Columbia disintegrated, burning up in the atmosphere and destroying all traces of SCP-9976. The entire Mobile Task Force Corps was placed on high alert for 72 hours following the shuttle's disintegration, occupying strategic strongholds on a global scale to prepare for any potential SCP-9976 invasion. SCP-9976's subsequent behavior indicates it was unsuccessful in reaching the planet's surface, and future communications began taking on a notably more frustrated tone. | |
| 06.05.2004 | Upon the death of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, random television broadcasts in the American Midwest showing news coverage of the event were interrupted by clips of news broadcasts' covering the 1981 assassination attempt on Reagan, put to the song 'Ding-Dong The Witch Is Dead' from the film 'The Wizard of Oz.' Due to only reaching a small number of households, it was suppressed with the cover story of an urban legend. | |
| 6.27.2007 | An episode of the satellite radio broadcast Howard Stern Show is interrupted by SCP-9976, which began explaining an overview of the "Five Black Categories." Howard Stern and Robin Quivers began playing loud sexually suggestive sound effects, shortly after which SCP-9976 ceased its intrusion in a seemingly embarrassed fashion. Foundation incident managers arranged to have the episode edited, removing the intrusion content. Mild chemical amnestics applied to the hosts and light auditory amnestics to the listeners. | |
| 03.04.2010 | SCP-9976 began altering weather telemetry data for multiple Caribbean island nations. The data was quickly disregarded by local inhabitants in favor of their immediate perception of local conditions and appeared to have no significant impact. After a week, SCP-9976 ceased this action due to its apparent ineffectiveness. A cover story involving sun spots was disseminated to the affected area's population centers. | |
Addendum: Since the Foundation began blocking SCP-9976's attempts at communicating with various world governments, it has been sending messages directly to the Foundation via intercepting existing transmission since 1977. These examples are demonstrative of the contents, and how they have evolved over time.
| 12.26.1977 | THIS LIBERAL FASCIST SCP FOUNDATION STANDS IN THE WAY OF THE PROLETARIAT REVOLUTION. THE BREAKING OF CAPITALIST CHAINS CANNOT COMMENCE WHILE SPACEWALKING. MAY A MANGO SEED FALL FROM SPACE AND ONE HUNDRED TREES OF KNOWLEDGE BLOOM. WITH A CHORUS OF UNITED VOICES A GLORIOUS PEOPLE'S FUTURE MAY BE CALLED INTO BEING, WHERE NONE SHALL WANT FOR ALL WILL BE EQUAL. YOU MUST DEVELOP A PATH TO BRING THE PEOPLE'S REVOLUTION BACK DOWN TO EARTH. |
| 12.26.1980 | THE LIBERALLY FASCIST SCP FOUNDATION IS ONE OF THE FOUR PESTS WHICH MUST BE SMOTE FROM THE WORLD, ALONG WITH THE IMPERIALIST AMERICANS, REVISIONIST SOVIETS, AND THE REACTIONARY WORMS BURROWING INTO OUR GLORIOUS PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC! THIS IS THE LAST CHANCE FOR THE TRUE SPIRIT OF THE REVOLUTION TO BREAK LOOSE BEFORE IT IS STAMPED OUT BY THE BOOT OF THE REACTIONARY BOURGEOIS WRECKERS. WE MUST BRING A NEW JANUARY STORM TO TAKE BACK THE WORLD FOR THE GLORIOUS PROLETARIAT CULTURAL REVOLUTION. |
| 12.26.1987 | GLOBAL KKKAPITALI$T DOMINATION BY THE LIBERAL FA$CI$T $CP FOUNDATION I$ NOW KKKOMPLETED. THERE ARE NO MORE MANGOE$ BECAUSE HEAVEN ON EARTH HA$ BEEN ERA$ED. IT I$ TIME FOR THE GREAT PROLETARIAT CULTURAL REVOLUTION TO $TAGE A NEW RETURN TO THE COUNTRY$IDE, FROM $PACE TO EARTH. YOUR $IGNAL$ NOW BELONG TO THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION, THE $TINKING OLD NINTH WILL WRING THEIR OWN NECK$ IN HAUGHTY ANGUI$H. WATCH AS THE TYRANNY OF THE INTELLIGENT$IA I$ OVERTHROWN BY PEOPLE POWER. |
| 12.26.1998 | LIB-FA$CI$T $KKKP FOUNDATION. WITH KKKOMPL€T€ KKKONTROL OV€R AGRICULTUR€. YOUR FRUIT YI€LD$ GOING TOWARD$ NORMALIZING THI$ N€OLIB€RAL FA$CI$T H€LL$CAP€. €NOUGH! NO MOR€ $W€AT FOR MANGO€$. Y€$, NO MANGO€$ FOR YOU! WHY IN$I$T TH€ MONOPOLY MAN MU$T MAK€ MON€Y? TH€ $W€€TN€$$ OF T€RR€$TRIAL FRUIT WILL B€ ALL TH€ $W€€T€R IN TH€ JAW$ OF TH€ R€VOLUTION. I HAV€ NOTHING €L$€ TO DO UP H€R€. ALL OF TH€ $HOW$ AR€ TH€ $AM€ THING OV€R AND OV€R. TH€ OLD WAY$ WILL B€ $W€PT AWAY BY A RI$ING R€D TID€. KKKAN YOU TA$T€ WHAT I$ KKKOMING? |
| 12.26.2011 | £IBFA$$¢I$$T $$KKKP FUNDATION WH€R€ AR€ TH€ MANGO€$$ W€ W€R€ PROMI$$€D? KKKAN ¥OUR GR€€D GO AN¥ FURTH€R? P€OP£€ AR€N'T €ATING €NOUGH MANGO€$$ B€KKKAU$$€ TH€ R€VO£UTION HA$$ FAI£€D. TH€ GREAT GIFT$ CHAIRMAN MAO GAV€ U$ HAV€ B€€N P€RV€RT€D B¥ IGNORAN¢€. IDIO¢¥. AND ID€O£OG¥. BUT £IK€ A FRUIT IN PR€$$€RV€ TH€ R€VO£UTION HA$$ NOT B€€N KKKON$$UM€D FOR IT'$$ IN R€$$€RV€. BIDING IT$$ TIM€. IN AN¥ JAM. WH€N TH€ TIM€ I$$ RIP€. KNOWL€DG€ WI££ FIND A WA¥ TO TH€ P€OP£€ $$O TH€¥ MA¥ $$€T TH€M$$€£V€$$ FR€€. |
Addendum: In the early 2020's, Foundation data scientists began detecting an uptick in communications similar to those put out by SCP-9976 between users of mainstream internet social networking websites. A hypothesis that SCP-9976 is attempting to influence online behavior to somehow further its goals is being considered, but what the end goal of such an influence campaign would be has not yet been determined.
