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| SCP-843 |
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Item #: SCP-843
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-843 should be kept in the most likely site to encounter a severe threat or the beginnings of an XK-class scenario, at all times. In the event that SCP-843 is moved or removed from containment, it must be delivered by means of a relay, transferred between agents no more than one hour after each is brought into contact with SCP-843. No agent is to open SCP-843 in the event of such transferral. Opening the SCP may only be done through the use of machinery, and only when it is suspended by the thread described in further documentation.
SCP-843 is to be held in a cubic 1 m³ chamber lined with steel. The SCP is to be suspended in the center of the chamber by a thin thread, connected to a system which immediately severs said thread when an encrypted signal is sent from any member of security.
When SCP-843 reaches the one-hour point, an additional security detail is required within the range of said signal, scanning and attempting to determine potential threats, particularly among Keter-class SCPs. Any field or site agents who send a false signal to cut the thread holding SCP-843 are to be immediately reassigned to Keter duty. The reasoning behind this system is described under [Appendix SCP-843-01].
Description: SCP-843 appears to be a circular, brazen pocketwatch, held together by a clasp which opens towards a hinge on the 'head'. The front of this pocketwatch is embossed with the image of a train, traveling through the countryside. The back of the watch bears the word "Skiuld", likewise embossed in fine print; the remainder of the watch's rear half is bare. The interior appears slightly more modern, almost completely circular in form, and includes - under a thin, crystalline screen - references to day, week, month, and year, as well as hours, minutes and seconds. Despite the intricate, modern design, the watch keeps time in analog, on a 24-hour scale. The watch resides on a thin chain, apparently brass, roughly 0.5 m long and approximately 0.25 cm in width.
When opened, the hands of the watch seem to spin randomly before settling upon a certain time, one which bears no immediate semblance to the time in the given area. While the watch keeps time to the second, the hands move ''backwards'' at an extremely precise rate, on par with the best atomic clocks. Similarly, the other functions of the watch move backwards at the same pace, save for day, month and year, which remain at a certain date throughout. Efforts to change the time on the watch are fruitless, prior holders describing it as 'irrevocably stuck'. Attempts to force the watch backwards seem instead to shift it forth, and efforts to shift the watch forward appear to be utterly futile. Due to the nature of the device, the use of power tools is severely contraindicated.
SCP-843 was originally acquired by the SCP Foundation from an evidence locker in ██████, ███████, where Foundation agents liberated it from the ██████ police department. The local police department had found the watch on the body of a woman, one [REDACTED] thrown herself from the roof of a 42-story skyscraper. The watch was 'miraculously unharmed', and soon entered into the precinct's evidence locker.
The work of one agent quickly revealed that the watch had passed from owner to owner for several years, each of whom perished by their own hand in a suicide or suspicious accident. Its prior recipient had slit his own throat, and various others died by grisly means, each self-inflicted. In each case, the watch was the only piece of evidence linking the numerous reports. In every event, SCP-843 stopped at exactly 17:53:38.
After SCP-843 was acquired by the Foundation, repeated testing discovered its odd 'tendencies'. Primarily, when SCP-843 is held and opened, it immediately 'resets' to a countdown which, according to testing, shows precisely when its holder will be destroyed. In the case of sapient beings, this shows the precise date and time when they will die, though neither the manner nor the location can be discerned. In the event that the watch is held by non-sapient beings and/or objects, the countdown merely shows when that object or creature will become incapable of holding SCP-843. Due to this knowledge, it is suggested that replacing the thread for SCP-843 be performed primarily by D-class subjects unaware of the nature of the object, or by Dr. Bright, whose mortality is already questionable.
Furthermore, there appears to be a significant memetic danger involving SCP-843: when held by a sapient creature, it seems to 'overwhelm' their thoughts and actions. This is theorized to be the cause of its prior owners' suicidal behavior. For roughly 1.5 hours after the watch is held, it elicits few to no harmful effects, seeming only a strange pocket-watch. After this period of time, the person's body begins to synchronize with the watch, beginning with a raise in or lowering in heart rate to a multiple of thirty beats per minute.
A person questioned under the influence of the watch at this point noted that they could also hear an incessant 'ticking', even through earplugs. Three hours after a D-class subject was introduced to the watch, they began to seem mesmerized by the device, staring at it for minutes with no apparent response to outside stimuli. At roughly five hours, the subject began to worry over any perceived imperfections on their body, picking at various scratches and scars. Finally, at exactly seven hours and thirty one minutes, the subject entered a manic frenzy, clawing at the walls, attacking the researchers, and [DATA REDACTED] finally shot. The time on the watch was recorded as precisely 17:53:48, before being picked up by a researcher and returned to storage.
After the above incidents, direct testing on SCP-843 is limited to D-class subjects approaching the point of termination, held by a team of guards and medical professionals capable of restricting and/or terminating the subject should the issue be forced. Testing on SCP-843 is to be limited to timeframes more than twelve hours before the 'thread' is due to snap (see also Appendix SCP-843-01).
[Appendix SCP-843-01]
Due to the nature of SCP-843 to discern its holder's lifespan, its use as a warning system is meritable. SCP-843 is tied to the end of a thin cotton thread within its confinement, a blade positioned to cut through this thread only when a signal is sent to the system, or when SCP-843's containment is broken. This thread has been broken only twice: the first was a false alarm, produced when Agent ███████ accidentally hit the 'panic button' on his communications device; he was immediately transferred to Keter cleanup duty. The second was during the [REDACTED] hopes that such a situation will never again happen, though it is obviously quite possible.
[File SCP-843-01]
This document was taken from the home of one of SCP-843's former owners, collected by the regional police department. While the owner was the CFO of a major corporation, and in a decidedly expensive apartment, the paper was nonetheless written by his hand, and retained as potential evidence. The Foundation was able to take photocopies, and recovered the hard copy after substantial footwork. This file is archived here.