SCP-3044

Evolution In A Bottle

Item #: SCP-3044

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-3044 is to be contained at Site-234 in the centre of a hermetically sealed chamber of at least 4m x 4m x 3m, accessible only via a double airlock system. Each section of the airlock must be capable of running a full biological decontamination protocol. Access to the chamber is to be granted only in the six hours following a Flash event, and only if the previous instance of SCP-3044-1 was successfully contained within SCP-3044. All maintenance must be performed during this time period, and no access is to be granted outside of this time frame for any reason. Due to this relatively small time frame, all maintenance personnel and other staff requiring access should be pre-approved by the Senior Researcher.

A robotic arm capable of remotely placing a new cap on SCP-3044 must be fixed to the ceiling, and must be used to reseal SCP-3044 following a Flash event if required. Ultra high-speed cameras capable of at least 100x zoom must be positioned in the containment chamber to allow for 100% visibility of SCP-3044's contents.

Description: SCP-3044 is a clear glass bottle with a spherical body measuring 1.2m in diameter, tapering up to a neck and mouth 28cm in diameter, with a full height of 1.7m. SCP-3044 contains a micro-environment typically unique from anything found on Earth. These environments are designated SCP-3044-1. At random intervals SCP-3044 will emit a bright flash of light (henceforth referred to as a Flash event) which lasts for less than a second.

During the Flash event the current instance of SCP-3044-1 is destroyed and replaced with a new instance. This new instance will begin as a layer of soil with an atmosphere and liquids, made up of seemingly random combinations of different elements. Shortly after the Flash event, signs of life will begin to appear within SCP-3044.

This life typically starts as bacteria or some other microscopic organism, whose presence can be inferred from visible changes in the composition of the environment. It then rapidly develops into plant and animal life, though many variations on this have been observed. Time within SCP-3044 flows at a highly accelerated rate, though this acceleration does not solely account for the speed at which life develops, suggesting some form of guided or controlled evolution. These factors make observation with the naked eye difficult.

SCP-3044 itself appears to be made up of non-anomalous borosilicate glass and is therefore easily broken. The original stopper found with SCP-3044 was replaced with a custom one allowing for easy sampling of the contents without risk of contamination in either direction. This sampling is to be done immediately after each Flash event.

Addendum #01: Following Incident 3044-001, containment procedures have been upgraded and a request to upgrade classification from Safe to Euclid has been submitted. See Incident Report for details.

Note: Upgrade to Euclid class confirmed.

Incident 3044-001 Final Report: On ██-██-199█, SCP-3044 suddenly and unexpectedly shattered while Researcher T███████ was in the containment chamber. The current instance of SCP-3044-1, in this case consisting of a large variety of fungal spores, was released into the air and inhaled by Researcher T███████. This rapidly resulted in severe seizures and then death. Over the course of the next hour Researcher T███████'s body, clothing, and all non-metallic objects on their person were completely consumed by the fungus. The reason for SCP-3044's shattering is believed to be high pressure caused by the buildup of spores within.

The seal on the containment chamber held, but the risk of contamination made entrance impossible. Over the course of the following nine days, the fungus was observed covering and consuming every surface of the containment chamber - albeit at a much slower rate than it consumed Researcher T███████ - at which point a Flash event occurred despite the damage to SCP-3044.

Following the Flash event SCP-3044 was found intact and in its original location, although the stopper was missing and the new instance of SCP-3044-1 occupied the entire containment chamber. The previous instance of SCP-3044-1 had been completely removed, though damage to the containment chamber walls was still present.

Personnel wearing Level 4 Biohazard Suits entered the chamber and inserted a new stopper, and attempted to retrieve any remains or equipment left by Researcher T███████, though none were found.

The new instance of SCP-3044-1 lasted for 4 days and 13 hours, during which time an ecosystem vastly more complicated than is usually created by SCP-3044 emerged, until the Flash event occurred and the new instance of SCP-3044-1 was once again contained within SCP-3044, the new stopper having remained in place. Following this incident, SCP-3044 was moved to a more secure biological containment facility.

+ Experiment Log 3044-A - Experiment Log 3044-A Following Incident 3044-001, experimentation began to determine the exact nature of SCP-3044's Flash events. Experiment 01

Test: A length of iron 50cm long was placed against the body of SCP-3044 and left until the next Flash event. Baseline expectation test.

Result: No effect. Following the Flash event, the iron rod was unchanged. Experiment 02

Test: Following a Flash event, the stopper was removed from SCP-3044.

Result: The primarily aluminium-based ecosystem began to grow out towards the mouth of SCP-3044, starting with flying organisms and followed later by vine-like tendrils growing out and over the outside of SCP-3044. Following the Flash event, the new instance of SCP-3044-1 filled the entire containment chamber; the ground was covered in soil with multiple large "lakes" of an unknown yellow-brown liquid, and the air within the chamber was replaced with a cloudy green gas. As per containment procedures, access to take samples of this environment was not granted. Experiment 03

Test: Directly following the previous experiment, the stopper was left out of SCP-3044.

Result: In a manner consistent with the effects observed during Incident 3044-001, the effect of SCP-3044 encompassed the entire chamber. Following the next Flash event, the new instance of SCP-3044-1 also encompassed the entire chamber. Note by Dr. ███████: Both instances in which SCP-3044-1 filled the entire containment chamber developed a far greater variety of lifeforms, and even began forming some basic weather patterns in the atmosphere. Once these experiments are concluded, consideration should be given to leaving the stopper out of SCP-3044 long-term. Experiment 04

Test: Directly following the Flash event in the previous experiment, the stopper was replaced in SCP-3044.

Result: Evolution within SCP-3044-1 proceeded as expected, although because the ecosystem within SCP-3044 was now isolated from that filling the containment chamber, evolution resulted in markedly different varieties of life-forms. Following the Flash event, SCP-3044-1 was once again contained entirely within SCP-3044, with all material (including the atmosphere) outside of SCP-3044 removed. Note by Dr. ███████: Following this experiment, I decided to check the samples we had taken from previous instances of SCP-3044-1 and stored. All of them were present and accounted for; it is unknown why they didn't vanish with the rest of their environments, when direct connection to the inside of SCP-3044 is obviously not required. A range-based factor, perhaps? Experiment 05

Test: SCP-3044 was temporarily transferred to the on-site Long Range Testing Chamber, with samples taken from the current instance of SCP-3044-1 placed at 100m intervals through the length of the chamber.

Result: All of the samples disappeared following the Flash event. Note by Dr. ███████: OK, not a ranged based effect. Line of sight, perhaps? SCP-3044 was sealed which suggests something a little more complex. Experiment 06

Test: As in Experiment 05. The stopper was removed from SCP-3044. Following the Flash event a series of random objects were placed at varying distances along the test chamber and the stopper was replaced.

Result: The new instance of SCP-3044-1 filled the entire length of the Long Range Testing Chamber. In order to ensure containment regular thermal decontamination protocols were run throughout the chamber until the next Flash event, at which point the new instance was fully contained within SCP-3044. The previous instance was completely destroyed, leaving behind the objects placed in the chamber. Summary from Dr. ███████: This is the full extent of the range of effect on SCP-3044 that we can safely test, but there's no reason to assume it can't go much further. If nothing else, this has highlighted the importance of maintaining proper containment on SCP-3044 - if a Flash event occurred in an uncontained environment while the stopper was removed, there's no telling what damage it would do. Replacing a non-trivial chunk of the Earth's surface with some random alien landscape would be the best case scenario. I'm suggesting that SCP-3044 be contained away from any other objects that are likely to destructively break containment. SCP-3044 itself isn't too difficult to contain - a sealed room seems like it will do the job - but it would only take the smallest amount of bad timing to end in disaster.