SCP-1216

Symbol reconstructed from painted fragments of concrete that were broken when SCP-1216-1 was created. Believed to represent an instance of SCP-1216.

Item #: SCP-1216

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: A base of operations, Site-144, has been established surrounding SCP-1216-1. Instances of SCP-1216 may be retrieved at a limit of three per day. In the event of explorations into SCP-1216-2, personnel are to be equipped with Environmental Protection Ensemble 12 (Desert).

Instances of SCP-1216-4 are to be tracked by satellite from Site-144 and, when located, temporary containment is to be set up. Temporary SCP-1216-4 containment is to consist of a concrete-moored gap-free wooden fence circumscribing the instance's range. Given the nature of the sites at which instances of SCP-1216-4 appear, civilians are to be removed from the premises of any SCP-1216-4 containment site under the artifice of enforcing industrial safety standards. Upon dissipation of an SCP-1216-4 instance, temporary containment is to be ended. In the event that there are no suitable sites left for the appearance of instances of SCP-1216-4, replica sites are to be constructed in secure facilities and continually replenished with scrap metal.

Description: SCP-1216 is a species of pyramidal organisms native to an extradimensional space adjacent to Lenox, Massachusetts. However, they do not exhibit several characteristics of living organisms, among them reproduction and metabolism. The organisms range in scale from 5cm tall and .33kg to ca. 700cm tall and 7540kg, but are otherwise identical in appearance and proportions.

Instances of SCP-1216 have a square pyramid body with a base length exactly 1.5 times its height, with a thin, flexible, bowed leg on each lower vertex. Their legs are cylindrical and allow them to move in any direction without turning their bodies. They also have a pair of curved, cylindrical, flexible antennae attached to the uppermost vertex of their body. Situated at the ends of the antennae are two solid spheres composed of beryllium bronze with density 8.78g/cm³.

Except for the beryllium bronze spheres, instances of SCP-1216 are composed of an anomalous protein, henceforth pyramitin, which seems to be similar in structure to chitin, except that it has a bulk modulus and density comparable to that of cobalt. Pyramitin partially blocks EM radiation and does not break down chemically, frustrating spectrographic, electromicroscopic, and chemical analysis. From macroscopic observation, it is dark gray, non-reflective, non-porous, and always cool to the touch.

On the underside of the body is a conical mouth containing a proteinaceous turbine. By spinning this turbine, instances of SCP-1216 are able to generate suction. Above the turbine there is a dense, wrinkled mass of pyramitin which is impenetrable to both scans and dissection. The turbine and the mass above it appear to be the only internal organs — the rest of the hollow body cavity is filled with sand and particles of iron oxide.

The extradimensional space to which SCP-1216 is native, SCP-1216-2, is an unbounded flat expanse of subtropical desert. The expanse is lit by a small, stationary sun located at 48° above the horizon and 66° east from due south, heating it to a constant 26° C. These measurements remain the same no matter how far or in what direction one travels. It is of note that powered flight is not possible within SCP-1216-2 — by process of elimination it appears to be an unknown quality of the atmosphere. At current estimates, there are about 5100 instances of SCP-1216 of various sizes inhabiting SCP-1216-2.

SCP-1216 typically scuttle around the expanse in random patterns. On a constant basis, pieces of manmade scrap metal — ranging from nuts and bolts to the chassis of heavy construction machinery — emerge from the sand and are consumed by SCP-1216 through turbine suction. SCP-1216 gain no mass from consumption — X-ray fluoroscopy scans show the metal entering the dense organ in the center of the body and subsequently disappearing. SCP-1216 are able to communicate with one another through flexing their antennae and tapping their beryllium bronze spheres together in rhythmic patterns. This produces a clicking sound that echoes for a far longer time than can be replicated. Larger instances of SCP-1216 produce deeper sounds, move more slowly, and eat larger pieces of scrap metal.

SCP-1216 do not regard humans as threats and make no attempts to interact with them. SCP-1216 that were deliberately assaulted by D-class test subjects had no significant reaction and took no action against the D-class. When scrap metal was taken from SCP-1216 as they were about to consume it, they lost interest and found other pieces. Several instances of SCP-1216 have been successfully captured, transported into Site-144, and dissected with no resistance offered by the individual or the group. "Dead" instances of SCP-1216 — the term is ambiguous given their lack of life signs, although they do stop moving when dissected — are replaced after some time by SCP-1216-3.

The main feature of SCP-1216-2 is SCP-1216-3, a 400m tall pyramid composed of the same protein as the instances of SCP-1216 and with the same proportions. Aperiodically SCP-1216-3 will slowly excrete instances of SCP-1216 from its surface — these will stay the same size at which they were created. SCP-1216-3 is wholly impenetrable to all scans. It remains cool despite being in perpetual sunlight.

SCP-1216-2 is accessible through an irregularly shaped portal, SCP-1216-1, about 1.3m wide and 2.5m tall in a broken section of concrete wall in the first floor of a parking structure in Lenox, Massachusetts. Its existence was first noted shortly after Lenox was affected by the 2011 Virginia earthquake. Subsequently, several stray instances of SCP-1216 exited it and were captured on security camera, thus alerting the Foundation to their, SCP-1216-1's, and ultimately SCP-1216-2's existence. From inside, SCP-1216-1 floats 3cm above the ground and is effectively flat. It has depth — its inner edge is made of the concrete wall — but it is only visible when facing its opening, and cannot be seen from the back, even though the non-visible side feels like a solid barrier. Likewise, on the other side of the concrete wall, the hole simply allows one-way sight but not passage through it — it feels solid. Passing through the portal offers no adverse effects to human life.

At intervals of 2 to 5 days, a secondary portal to SCP-1216-2 will be established at any location on Earth which contains large amounts of discarded scrap metal — e.g. junkyards, shipwrecks or garbage dumps. This secondary portal, known as an instance of SCP-1216-4, manifests as a whirlpool of desert sand at the lowest point of the area. SCP-1216-4 may be between 3m and 12m in diameter. All solid unsecured matter within a range of twice the diameter is then sucked into SCP-1216-4, ultimately reemerging in the extradimensional space. The reason why only scrap metal emerges from the ground in SCP-1216-2 is as of yet unknown; non-metallic matter, including organic matter, does not appear in the expanse and is presumed lost. When all available matter has been sucked into SCP-1216-4, it consumes itself and shrinks in size until it has vanished, leaving no trace. Instances of SCP-1216-4 started appearing only after SCP-1216-1 opened.