SCP-4236

Item#: 4236 Level2 Containment Class: keter Secondary Class: none Disruption Class: ekhi Risk Class: notice link to memo



Photograph of a previously-used storage facility for paper instances of SCP-4236.

Special Containment Procedures: All newly-discovered instances of SCP-4236 are to be secured for containment as soon as possible. Instances are to be submitted for review before digitization and then secured in standard document storage. Any civilians with direct exposure to unedited instances of SCP-4236 are to be interviewed before being administered class-A amnestics.

Foundation agents are to work with social media platforms to remove any pre-review instances of SCP-4236. Instances that contain classified information, technical documents, or audiovisual material of famous individuals should be of the highest priority. A small number of instances of SCP-4236 which contain classified or technical information may be edited and re-published onto online conspiracy-theory communities as part of an ongoing disinformation campaign.

Under the condition in which no instances of SCP-4236 are discovered within the period of a complete calendar year, SCP-4236 is to be submitted for re-classification to class: Neutralized.

Description: SCP-4236 refers to artifacts of anomalous origin first appearing in the late 1940s. SCP-4236 instances take the form of assorted media both physical and digital. Historically, instances of SCP-4236 have been recovered from secure military and government facilities among non-anomalous materials. Starting in the late 1980s, SCP-4236 instances have begun manifesting in far more unsecured locations. During the 90s, instances of SCP-4236 became increasingly common online, culminating in a peak of approximately twelve thousand new instances being detected and contained during the 2015 calendar year. The rate of appearances has since been showing a steady decline.

The first reports of SCP-4236 were obtained from UIU records. The UIU initially deemed SCP-4236 a hoax before instances of SCP-4236 were discovered in secure facilities among classified information. To date, over five hundred and seventy thousand instances of SCP-4236 have been detected and contained. Early Foundation research into the origin of SCP-4236 instances suggested the presence of a memetic agent. However, efforts to detect a memetic agent related to SCP-4236 have failed, and testing has concluded that instances of SCP-4236 do not have cognitohazardous properties. A more modern hypothesis, supported by recent advances in Hume Decay Analysis, suggests that instances of SCP-4236 are manifesting from a parallel reality designated SCP-4236-A.

SCP-4236-132. A photograph of what is believed to be SCP-4236-B with two unidentified engineers.

SCP-4236 instances are characterized by references to an object designated SCP-4236-B. Information cataloged from SCP-4236 suggests that SCP-4236-B is an anomalous device located in secure storage in the Groom Lake Air Force Facility in Nevada within SCP-4236-A. The intended effect of SCP-4236-B is unclear, despite instances of SCP-4236 providing significant historical documentation of its construction.

Technical information retrieved from SCP-4236 describes SCP-4236-B in a manner that does not seem to operate within the currently accepted understanding of particle physics. Initial experimentation with the theoretical principles outlined in instances of SCP-4236 has been met with complete failure, suggesting that physical laws may behave differently within SCP-4236-A.

All instances of SCP-4236 recovered have been dated no farther than the date of discovery, suggesting that the flow of time within SCP-4236-A remains consistent with that of baseline reality. Patterns of information thus far provided by SCP-4236 suggest a geopolitical history nearly identical to baseline.

Addendum 01: SCP-4236-00016 Military Engineering Report on the Construction and Activation of SCP-4236-B

Memo from the office of Lieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves Jr. of the Army Corps of Engineers to the staff of facility ████████. ██/██/████. It is my great pleasure to announce that Project Silver Gear has been an overwhelming success. The team down at ██████████ have informed me that Gear-3 is operational as of this morning. Already the effects are observable, and I've got men in labs telling me that within the next eighty years we'll be seeing a complete reversal of expected behavior so long as Gear-3 is left in proper care. We've got a transport team already prepping the device for airlift, and with any luck it'll be humming along just dandy in that climate-controlled warehouse they've got out in Nevada before midnight. Once we have this thing off-base I'd like to start giving extended vacation time to everybody personally involved, in addition to the letters of recommendation I'm sending to both the Pentagon and the White House over these next few weeks. What we've done here may be the greatest accomplishment in human history. Despite the knowledge that the general public may never know what we've done here, I want you to all know that I could not be more proud of you and your service to this great nation. Gear-1 and Gear-2 really brought us all down, but we worked through it and proved that nothing is impossible for the greatest minds in science and engineering Americans have to offer. - Lieutenant General Leslie Groves

Addendum 02: SCP-4236-01087 Newspaper Article Related to the De-Classification of SCP-4236-B

Article from The New York Times, 1988, pg. 12 De-Classified Documents Reveal Military Science Experiment This week the Pentagon de-classified several hundred documents relating to research conducted by the US Army Corps of Engineers. The documents date from the late 1940's up until the mid 60's, and most detail unsuccessful research projects. One item, however, has made quite a stir in the physics community. Dubbed "Silver Gear" by the Army, this project apparently resulted in the creation of a successful device known as "Gear Three" according to paperwork from the time. Gear Three is described as a device that passively alters certain fundamental processes of space-time as described by Einstein. The Pentagon confirmed later in the week after media questioning that the device is still functional and currently located in a secure facility. Scientists familiar with the theories involved have suggested that the device is almost miraculous in nature if it truly performs as described. A photo released among de-classified documents this week by the Pentagon. "Gear Three" is described as a device which uses previously classified scientific developments in order to change certain fundamental laws of the universe. The Times was able to speak with a retired Army Corps researcher who asked to remain anonymous, suggesting that he was unsure if policy permitted him to speak on the function of the device in an official capacity. He told our interviewer that: "Gear Three, at least in theory, affects the expansion of space within our reality. Although we can't yet see the effects because of the cosmological horizon, the energy produced by Gear Three is expected to be causing the expansion of space to slow, and eventually reverse. Eventually, we may see the effects of this on Earth as certain processes associated with entropy no longer behave as expected. I can't express how happy I am, and I expect many others associated with the project are, for the general public to be able to read and hopefully gain inspiration from our accomplishments." According to the researcher, as well this writer's limited understanding of the technical information available, we can't expect to see testable alterations in the behavior of particle physics until about 2015. Surely much of the larger scientific world will be giddy at the concept of an entirely new physics to explore and test when that day comes.

Addendum 03: SCP-4236-12523 Video Transcript

VIDEO LOG DATE: June 17, 2013 NOTE: Excerpt of Video Transcript. Interview of President of the United States Barack Obama by Charlie Rose for PBS. This section of the interview lasts approximately one minute and twenty-five seconds in total and is the only material not present in other recordings of the same broadcast. A still from SCP-4236-12523. [BEGIN LOG] Rose: Let's move away from Guantanamo for a moment to talk about an issue that seems to be becoming more relevant in the past few weeks. During a campaign speech in 2008, you promised, in addition to fighting climate change, that your administration would 'take a look' at this device in Nevada and give the American people a definitive answer about whether we're going to keep it running or not. Since then, your administration has been silent on the matter. In the last several months there have been some isolated protests here in Washington with fringe groups claiming that you're ignoring "the most important issue". What would you say to them? The President puts his hand up to his mouth and he looks toward the corner of the ceiling before laughing briefly. The video then cuts back to Rose, who is smiling. Obama: Well, first of all, uh… I'd tell them that there is no single "most important issue" to America today. As Americans, uh… I believe it is our collective responsibility to face the issues that affect all of us head-on every day. That's what my administration is trying to do, and we can't pick out issues that only some people find important and decide to address them before the concerns of everybody else. The President begins to adjust his position in his seat and clears his throat. Rose: So you don't consider this issue a priority within your admin- Obama: Well now hear me out. We're always trying to listen to real problems. We've been making historic progress toward fighting climate change… uh, we've repaired relationships with our allies in Europe and the Middle East, we've done a lot of things and we're going to continue doing a lot of things that are in the shared interest of the American people and that fill our role as stewards in the global community. We haven't stopped uh… we haven't been ignoring this thing. We've got some very intelligent, capable people looking into what it is and what it means, it's just not what our focus is when it comes to communicating our plans right now as an administration. I would ask for these protestors to speak their mind and tell us what they consider important while being uh… respectful and patient. What I've found out over the course of my political career, especially as President- What I've found is that we solve issues with patience, and understanding, and the willingness to cooperate with each other. The video cuts to Rose who asks a question about a then-recent controversy regarding the NSA. [END LOG]

Addendum 04: SCP-4236-327464 Journal Entry of Unknown Author