SCP Foundation: Entries

SCP-1281

Item #: SCP-1281

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: The remains of SCP-1281 are kept at Outpost 120-09. Monitoring equipment will be installed around and within the entity in case it should ever become active again. Any proposals for study that might damage SCP-1281 must be routed through Command.

Description: SCP-1281 is a biomechanical entity found in the Kuiper belt during standard containment of .

SCP-1281 is roughly teardrop-shaped, with a flattened section designated as the bottom of the entity. It measures 12 meters from end to end, and is 11 meters in circumference at its widest point. Opposite, there is a significant bulge, which is believed to store the majority of SCP-1281's analysis equipment.

There are several dish-shaped structures on SCP-1281's surface that are presumed to be receivers for various forms of electromagnetic radiation, as well as lozenge-shaped capsules of unknown purpose. Several areas on its surface are broken, suggesting more appendages were once present.

Biological components appear to have been grown over a mechanical frame, evidently designed to live in deep space. When observed, the entity seemed to have difficulty coping with temperatures much warmer than the Kuiper belt. Its surface temperature was 50 Kelvin when first found.

SCP-1281 was apparently once capable of interstellar travel, but most of its systems were damaged by an unknown event that left it stranded. Dating methods suggest it to have been at least 1.3 billion years old, though much of that time was spent dormant.

The entity was almost entirely dormant when it was found. The only signs that it was active were faint lights running along its surface. Observation and experimentation showed that these were in response to radio waves. It had apparently been collecting signals for some time, but no sign of other functions could be detected until Foundation assets approached, at which point it began broadcasting.

It was able to break Foundation decryption in less than one hour, at which point it began broadcasting binary signals in an attempt to communicate, starting with extremely simple mathematical concepts. However, after a report was transmitted back to Earth, it stopped broadcasting for several days. The temperature of its dorsal bulge heated by five Kelvin during this time, apparently from processing the information.

SCP-1281: "Hurt."

Dr. Bloom: "Can you hear me?"

SCP-1281: "Who?"

Dr. Bloom: "We are the SCP Foundation. We are—"

SCP-1281: "What? Masters. No."

Dr. Bloom: "...No. We call ourselves humans."

SCP-1281: "Harbinger must... Message! Harbinger must..."

SCP-1281 shut down for approximately four hours. The temperature around SCP-1281's dorsal bulge heated up significantly, to about 60 Kelvin. The Foundation team went into standby, in the event that SCP-1281 became hostile, while a message was transmitted back to Earth asking for further instructions. The advised caution, but instructed Dr. Bloom to continue attempts to communicate, with an eye to bringing SCP-1281 into a containment solution.

SCP-1281: "Where is Harbinger?"

Dr. Bloom: "In the outer reaches of this solar system, beyond the planets."