SCP-2700

Description

SCP-2700 is a complex mechanical device, believed to be a sophisticated directed-energy weapon developed by Serbian physicist and inventor, Nikola Tesla. The device was discovered in 1946, and recovered from a defunct but heavily secured research facility utilized by Tesla in [REDACTED] during 1934.

SCP-2700 consists of three components, the interface (SCP-2700-1), the accelerator (SCP-2700-2), and the core (SCP-2700-3).

SCP-2700-1 is a steel control console featuring a QWERTY keyboard, a 23cm x 23cm display screen, and a number of buttons, switches, and levers. SCP-2700-1 is connected to SCP-2700-2 and SCP-2700-3 by a network of copper wiring. The display screen features a command-based operating system, with commands and responses appearing in green block text. The nature of SCP-2700-1's operating system is still under investigation.

SCP-2700-2 is believed to be a linear particle accelerator, held in a lead-lined tungsten cylindrical chamber. The device contains all the components that would be required for a contemporary particle accelerator, though it is significantly smaller (7.35 meters in length) than a device of this design would require. Please see Document-SCP-2700-2 for full information on the individual components of the accelerator.

SCP-2700-3, identified as the "core" in Tesla's schematics, is a lead-lined tungsten assembly containing an apparatus of currently unclear function. This apparatus, which is observable via a silica glass view-port, consists of a spherical frame constructed of an unidentified substance. This frame is approximately 10 cm in diameter and suspended within a transparent sphere, the composition of which also remains unidentified. According to Tesla's notes, the space within this sphere is held in a perpetual vacuum state. Present within the frame is a continuous current of plasma, generated and perpetuated by unknown means.

Available information suggests that particles produced in SCP-2700-3 would then be introduced into SCP-2700-2 and accelerated as expected for such a device. Energetic particles would then be propelled from the terminus of SCP-2700-2 toward the intended target. How the device is powered, and the exact nature of the particles produced by SCP-2700-3, remains unclear.

Attention, Clearance 4/2700 personnel: the fact that you are able to read this text verifies your security clearance and access the following documentation. Please continue down to Document-SCP-2700-DE. Personnel under Level 4 may be granted emergency access to this document through Provision Ω-R5.

SCP-2700-Omega.

Item #: SCP-2700

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: The above falsified document is to be made available for all personnel without 4/2700 Clearance.

SCP-2700's containment vault is located 180 meters from the surface level entrance to Secure Bunker-███. The vault itself is to be insulated against seismic activity and safeguarded by three (3) sets of reinforced steel doors. Access to the vault is forbidden barring semi-hourly inspection, unless there is risk of an imminent containment failure and contingency procedures are necessary. All personnel entering the vault are to be equipped with batrachotoxin collars, which are to be activated for any breach of protocol.

SCP-2700 is to remain under constant surveillance, and all data regarding the state of SCP-2700-Omega is to be updated semi-hourly. Personnel tasked with accessing SCP-2700-1's operating system must adhere to a set of guidelines present in Document-SCP-2700-1. There is to be no direct interaction with SCP-2700-3 barring unanimous approval of the O5 Council; breaches of this protocol warrant immediate termination. Any change in the behavior of SCP-2700-Omega must be reported immediately, as such activity could result in a YK-Class Event.

Personnel assigned to the containment of SCP-2700 are to investigate all available material related to the origin and function of SCP-2700. The primary objective in regards to the artifact's containment is to be its deactivation prior to the occurrence of a YK-Class Event. In light of the catastrophic severity a possible breach by SCP-2700 presents, Statute-30-A may be waived by personnel with 5/2700 Clearance: proposals for the cross-neutralization of SCP-2700 utilizing other SCP objects (including those of Keter class) may be presented to the O5 Council for evaluation.

In the event of imminent containment failure, SCP-2700-3 is to be disposed of via the currently approved cross-neutralization SCP object.

Description: SCP-2700 is a device originally constructed by Nikola Tesla with the purpose of producing a directed-energy weapon. Investigation of the artifact while in Foundation custody, however, has proven that SCP-2700 possesses a function distinct from and significantly more dangerous than its original designs.

SCP-2700-1 and SCP-2700-2 are as described in the above document, however SCP-2700-3 is not. The luminescent anomaly located in the center of SCP-2700-3 is not plasma, as previously indicated, but a discrete energy phenomenon now designated SCP-2700-Omega. SCP-2700-Omega behaves inversely with regards to entropy: the energy state within its boundaries constantly moves from thermal equilibrium to thermal singularity, from disorganized to organized. In other words, the flow of energy moves from the state of maximum entropy to minimal entropy, which is opposite to the standard for the rest of the universe. Due to this, the effective flow of time within this region is also reversed. Presently the unidentified materials surrounding the region (the frame and transparent sphere) are immune to the effects of SCP-2700-Omega; this appears to be the only factor preventing a breach of the phenomenon.

If SCP-2700-Omega were to escape the interior of SCP-2700-3, an inexorable chain-reaction would occur, converting the rest of the universe to this inverted entropic state. The eventuality of this scenario would be a YK-Class Entropic Annihilation Event, resulting in the reduction of the entire universe to an infinitely energetic singularity (ostensibly an inverted Big Bang).

As indicated by SCP-2700-1, the device is currently armed and set to activate in 2234 (exactly three hundred years after its initial arming). As this would inherently trigger a breach of SCP-2700-Omega, current containment protocols must be completed prior to the set date to avert a YK-Class Event.

Addendum [2700-001] The following is an excerpt from personal log written by Tesla in 1934.

It stands before me, complete and inescapably counting down toward the nexus of my oversights and failures.

Only one month ago, I was approached by a man I had never seen before. He…was the most content person I had ever seen. His eyes felt like a window into serenity. He said he was looking for the most curious mind in the world, and I was it. Apparently I wasn't hard to distinguish from the billions of other minds on the planet, not that that surprises me. Somehow I knew immediately that he wasn't…from here, and I felt self-conscious about this world-my world. It felt humiliating to me. I think he knew what I was feeling.

During those brief windows when I was not isolated in my work, I would glimpse the events unfolding elsewhere. I never cared for what I saw. The world is too broke to feed itself, and it's responding like any hungry animal. It's angry; war is coming. I can only hope that in the conflict nature will take its course, and the lingering degenerates of our species are expunged. It's because of the degenerates that war erupts, and war is the only thing that can clean them from civilization. That is the way of any system; when the…unnecessary pieces build up to critical mass, chaos brings the destruction that returns things to equilibrium.

But his smile just seemed to cut right through the maelstrom of disgust and inadequacy in my head.

Then came the truth: he was looking for the most ingenious minds from each of the other universes. He found my lack of astonishment to the phrase "other universes" surprising. I asked how many there were, and he said he did not know; in addition to his own and mine, they had only found five others that were coherent and could support life. If anything, I was astonished that there were only seven found. He laughed at that, said I seemed promising to him. I asked him what he wanted me for.

"To unlock science's final secret."

We prepared for departure over the next twenty-four hours. I asked the traveler if I could take my project with me and have his people look at it, to which he replied that it would be no problem. The Teleforce had hit substantial roadblocks; I had no way to develop a power source sufficient for it. I didn't tell him what it was: I just said it was just an accelerator, not a weapon. I didn't want him second-guessing my motivations. I thought that if I could complete it in his universe, I could bring it back and take care of the…equilibrium problem myself.

We left in the early morning, I admit, while the prospect of another universe didn't shock me considerably, the premise of actually travelling there was intriguing. The traveler grabbed my arm and adjusted something attached to his wrist; it resembled a simple watch but I couldn't get a good look at it. There was an intense flash and everything went black. For an instant I thought I'd been blinded, then I felt the terrifying free-fall. Tumbling through infinite darkness at unfathomable speed; I had never been more frightened in all my life. Even so, I experienced wonder and anticipation such that I had never known. Then, in an instant, it all stopped. I opened my eyes and saw…words fail to do it justice. More accurately, our words fail to do it justice. Just as I cannot write the traveler's true name in these letters and be satisfied with it, I cannot describe the transcendent beauty of his home-world. It was a world with a pulse, a life that I could palpate, and at that point I felt the enormity of my world's hollow and primitive nature collapse upon me. I cried, not at his world's beauty but at my world's sheer inferiority.

I'm relieved that he never realized the real reason behind those tears.

I was brought to a city, again, I am using the word "city" as nothing more than the most appropriate analogue. There the traveler introduced me to his family, and to many of his people. That feeling of contentment that he gave me during our first encounter now surrounded me on all sides; my sense of shame only deepened. This world wasn't just better, it was the closest thing to perfection that I could possibly imagine. They weren't pointlessly cheery, but they would not tolerate any of the idiotic and trivial nonsense that people fret over here.

Then I met the others. One from each universe, as the traveler explained to me (him being the representative of his own universe). I will not go into details on their appearances; this is irrelevant and ephemeral information that reveals nothing of their vast intellect and ingenuity. I spent at least…a day simply talking with them. I kept my pocket watch with me during my visit, it was the only thing that kept record of Earth's time while I was there. They have their own form of time, of course, but it was more practical for me to keep using ours.

I vastly enjoyed the time I spent conversing with them. We spoke of things I would never dare reference as "science" here, but they thought of it as no more strange than gravity itself.

The traveler told everyone what the great project he had assembled us for was. We were to build a perpetual energy generator. Not only did this instill in me appropriately infinite fascination, but I identified that this was just what the Teleforce needed. Naturally, I volunteered my device to them to be the test subject for the generator once it was finished, just to see if it worked. To my delight, they accepted this proposal and we got to work.

Over the course of a few short weeks, we compiled our data and at last it was I that found the solution: the properties of two specific substances, each from a different universe, when in interaction, should produce the reaction that would catalyze infinite energy. Both samples had been taken from universes that were inhospitable to our form of life; their subatomic nature was not only at odds with the realm in which I was residing, but with each other. It was only by virtue of a "causal membrane" the others provided me with that the samples could remain in existence here. I was certain that this paradoxical interaction was the key.

I pored over the notes for nights, trying to finalize the designs. It was at that time that one of the others came to me, offering his help. The "watcher" is what I liked to call him. That is what he did: he watched me all the time, I don't know why, and he claimed I was just "interesting." Certainly disconcerting, but I can admit to having the same feeling myself often. He peered over my notes, and pointed out something I had missed, a simple error I had overlooked. With that, my calculations were complete, and we were ready to begin the test. I was ecstatic!

The day came, and the traveler and I loaded the core into the Teleforce for our initial test. At first everything was going as we had foreseen, but when we inspected it one hour later, one of the others noticed something unusual: the amount of energy inside the core seemed to be diminishing, which didn't make any sense at all.

Then the horrific realization came: it wasn't diminishing, the energy was converging upon itself infinitely. The core was reversing the flow of entropy. None of the others failed to see the critical danger of this predicament. If we could not neutralize the reaction, it could disrupt the flow of entropy for the entire universe. It would reverse time to the birth of existence.

Hastily, I accessed the console of the Teleforce, and saw that someone had set it to activate in three hundred years. I tried to disable it, but I could not. The system would not recognize my commands, which can only mean that someone sabotaged the console. Then it clicked in my head with absolute certainty.

I spun to face the watcher and declared him the culprit of the situation. He gave a smile that seemed to contain more malice than any one being should be capable of. He denied nothing, and went further: he explained that only he knew how to deactivate the Teleforce, and that disassembling it would do nothing but spread the reaction sooner. He leered at me in that way he always had, and I cursed myself for not figuring him out sooner; some "greatest mind" I was. Then he said it: What right did I have to hold him with contempt when I too came here to complete a weapon? Clearly, those wretched eyes had found my journal, for he then begun to describe the Teleforce's function and purpose. He commended me for coming to another universe to build it, rather than risk building it in my own, as it was exactly what he did. Why did he set it to three hundred years? It was merely a safeguard to ensure it didn't activate while he was still there.

The watcher then disappeared back to his own universe, taking the only device capable of reaching it with him. We were left there with my great invention, now a time bomb for this universe that I had grown so fond of. Why did the Watcher want to create such a weapon in the first place? I don't know or care anymore. All I cared about was the fear and hopelessness of the traveler, his family, and his world. It was my theories that brought this upon them, it was all my fault. The traveler, though, did not blame me, and I think that was the final sign that I had to do what I did.

I took the Teleforce back here. I took the death of existence back to my universe, where it belonged. I have betrayed all lifeforms in this cosmos, I have betrayed our entire future.

I am not sorry, and I am not apologizing. I could not let my legacy be the destruction of a universe I was not even worthy of. It seems I will in the end bring the equilibrium I desired, and it will be the end of our degenerate universe.

The Teleforce is locked away safely. I spend my long hours before the pond with the birds. They are so blissfully unaware of what approaches, and that gives me just enough tranquility to tolerate my own existence.

A reversal of energy, of entropy, of time…if reversing time was a simpler task, perhaps I could have stopped this from ever happening and save our universe. No, I wouldn't have. I would have made our universe one worth saving.