SCP-3196

Description

SCP-3196 is a temporal anomaly that affects the book series collectively known as The Adventures of Rex Dangerly, written by author Devon Brackenridge (POI-3196) and published by Penguin Random House. The series follows the eponymous hero as he travels between various historical time periods and extraterrestrial locations. Instances of the second, third, fourth and fifth books in the series that were released before being written or published are labelled as SCP-3196-A-1-4 respectively. All SCP-3196-A instances bear the dedication; To the best of my fans, you know who you are. SCP-3196-A instances all contain publication dates ranging from 2008 to 2020.

SCP-3196 causes the materialization of the remaining unwritten entries in The Adventures of Rex Dangerly on days when new entries in the series are to be officially published, known as a PUB-Event. Bookstores set to receive copies of the new entries will also receive instances of SCP-3196-A, depending on the volume being released. SCP-3196-A instances will typically manifest near already published books in the Rex Dangerly series, either on distribution shipments, or at bookstore shelves and storage rooms. Manifestation is instantaneous, and commonly goes unnoticed.

SCP-3196 does not affect electronic book vendors, or secondhand bookstores.

Discovery-PUB-Event-01
On September 14th, 2006, bookstores that were set to receive shipments of the first Rex Dangerly book also received shipments of books purporting to be the next four entries in The Adventures of Rex Dangerly. An embedded agent of Task Force Rho-4 at Penguin Random House alerted the Foundation upon receiving multiple phone calls from confused bookstores.

Foundation Agents stationed in POI-3196's hometown of Phoenix, Arizona were able to secure an interview with him under the guise of FBI fraud investigators. This interview, as well as one conducted with his editor at Penguin Random House, confirmed that no further entries in the Rex Dangerly series had currently been written. Using the publisher's shipping manifest for the first book's publication, Mobile Task Forces were able to raid all bookstores that had received shipments of SCP-3196-A. These instances were confiscated under a cover story which involved the use of FBI assets to disseminate a fictitious narrative containing an attempt to defraud POI-3196, Penguin Random House, as well as various bookstores through the use of fake Rex Dangerly sequels.

Foundation literary analysts examining copies of SCP-3196-A were able to confirm the vocabulary and writing style matched that of previous works written by POI-3196, as well as matching the general content of the first Rex Dangerly book. All recovered instances were deemed to be non-anomalous.

Follow-up interviews with both distributors and bookstore employees revealed wide ranging inconsistencies in recalling how SCP-3196-A instances were acquired. Subsequent use of amnestics was deemed sufficient to cover up Foundation involvement in the investigation and confiscation of SCP-3196-A instances.

PUB-Event-02
On July 17, 2008, POI-3196 submitted his manuscript for the second book in the Rex Dangerly series, as well as his design for the cover art. Task Force Rho-4 was able to confirm that the content and cover was identical to that of SCP-3196-A-1. When October 1, 2008 was announced as the release date, plans for a second PUB-Event were drawn up.

The Tides of Neptune was successfully released on October 1, 2008, triggering a PUB-Event. Foundation Task Forces, utilizing a similar strategy as the first PUB-Event, were able to contain all SCP-3196-A instances with minimal difficulty.

SCP-3196-A instances contained during the second PUB-Event are identical to those contained during the first event.

Addendum 3196-2- Plot Information

Title: The Man and the Clocktower

General Synopsis: Rex Dangerly is a member of the Universal Time Corps, responsible for the safe keeping of Space-Time. On a routine mission to 1870's London, Rex becomes embroiled in a plot to overthrow the Monarchy, destroy the Parliament, and establish a Retro-Soviet authoritarian state. The man responsible is revealed to be Olms Praetor, Rex's superior officer, who wishes to destabilize time itself in order to rewrite history. At their final confrontation on Big Ben, Rex fatally wounds Olms.

Notes: The Man and the Clocktower is the first book in the series, and the only one not involved in SCP-3196.

Title: The Tides of Neptune

General Synopsis: Rex is assigned a case on Neptune, where it has been observed that the surface of the planet is undergoing unusual changes. Rex visits the colony of Armory, and witnesses a terraforming effort by an unknown alien entity. Tensions on Neptune between the corporate ruling committee and the rest of the civilian population come to a head, and civil war breaks out. The alien entity is destroyed by Rex as he tries to help restore order, but Neptune’s new climate destroys the colony, and Rex is sucked into space.

Notes: Of note should be POI-3196's lack of knowledge regarding Neptune itself.

Title: Through the Wormhole

General Synopsis: Rex is rescued at the last second by a traveling merchant ship. Beyond Pluto, alien vessels emerge from wormholes, while Universal Time Corps ships amass near Neptune in an effort to repel them. The two sides commence hostilities as the aliens reveal themselves to be displaced humans from another dimension. The leader of the refugees is their version of Olms Praetor, who rallied the survivors after their own reality began to disappear due to an unknown being. Afterwords, a massive wormhole opens up and pulls all the fighters inside.

Notes: A portion of the book describes "The Terra Collective", an organization allied with the Universal Time Corps that studies and collects anomalous artifacts and people. Deviation from the Foundation is significant, and is not considered a threat to collective secrecy.

Title: A View From Alexandria

General Synopsis: When both sides of the conflict are dragged into the newly created wormhole, they are greeted by future versions of Rex and Olms, who explain that the reality destroying entity is on his way to Rex's universe, where it will destroy conscious reality itself. Both Rex and Olms travel back to Ancient Egypt, where they hope to destroy the being before it can fully insert itself in their reality. As the entity begins to form, Rex receives a transmission from his future self, who explains he has already failed, before ceasing to exist.

Notes: In one chapter, Rex encounters a wandering wise man, who offers him advice regarding his current conflict. Of note is the line: "One day, the guardsmen will come, and bind your history in chains, to safeguard their future". POI-3196 has been unable to explain the meaning behind this line, or a possible connection to the Foundation.

Title: The Man From Out of Time

General Synopsis: The reality destroying entity manifests, and reveals itself to be Rex. Time and space are destroyed, and Rex is flung into nothingness. Rex slowly becomes able to alter reality to restore the shattered timeline, but finds himself unable to stop his dimensional and historical counterparts from re-enacting his own actions, leading to the consistent destruction of reality. In a last ditch effort, Rex allows his former reality to reform, and then wills himself out of existence before he is forced to meet himself and Olms in Ancient Egypt. Space and time reform within this singular dimension, and history is implied to continue beyond its original stopping point. In the epilogue, an unnamed figure wakes up on the beach of an alien world.

Notes: [See Below]

Addendum-3196-3: SCP-3196-A-4 is the only entry in The Adventures of Rex Dangerly to contain a foreword.

This is for you, who is no longer here. I regret that.

You gave me the seed that this idea grew out of. I wrote it all, and the words flowed like magic. Sometimes you know something is right, something is meant to be. The pages in those books are, like Rex, now beyond time.

I won't lie, I'm selfish enough to want this. But beyond my petty desires, sometimes things are just set in stone.

I hope these stories provided some comfort. If the dead could read, I would write for them.

- Devon Brackenridge