If you are reading this, you have become
the only person authorized to access SCP-CN-2300.
You now have O5-1 clearance. The passphrase is:
- Does the black moon howl? - Yes, but we will silence it in the end.
A permanent memory imprint has been set up. You will be unable to forget this information or reveal the contents of this document to any other person.
Please remain calm and continue reading the document until you fully understand its contents.
Item #: SCP-CN-2300
Object Class: Thaumiel
SCP-CN-2300-1, displaying the last four digits of the current child timeline number
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-CN-2300-1 is to be held on the body of the sole authorized person; its true purpose is not to be revealed to any other sapient being. The position of sole authorized person is to be transferred in the following order:
- O5-1 himself or any of his clones
- If the object has not been in the possession of a currently-living sole authorized person for 24 hours, a new authorized person will be designated and authorization will be given to all Level 3 or higher Foundation personnel whose emotional stability scale is in the Gamma-02 range. (See Foundation Mental Assessment Handbook)
- If the object has not had a sole authorized person for 24 hours, a new sole authorized person will be designated and authorization will be given to members of any paranormal supervision organization.
- If the object continues to not have a sole authorized person for a total of 48 hours, a new sole authorized person will be designated and authorization will be given to any standard human.
- The position of sole authorized person may only be held by one person at a time. If the previous sole authorized person is alive when a new one is designated, the previous sole authorized person will be terminated by memetic kill agent.
Of note is that when SCP-CN-1000 occurs, if the object has not had a sole authorized person for 72 hours, the object will automatically activate, which is equivalent to the sole authorized person activating SCP-CN-2300-1.
A copy of SCP-CN-2300-2 has been linked to the Foundation operating system, allowing it to be copied and stored on all Foundation information storage media. A permanent memory imprint has been added to this hidden part, allowing only the current authorized person to read it, and ensuring that they do not forget its contents in any way. Non-authorized personnel reading this document will instead view a Safe-class cover document.
Description: SCP-CN-2300-1 is a mechanical tally counter with casing made of a special alloy, displaying the serial number of the timeline it is currently in. The button is held in place by a perceptual lock, such that only the sole authorized person can press it. Pressing the button indicates that the current authorized person has given up resistance and consents to the destruction of all existing entities in their universe so as to provide information to other world lines via SCP-CN-2300-2.
It should be simple to understand. If you press SCP-CN-2300-1, you and everything in your universe cannot be saved. Disappearance, nonexistence, being cut off from the main timeline, ZK-class end of the world scenario, total destruction. In exchange, anything you leave behind in this document will be sent out to the past of other universes, to remind their sole authorized persons: your world is slowly moving towards destruction; this is how you stop it. — Authorized Person #0001
SCP-CN-2300-2 is this document. All current authorized persons are able to add remarks and notes to the document, but cannot alter or remove it's original text. Remarks can be left on any Foundation information storage device; if no device is available, the authorized person may attempt using strengthened memory techniques to add remarks to their memorized copy of SCP-CN-2300-2; however, this may lead to data corruption and is to be used only as a last resort.
There really was no device available for me. We had gone through some really tough noosphere incidents, and the concept of Site-CN-99 had merged with that of sewers, meaning we were soaking in piles of material I will elect not to name, and besides SCP-CN-2300-1 I had not brought anything. Before my control tablet was soaked in shit, I only had time to activate the site's self-destruct mechanism to erase it off the face of the earth. Send memetics personnel to the GOC, quick. Let them quickly retrieve that man-bear-pig or its associated research documents, I can't say whether we can conceptually resolve this. There are no better solutions left. — Authorized Person #0041
Addendum: O5 Council Message Regarding the SAP-1000/SCP-CN-2300 Project
O5-1's passphrase can open any encrypted file. If you are not in immediate danger, I suggest you take a look at SCP-CN-1000, as it concerns what we are sacrificing entire universes to avoid. That document only contains the first half, as at that time O5-12 had not yet received my reply. After reading that, come back here. I have put a copy of my correspondence with other O5s here. The timestamps are proof that I have not deliberately altered its contents. — Authorized Person #0001
From: O5-1
To: O5-12
I agree with some of what you said, definitely — merely continuing to try and adjust will not bring us to our goal. The feeling of despair and guilt is constantly engulfing us, who cannot save a single timeline, and I personally feel wearier at every report that says "we give up". But I trust that humanity has not yet reached its absolute limit. Even we, the survivors of β3-03-ACDA2, were unable to reach the final frontier of human technology. Perhaps back then we slowed down our exploration of technology in the name of keeping civilization peaceful, but after passing through 381 timelines and 95250 years, why do we continue to use technology from ninety thousand years ago to save the human race? In other words, we can put it this way: We have time, and we even have other ways to use this time.
Stop and think for a moment, Twelve. Even though we so cautiously protected the human race in each timeline, slowly feeding them with the technology we have, hoping they would develop to the point where they could overcome SCP-1000 — perhaps this restricted our own movements, putting us and them through endless torture. What we lack is simply a way to determine whether to give up on the human race of a timeline, and to drain all the wealth, resources and hope in the name of research.
The number of people each of us have killed with out own hands far exceeds that of a single SCP-CN-1000 event. I do not care if my count doubles. You may think that I have gone insane, but if you believe me, please give me a bit more time.
[EXPLETIVE REDACTED] — if we'd known that our O5 Council (regardless of whether it's those immortal bastards from another timeline watching us or their clones that have come to carry out their task) had someone like this among them, I wouldn't have ended up becoming responsible for this abominable object. I will not press this button, I will not. I… personally, I don't want to be anyone's lab rat. — Authorized Person #0132
But even so, you died nonetheless, and all you left behind was your whining, #0132. Of course, I haven't really thought of what I want to leave behind. It's hard to write a suicide note for an entire world. Maybe I'll spend the next twenty years like nothing happened, and then clear this note before I die. Or maybe I'll [REMAINING DATA CORRUPTED] — Authorized Perosn #0133
From: O5-1
To: O5 Council
I'm back.
Working together with fifty thousand of my clones is definitely a strange, crazed experience, to the point that we nearly forget when to leave. We did not have enough time before leaving to kill off the entire human race, only allow the Foundation there to clean up after what humanity left behind. But, the technology that timeline gave us is more than worth the loss of their lives.
Specifically, we have finally discovered a means to create true randomness. In addition, in that moment where a single bit of randomness was introduced, Kant counters rang out throughout every Site — both for the ambient Hume levels and the "anomaly levels" of those SAPs, all of them dropped by 50%. The timeline had split into two child timelines, and the reality of those timelines had evenly split between them. And then they just kept on going.
I believe this can cut the effort needed down quite a lot, just like the SAP-4150/SCP-2000 we used earlier: we do not need to start over from scratch every time. But the greater meaning lies in how we can use the new timelines. It's like how we can't bend a thick cable, but after taking it apart into many thin wires, we can shape them as we please. I will go and prove it.
Give me one more timeline. I can see the light ahead.
I roughly understand why O5-1 wanted only one person to be responsible for this. As long as only one person like #0132 has clearance, they can ruin the entire content of the message sent by that one timeline. O5-1 knew that, and that the Foundation never gives up. His plan required a different kind of person, a dictator who could sacrifice their entire world.
At Level 5 clearance, I can see a lot more than what I thought. For instance, Gamma-02 is O5-1's personality type. Unless he has to, he only trusts himself and those like him. — Authorized Person #0179
I suspect it's not just O5-1 that has this kind of transmission. I realized quite late that O5-5 had also changed, and that the previous authorized person died in an accident before he could log into the system. In short, don't forget that the O5 Council may not be on the side of the SCP-CN-2300 project. — Authorized Person #0198
From: O5-3
To: O5-1
This is not the first time you've surprised us. I expect it won't be the last. But I second your decision.
My only suggestion is: Make sure you bring some weapons that will let you kill the entire human population in an instant, you know how slowly they did it in the last timeline. I personally don't want to see another daybreak scenario in 2300 again.
I await your success.
No, no, I've wasted too much time, I should've noticed it when I saw #0133's message! If you can still contact Yellowstone, check how many times they've activated SCP-2000, how many years they've rewound, and subtract that from the timer. SCP-CN-1000 doesn't account for resets, so it won't come when we think the year 2300 is, and added the fact that we may have used SCP-2000 without recording it, we can't possibly use our regular calendars to predict when SCP-CN-1000 will—
It's here. I end my message. — Authorized Person #0231
From: O5-12
To: O5-1
I most definitely cannot say you have deceived us, because everything you said is true. When your clones entered the timeline, it almost immediately melted into our monitoring screen. Five and Seven scrambled to upgrade the monitoring devices, adding precision, up until we could see those almost-nonexistent shadows, and in each of them we could see you.
I looked at these blurry shadows for several thousand years. I saw you let humanity create machines, and let those machines destroy humanity; I saw you give yourself injections of psychotropics until they were permanently engraved in your bloodstream; I saw you fly to the moon in a spacecraft and burn up all of its helium-3 to build a machine, even though no one knew whether it would succeed; and in the end I saw you use a robot arm to pick up the only gun on earth that could kill an immortal, point it at yourself, and pull the trigger.
You have not broken any promises: you certainly destroyed the last remnant of the human race before you left. You asked for a timeline from the Council, split it apart into thousands of timelines as you wanted, and then let the thousand yous wring every last drop of the earth's resources before they were destroyed.
I thought you had definitely gone insane, but nobody can deny the value of what you have done. Now, please explain how these 227 research reports clearly reached us before these child timelines reached 2300 AD.
As #0231 said, I don't have much time left, but I trust that the other O5s will protect humanity better than I have. I cannot reveal SCP-CN-2300's existence, but I have already used every indirect manner I can think of to convey all the important information in this document to them. I will try my best to simply and succinctly explain all I have discovered about this document.
In the version I received, I could see #0133's note, but not #0132's, and in addition all the numbers were smaller than mine. I chalked this up to some sort of natural paradox prevention mechanism, meaning that each message will only be shown to the following numbered authorized persons, and there might be a chance information might be lost in transit. Based on [DATA CORRUPTED], I suspect that transmitting more information requires more energy, and so the chance of data loss may be related to the length of a message. As such, I recommend [REMAINING DATA CORRUPTED] — Authorized Person #0387
Do not try to contain the containment breach. Prevent anyone who tries to do so, or failing that, execute them. The Foundation does not exist to settle everything with one great effort. Authorized Person #0448
Taken from #0389's addendum to what #0387 said: I have a suggestion for the authorized persons after me: If you have nothing in particular important enough to say, copy every last message you can read and send it again. If the loss of information is not based on the length of the text, then the people after us may be able to read everything that has been left behind. If you cannot see any compiled texts, that means the rate of loss is based on the amount of content, and you will need to keep everything you say succinct. — Authorized Person #0491
From: O5-1
To: O5-12
As you know, I have independently preserved a single true random number generator, just as I have kept my personal time-jumping device. I have disguised the receiver as a push-button tally counter, displaying different numbers to versions of me in different timelines. I have prepared in advance a table filled with various things to research, so that the displayed number decides what that version of me will research — I will even try the most preposterous methods with all my might, and trust that at some point among all the many "me"s at least one will succeed.
227 reports is already more than I expected. There were 50 timelines where I was trying to use the time-jumping device to send requests to call for a little bit of "help", to break off the child timeline I was in — break off was all I could do, because the time-jumping device can't support high-fidelity requests. What happened next was just as I had hypothesized: the broken-off timelines caused interference with other child timelines — not only could this interference affect other timelines' pasts, but individual instances could be actively numbered and used to transfer information. It seems like the version of me in other timelines received this first report transferred between child timelines as well.
And then there are the other 226 reports, which show that 226 other timelines have tried this method of breaking off the timeline and transmitting information. The last report came from observation studies — in that timeline, I tried my best until the end, but did not discover any information on what happened to those timelines after they were broken. Once a timeline leaves its original trajectory, the reality it is in is immediately destroyed. In other words, every report that comes through this method is the final testament that timeline has written for us.
You may think that this kind of sacrifice is meaningless: with our technology, transferring information between timelines is not difficult, and there is surely no need for such a "large-scale" sacrifice. But to the whole of humanity in each of those timelines, there is no need to independently create a timeline-jumping device — it would be a massive waste of time and resources. On the other hand, to save these child timelines is also of no value to us: they have very little reality, so if anyone from our universe tried to make contact, we'd be powerful reality benders in their universe, and would likely destroy them just by being there. The only thing that matters is the child timelines that successfully survive SCP-CN-1000, and the means by which they did it.
As such, their meaning lies in automation, in how we can obtain extra attempts for minimal effort and resources, and use these infinite attempts to combat a possibly finite disaster. If we are weary of attempts and choices, we shall let these child timelines take our place to make attempts and choices. Not to mention that we can still allow humanity in each of these child timelines give pointers and warnings to each other, which is far more effective than us sitting in this room making decisions. After that, all we need to do is watch and wait, and finally copy a successful timeline's secret in a new timeline — something that we are very much good at.
The next time will be the true beginning. I will remove the restrictions on the true random number generator, meaning that the number of child timelines will be truly infinite. If you take the people of an infinitely subdividing child timeline as the human race, then in terms of reality content, they are about as real as the human race in trashy fantasy novels. If you still think this is cruel, you may continue to vote against this.
But I will finally sentence the black moon.
Repeating Authorized Person #0597, part one: I suggest that you copy my timeline's discoveries in parts, so that other authorized persons are more likely to read the whole text. This is, in short, #0597's declaration. — Authorized Person #0600
Repeating Authorized Person #0597, part two: When SCP-CN-1000 began, we met #0231's remains for 17 seconds. His implant recorded that #0231 had already pressed SCP-CN-2300-1 of his own volition, but his mechanical alterations maintained his life for five minutes. — Authorized Person #0643
Repeating Authorized Person #0597, part three: Please direct Memetics and Temporal Anomalies, attempting to bypass the protections and share information of SCP-CN-2300, so that we can further attempt to confirm the status of child timelines after the object is activated. — Authorized Person #0657
Repeating Authorized Person #0597, part four: This timeline has undergone reality restructuring; all humans other than me are gone. I have died from gunshot wounds inflicted by [DATA CORRUPTED]'s pistol. — Authorized Person #0694
I have at least previously worked in the Department of Temporal Anomalies. Higher-dimension observation is in essence the observation of the projections of other timelines on this timeline. But the projection is zero, so if it's not the case that one of them disappears, that means they're perpendicular. — Authorized Person #0712
From: O5-5
To: O5-1
Twelve is not the only one tired of the "Ye Ming" Protocol, and you are very good at using that fact to your advantage. You initially convinced us that we "had time", but after yougot the reports you immediately hurried to propose the SCP-CN-2300 project. No matter how I tried to convince the others that your actions are far too premature and risky, I couldn't think of another proposal and had to go along with your plan.
You've already changed a lot from the passionate, eager individual you were before you joined the Council. Now I only feel that you want to burn yourself up completely.
Perhaps I should not have agreed with any of your plans from the beginning. Has personally seeing your own death so many times made you numb? Do you really still have hope for the human race?
My requests to join the project as O5-5 have naturally been rejected. As such, I have submitted my letter of resignation and recommended a new O5-5 to take my place. I will still enter the timeline, though not as O5-5 but a normal researcher of the Department of Temporal Anomalies, a normal human who can't get clearance because our personalities clash too much. I just have to try. Or maybe you may think that I'm just reckless and want to meet her in another timeline again. Take your pick.
I may not be able to see your victory, but if you fall into the abyss, I will build a bridge over it over your dead bodies and tell those who come after us: Here lies a wise but crazed man, a selfless victim and a selfish dictator.
Repeating Authorized Person #0732, part one: Confirmation of using #0597's declaration. After activating SCP-CN-2300, the backflow of information is merely a side effect of the bending of the timeline. — Authorized Person #0709
Repeating Authorized Person #0732, part two: All the bent child timelines are continuing perpendicular to the main axis, and as such cannot be detected by the main timeline. — Authorized Person #0739
Repeating Authorized Person #0732, part three: When two timelines going in different directions collide, both timelines' reality will fuse together, causing a large-scale reality restructuring and collapse of natural laws. — Authorized Person #0748
Repeating Authorized Person #0732, part three: When two timelines going in different directions collide, both timelines' reality will fuse together, causing a large-scale reality restructuring and collapse of natural laws.
In addition, though you may not be able to read this reply… I'm sorry. She was killed in action. — Authorized person #0755
Repeating Authorized Person #0732, part five: Currently, a large number of bent timelines are bent from the main axis at the timestamp January 1, 2300, meaning that other timelines are extremely likely to collide with one of them at this point. — Authorized Person #0787
Repeating Authorized Person #0732, part six: I suspect SCP-CN-1000 is caused by the current timeline and the previously mentioned bent timelines colliding. End message. The following content is not part of #0597's statement.
In addition, replying to Authorized Person #0732: She was most definitely in the Foundation hiring list, I checked. She's currently a junior high school teacher, and she's having a very good life. — Authorized Person #0822
From: O5-1
To: Current Authorized Person
Perhaps I had gone crazy far before Twelve did. I recognize that my project did not find a possibility of surviving SCP-CN-1000 as much as it proved its impossiblity. I have long had no way to know if I was seeking life or seeking death.
SCP-CN-2300 is more like a timed destruct button, and what you are holding now is merely a way to detonate it immediately. Compared to a silent death, the ability to send out a final testament definitely feels better: "Look at me, we are now approaching hope, even our worthless death is glimmering — this tower built from words allows us to walk beyond the end of the world, even if nobody knows SCP-CN-1000 actually has an end.
I have controlled the Earth in various timelines. By the time you see the end of the world slowly marching towards you, power and the lives of others are merely consumables. You, the new O5-1, have the power to use them, or to protect them for your own peace of mind, using every last idea you can think of to give their finite lives value — but if you are still me, you know where that specially made gun is.
In your position, you may definitely hate me, this incompetent chessmaster. But I have crowned you long ago.
Look at the archives and search the code 80CC53DB81EA5DF1. I always thought SCP-CN-2300-1 was a lucky charm my dad gave me. Who am I? — Authorized Person #0852
He spent his entire life trying to break through the web he created with his own hands: SCP-CN-1000. And every attempt we make adds another line through this web, until it becomes so dense that nothing can pass through. — Authorized Person #0876
But we should try to leave gaps open as much as we can. In other words, keep living. Don't let SCP-CN-2300 activate itself. — Authorized Person #0898
Keep living. Even if you are the last person left, live a billion years, until the end of the universe. — Authorized Person #0899
Live on, immortal O5-1. — Authorized Person #0900
O5-1, who had held this position fr fourteen minutes, coninued to scroll down. There were no more messages, just an empty input field waiting for him.
He had thought that this was the first time he had gained the clearance to enter the O5 office, but now he wasn't so sure. To test the theory forming in his head, he stretched out his hand and let his flesh key in the next command in a manner that was far too familiar. In the drawer that was now open was an empty bottle labeled "Y-909" and a pistol. He remembered that he had tried to use the liquid in the bottle to give himself a fresh start on life, to hide from the terror of loneliness — but now, he had to come back to face all that.
"You may, at any point, choose to give up your memories or your life, as an immortal. I can, at any time," he seemed to hear the past him say in that same room, an exhausted murmur to himself. "But a true immortal has always been the most suited to take care of this object. You and I, we don't deserve the peace of mind brought on by death or by forgetting what we've done."
Based on his original plan, there were an infinite number of himself, all going on similar roads. This child timeline could be the thousandth, or it could be the one billion and one thousandth. To fight against the addition of a single thread to a web composed of what could be millions or billions seemed futile, laughable — not to mention that to walk towards that unknown future, it was necessary to leave a hole in this web big enough to fit a mooring-rope.
He thought about his early life, about the smiling faces and warm hugs that he had experienced like consumable products, about the clear blue sky, about the oath to love humanity he'd swore at the ruins of his hometown. He took to the keyboard again, typed out another copy of that message, and hit "save".
Keep on living. Use any means necessary to stop SCP-CN-2300 from activating itself, no matter the cost. — Authorized Person #1000
The first and also the last O5-1 held SCP-CN-2300-1 in the palm of his hand, then officially logged into the central command system.
"O5-1 is online. All Sites are to immediately enter eschaton preparation mode. Report strategic reserves and usability status of Thaumiel-class objects."
And so the black moon made its announcement.