Do you wonder who's looking back?
Item #: SCP-9581
Object Class: Contained
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-9581 is stored in an oversized object chamber in Site-11. Clean-room protocols should be observed when entering the chamber, and radiation protection is required for any personnel interacting with SCP-9581's mechanical components. All specimens should be stored inside SCP-9581 unless being actively studied.
Description: Recovered from impact crater outside Dumas, Texas, SCP-9581 is a metallic technological construct with a two-lobed structure. One lobe is highly asymmetrical, consisting primarily of computing components and a variety of communications or observation devices, including a UHF radio antenna and magnetometer boom. This lobe also possesses a partially-shielded nuclear battery of curium-250 decay products that provide a low level of power for electronic components. Some neutron flux escapes through the walls of the battery, posing a risk to personnel working in its vicinity.
The second lobe is hemispherical and contains no electronic components. It is hollow, storing a series of etched platinum sheets and the cadavers of multiple quadrupedal and hexapodal organisms, which have been preserved using techniques and chemicals comparable to modern embalming methods. Most platinum sheets contained in SCP-9581 are engraved with finely detailed symbols or diagrams, which remain untranslated (and it is unclear if they consist of one language or multiple), but one diagram has been definitively identified as a map of hydrogen clouds in the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex; multiple lines and symbols mark a point in close proximity to the Orion Nebula as the center and presumed origin of the map.
Digital reconstruction of the planetary map with no regions highlighted.
Every organism but one is depicted on one double-sided etched sheet each. One side of these sheets is an anatomical diagram, although the labels remain untranslated. The other side depicts what appears to be a planetary map, but different areas are highlighted in the engraving for each version.
The only organism with additional documentation is a quadrupedal vertebrate with an extra pair of manipulator limbs ahead of its shoulders. The skull is elongated, with one pair of forward-facing eyes and two pairs of side-facing eyes in a lateral row behind it. Multiple digits at the end of the manipulator limbs bear heavily-oxidized rings, but it has no other clothing or ornaments. Besides the anatomical diagram, there are additional sheets containing artistic depictions of one or more instances of this type, including:
- Three instances standing at the peak of a mountain, looking down. All three are clad in thick protective gear.
- One large instance sitting with five smaller, possibly juvenile, instances in a circle around what appears to be a fire.
- One instance sitting and facing the viewer, wearing long, flowing clothing with elaborate decorations. The patterns seem to be more finely detailed than the engraving process can consistently depict, resulting in aberrations in some places.
No engravings are believed to depict military capability, either due to unwillingness to advertise it or genuine lack on the part of their creators. As SCP-9581 itself poses no threat when isolated within its chamber, no additional research is considered necessary.