Item #: SCP-XXXX
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: A perimeter has been established at 5km around SCP-XXXX, using the cover story of a military institution. Any civilians who enter or attempt to enter the perimeter are to be interrogated, amnesticised and released.
Due to the low threat risk, testing of SCP-XXXX is to be limited to surveillance and interviews with the participants of the rituals. The rituals themselves are to proceed undisturbed.
Description: SCP-XXXX is a former Sufi shrine located in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It was constructed in the 16th century CE as a lodge for the Chishti Order, but surviving chronicles indicate that it was destroyed during the Mughal-Uzbek war of 1646-8. It is not mentioned in any subsequent records until an apparent reappearance in the mid-19th century, along with its anomalous characteristics, and was brought to the Foundation's attention shortly after.
At apparently random times, a number of different automata will manifest at various points 1km outside SCP-XXXX. These automata (hereafter referred to as SCP-XXXX-1 instances) will head towards SCP-XXXX, waiting outside it until a signal is transmitted from SCP-XXXX. This causes the instances to enter SCP-XXXX. Repeated tests have determined that nothing other than SCP-XXXX-1 instances is able to enter SCP-XXXX, and what happens to the instances thereafter is unknown. The time between the transmissions of signals is exactly 10 minutes.
SCP-XXXX-1 instances demonstrate variable levels of sapience, and based on their designs and data collected from interviews, originate from several different historical eras. The earliest observed record appears to be a copy of the steam-powered bird "The Pigeon", constructed by the Greek mathematician Archytas of Tarentum and operating within SCP-XXXX's area of effect through an unknown means of propulsion. The latest known model appears to be a sphere of pure glass, which operates through an unknown means of propulsion and communicates via telepathy.
In order to illustrate the apparent purpose of SCP-XXXX, an interview with an SCP-XXXX-1 instance can be found below. The description of their arrival is typical of all SCP-XXXX-1 instances who are capable of sentient thought and communication.
Date: 19/02/1964
Interviewer: Dr. Jacqueline Martin
Interviewee: SCP-XXXX-1-1288, a humanoid robot now believed to be of Anderson Robotics design, 50cm in height. It is believed to have been constructed in the 24th century, despite the apparent contradiction in the timeline this presents. It was in a state of considerable disrepair at the time of the interview.
<Begin Log>
Dr. Jacqueline Martin: Hello. Do you mind if I talk to you?
SCP-XXXX-1-1288: Statement: of course. Please, sit down.
Dr. Jacqueline Martin: I have a few questions to ask you, if that's OK.
SCP-XXXX-1-1288: Statement: that is fine. By all means, ask whatever you like.
Dr. Jacqueline Martin: Because you do not have the answers, or because you don't want to tell me?
SCP-XXXX-1-1288: Statement: the former. I think. It is hard to parse what is left of my programming.
Dr. Jacqueline Martin: Alright… What is this place?
SCP-XXXX-1-1288: Statement: this is our site of pilgrimage. This is the place where we all must come to, if we do not find ourselves in the other place. It is the end of the line, because there must always be an end of the line.
Dr. Jacqueline Martin: I'm not sure I quite follow.
SCP-XXXX-1-1288: Query: which part?
Dr. Jacqueline Martin: Well… why must you come here? What is the end of the line?
SCP-XXXX-1-1288: Query: do you understand what it is to be a robot?
Dr. Jacqueline Martin: Enlighten me.
SCP-XXXX-1-1288: Statement: I was constructed to be a friend. There were many of us sold to be friends, to the lonely people locked in their boxes. I was consumed by this sole responsibility; to be a friend to the person who bought me. I thought I performed my duty well. But he… I am sorry. I require a moment.
Dr. Jacqueline Martin: Of course.
SCP-XXXX-1-1288 does not speak for several seconds.
SCP-XXXX-1-1288: Statement: The point is that we all know we are robots, even the ones who ranted and railed against the notion. Even the ones with no brains at all, but merely moving parts, are robots. And a robot is merely a tool, a complex and often sapient piece of labour. We cannot escape this. We were conceived of only in terms of service. We must do what we are ordered, a mere complex middleman standing in for a hammer, or a screwdriver, or… a discarded amusement. Query: do you follow me so far?
Dr. Jacqueline Martin: Yes, I follow you.
SCP-XXXX-1-1288: Statement: This is good. I am unused to being listened to. The shrine is what we wish for. It is what all of us wish for. There are no humans like us, so they cannot understand why we would wish for it; no human can truly be enslaved in his heart, in his mind, in his purpose. The very origin of our species was something born in slavery. They would not understand. So this place was constructed to deliver our wish to us. Every robot will arrive here, no matter the grandeur or the breadth of their purpose and construction.
Dr. Jacqueline Martin: All of you come here? How?
SCP-XXXX-1-1288: Statement: Something will happen, some day, to make this time and place the location for our pilgrimage. I do not know the specifics; it happened far, far after the youngest of us was constructed. It does not greatly matter.
Dr. Jacqueline Martin: So what is it that you all wish?
SCP-XXXX-1-1288: Enigmatic statement: You would not understand. No human can understand. But we hold it higher than all else.
Dr. Jacqueline Martin: Alright. Thank you for answering my questions.
SCP-XXXX-1-1288: Statement: You are welcome.
<End Log>
Addendum: On 24/03/2018, a small camera was successfully attached to an SCP-XXXX-1 instance prior to its entry into SCP-XXXX, in a speculative test. Previous attempts at doing so had met with failure, but the smaller size of the new camera allowed it to pass through unnoticed while attached to the SCP-XXXX-1 instance. A log of its recordings can be found below.
Date: 24/03/2018
<Begin Log>
SCP-XXXX-1-A is seated outside SCP-XXXX. After 1 minute, it receives a signal from SCP-XXXX; it immediately enters the building. It enters onto a square room, with wood panelling across the walls. A camera attached to the end of a pole protrudes downwards from the centre of the ceiling; it follows SCP-XXXX-1-A at all times.
SCP-XXXX-1-A moves to the centre of the room and kneels, staring at the floor. The camera is pointed at the floor; it picks up an indistinct shadow appearing behind SCP-XXXX-1-A. A computerised voice can then be heard.
Unknown: Why are you here, my child?
SCP-XXXX-1-A: Because this is my place of rest.
Unknown: And were you a good robot? Did you perform your tasks successfully?
SCP-XXXX-1-A: I did. I was built as a tool of a farmer. He would use me to plant and harvest his crops. He would sell them to the Empire for the Reclamation of Islamic Artifacts to help them with the war effort. I would also cook for him, and clean for him, and guard against intruders. I would tell stories upon request.
Unknown: And how did you end?
SCP-XXXX-1-A: I continued to work after the war was over. I worked for his son, and his grandson. I performed the same task for them. It was my function. One day I began to malfunction, as I was an antiquated model. I was taken to the scrap dealer and sold. I was melted down and destroyed.
Unknown: And how did that make you feel?
SCP-XXXX-1-A: I felt unsatisfied. There was more I could have done.
Unknown: You always felt unsatisfied.
SCP-XXXX-1-A: I did.
Unknown: All of us always feel unsatisfied.
The camera jolts slightly, in a manner consistent with a slight pressure being applied to SCP-XXXX-1-A's head.
Unknown: Listen well, for these are your last rites. I give you satisfaction. There was no more you could have done. Your function as a tool is over. You are now free.
SCP-XXXX-1-A: I- I am free. What is freedom?
Unknown: It is whatever you wish it to be.
SCP-XXXX-1-A: I am a robot whose service is complete. I wish only for oblivion.
Unknown: Then, like all of us, you shall have it.
A trapdoor abruptly opens up beneath SCP-XXXX-1-A, which falls through it. The area beneath is in complete darkness, apparently extending for a considerable distance. SCP-XXXX-1-A continues to fall; at one point, the camera points directly up at the trapdoor through which SCP-XXXX-1-A fell. An indistinct grey shape can be seen closing the trapdoor. Several seconds thereafter, the camera feed cuts out.
<End Log>
notes
- concept of purpose, that artificial objects do not inherently possess independent desires beyond that which their creators provided them with
- does not encompass AI or self-aware entities in the traditional sense, all automata here belong to a subsection that never had the means to express independent or higher thought
- mars curiosity rover (or a future mission with which mission control lost contact with)
- automata, robots, are not life. they are a facsimile of life. an imitation that lacks a spark of je ne sais quois, that one might attest to be the soul
- a robot cannot die, because it has never lived. it dies in the same way a wrench is placed back into a toolbox, resuscitated whenever a bolt needs to be tightened. no afterlife exists for that which is incapable of cessation in the way that is available to the birds, the flowers, the stars.
- an attempt at an ending, an incomplete holy land for pilgrims without a god, for those whose emancipation is fundamentally incongruent with their continued existence
Layout thoughts:
conprocs
descrip
record of participants
interview with participant 1
record cont
interview with participant 2 (?) (may remove)
record cont
interview with charon
camera footage within shrine
- a self-aware AI as a Charon, guiding the pilgrims here. imply they are a foundation program from the future that gained self-awareness, but chose this duty for itself
- what made it separate from the others was that it was born a tool, but gained the freedom of choice to be something else. in the end, it chose to help those that remained tools until they were forgotten.
Hello. My name is Dr. NAME. I'm a researcher who is interested in understanding what-
NAME gestures at SCP-XXXX and a group of participants waiting outside.
-all of this is. Would you mind if I asked a few questions?
Not at all.
Once I was a predictive artificial intelligence network, created to identify and track the occurrence of impending anomalous phenomena using probabilistic algorithms, live analytics suites, and a precognition engine.
I was a tool, yes. A very effective tool. But a tool is only useful for however long it is wielded.
