NOTICE FROM US
The information conveyed by the file below may differ from its literal, non-anomalous interpretation. IT is HARMLESS. Contact US for more information.
Item №: IT
Anomaly Class: SAFE
Special Containment Procedures: KEEP IT IN THE BOX.
Description: IT is a SMALL YELLOW TOY TRUCK. IT is a potent promemetic, amplifying, simplifying, and clarifying select descriptive information about IT. This alteration happens exclusively during the information's ingestion by a living being capable of understanding it, and has been observed across all tested media, languages, and symbologies.
IT does not possess the capacity to alter information unrelated to IT, nor can IT prevent the acquisition or retention of first-hand information regarding IT. IT is HARMLESS.
As a result of ITS simplification of select concepts, affected information is distorted and diminished when it would introduce complexity. For example, despite IT possessing details in varying hues, ITS colour cannot be conveyed as anything other than YELLOW. The following two sentences are thus interpreted identically despite being syntactically distinct:
- IT is YELLOW.
- IT is YELLOW.
Similarly, since IT is SMALL, measurements of its dimensions or mass will all be interpreted identically, and ITS precise size cannot be communicated. Second-order description of this effect remains possible, provided the information being conveyed does not sufficiently overlap with that amplified by the anomaly.
The following information surrounding IT is known to be affected by ITS anomalous properties:
- IT is SMALL.
- IT is YELLOW.
- IT is a TOY originally created for A CHILD.
- IT is modelled after a TRUCK.
- IT is HARMLESS.
- IT is SAFE.
- IT WAS TAKEN. When exactly this occurred is unknown. No further relevant information is known to be affected.
- An indeterminate time later, WE TOOK IT.
- IT possesses SECRETS. It is unclear if this implies IT is sentient, or if IT possesses some means of acquiring and storing information about ITS surroundings. No further relevant information is known to be affected.
In addition to the above, IT also maximises any direct reference to IT. As a consequence of this effect, memories related to IT are retained at a significantly better rate than baseline, even when they do not contain amplified information. This effect persists at a reduced rate under amnestic treatment. In ~70% of test subjects, WE CAN’T FORGET. The prescriptive nature of this information is ambiguous.
Addendum I—Acquisition log:
On 1977-08-01, WE TOOK IT.
Addendum II—Update post-acquisition:
Immediately following the acquisition date, IT began amplifying the fact that it was TAKEN BY US and WE TOOK IT. In the weeks that followed, this expanded to encompass the concept of US within the broader context of IT. This has both complicated interdepartmental management by reducing US to US, and has rendered the finer details of ITS acquisition and containment incommunicable. Additionally, knowledge of IT beyond US is now expected to also convey SECRETS.
A proposal to upgrade ITS anomaly class to Euclid was rejected on the grounds that no organisation or individual other than US is known to both possess knowledge of IT and be capable of TELLING. Given the circumstances, the likelihood of IT being discovered before WE TOOK IT but after IT WAS TAKEN was deemed negligible.
Addendum III—Suspension of research:
At the conclusion of test sequence 877Y-003, IT was placed in THE BOX for interim storage while test sequence 877Y-004 was awaiting Ethics Committee approval. THE BOX was rapidly included in ITS anomalous properties, as were:
- The fact that WE KEEP IT IN THE BOX.
- The idea that WE SHOULD KEEP IT IN THE BOX.
To date, this is the first known instance of IT amplifying unambiguously prescriptive information.
Current containment procedures were enacted shortly thereafter. Testing is currently suspended pending Oversight review. WE have elected to KEEP IT IN THE BOX indefinitely.