SCP-9910 discovery site.
Item #: SCP-9910
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-9910 is housed in a dark, climate-controlled containment chamber at Site-12. Ambient air temperature within the chamber must be maintained above 30°C, with relative humidity kept under 20% at all times. Exposure to light should be minimized; examination is permitted only under low-intensity red lighting. Due to the scrolls' age and fragility, any physical handling must be approved and supervised by SCP-9910's head researcher.
Description: SCP-9910 refers to five short sheepskin parchment scrolls, designated SCP-9910-1 through -5. The scrolls' condition varies, with SCP-9910-1 and SCP-9910-3 being the most well-preserved, and SCP-9910-5 the most degraded. Radiocarbon dating indicates all five scrolls were produced sometime between 120 BCE and 50 CE.
SCP-9910 has been recovered in 1955 from Cave 10 in Wadi Qumran, alongside an unremarkable ostracon and a stone slab marked with an unknown symbol which appears on the inverse side of all five SCP-9910 scrolls. Public knowledge of SCP-9910 has been successfully suppressed, and Cave 10 is deemed archaeologically sterile in all public literature on the subject.
The scrolls' contents are written in Late Classical Hebrew, with linguistic markers consistent with other Hebrew-language sectarian texts discovered at Qumran. Palaeographical analysis indicates each of the scrolls has been written by a different author. All five scrolls follow the same formulaic structure:
- The title Ša'ir Kodeš ("Remnant of Holiness"), and an identifying letter assumed to represent a number.
- Details of an item's location, followed by a series of stipulations pertaining to its concealment and manner of handling.
- A description of said item and its properties.
- Closing remarks by the Teacher of Righteousness.
One of the five items described in SCP-9910 has been tentatively linked to an independently-discovered SCP object. Cross-referencing with other documents is ongoing.
The following are translations of the contents of SCP-9910.
SCP-9910-1
Holy Remnant 2. Under the ground at Gilgal, in the center of the circle. The opening has been hidden, and the standing stones have been shattered. Two righteous ones guard it, one for the day and one for the night. Offerings of bread and oil are brought daily. Kittim have come seeking it, and have been turned away by the sword.
Those who know say it is a hand, neither living nor dead, and it does not decay. Its roots are in the soil, and its fingers stretch out for offerings. When it touches the sick, the sick are healed. When it touches the wicked, the wicked are struck down. When beset with hunger, it rises out of its place.
Thus spoke the Teacher of Righteousness: It is not a curse, yet neither it is a blessing, for it is said: "All their wickedness began at Gilgal; there I began to hate them."
Note: Archaeological surveys of Gilgal turned up no anomalous findings.
SCP-9910-2
Holy Remnant 3. Wrapped in linen, hidden in the safety of a dry wineskin in the household of Shimon son of Elazar, beneath the threshing floor. Shall not be disturbed. If disturbed, shall not be put near polished bronze. Any man who tries to dig for it shall be put to death.
Those who have seen it say it is of red earth and circular, and curses on its rim. Those who have brought it to rain water speak of gates to Sheol. Different gates open for different men. The sea gate opens to the fields outside the city. The grass gate opens to the pastures inside the city. The golden gate opens to market. All gates open to uncleanness.
Thus spoke the Teacher of Righteousness: It is from the Watchers, and opens a path in the underwaters to the bottom of the abyss. Keep it wrapped and sealed, and let it not be found. Let all gates remain shut.
SCP-9910-3
Holy Remnant 4. Hidden in the wilderness of Zin, in a cleft in the rock that faces the rising sun. It is sealed with stone and pitch and the place marked with ash upon the entrance. Shall not be opened. If opened, it shall not be looked upon directly, nor measured.
Those who have seen it say it is a wheel within a wheel, fashioned of silver, covered in eyes that are not eyes. It turns without wind and gives heat without flame. When it turns, shadows move across the sun.
Many men of understanding sought to count its revolutions. All forgot their own names, and only spoke in lies thereafter.
Thus spoke the Teacher of Righteousness: It is a fragment of the chariot seen by the prophet, fallen out of its course. The angels do not seek it, and neither should men. Blessed is he who does not find it.
Note: [DATA EXPUNGED]
SCP-9910-4
Holy Remnant 6. Drowned in the sea west of Askalon, beneath the reach of nets and hooks. It is bound with chains of iron and weighed with lead. Shall not be drawn up. Curse its memory, and let it be forgotten.
It is dead and mangled, yet there is stirring in the flesh. It sings beneath the waters, and the fish gather to it. At night it gives a pale glow. Those who have listened too long forget the shore and walk into the deep. Their bodies are not found, and will not be resurrected on that day. The fishermen of Askalon know the place and steer away.
Thus spoke the Teacher of Righteousness: It is a sign and a portent. The Lord created man to sing His praises, and hymns to His glory. In that He commanded us to let no man go astray and give false song to Leviathan the sea serpent.
SCP-9910-5
Having been laid directly on the floor in Cave 10, SCP-9910-5 has sustained major damage from exposure to ground moisture over the centuries. What follows is an attempted reconstruction of the original text.
[Holy Rem]nant 7. It is not found here. No beast of the field comes close to it, and [no bi]rd flies above it. It shall remain an abomination for all creation for all time. Eve[ry year], on the Day of Atonement, a young man and young woman shall approach [it, and they] shall give themselves away to it, and if they return not emptied, they shall be put to de[ath]
[Section missing]
[Thus spoke the Teacher] of Righteousness: It is not from above, nor from below, but it is our sin. Let it [be appe]ased, and not slain, for it is the creation of man. In the manner of the Lord, who since the Flood has not destroyed mankind despite our many misdeeds, let us not destroy it for its own misdeeds.
Addendum
Author: O5-5
Date: 1996-10-10
Subject: SCP-9910
It has come to my attention that several members of the research team assigned to SCP-9910 have drawn explicit parallels between the the Qumran community, as reconstructed from the texts, and the Foundation itself. One junior researcher has even gone as far out as speculate that the Foundation is, in some sense, a direct descendant of said community.
I would first like to remind all personnel that many of the historic documents pertaining to the origins and early history of the Foundation remain highly classified, both as a matter of internal security, and of cogniohazard safety. Speculation along these lines is neither productive not authorized. This is not an admonition of any particular individual or act, but merely a precautionary reminder.
The Foundation has discovered numerous anomalous phenomena which had been contained via primitive religious and/or taboo-based means prior to Foundation intervention. SCP-9910 represents the records of just such an instance. While the Qumran community does seem to have employed an unusually systematized approach, it is, nevertheless, still a highly mythologized form of rudimentary anomaly management.
With that said, a limited parallel may be acknowledged: The Qumran community's strong emphasis on restriction and obfuscation, rather than hostility and destruction, as the primary strategy in dealing with anomalous objects. SCP-9910 has been written by individuals who understood, however imperfectly, that certain phenomena cannot and should not be be eliminated, only delayed and obscured.
The Qumran community did not survive. Its organizational structure collapsed, its settlement was abandoned, and its custodial responsibilities were not successfully transmitted to a successor organization. While the exact causes remain uncertain, classified information outside the scope of the SCP-9910 project has made one thing perfectly clear: They did not fail because they were primitive, or because of some strategic miscalculation in their approach to containment. They failed because of internal decoherence, and a progressive erosion of organizational discipline.
Personnel assigned to SCP-9910 are advised to keep that in mind.
O5-5