SCP-7759 - T is for "Transmission". While artificial intelligence gets thrown about
quite a bit in the SCP Foundation, especially when verging more into the sci-fi territory of things,
nanomachines and nanotechnology don’t get mentioned quite as much. In the real world,
nanotechnology is an emerging technological field, with potential applications in medicine,
construction, electronics, solar energy, and more, but in science-fiction,
the sky is really the limit. From Tony Stark’s advanced suits of armor to massive swarms used
for destruction and annihilation, the genre has been interested in nanorobotics for
quite some time. SCP-7759 is one such piece of fiction, featuring the foundation encountering
some nanomachines while being woefully unprepared for it. Let’s take a look.
SCP-7759’s object class is listed as pending, and its description refers to it as the former
FSS Hades-01, a foundation built space station located in the Kuiper Belt, a massive belt of
asteroids and ices located around our solar system just beyond Neptune. The station was
originally intended to function as a containment site for particularly high-risk SCP objects, as
well as a forward operating base for acquisition and study for other extraterrestrial anomalies.
Initial construction and crewing of the station was performed in 2034, and it operated without
issues for nearly a decade. However, in late 2042, a disaster of unclear nature occurred aboard the
station, incited by what appears to have been a modulated radio transmission received by
its telescope array. Shortly after the signal was reported, outgoing missives became fragmentary and
panicked, seeming to imply the sudden invasion of an unknown agent which was causing mass structural
damage within the station. All contact with the station was lost shortly thereafter. In
order to determine the cause of these events, high command authorized an exploratory probe mission,
resulting in a catastrophic loss of assets. As the probe approached the station, it was
rapidly subsumed and destroyed by an indistinct mass which emerged from nearby docking ports.
The current belief is that the station has been integrated with, or assimilated by,
a swarm of extraterrestrial nanotechnology. These devices are self-replicating at a rapid
rate and drastically altering the station’s layout, repurposing existing infrastructure
in addition to fabricating entirely new additions via raw materials from nearby asteroids. The full
extent of the modifications are unknown, but the foundation has determined the following.
The exterior of the station has been heavily reinforced with layers of metal shielding,
presumably sourced from ore-rich asteroids. Numerous clusters of radio equipment are installed
across the hull, and it’s estimated that 50% of these emitters are active at any given time and
broadcasting to unknown parties. Notably, some are similar in design to the standard comms package
used by foundation exploratory probes. Certain sections of the hull are perforated by deep,
perfectly rounded holes which emit high quantities of blackbody radiation. The exact function of
these holes is not yet known, and they may represent a form of waste heat disposal or
camouflaged weaponry installation. All viewports have been occluded from the interior by a dark
substance, which appears to be in constant motion, with flashes of red light occasionally
seen. Finally, the station as a whole has grown in size by approximately 30%, and new modules
are fabricated and incorporated into the structure on a bi-monthly basis. While the purpose of these
modules is uncertain, they appear to follow standard foundation construction guidelines.
Analysis of what is occurring in the interior has proven highly difficult,
with remotely operated probes typically only able to submit small amounts of information
before they are destroyed. Recovered images appear to show large-scale industrial operations using a
mixture of unknown devices and modified foundation technology, and it’s unclear if this indicates
higher intelligence or is simply programmed behavior. Stopping the anomaly’s expansion,
in particular before it develops spacefaring capabilities, is considered an urgent priority.
We’re then provided an addendum detailing the Firefly Project,
explaining that the primary obstacle to directly exploring the station is signal
lag. Any information transmitted to or from the Kuiper Belt is subject to a severe delay,
and so as a result probes sent to the station cannot be operated in real time. Any successful
exploration would require instant communication between the exploring agent and mission command.
Recent breakthroughs in paratechnology however yielded one possible solution,
an experimental psionic interface which allows complex machinery to be operated through a mental
link with a living being. The consciousness of the operator essentially inhabits the
device in question, permitting exchange of observations and instructions with no delay.
While not yet approved for widespread use, this technology was deemed of interest to the
containment of the station, and ultimately implemented into an unmanned space probe
codenamed Firefly. The probe’s primary mode of thrust is a pair of contained ion drives,
and to ensure its survival within the station, it is electromagnetically shielded and equipped
with EMP saturation weaponry. The firefly probe was launched in September of 2043,
reaching its destination in October, at which point it was inhabited by a volunteer
on Earth. Initial stages of the mission proceeded without issue, but as it approached the station,
Firefly reported unusual but ultimately harmless phenomena. THe devices arrayed
around the primary docking port of the station resemble weapon embankments,
and the probe was tracked by them during approach, but no shots were fired. The person
operating the probe stated that they experienced a sensation of being watched, but it was most likely
psychosomatic. A red light is observed within the station, but the source cannot be determined.
Firefly’s EMP weaponry proved to be highly effective against the nano-constructs
inhabiting the station, and the probe was able to largely avoid any damage.
Over the course of its exploration, it noted a number of unusual occurrences.
The layout of the station is highly variable, with station modules relocating frequently,
often with no regard for their inhabitants. The behavior of the nanites is inconsistent,
with some just passively observing while others responded to the probe's presence with overt
hostility. It passed through the botanical bay, finding that the hydroponic planters
have apparently been maintained meticulously, but are all empty. Almost all of the heavy containment
cells are vacant except for two. The sole contents of these were inert piles of regolith,
rocky material covering bedrock. Several humanoid constructs were occupying the research bay,
engaged in mutilating one another with makeshift tools. After further observation,
it seems that the constructs are mimicking a dissection. The inhabitants of the station
began to exhibit increasing hostility over time, taking more drastic measures to destroy
the probe. Reports became brief and vague as the danger of the situation escalated.
Widely distributed swarms of nanomachines were deployed, with emp saturation only
effective at close range. The outer chassis of the probe began incurring gradual erosion damage,
apparently on a molecular level. It proceeded through the data center of the station,
finding all of the computer servers subsumed by metallic growths, composed of interlocking plated
segments and lengths of fiber-optic cabling. These are presumed to be large-scale nanite constructs,
and they appear to slowly undulate, although this could be a visual artifact of the footage. The
rightmost sampling arm of the probe is severed by an abruptly closing bulkhead, and shortly after,
the probe is attacked by around 200 fabricated copies of its sampling arm, emerging from wall
seams and exposed circuitry. This results in heavy damage to firefly, so it flees to the
auxiliary airlock. Unfortunately, after traversing the station for a while, it’s unable to find it,
as the station continues to be restructured. It then eventually enters an unknown module,
which is believed to be the station’s fabrication plant, extensively modified
from its original form. At this point, visibility is sub-optimal, and there’s a high density of
nanite swarms and macro-scale constructs, with some appearing similar to the lost sampling arm.
These are restricting the drone’s movement and gradually pulling it forwards. There’s
a glaring red light ahead, and the operator on earth requests assistance or guidance. The light
source is revealed to be a massive pillar composed of nanites, the surface of which
is shifting and rippling. Fabrication devices appear to have been integrated into its interior,
and their constant activity produces the red light seen earlier. There are occasional bright flashes
accompanied by a high production of nanites. The operator urgently requests assistance, but
continues on, as the center of the pillar opens up. The arms are lifting the drone towards it,
and the operator pleads for assistance, before beginning to seize and thrash uncontrollably.
They were quickly restrained by attending personnel so as to prevent self-injury,
and it was found that due to an unprecedented amount of negative sensory input, the operator’s
mental link with the drone could not be severed without risking severe psionic backlash. They
were remanded to the medical wing and kept under watch. The subject remained entirely
unresponsive to outside stimuli, displaying only brief periods of lucidity during their seizures.
We’re given the coherent excerpts that they managed to get out of the subject. In one,
they say that there’s probably a good reason that they haven’t brought them back yet,
but report that they can’t see, and a thousand needle teeth are eating them alive. They can feel
them in their head, and have lost three birthdays already, their father’s face, and their water
egress training. Later, they report that the nanites didn’t kill the crew, just repurposed
their bodies. What they had in their heads was more important. They want to understand us,
and they’re devouring us to do it. Eventually, the operator says that they understand it now,
as of course the nanties would try to do things the foundation’s way. They wanted the foundation
to send them their best tech, as a sample. They remark on how stupid the foundation is. Later,
they say that you start to see the predator’s point of view, way down in its digestive tract.
They’ve lived for longer than we can imagine, riding the signals. They’ve seen everything,
from living nebulas to moons covered in black mold, and they want more, as they’re
so hungry. The operator mentions a parabolic arc, slingshotting off Jupiter’s Lagrange point,
and asks command when they can go home. They say that if you turn your ears to the sky,
you’ll understand, as the singing in the stars is all for them. Later, the operator just laughs,
before transitioning into toneless humming and tongue clicking over the
course of forty-five minutes. The last coherent thing that they said was one word, “listen.”
In the interest of denying the nanites any further access to foundation intelligence,
the operator was terminated via gunshot, although their remains continued to spasm
until incineration. At some point however, the station begins to accelerate out of the Kuiper
Belt and directly towards earth. Its method of thrust is unclear, although particle emissions
have been observed which are consistent with controlled ion propulsion. Orbital trajectory
measurements indicate that the anomaly will reach its destination within six months. Concurrently,
a number of foundation facilities received transmissions from the station,
with these facilities now under class NK quarantine due to the rapid appearance and
spread of hostile nanotechnology, evidently originating from on-site fabrication plants.
So this swarm of intelligent nanomachines has been roaming the universe, seeing things that
we wouldn’t believe, until they eventually stumble upon our solar system, and a space station out on
the edges of it. Taking it over is no problem for them, but rather than killing the people inside,
they devour their minds, consuming their memories and knowledge. Through this process,
they learn all about Earth and the Foundation, and decide to essentially lay out some bait,
knowing how the foundation operates. The Foundation then plays right into its hands,
sending their best tech in the form of a drone, which eventually gets consumed along with its
operator’s mind. Through this, they learn more, and manage to reverse engineer the ion drives of
the drone, allowing them to move the station very rapidly towards Earth. On their way,
they manage to send signals to multiple foundation facilities, overriding them and using their
fabrication plants to make new nanomachines. At this rate, it won’t be long before there’s
a good old fashioned gray goo scenario, and humanity and the earth are similarly consumed.
In the Foundation’s defense, it’s not really their policy to just blast things out of the
sky without knowing a bit more about it, but probably one of the researchers could’ve put
two and two together beforehand and realized it would be a bad idea to send it a drone equipped
with high-end technology. Worse comes to worse I suppose, the foundation does have access to EMP
technology and these are still just machines, so going back to the stone age is probably
better than being subsumed by the swarm. That of course assumes that the nanomachines don’t just
electromagnetically shield themselves like the drone was, but given that they require
signals to communicate with one another, that’s probably a safe bet. As they say,
curiosity killed the cat, but in this case, satisfaction might not bring it back.