SCP-7396 - J is for 𝙅𝙚𝙩𝙨𝙖𝙢. Humanity has possessed a collective dream of sailing across the stars
into the great expanse for decades now, and that’s not likely to change anytime soon.
Space is a great unexplored frontier that we know very little about, but years and years
of science fiction have charmed us into the idea of discovering new planets and potentially other
species. Realistically of course, space travel is an incredibly complex process which humanity
is quite a ways away from doing as a common thing. Lots of things can easily go wrong,
as deaths have occurred in the past, and will almost certainly occur in the future.
SCP-7396 is about space travelers, and the risks inherent in such an activity.
SCP-7396 has the Cernunnos object class, meaning that it could theoretically be contained,
but the foundation currently lacks the means to do so. 7396 refers to two related phenomena,
designated 7396-A and B. On December 3rd, 1978, a considerable explosion was witnessed in deep
space via a civilian telescope, piquing the interest of science communities worldwide.
A foundation investigation was subsequently launched in 1980, featuring a small,
unmanned probe deployed with the intent of determining the cause of the explosion and
report the findings to earth. During travel to the location, 7396-A was discovered,
an accumulation of human biological remains and personal effects within the Oort Cloud.
The Oort cloud is a sphere of icy bodies presumed to exist in the outer reaches of our solar system
beyond Neptune. Foundation analysts surmised that this accumulation is correlated with the
explosion, but without supporting evidence of a causal link, exploration of the original location
was deprioritized in favor of the containment of the accumulation, which is still underway.
The exact quantity of remains floating within the Oort cloud is unclear, given the impacted area.
Estimates based on average recorded density place the total bodies in excess of seven
million individuals, but despite the sheer numbers observed, many consistencies appear throughout.
All of the corpses have calm expressions on their faces, with no signs of struggle,
distress, or injury. Groups are observed frozen together, in embrace and other relaxed poses.
The biological components are identical to that of humans, and are all wearing pristine,
freshly washed clothing, bearing iconography that implies all of them are part of the same
group or organization. They all died from the same thing, complications of rapid depressurization,
and there’s a lack of escape pods, wreckage, or spacesuits in the accumulation.
There are however an abundance of cargo containers containing various personal
effects such as clothing, photographs, and letters, neatly and deliberately packed.
No provisions, survival tools or weapons, or medical supplies have been found.
Recovered stationery analogous to postcards and advertisements portray a planet of similar
appearance but differing geographic layout to that of earth, Astronomical deviations in the
depicted skies have led to the conclusion that the terrestrial body is not another version of earth,
but rather a unique planet, possibly within our own universe. It’s noted that
no hospitable planets other than earth exist for millions of light years in any given direction.
On January 14th, 2006, the accumulation rate of the anomaly began declining, and continued
to decrease until 2013, when further accumulation was considered negligible and the phenomena itself
concluded. The presence of 7396-B however, first detected in September of 2015, resulted in the
reopening of the anomaly’s case file. 7396-B is an ongoing discovery of biologically human
corpses and mechanical wreckage, scattered in a trail of increasing density located
between half a light year and 1 and a half light years from the location of 7396-A.
Approximations suggest that cadavers exceed five million additional unique individuals,
most of which are situated near the far end of the observed range. These corpses are quite a
bit different from the others found, with stressed demeanors, grievous injuries, and
physical ailments, proportional to their distance from the oort cloud. They were also malnourished
and suffered from hypoxia, proportional to the distance from the oort cloud. The causes of death
were irregular, including starvation, disease, injury, depressurization, and hypothermia,
and their clothing is generally deteriorated, with insignias matching the other corpses. There’s
a lack of cargo containers and packed belongings here, but an abundance of mechanical fragments and
shrapnel belonging to a subluminal interstellar ark, which was recovered and contained for study.
Ballistics analysis of the fuselage suggests that the explosion witnessed in 1978 resulted
from miniscule perforations coating portions of the vessel’s propulsion systems and ventilation
grid, the earliest remnants recovered during investigation into 7396-B. Volatile compounds and
mineral fragments were detected in trace amounts around the points of entry. Despite severe damage,
the vessel was noted to have coasted for some time before its eventual disintegration.
No further scp-7396 activity has been recorded, and as of October 12th,
2022, an estimated ten million bodies have yet to be destroyed.
There’s certainly some room for interpretation here, as many pieces of this are left unsaid.
It would seem that a ship of humans from another planet traveled many millions of lights seemingly
on a path towards earth. When they reached the oort cloud however, something went wrong,
although whether or not it was an accident is hard to say. The fact that no provisions,
survival tools, or medical supplies were found with the first batch of bodies suggests a
deliberate action, but if it was deliberate, they damaged the ship more than intended.
The ship continued to coast through space for some time, likely decades, before falling apart.
The people that survived the initial damage were forced into a survival scenario as their
food supplies dwindled, until eventually the last survivors died as the ship fell apart.
Why these people were coming here and what exactly caused the damage
are two questions that we’ll never get answers to, only guesses.Additionally,
their ship was only capable of speeds slower than the speed of light, meaning that a trip from
another habitable planet as far as the foundation knows would have been completely infeasible.
Perhaps they were refugees from a great disaster, only to meet with another unfortunate disaster,
or perhaps it was the first of some sort of raiding party, and the foundation dodged a bit
of a bullet. Regardless, traveling through space is never going to be without risks, but it sure
sucks to travel millions of light years only to have some bad luck a few light years away.