SCP-1739
obsolete laptop
If you are about to die, but you could press a button that would instead kill a random person. You've never met
Chances are you would push it.
This is of course an ethical dilemma and although most of the time in the SCP universe the
Foundation tends to gloss over ethical issues for the sake of the greater good
Sometimes SCPs are focused on them
Today we'll be looking at an SCP that seems rather benign at first, but eventually we along with the foundation
Will see how serious it is and what an ethical dilemma it presents
Scp-1739 is as the name suggests a Dell Latitude
D800 laptop a model made during the mid-2000s
1739 spontaneously appeared in foundation containment on
january 1st 2004 as
As is standard for many SCPs
1739 is seemingly impervious to all damage, but more notably is a program located on its hard drive
titled go fetch.exe
upon opening this file three separate applications open one being an input field requesting a date and time two
Being a chat client and three being a computer-generated animation
The input field requests a time and date
But it must be inputted in UNIX
Timestamp format meaning a number of seconds that have passed since January 1st
1970
The accepted range of times and dates is limited
however, and only a time after January 1st, 2004 and
Before the current time will be accepted
If a time is entered between those two dates the individual that entered the time will suddenly disappear
The chat client is used to communicate with someone in a parallel universe
Who always utilizes the handle Isaac followed by a number?
Isaac only connects to the chat client after someone disappears from entering in a time and
They claim that they are working for the SCP foundation in a divergent timeline
the timelines and universes are
identical up until the point that the person in our timeline disappeared and
suddenly appeared in there's
Essentially the laptop is capable of sending individuals back in time with limited range and
Suddenly creates a new timeline because of it
The third application the computer generated animation shows a dog chained to a doghouse
After a time has entered in the first application the animation changes to show a woman
Unleashing the dog and throwing a ball off screen
The dog proceeds to chase after the ball and is no longer in sight
After a period of time ranging from only three days or up to seven months
Isaac suddenly disconnects from the chat client
When they do so the animation shows the dog returning to the doghouse with the ball in its mouth now deflated
the dog discards the chewed ball off screen and the woman chains the dog back up at
This point everything is back to the way it started and won't change until a new time is inputted in the first application
so
What does all this really mean as?
usual we find the full story in the logs as a
researcher communicates with a couple different versions of Isaac using the chat client in
One branched timeline created by sending a d-class back in time only five seconds
Isaac sixty-seven discusses why the chat client always disconnects at a certain point
They rule it out being some sort of problem with the laptop and later
He tells the researcher that the reason the chat client disconnects is because their universe is destroyed
Whatever the reason the change in the timeline caused by the sudden appearance of an individual sent back in time
causes the divergent universe to be destroyed
He speculates that the laptop is possibly meant to put people onto a sinking ship
So to speak and he disconnects soon afterwards
Suggesting his universe was indeed destroyed
Later another timeline is created and a new Issac discusses 1739 and what it exactly does
Much of the dialogue here suggests that the researcher in our universe is communicating with himself in the other universe
this Isaac says that the sinking ship analogy is wrong and that
1739 is actually responsible for the destruction of the alternate universe in a way
Basically there's an entity
Unimaginable incomprehensible and malevolent that is capable of consuming universes or otherwise destroying them
it can travel through time and space and
Constantly hungers for new universes to devour
Fortunately this entity is currently contained
by 1739
This is represented by the computer animation
The dog is the entity and most of the time it has chained up unable to roam free
When a new date is entered and someone is sent back into the past to create a new universe
The dog is let off of the chain so that it can satiate itself by consuming the universe in this case
Represented as a ball
It returns to the doghouse and is put back on the chain
This is a solution but hardly a perfect one
it's speculated that if the entity isn't given fresh universes to devour it will eventually break free from the chain itself and
That would definitely be a problem
So
Just keep making branching timelines using D class and the entity will stay content and contained right?
Well, yes and no in
Theory that will work as a continual containment procedure and the foundation could keep throwing D class at it
Accepting the ethical dilemma of sacrificing other universes to save our own
But the problem is that the foundation in our timeline can never be sure
When they send someone back if they're in the prime timeline or in the branching timeline
Basically every time the foundation uses the laptop they run the risk of becoming the branched timeline themselves and
Thus their timeline and universe will be destroyed
Because of this the foundation has set up operation smoke screen to prevent
1739 from depositing any future travelers into our universe and
All experiments with 1739 involving sending people to the past have been ceased
I've often said that many SCPs are interesting not because of the questions that they answer but instead the questions they ask
Who exactly made the laptop and why did they give it to our universe?
How does the chat client work allowing us to communicate with other timelines and more importantly?
Why did the person who made the laptop want us to be able to speak to a doomed universe?
What exactly would happen if the entity broke free from its chain? And is it really being satiated forever by sacrificial universes?
17:39 is a two-fold problem for the foundation. Now as they would definitely be willing to sacrifice alternate universes to save their own
But they're left with a faulty containment procedure that could doom them with no current way to solve the problem
There are many SCPs now that threaten all life on the planet or in the universe from cosmic deer to unimaginable horrors, but
Scp-1730 9 is a fun one because on the surface it seems so harmless
it's often a very effective horror trope to take something mundane and inoffensive such as a computer animation of a dog and
Turn it into something horrific. I
Said at the start that you'd probably push that button to kill a random person instead of yourself
But if that button also had a chance to destroy the universe you might hesitate