SCP-5109 : The One-Time Password
Information
Name: The One-Time Password
Author: HarryBlank
Rating: 438/472
Created at: Sat Jun 27 2020
Special Containment Procedures
SCP-5109 must not be spoken. This restriction is waived in the event of an imminent threat to the life of its keeper; it must then be spoken to that keeper's O5 Command contact via one-way radio transmitter. The identities of SCP-5109's present keeper and their O5 contact are classified Level 5: Top Secret.
Audio recording of SCP-5109 is prohibited.
SCP-5109's default containment is the mind of Site-43 Identity and Technocryptography Chief Eileen Veiksaar. Chief Veiksaar may only speak SCP-5109 to personnel with Security Clearance Level 3: Confidential or higher; they are then bound by this same restriction, and must return it to Chief Veiksaar at her request. Personnel carrying SCP-5109 are required to also carry a one-way radio transmitter with a direct line to Chief Veiksaar, to be used for transmission of SCP-5109 during life-threatening situations. Chief Veiksaar is to carry a one-way radio transmitter locked to the frequency of her designated O5 Command contact.
Updated 11/21/2014: Audio recording of SCP-5109 is prohibited.
Description
SCP-5109. Iconographic aberrance, if any, is due to associated memetic effect.
SCP-5109 is a cognito-linguistic phenomenon, the comprehension and retention of a specific string of forty-one characters from the Latin alphabet and Arabic numeral set.. Alternative designations: linear meme, cognitive isolate. At any given time, precisely one person can properly recognize and conceive of this character string, thus "containing" SCP-5109 in their mind. All other persons will perceive any non-auditory representation of the character string as a jumble of unfamiliar, meaningless symbols (see below), will be unable to concentrate on it for more than a few seconds, and will forget it once their attention lapses.
Any individual in possession of SCP-5109 (hereafter its "keeper") will be unable to forget it until it has been transmitted to a new individual. Transmission is achieved by speaking SCP-5109 aloud, character-by-character, in the presence or telepresence of at least one other sentient being. The first such being to aurally receive SCP-5109 in this fashion will immediately memorize its characters, and the former keeper will forget them entirely. There is no established upper limit to the number of times an individual can possess SCP-5109; Site-43 Identity and Technocryptography Chief Eileen Veiksaar has received and relinquished SCP-5109 some forty-three times over a period of eleven years with no apparent consequence.
Background knowledge an individual does or does not possess about SCP-5109 is immune to its memetic effects. New keepers will not recognize the character string as anomalous until they are so informed or discover its nature themselves; former keepers do not forget the existence of SCP-5109, merely its essence. This essence cannot be reverse-engineered, and deductive reasoning will not allow the characters to be "guessed." SCP-5109 is only imprinted on a subject's consciousness through aural reception.
There is no evidence to suggest that SCP-5109 possesses agency or sentience. It does not affect the cognizance of its hosts except where memorization of the associated character string is concerned, and displays no cognizance of its own. Whether its phenomena represent an inherent property of languages using the Latin alphabet, an inherent property of human consciousness, an irreducible universal constant or a purposeful alteration of reality is not known. That the character string possesses a meaning in the English language, [EXPUNGED], does to some extent mitigate against all but the last of these possibilities.
Addendum
SCP-5109 first came to Foundation attention on 5/08/2009 (see below). Its nature was determined through experimentation; its origin remains unknown.
The ongoing need to develop reliable security protocols for Foundation research led to a proposal by Chief Veiksaar: experimental use of SCP-5109 in sensitive research projects at Site-43. Chief Veiksaar's proposal was accepted on 01/14/2010. She became the de facto keeper of SCP-5109 when not in use, authorized to loan it out on a case-by-case basis. This practice was discontinued on 04/27/2020, Special Containment Procedures were amended, and Chief Veiksaar ceded SCP-5109 to O5 Command.
O5 Command is not accepting requests for the release of SCP-5109. Rationale can be found in the usage log excerpts retrieved from the Site-43 Network Database (43Net) reproduced below.
Addendum
Proposals to decommission SCP-5109 have been rejected, as it is unclear whether terminating its present keeper would permanently destroy the anomaly or cause it to manifest in some other context — potentially outside of containment, or Foundation notice.
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