Item #: SCP-5438
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-5438 is to be kept in two separate locked steel vaults. The keys to these vaults are to remain offsite unless testing on the object is being performed. Victims of SCP-5438 are to be kept in separate steel pens, which are to be cleaned twice a week by D-class personnel. A soporific is to be administered to food prior to cleaning to mitigate danger to the cleaning crew.
Description: SCP-5438 is a pair of tortoise shell single point knitting needles 38cm in length. Both needles have a coating at the tips that superficially resembles discarded webbing of a Theridiid spider. Testing has failed to reveal the material's composition. Attempts to collect this material have met with failure as removing the strands causes them to evaporate into a powder comprised of carbon and oxidized iron with traces of copper. Removing material from the needles does not seem to effect the total amount present no matter how much is removed.
When both needles are held in the victim's hands the victim will begin weaving a cocoon of blue silk, starting at the feet. The victim has no control of the process after it begins and can only be stopped by physical restraint. Any subject who has started the process will seek to complete the cocoon in its entirety. This compulsive behavior will manifest under all circumstances, including instances in which the subject is aware of the outcome of said actions. Victims that do not complete the cocoon can be given an amnestic to alleviate the desire to finish knitting but only if the needles remain out of sight.
The anomalous effects of the needles cease when the victim closes the cocoon at the top. The needles are pushed through a small hole above the head that closes through elastic action of the silk. The entire process takes between 3 and 4 hours regardless of the victim's skill level.
Victims that finish their cocoon have a five minute window where they can be safely removed. Upon being removed from the cocoon, the victim immediately vomits up a green viscous fluid containing several known teratogens, mutagens, hormones and a compound similar to cyanoglobin. Waiting longer than five minutes to open the cocoon is lethal to the victim. Some victims saved in this manner suffer severe brain and muscle damage. Injecting the ichor into lab animals has resulted in severe physiological anomalies.
After five minutes in the cocoon the victim's muscles and internal organs begin to liquify and the skin bloats outward, taking on a leathery texture. All external orifices become sealed with a waxy excretion forming a crude chrysalis. Over the course of three days the chrysalis swells until twice its original mass. Ultrasound and X-ray scans have revealed drastic changes in the victim's skeletal structure during this time. Fluid samples taken from the chrysalis show that the victim's cells are no longer human after 15 hours. The alterations are on a genetic level, including the addition of a third phosphate backbone forming triple helix PNA.
Victims allowed to stay within the chrysalis for more than four days become instances of SCP-1675-1, emerging through the back of their discarded human husks. The process takes approximately ten minutes for the new organism to emerge through both the leathery chrysalis and the silk cocoon. At this point there is no trace of the original organism remaining. The imago is classified as SCP-1675-1
SCP-5348-1 are bipedal carnivores covered in dermal plates and short bristles. Four limbs analogous to arms emerge from a complex hunched shoulder, each with eight joints and ending in three talons. The lower jaws of the organism are split into two grasping mandibles covered in serrated spikes and ending in large hollow fangs that are filled with a caustic fluid containing neurotoxins and hallucinogens. The tongue is segmented, ending in forcibules and a complex mandible like the mouth of a centipede. The tongue and esophagus are fused allowing SCP-5438-1 to breath while it is feeding.
Testing with primates and rodents capable of manipulating the needles also produces organisms similar but not exactly identical to SCP-5438-1. In some cases the only physiological difference is the size of the victim. Only mammals become instances of SCP-5438-1. To date only mammals have survived the process.
Addendum 1: The needles are stored separately after a researcher was found cocooned. It is still unknown how the researcher gained access to the object and site security is being reviewed.
Addendum 2 The blue silk recovered from victims has no terrestrial analogue. It has slightly more tensile strength than the strongest spider silks. SCP-5438-1 eats its own cocoon shortly after exiting its chrysalis state making collection of the material problematic. The silk is classified as SCP-5438-S.
Addendum 3 Initial interactions with SCP-5438-1 led to the death of two research assistants and the permanent disfigurement of 3 D-class personnel. There have been no observed behaviors to indicate that any part of a victim's personality or intelligence remains. When allowed to group together instances of SCP-5348-1 form hunting packs. While having the same level of intelligence as most higher mammals the organisms show no signs of sapience an increase in problem solving skills and a rudimentary language of clicks and whistles when kept in a population of more than 10. The containment procedures have been updated accordingly.
Addendum 4 Autopsy of a female SCP-5438-1 shows evidence that a further stage of development is possible but at this time there have been no further metamorphosis in the population. Authorization is pending to allow a female instance of SCP-5438-1 access to SCP-5438 to determine if it will weave a second cocoon.
Recovery Log: Martha ███████, the first documented victim of SCP-5438, was too old to complete the process and died in the cocoon. Her advanced age and poor health interfered with the metamorphosis. Martha was found in her home prematurely emerged from her cocoon by her knitting club. The emergency call was intercepted and agents administered class C amnestics to the witnesses. Autopsy of the corpse shows distinct ridging of the bones and the modification of the last set of ribs into articulated limbs. The lower mandible had been divided in half and articulated. The teeth had been pushed out by serrated spikes. At the time of death the organs and musculature had not reformed.
Agent Forte, the second documented victim, discovered the needles where they had rolled under a chair. When asked what he was doing with the needles he replied that he was knitting. When asked about what he was knitting he could not explain his actions. When the needles were removed and placed in specimen storage Agent Forte lost consciousness. When he regained consciousness 15 minutes later he immediately asked to finish knitting. He is being kept under observation to determine the long term physical and psychological effects of being exposed.