 Item Number – SCP-440 Object Class – Euclid Special Containment Procedures – As of 619, the majority of SCP-440 in existence is located in Site-1's Large-Scale Wilderness Observation Dome, LSWOD. Standard LSWOD security protocols apply, and all observers and items placed inside the dome are to be completely sanitized of SCP-440. The bottle in which SCP-440 was first discovered, hereafter referred to as SCP-440 Prime, is currently located in a security cabinet on Site-1. Description – SCP-440 is a sample of fine-grained sand, sand grain of approximately 90 micrometers, that is technically identical to typical silica-based sand. Its only difference is that it functions as if it were in a microgravity environment, regardless of the gravitational forces acting upon it. SCP-440 was found in a small glass bottle with no label on it, filled with a viscous fluid that, presumably, weighs down SCP-440 and prevents the grains from touching. SCP-440 is capable of giving this property to other samples of sand, essentially transforming it into SCP-440 itself. The process governing this conversion is believed to be based on contact, requiring SCP-440 to be introduced into a sample of unconverted sand via compressed air. The rate of conversion from basic sand to SCP-440 is also unknown, but it is understood that approximately 30% by mass of seed sand does not convert. Even SCP-440 reaches specific levels of concentration within an environment, and SCP-440-based ecosystem forms. Because all SCP-440-based objects, environmental and sapient, are in constant gravitational freefall, there is less evolutionary pressure on gravity-defying traits. An examination booth number 6642, 2 grams of SCP-440 injected into 4 liters of fine-grained sand via air-powered hose. Sanctuary SCP-440 conversion ceases. Approximately 1.2 liters of sand remains unconverted. Small 0.5 to 1 centimeter, nodules of SCP-440 appear, floating aimlessly in the enclosure. 4.30, year expunged. Request to expand experiment approved by 05. To examination room number 6135, 12 liters of fine-grained sand added to the room. 5.10, year expunged. 3 liters of fine-grained sand remains unconverted. Larger rocks, average size 10 centimeters, float through the enclosure. First discovery of SCP-440-based life occur, hereafter referred to as SCP-441. SCP-441, colloquially called dust bugs, are 6 centimeter entities, somewhat resembling brine shrimp. Specimens of SCP-441 spend their lives using their rough teeth to shear off sections of rocks for consumption. Study of SCP-441 specimens reveal they are composed entirely of undifferentiated SCP-440. Experiment transferred to animal enclosure number 42 approved, and enclosure is reseeded with 0.5 liters of fine-grained sand. 6.7, year expunged. Resembling rocks, average size 41 centimeters, compose the majority of the enclosure. SCP-441 population increases dramatically, kept in check by a new entity type. Hereafter, SCP-442, SCP-442s are 75 centimeter long entities, resembling rocky cephalopods, using their tentacles to push themselves off the environment to move. They are dubbed roctopods by staff. After much deliberation, 05 ordered animal enclosure number 42 shipped to site for expansion purposes, owing to that site's unused large-scale wilderness observation dome. As with the previous transfer, approximately data expunged of fine-grained sand was placed in the dome. 9.19, year expunged. Rocks and environment have an average size of 6 meters. Populations of SCP-441 and 2 have grown as projected. Over the past week, four instances of a new Apex predator, SCP-443, sand snakes, are documented. SCP-443s are 1.5 meter long entities with a snake-like body and a mouth shaped like a conventional rock crusher. 2 SCP-443s are killed before reaching full maturity, one from another SCP-443, another from attacking a group of SCP-442s. The survivors establish a territorial system within the LSWOD. It is assumed that SCP-443 specimens are composed of SCP-440, but capturing an SCP-443 sample has proven difficult, owing to hostility by SCP-443s. 10.08, year expunged. Permission to seek expansion for the environment denied by 05- Additional data. Exploration number 440A, Animal Enclosure number 42, Explorer D23467, TOD, 6-7, year expunged. Due to an increase in airborne SCP-440 concentrations preventing external viewing, D23467 was sent into AE number 42. D23467 is equipped with a standard foundation NBC suit, with respirator, a flashlight, and a canister of compressed air, airlock voice, outside environment doors locked, enclosure door open. You may now enter the enclosure. Have a safe and pleasant day. D23467, command, can you hear me? Doctor, loud and clear, Delta, what can you see from the airlock? D23467, um, not much, command. The doors opening kicked up a bunch of this floating sand stuff. Sounds of compressed air firing. Boo-yah. Command, I see a bunch of rocks floating around, lots of sand blowing around. None of the rocks are close though. Doctor, enter the enclosure, Delta. Report what you see. D23467, sure enough, command, it's not that- oh, Jesus! Doctor, report, Delta. D23467, oh, sorry, nothing serious. I have to walk very slowly and carefully. I guess a lot of this floaty stuff eventually lands on the sand, cause every step I take kicks it up. I have to, I don't know, goose step to make sure I'm not kicking up plumes of this crap behind me. You sure this place is safe, command? Doctor, completely safe, Delta. Proceed at will. We've seen some stationary objects a few meters in front of you. We'd like you to examine them for us. D23467, very well, command. Do you guys pump air into here from vents or something? Doctor, no, Delta, why do you ask? D23467, well, this stuff floats around, right? There's currents of this stuff, command, like little floating rivers. It's sort of pretty, but wouldn't it just sort of, I don't know, disperse like clouds or something? Doctor, unknown, have you seen any stationary objects? D23467, faint scratching noise. We was walking through one of the rivers. Felt like walking through a really slow sand blaster. Oh yeah, I found it. Man, that's weird. Doctor, report. D23467, it's like one of those big termite mounds you see in the desert back home, floating in the air. Command, this thing is chained to the ground with a thick string of sand. The, um, big rock is about 30 centimeters around, 45 centimeters wide. It's got those bug things, SCP-441, on it, scurrying around. It's like, it's spinning a bit, bobbing a little. I thought you said this stuff floats, command. How the hell is it not floating? Doctor, that's why you're in there, Delta. D23467, you're the boss, command, gonna try and get to the end of the string. D23467 spends the next 20 minutes attempting to reach the base of the object. Because of the erratic motions of the object, D23467 settles on lying prone and crawling towards the base. Because of the amount of SCP-440 this disturbs, this process required D23467 to wait for 440 to disperse repeatedly. D23467. Alright, finally. Oh, wow. Doctor, report, Delta. D23467. I was wrong, command. The rock isn't connected to the ground with sand. It's got a metric sh** load of dust bugs keeping the whole thing from floating away. There's a few dozen of them in the sand here, holding on to a few more. We're holding on to a few more. It's like those ants in the jungle that make bridges out of themselves for the rest of them. Oh, that's interesting. Looks like the bugs keep the big rock up top touching those sand currents. Maybe they eat loud crash. Jesus! Doctor, Delta, what happened? D23467. I think one of the floating rocks hit the bug chain command. I can't see sh**. All I'm seeing is sand. Something shook this f**king snow globe. Get me out of here. Where is the f**king airlock? Doctor, negative, Delta. Try and get your bearings and let the 440 around you clear. Report, Delta. D23467. I was looking at the chain of these bugs, command. And out of nowhere, a fist-sized rock came out of nowhere and smacked into it in the middle. The bugs just pulverized. And then everything exploded. It didn't help that I got my white ass out of there in a hurry. Ha ha ha ha ha. Command, that wasn't one of those floating rocks. Someone threw it. What else do you have in this place? You told me about those bug things. What else is here? Doctor, that's why you're in there, Delta. Can you see anything? D23467. Bursts of compressed air. Yeah, command. A little bit. There's a cloud of... No, command. You got more than bugs in here. Now. I see three. I don't know. Rocky squid things. Looks like we found our chuckers. They have their tentacle things around the main dustbug rock. Do I have to get closer? I can't see s**t from here, but... Doctor. Yes, Delta. Get as close as possible. D23467. I'm the one who's seeing squids made out of sand, command. So I'm going to get as close as I f**king feel like it. Ahem. Looks like these squid things are breaking up the rock the bugs lived in, command. I'm not sticking my hand near them. But my guess is they're eating the thing. Sounds like a rock in one of those crusher things. Bugs look like they're trying to fight back, but it ain't working. I'm no scientist, but my guess is the squids do the rock-chucking thing. Surprised the bugs long enough to do their job. Oh, Christ, command. There's more of these things. Doctor, what things, Delta? D23467. Those rock chain things. I didn't see them before. Too much dust floating around. I guess these are dust bug hives or something. I can see at least six of these things in here. But I'd have to walk more to get through some of the sand currents in here. I see a few more groups of rock squids too flying around. Christ, the squids are done with the bug rock. They see me, command. Permission to withdraw. Doctor, negative Delta. See what they want. D23467. Yeah, easy to say that, you a**hole. You're not the one about to be... They're just watching, using some of the rocks around me to circle around me. They don't have eyes, or at least ones that I can see. They look about 70 centimeters long, all told. It's like someone made an octopus out of a rock, command. But how the hell is it so fluid? Rocks don't... Rocks don't... Cursing. F***er, just sprayed me with sand, command. I can't see s*** right now. Squids do that s*** with ink. I guess these f***ing things do it with sand. Sounds of compressed air. Oh, thank God. They're gone now, command. Permission to return to the airlock. I'm running out of air in this thing. And I'm not going to get caught in another dust storm without enough air. D-23467's return to the airlock was uneventful. As per standard procedure, D-23467 stripped inside the airlock and was decontaminated of all SCP-440 grains and returned to D-class dormitories. Exploration number 440B. Large-scale wilderness observation dome. L-S-W-O-D. Site. Explorers. B-6-335. Lead. D-5-8-2-4-3. Note. D-6-335 was promoted from the D-class ranks by order of 05... a highly unorthodox decision. 05... incited D-6-335's pre-incarceration history of hunting large game and repeated successes interacting with SCP-440 and its denizens made him vital to understanding and containing SCP-440. As the exact terms and scale of his promotion are currently under consideration, he has been given the interim title of Beta Class. TOD. 10-2 Year Expunged. On 9-30 Year Expunged, D-24573 was lost during an excursion. His last communication was... Gotcha. B-6-335 and D-5-8-2-4-3 were scented to the L-S-W-O-D in order to determine the fate of D-24573. Following the signal from D-24573's suit, the two have made an uneventful trip so far. B-6-335. Stay closer, boy. Something's different. D-5-8-2-4-3. Stop with that boy s***, Beta. None of those roctopods around, and the air is clear. Note, roctopods refer to SCP-442, a species resembling a rocky cephalopod. B-6-335. I'll stop calling you boy when you start paying attention. 442s are curious buggers. They don't attack, but they always follow us around. Watching. Only one reason you wouldn't see a roctopod swarm following behind us. There's something out there that they don't want any part of. D-5-8-2-4-3. Uh-huh. I've got 10 bucks on that idiot Delta died trying to take a piss on a dustbug nest. Beeping noise. Looks like he's behind that sandy current. Come on. Note, dustbugs refer to SCP-441, a small bug-like creature. B-6-335. Slow down, Delta. I don't like this. Look at the motion in that cloud. You ever see a sand flow like that? Too damned fast, too wide. Note, specimens of SCP-441 live in hollowed out floating rocks, chained to the floor via ladders of SCP-441. Colonies undulate consistently, collectively agitating the ambient SCP-440 into tight jet streams of SCP-440. D-5-8-2-4-3. Ha, no, but I don't give a s***. We find 24573's body, I get a pardon. That's the rules. B-6-335. No, the rule is you don't do a damned thing until I tell you, understood? Scuffling sounds. D-5-8-2-4-3. Get the f*** off me. Why the f*** should I listen to you, old man? B-6-335. Ha, because you might not have noticed it, but that sand flow is now completely surrounding us. To Foundation Observer, command, are you picking this up? Doctor, loud and clear. B-6-335. These aren't rock-to-pods. First name redacted. Whatever took that Delta, I believe it's now hunting me and the kid here. D-5-8-2-4-3. To himself. Oh s***, no s***, oh s***. B-6-335. To D-5-8-2-4-3. Quiet, to Foundation Observer. Command, I have no visual on what's causing this sand flow, but if I had to wager, it's circling us, agitating the ambient SCP-440 into a funnel. Ready-made ambush. No need to corner your prey, just surround it in sand that'll never fall down. And you've cornered it yourself. Clever girls. Hey, where are you? D-5-8-2-4-3. F*** this, f*** this, f*** this. The sound of sand buffeting D-5-8-2-4-3's suit, followed by a grinding noise. Then sounds of D-5-8-2-4-3 struggling, and then screaming. B-6-335. Breathing deeply, speaks quietly. Command, I now have visual on what I believe killed D-2-4-5-7-3, three of them. Hope you don't mind if I don't save the kid. He just, it was just looking at him, and he punched it. Instinct, stupid kid, stupid. Doctor, understood beta. Can you describe what you're seeing? B-6-335. Large suckers, cylindrical. Two of them I'd say are around maybe one meter long, front to back. Third one is bigger, two meters or so. Snake-like, their torsos look like, like the spine of a T-Rex skeleton, made out of stone. Interlocking, very fluid movement. The head, the head looks like a standard floater. Didn't get a really good look at the thing's mouth before the kid punched it, but it reminded me of a wood chipper intake. The little ones are playing with the kid now. Big one is just watching. If I had to guess, I'm looking at an alpha creature with two immature specimens. Training to hunt maybe. I don't think I can, oh, fuck me. Doctor, beta. Report, B-6-335. Big one decided to swim over to me command. Maybe an arm's length away. Mouth is definitely like a wood chipper intake. No eyes that I can see. It's amazing how fluid this cutie is. It's completely silent, except for when it spins up its teeth. I guess that's how it vocalizes. Sir, I don't think these beauties are actively hostile, sir. The kid switched from flight to fight. Guess one of the little ones did too. Heh, can't really blame them. I... Sound of crashing. Doctor, beta. B-6-335. I'm fine. Big guy just knocked me a ways back with his tail. Guess I was... Oh, well, would you look at that. Found what's left of Delta-24573, sir. Whistles, if I had to guess. The big rock snake wanted me over there, and I wasn't moving. Doctor, what's his condition? B-6-335, dead. Helmet broke. Must've choked on the 440 floating around. No damage to his body, though. Suit is all fucked up. The corpse is hunched over something. I'm going to slide the body. Oh, you idiot. You are a god-damned idiot. They sent you here to observe, not violate. Doctor, what did you find? B-6-335. It looks like Delta-24573 was holding on to a tiny version of one of those snakes. Baster must've thought the parents wouldn't have cared if he tried to take one. Fucking idiot. The groups, the hunting. These snakes are pack animals' command. Did the Foundation authorize this? Doctor, sorry, Beta. You're not staff yet. Off the record, though, I doubt it. Note, at no time did the Foundation authorize the capture of any SCP-443. It was not until this exploration that the species were known to the Foundation. B-6-335. Whatever. Are we done here? I don't think the snakes will attack again, but I don't want to be in their nesting areas anymore, if that's all right with you. I've got no interest in reinforcing the idea to these lovelies that us apes are threats any more than we already have, that is. B-6-335 was allowed permission to leave and reported being observed but unmolested by four instances of SCP-443. Five meters from the airlock, he discovered the corpse of D-58243, who had tried to crawl away. As per standard procedure, both B-6-335 and D-58243 were stripped and decontaminated of all SCP-440 grains. A detailed examination of the SCP-440 ecology by Dr. Z. J. File currently processing. Lesson complete. If you missed the previous orientation, go watch SCP-439, Bone Hive, right now. Or for the complete course, watch this playlist.