 Item number SCP-217 Object Class Keter Special Containment Procedures Containment areas will be kept behind two reverse pressure airlocks. Chemical shower sterilization, full-contained atmosphere hazmat suits, and 24-hour post-interaction quarantine and testing are mandatory for all personnel entering containment area. Should containment be breached, the blast door for the containment and research area will seal, and chemical agents 0-217-11 will be pumped into the air. Any humans exposed to SCP-217 are to be contained and held for observation. Any items touched by those affected by SCP-217 must be sterilized. Description SCP-217 is a virus, incurable by current means, with a rate of infectivity at 100%. It affects all organisms in the kingdom, anamella, and can be spread via touch or contact with bodily fluids. SCP-217 is very hardy and can survive for years outside the host body. Progress of the infection is very slow, with some subjects going several years before manifesting any symptoms. SCP-217 alters the biochemistry of organic tissue, causing organic matter to rearrange into a form of organic metal. The processes involved with this change are not yet fully understood, but the advanced stages are well documented. The subject will begin to turn to a complex arrangement of gears and clockwork, these taking over for the former biological functions. Advanced stage infections reported to be very painful, but earlier stages are often times unnoticed, with only vague feelings of confusion, insomnia, and joint stiffness. Hearts are replaced by gears in small tubes, joints by gear networks, eyes by structures not unlike primitive hand crank, film cameras, etc. SCP-217 shows first on the outside of the body and all creatures except mammals, and mammals at first converts the internal structure before manifesting outside the body. This can cause those infected to go for a very long period of time without knowing of infection. SCP-217 has even been shown to totally convert the inside of the body before showing any externally visible symptoms. SCP-217 has infected several major metropolitan areas in the past, most notably ██, the mental state of those admitted to advanced stages of infection have been shown to be much diminished. Subjects respond in a repetitive fashion, are very dull and mechanical in nature and easily distracted and confused, and appear generally irritable when faced with new problems. In addition, research on a fully converted brain has ██, document number 217-6, Notes on Symptoms. Subjects infected by SCP-217 have at early stages reported no major symptoms, aside from increased lethargy and a general lack of emotional response. Some report a feeling of fluttering or moving under the skin, coupled with a persistent ticking noise. This noise seems most prominent when SCP-217 infects the shoulders, neck and head, however it is audible if recording equipment is pressed against an affected area. Initial infection of SCP-217 is, has already been stated, almost undetectable. As the infection advances, subjects will begin to feel sharp, tearing pain in areas that are being converted. It has been compared to a knife wound or a deep muscle tear, and can persist for hours or several days, depending on both the subject and the area infected. The new clockwork organs appear to tear and rip at tissue for a short time, before becoming fully integrated and settling into the surrounding tissue, and this is believed to account for the pain. Areas infected appear to be metal, mainly brass, steel and iron. Other substances have been reported appearing to be leather, rubber, glass, wood and other basic materials. Despite appearances, it is purely organic material and even carries a subject's DNA. Organs and tissues affected appear more resilient than normal, carrying the same strength and density as the materials they resemble, instead of normal tissue density. Areas damaged repair over time, but as much slower than standard human regeneration. Damaged areas can be instantly repaired by replacing damaged areas with new parts of the same type. Everything has shown that there are no ill effects if parts made from normal materials – steel, wood, leather – replace the existing biomechanical clockworks. Most alarming, people infected with SCP-217 can continue for months, even years, without even being detected. With infection so easy to spread, hundreds could be affected before proper containment could be enforced. Infection appears to spread most quickly in large offices, malls, and other large concentrations of people. Note, anything or anyone suspected or confirmed to be infected with SCP-217 is not to be allowed near SCP-882. Addendum, at this time, cross-experimentation between SCP-229 and SCP-217 is allowed only with O5 Council approval.