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Registered Phenomena Code: 062
Object Class: Gamma-Orange
Hazard Types: Animated Hazard, Sentient Hazard, Grouped Hazard
Containment Protocols: Only three RPC-062 instances made of low-density substances with very low tensile and yield strength factors are allowed to be active at a time. Their primary containment must be within a sealed, 20 x 20 x 10cm acrylic glass container. This container must be inspected weekly for any signs of internal damage. Upon discovery of any damages, the container is to be replaced and RPC-062 instances transferred to the new container immediately.
The container is only to be opened during scheduled testing. Instances of RPC-062 are only to be tested within watertight testing environments. In the event of a containment breach, blunt-force and area denial weapons should be used to combat instances due to their small size. RPC-062 containers are to be maintained in the Gamma containment sector of Site-001.
Description: RPC-062 instances can vary extremely widely in composition. They uniformly present as arachnoid entities strongly resembling the body-plan of the family Lycosidae1, with eight long legs and a relatively small two-segment central body. The sizes of RPC-062 vary from larger instances measuring 8 x 15 x 5.5 cm, to smaller instances measuring 1.6 x 3 x 0.5 cm. RPC-062’s bodily makeup can be described as externally being composed of any solid matter along with a highly viscous dark green fluid designated RPC-062-1. This fluid is present throughout the body; body plans vary between being completely-solid and having 062-1 partially exposed through vessels.
RPC-062 behavior does not seem to be majorly coordinated and adopts four distinct modes: self-replication, RPC-062-1 production, obstacle destruction, and offensive attack. During the self-replication mode (which generally occurs more than 5 minutes after another mode has ended), instances will explore their environment and test the physical properties of materials present within it using their limbs. Once a material weak enough for them to effectively reshape is found, instances will attempt to extract the substance and fashion it into another form of itself. The time this takes varies depending on the materials involved. Periods as short as two minutes or as long as several hours have been observed.
RPC-062-1 can be laid from the 'abdominal' or 'spinneret' back piece as a silk-like substance and reshaped into thin 'webs' in environments with many height drops, such as rooms with tall furniture or thick natural foliage. These serve as a working space for replication behavior.2
If there are insufficient quantities of the 062-1 composite liquid, the instance will proceed to gather a certain mass of material (between 0.1 micrograms and 1 gram, depending on the current demand) and proceed to disgorge some of its own supply onto the mass. During a period of 3-5 days, the 062-1 slowly transforms the mass into more of itself through an unknown means, creating a new supply that is immediately ready for use.
Obstacle destruction occurs when the 062 instances discover all possible travel routes blocked and there is no material determined to be suitable for self-replication available. The instances will proceed to attempt to compromise the structural integrity of the weakest area they can find, using their limbs, body, or disgorging 062-1 fluid onto a weak spot.
The attack mode occurs whenever the 062 instances detect an entity (such as a human, predator or inanimate object) interfering physically with any of the previous three modes. Instances will use their sharp limbs and bodies to attack targets until they cease moving. Using their frontal ‘fangs’, 062-1 can be injected as a sort of venom into the circulatory system of a target being.
Instances show patterns of more complex and 'intelligent' behavior the larger their size. Often, larger instances will coordinate with each other or seem to 'control' smaller ones in carrying out tasks. No other eusociality or hierarchy has ever been observed. Their self-replication poses a serious threat should they escape into any large area; very large swarms of RPC-062 can form within spans of days or weeks, especially if multiple instances with bodies made of hard substances (metal or plastic) are at large. A strong threat of uncontrolled self-replication exists, especially in areas with a large diversity of materials.
Addendum: RPC-062-1 has been revealed to be wildly complex in composition under mass spectrometry: elements from all the major regions of the periodic table that are not gaseous at normal Earth conditions have been observed, and even certain actinide isotopes have been separated from samples collected of the substance. Direct electron microscope observation is ongoing and seems to suggest a technological origin.
As a substance, RPC-062-1 is a slow-acting reagent that dissolves material it is exposed to over a considerable span of time. Days, weeks, and months have been observed (several cms of wood, average reinforced concrete wall, 5 inches stainless steel respectively.) When injected into a circulatory system, 062-1 will rapidly interfere with life functions depending on the target’s anatomy. Survival times have not been measured longer than 180 seconds for adult humans as of yet. Development of an effective countermeasure continues.