RPC-884 - RPC Authority

RPC-884

Liberty Walks

tagnone

Image taken by Department of Abnormal Occurrences (Now USOC) agents following "Black Tom" incident, made to highlight RPC-884's effect. 1916.

Registered Phenomena Code: 884

Object Class: Alpha-Purple

Hazard Types:Additional Properties:

Transmutation

Extra-Dimensional

Animated

Titanic

Tychokinetic

Containment Protocols: Under no circumstances is the Statue of Liberty to come into harm's way. If such a scenario does occur, the Authority is to cooperate with USOC¹ officials to cover up the incident as long as a "BARTHOLDI" type event has not occurred. If a "BARTHOLDI" event occurs, the newly created RPC-884-1 instance is to be contained at all costs.

If possible, a peaceful solution is to be reached with the newly created RPC-884-1 instance, but as such an event has never yet been recorded, USOC standing military forces as well as Authority forces are to be immediately dispatched onto the scene. If said RPC-884-1 begins acting sporadically, small arms and explosives focused on disrupting the instance's center of gravity are to be used to hopefully topple RPC-884 before extensive damage and information breaches can occur. Following this, at least 50 ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) ropes of at least 40 cN/dtex are to be immediately used to restrain the instance for transport to a secure facility located in Arizona.

Description: RPC-884 refers to an invariable set of laws affecting instances of the Statue of Liberty constructed from the following tenants:

1. A Statue of Liberty will be created in all universes.²
2. The Statue of Liberty is probabilistically near-indestructible.
3. Were the Statue of Liberty in a position in which its destruction is certain, it will transmute into an indestructible, fully functional, weaponized automata.

For an instance of the Statue of Liberty to be identified as such, a variety of common features must exist, such as a generally feminine figure, a similar pose to baseline, and the holding of some kind of luminescent tool, usually a torch.³

Examples of "certain" destruction cases include:

Being affected by a probability manipulator or changes in ACS levels
Large-scale mass calamities (geographical collapse, destruction of the entire planet, etc.)
Being constructed in an "impossible" location

Statue of Liberty instances that transmute into said automata are to be designated RPC-884-1, and their creation is hereby designated a "BARTHOLDI" event. Instances move stiffly, only able to locomote each perceived "joint". All instances are heavily armed with modern-day weapons and can traverse at speeds up to 230 km/h⁴ with high levels of dexterity. Communication attempts with RPC-884-1 instances have been met with multiversal failure.

RPC-884-1 behavior is passive at best and chaotic at worst. At the moment, there has been no observed pattern as to how RPC-884-1 will act, though it has been noted to have a tendency towards protecting human beings.

Engraved within all Statues of Liberty is a message in an unknown language, similar to that found in ████████. The appearance of this engravement is unexplained, records on the engravement of said message have never been found. The location of the engraving varies from instances of the Statue of Liberty, though it usually appears alongside other engravings in the Statue of Liberty instance. Due to RPC-884, said message is borderline impossible to remove⁵, and therefore has been hidden from the public eye instead. Linguistic analysis utilizing the Authority's various AI systems has created a rough translation algorithm. Translated to English, it reads:

Give them hell.

A list of observed instances of the Statue of Liberty can be found within the addendum.

Discovery:

The Statue of Liberty's probabilistic near-indestructibility was discovered after the "Black Tom" incident. On July 30, 1916, German agents destroyed a connection between Black Tom Island and Jersey City utilizing explosives in one of the largest manmade non-nuclear explosions ever recorded. Said explosion, if the Statue of Liberty was not under the effect of RPC-884, would have caused millions of dollars in damages to the statue - due to wind patterns, the scattering of munitions on Black Tom, and numerous other factors, the blast perfectly bypassed the Statue of Liberty.

Following the discovery of the Statue's anomalous properties, DAO⁶ and Authority agents cooperated to cover it up, painting "damage" onto the surface of the Statue of Liberty quickly.

Further properties of RPC-884 were discovered through the usage of multiversal observation.

Addendum:

[→] Access file 884.1: Notable Statue of Liberty instances observed in Alternate Realities

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Reality	Brief Description of Notable Statue of Liberty
ALTR-BUI7	The instance is controlled by an alternate Chinese government due to a series of events leading to the Republic of China appearing long before European powers and becoming the technological and trade center of the world. Constructed as a gift from the government of Franzco, occupying regions of parallels to France and Germany, the instance has notable differences to baseline reality's instance, including a more "feminine" appearance and the wearing of traditional Chinese clothes.
ALTR-K890	The instance formed in a universe in which intelligent life never appeared in the observable universe. Said instance is constructed out of a substance similar to stainless steel produced by a species of colonial bacteria. Other than material, is completely identical to baseline.
ALTR-II01	Instance formed in a universe in which no matter exists, save for the instance of the Statue of Liberty. Its construction is a mystery.
ALTR-P5VE	Instance existent in universe in which the universe has been colonized by a race of hostile humanoid beings. Said beings' brain structure is the same as the Statue of Liberty, giving them probabilistic immortality. Attempts at replication of this effect have been discussed but ultimately rejected due to the different nature of the Statue of Liberty within baseline reality.
ALTR-BUI7	Despite ALTR-BUI7's different temporal properties causing a significant increase in the time unmanned space explorer ships mapped the world over perceived time⁷, until 2/12/2001, an instance of the Statue of Liberty was not discovered. This lead to a debate over whether ALTR-BUI7 had "broken" RPC-884, or that RPC-884 had simply had its effects outside of observable reality. On 2/12/2001, researcher James Earlheart made note of changes within the map of ALTR-BUI7 produced by unmanned vehicles, being the first to correctly conclude that ALTR-BUI7 had an instance of the Statue of Liberty, composed out of galaxies, stars, and nebula formerly making up the entirety of an almost perfect replica of the baseline version. With this, it was realized that not only did ALTR-BUI7 not break RPC-884, its instance of the Statue of Liberty had, in fact, become an instance of RPC-884-1.⁸

Since 9/3/20██, various documents, digital devices, and files from ALTR-D2AJ "Remnants" have appeared within Site-313's cafeteria. It has been revealed through said documents that in ALTR-D2AJ, Site-313's cafeteria has been converted into a large-scale multiversal travel system, utilized to attempt to communicate with baseline.⁹ One example can be found below.

[→] Access file 884.2: Report from ALTR-D2AJ on the state of New York City

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ALPHA-TRIGGER DAMAGE SURVEY REPORT
SITE-313
LOCATION DESCRIBED: New York City
DATE: 6/4/20██
AUTHOR: Mark Stavros
Note: Document format is currently under review.

STATUS: Stable(?)
POPULATION: ~3 million
DANGER LEVEL: RED
ANOMALIES:
A-313 "Prison"

Hazards: Extra-Dimensional, Geological(?)

Description: New York City cannot be left due to an effect that causes reality to "lengthen" around individuals attempting to escape. Does not seem to affect gas as air composition has remained stable. Said effect started with a small shift in reality, which was noticed, prompting immediate evacuation of NYC. Unfortunately, A-313 progressed to its current state before an evacuation could be finished.

Casualty Minimization Protocol: Supplies are to be airdropped whenever possible, as A-313 does not prevent the entering of solids and liquids into NYC but only prevents exit.

A-672 "Shrimps"

Hazards: Destabilization, Aggression, Grouped

Description: A-672 denotes a species of large crustacean-like bipeds manifesting within NYC. A-672 instances are much larger than their legs should be able to support, often reaching sizes up to 120 meters. Instances are capable of propelling ACS-altering blood through holes in their backs, and often hide numerous "hands" within their carapaces that they are capable of extracting at any time. A-672 are highly aggressive but not intelligent, often hunting in pack formation. They appear to be able to sense electrical vibrations in the air, able to pinpoint the location of a human being from 50 meters away. A-672 attacks happen at exactly midday, targeting humans. The reason for this is unknown as no consumption of human corpses has been observed.

A-672 also appear to have a secondary aggression towards places in NYC with symbolic meaning - as of the current day, the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Vietnam Veterans memorial, Maryland Monument, along with many others have been defaced by A-672 attacks¹, with almost all "famous" monuments being destroyed². The current reason for this is unknown.

Casualty Minimization Protocol: Only explosive weapons have been found to have a measurable effect on A-672 instances with small arms having no effect. Evacuation of civilians into subways has been effective but its efficiency is subpar.

Footnotes:
1. Usually through usage of ACS blood attacks.
2. Strangely, the Statue of Liberty has stood standing as of now, though grouped patterns of A-672 suggest it may be next.

[→] Access file 884.3: Video log

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Date: 6/23/19██
[BEGIN LOG]

The sounds of screaming and footsteps can be heard. Video shows an empty street, appearing to be ████ street, Manhattan. 23 Authority operated personnel transport vehicles roll by, carrying refugees to the transfer point. Behind them, a wave of other refugees runs down the street.

A garbled rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner" plays in the distance. ACS distortion can be seen on the left side of the footage as a building "melts", falling and trapping a number of refugees. A shrimp closes in on the escaping refugees, beginning to grasp some with its many hands. From a distance, the sound of hydraulics is heard, as well as the thudding of footsteps. The shrimp begins to pick off refugees, opening its carapace to grasp at the city folk.

The sound of buildings falling can be heard. Suddenly, from behind the camera, RPC-884-1's right arm can be seen. The shrimp drops the refugees and roars, firing a spurt of ACS-lowering blood. RPC-884-1 quickly sidesteps it, destroying a building in the process. It arrives on the street while the shrimp repositions. The "Star Spangled Banner" blares into the night air as if it were a howl from a cornered animal. The shrimp turns and charges at RPC-884-1, retrieving its claw from its carapace, opening it up like a beartrap, RPC-884-1 still immobile. It slams its claw around RPC-884-1's chest. Suddenly, before it can clamp down, RPC-884-1's chest cavity opens, revealing a cabaret of tank guns, opening fire into the shrimp's joint. A shower of blood rains from the wound as the claw crumples like a tin can, morphing the battleground into a dreamlike state.

Many of the refugees have found a way out of the rubble. The shrimp turns, eyes full of rage, away from RPC-884-1. It begins to sprint towards the refugees. Without a moment's notice, RPC-884-1 extends its right arm, grasping the shrimp's tail. pulling it back, it raises the shrimp up, holding it in the air, before slamming it down. The shrimp's blood flows out and evaporates like alcohol. RPC-884-1 raises its torch into the air to strike the final blow.

Suddenly, the shrimp lets out a deafening roar. From within its carapace it retrieves its "hand", grasping RPC-884-1's leg and knocking it over. From all over the city, the skittering of shrimp fills the air, as all shrimp of the city coalesce towards a single point. Seemingly ignoring the refugees, the shrimps crawl onto each other like worms, seemingly magnifying in size, coiling about one another. RPC-884-1 fires out a barrage of anti-tank rockets - they strike and disappear, absorbed by the squirming mass.

The shrimps begin to "melt" together, their silhouette now encompassing the sky. The newly formed monstrosity roars, its thousand claws striking out, as RPC-884-1 continues to fire another round of rockets with no effect. The amalgamate barely misses its strike, as RPC-884-1 rolls out of the way. Defiant, RPC-884-1 sends another barrage towards the newly created creature. It's too late this time. The creature's claws clamp down around RPC-884-1, beginning to pull it into its carapace. The camera captures part of the "dreamlike" reality within the creature, shifting, with pools of pus and bile, creatures made of chitin and tin and a sky of murky flesh. RPC-884-1 struggles. Its copper joints creak under the pressure, but the "Star Spangled Banner" remains loud and clear.

The creature pulls RPC-884-1 closer and it continues to writhe against its constraints, pulled ever closer, the light of the flesh within the creature reflecting off of RPC-884-1's copper face. Its leg enters, then its torso, then its body. The creature closes its maw, muting the song.

Not for long. The world stands still, as a beam of light pierces the creature's teeth, evaporating its exoskeleton. The beam cuts around the creature from within, slicing it open in quick arcs, each piece falling to the ground with a great squishing noise as its blood evaporates into the air. Standing in the center of the viscera is RPC-884-1, head covered in guts and gore, its hand holding a firey torch, now a sword piercing through the heavens. The "Star Spangled Banner" can be heard, triumphant.

[END LOG]

[+] Footnotes

« RPC-883 | RPC-884 | RPC-885 »

page revision: 20, last edited: 28 Aug 2022 12:45

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