SCP-207: Cola Bottles

SCP-207: Cola Bottles SCP-207 is a crate of twenty-four Coca-Cola bottles. Consuming more than five milliliters of the liquid starts a process that no test subject has survived beyond forty-eight hours. At first, the effects would look like an advantage. The person no longer needs sleep or rest and doesn't try to get either. Sedatives and other medications tested by the Foundation haven't reversed that effect. Their movements, reactions, and mental performance also improve, with the increase continuing over time. The file describes a linear progression of roughly fifty percent every six hours. That matters because it doesn't say the person's abilities multiply by another fifty percent at every interval. The researchers record a steady increase, and tests of mental performance rise alongside the physical effects. Drinking a larger amount generally hasn't produced a different result, although the recovery case has a redacted exception. The person's body never receives the changes needed to support those improvements. Bones, blood vessels, and organs remain physically ordinary while the demands placed on them keep increasing. Moving becomes dangerous. By roughly twenty-four hours, subjects begin handling every movement carefully because they can misjudge their own speed and hurt themselves. One subject escapes the containment area despite a five-meter wall. The escape causes catastrophic damage to the person's skeleton, with the exact details removed from the report. Other subjects die from organ failure or ruptured major arteries. The ability to keep going doesn't provide protection from what continuing to move does to the body. The Foundation first finds the bottles after a struggling college student suddenly begins earning exceptional grades and breaking athletic records. An agent embedded in the local police brings the student in for questioning. The student reveals the drinks, then tries to escape while memory-altering drugs are being administered. The attempt ends in fatal internal bleeding and organ failure. One bottle is already empty when the crate is recovered from the student's home. The file suggests drinking that entire bottle had an additional significance, but the explanation is redacted. It doesn't give us enough to say exactly how the student's experience differed from the later tests. Chemical analysis finds unusually high concentrations of caffeine and sugars, along with another redacted component. That is the article's fictional setup, not an effect ordinary caffeine or cola can produce. The anomalous liquid also doesn't appear to deteriorate with age, so simply waiting for it to expire isn't a containment strategy. The bottles are labeled A through X, with B reserved as the active testing bottle. Opening another requires authorization from two Level Four researchers. The crate is classified Safe and locked inside a waterproof metal container in a biocontainment area. Here, Safe describes the Foundation's ability to keep the object secured. It says nothing reassuring about drinking it. The surrounding precautions are deliberately mundane. Staff entering the area are searched for food and drinks. Vending machines at the site are allowed to dispense only clear carbonated beverages, and anything with an unexpected color has to be investigated. A staff member who drinks the anomalous cola loses their clearance and is retained for study. The student who first attracts attention briefly looks like somebody whose life has turned around. Better grades, better athletic performance, and no need to stop for sleep would be easy to celebrate from the outside. The file follows that apparent improvement far enough to show what the student's body was being asked to endure. Original Entry: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-207