SCP-262

SCP-262 SCP-262 is a military-style coat with a whole collection of arms inside it, and the more the Foundation tests it, the less comfortable that description gets. The coat itself is brown wool, long enough to fall below the knee on most people. Its design looks European, but it doesn't have markings that identify a particular military. Dating the fibers produces an age of roughly 6,200 to 6,400 years, which doesn't fit the apparent style. One possibility in the file is that somebody made a newer coat using much older wool. That's still just a possible explanation. When somebody wears it and opens it, arms emerge from the lining. Most look human, with different sizes, skin tones, and levels of strength. Others definitely don't. There are long translucent limbs made of cellulose, a scaled tentacle, a large cat's paw, and occasional legs and feet. The wearer gets some control over them, but the arms also do things independently. They can defend the wearer, perform tasks while the wearer is blindfolded, or play piano even when the person has no musical training. Some of the limbs fight each other. One hand takes away a cigarette while another may give the wearer one, including when that person doesn't smoke. So even before the dangerous tests, there are signs that wearing the coat doesn't mean you're the only one making decisions. Putting it over someone's head causes that person to disappear underneath it. Later, fingerprints identify one of the arms coming out of the lining as belonging to that missing subject. A mannequin disappears in a similar test, and afterward a wooden arm resembling the mannequin's begins appearing too. That makes the extra limbs a lot harder to treat as harmless tools. The file doesn't fully explain what happens to somebody inside, but there's a direct connection between things it takes in and the limbs it produces. Trying to turn a sleeve inside out goes badly. Voices cry out, the arms attack the person doing it, and one of the long cellulose limbs tears off the trapped portion of his arm. Once the coat returns to its normal position, the limbs withdraw and the voices stop. They managed to provoke a very specific response without really learning what they were disturbing. The most serious incident happens when researchers put it on a corpse. At first, a hand just reaches up and investigates the face. Then the coat rearranges the body and uses its own arms to pull it upright and move it. It breaches containment and overpowers security. When a response team corners it with flame weapons, it pulls itself over the corpse's head, taking the body inside and falling to the floor. The entry leaves open whether the coat itself wanted to escape or whether the dead person somehow influenced it. Neither possibility is particularly reassuring. And the whole thing originally came from the Administrator's closet. He hands it over because it could be useful, while also being dusty and taking up space. Meanwhile, the Foundation is considering giving it to field agents. I can see the practical appeal, but I'd want a much better explanation of where those hands came from before putting my own arms through the sleeves. Original Entry: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-262