A lot of us wish we could travel the multiverse,
pay a visit to another world and see all the ways in which it differs from this dimension that we
call home. Maybe there’s a decision that you made that altered the course of your entire life –
what college you went to, asking somebody out, accepting a job over pursuing a passion.
The question of ‘what if’ might have kept you wondering what your life could have
looked like if you picked the other path. Surely it would save you all that wondering and be
so much easier just to go and find out. Imagine if you could simply pick a universe where you chose
differently, then take a quick jaunt over there to see how things turned out for your other self.
But what if you couldn’t choose? Never mind whatever that decision was; what if you
couldn’t pick where in the infinite multiverse you ended up? If traveling from world to world was
as random, unpredictable, and instinctive as a sneeze, what then? One moment you’re safe
at home, surrounded by everything you know. It might not be perfect, but at least it's
familiar. The next thing you know, with a blink of your eyes, you’re standing in a world that maybe
looks similar, but giant bees are the dominant species instead of humans. Or the world is overrun
by spiders, or everyone is made out of paint. Needless to say, you’d be at
least a little disorientated, at worst absolutely terrified for your life.
That pretty much sums up the experience of SCP-507, also known as the Reluctant Dimension
Hopper. From the outside, he looks to be a mostly normal human man, with blonde hair, green eyes;
nothing all that remarkable about him of note save for him having a somewhat unplaceable accent.
Despite having a legal name, SCP-507 will try to squeeze what little enjoyment he can out of
introducing himself by a different nickname to everyone he meets; previous favorites have
included Tommy, Steve, Bruto, Guy, Houdini, and Grabnok the Destroyer. We’ll stick with Tommy.
The sole most intriguing thing about Tommy is that, through a process that
happens completely without his control, he can spontaneously disappear, only to reappear
after an unspecified amount of time later. During that time, SCP-507 will have been in a completely
different universe to our own. This can happen at any time of day or night – and usually at
the most inconvenient moments; including while Tommy is in the middle of a conversation,
trying to sleep, or using the… ‘facilities.’ He had no control over when it happens, however,
he'll always arrive in an alternate universe in the same geographical spot he was in while in
ours. If he moves around in a parallel world, then when he returns, he will have relocated to
the corresponding place back in this universe. And that’s when disaster struck.
Alarms were blaring, declaring to all staff on-site that there had been a containment breach
in one of the anomaly’s holding cells. All hands were on deck, and security teams were converging,
dashing through the corridors. This was the second alert today, at first SCP-507 had vanished on one
of his unplanned little excursions, but now it seemed that another SCP was trying to do the same.
Dazed, trying to reorientate himself, Tommy rested against a nearby wall. His head was spinning,
and he knew it would for a few more seconds. He was in a cell, similar to the one he’d just
been in while in another universe. Except here, back home, there was a key difference: The cell
was occupied. As soon as his vision cleared, Tommy looked up at the only other creature
in the room with him. It was a tall, wiry humanoid shape, completely hairless with
pale skin, white eyes, and a large, gaping jaw. Turning to face him, Tommy instantly recognized
the creature from a description he’d been read by a Foundation researcher: it was SCP-096.
Uh oh, spaghetti-o’s. Realizing its face was being observed, the Shy Guy
started screeching, first an uncontrollable wail of distress that quickly gave way to a guttural,
animalistic roar of anger. It covered its face, babbling to itself as Tommy backed away, banging
his hand against the sealed wall of 096’s cell. Then, the creature turned towards him,
and lunged, racing across the room to where SCP-507 was trapped. All he could do was close
his eyes tight and think about running away… Tommy could feel a headache brewing in his skull,
and caught traces of a familiar flash through his closed eyelids. He gently opened them back up.
It had happened again, maybe for the first time ever at a moment when he actually needed to get
away. Staggering to his feet, Tommy looked around. He was in the cell still, or rather, another
version of it in a different universe yet again. Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to
predict when he would next displace, he didn’t want to reappear right back where he
had started, with SCP-096 poised to kill him. So, relocating was top priority. Fortunately,
the cell actually had a door in this universe, and that door wasn’t locked. In fact, none
of the doors were locked or even guarded, and the Foundation facility, while looking more
or less the same, was completely abandoned. It almost looked like it had never even been used.
Stepping out of the entrance, Tommy trekked his way towards the city. He knew it was a short
hike away, and by the time he could feel blisters forming on his feet, he was close enough that it
didn’t matter. Within another few short steps, he was standing among the tall buildings and
surprisingly empty streets. One of the first things that struck Tommy about this universe
was that there were hardly any people around outside. On top of that, the roads were devoid
of cars. Everything around was so quiet; the air was still and clean when he breathed it in.
The sound of footsteps against the pavement immediately caught Tommy’s attention, the first
sign of anyone else around other than him. Racing towards the noise of another person,
Tommy turned a corner and bumped straight into an old man in a long coat, who had clearly
been in a hurry, and quickly revealed he didn’t have the best temperament either.
“Watch where you’re going!” he shouted, caught off-guard by the sight of another person
put on the streets. “What in the hell are you playing at, sneaking up on me like that?
You trying to get yourself killed out here?” “Oh, definitely not!” Tommy said, climbing back
to his feet, hands held out apologetically. “I’m so sorry mister, I was just-”
“You got a death wish or something, kid?” the old man demanded, marching past him.
“No!” SCP-507 protested, chasing after the man. “Wait, what makes you say that?”
“As if you don’t know,” he scoffed. “Look around you, look up at the sky! There’s a storm
about to hit, any second now, it’s a-coming. And if you don’t get inside, you’re a goner.”
“What could be so dangerous about a thunderstorm?” Tommy asked.
The old man stared back at him with a look of confusion on his wizened face, looking at Tommy
like he had just said something utterly bizarre. “What the hell’s a thunderstorm?” the man asked.
Feeling equally confused, Tommy craned his neck up towards the sky. Looming above were a swirling
mass of clouds, the kind anyone would expect to be accompanied by severe winds, and the deafening
boom of thunder. But the wind was still, and there was nothing but silence. Until a choking, gurgling
sound came from somewhere behind Tommy’s back. He spun back around to see the tall, wiry frame of
SCP-096, its long fingers gripping tightly around the old man’s throat. It had followed Tommy, and
he knew that anyone who saw its face, even in a picture, would find themselves chased down on foot
by the creature. But he had no idea the Shy Guy could travel between dimensions. He’d foolishly
allowed himself to think that he was safe, out of the monster’s reach, but now it seemed
to be showing him that the opposite was true. It hoisted the helpless old man upwards by
his neck, his shoes barely able to graze the pavement as his legs flailed, eyes rolling
back as the Shy Guy clamped his throat shut. The very second Tommy turned to run, the clouds
churned above and, without so much as a warning, the storm hit. Something wasn’t right, Tommy
could feel his feet lifting off the ground, immediately panicking as he thought SCP-096
had grabbed him. But, looking over his shoulder showed the creature was still a few feet
behind, and starting to gently float up off the ground too. Instinctively, Tommy’s legs started
thrashing around, trying to gain a solid footing. Instead, all his urgent motions did was cause him
to start spinning uncontrollably, as the gravity storm lifted him higher and higher into the air.
Spinning around as he was taken further upwards, Tommy caught sight of SCP-096. The Shy Guy was
staying still, as if it was still in control of its body’s motion while he was wildly flipping
over himself. The tall, pale creature drifted closer to the side of a nearby building,
with Tommy barely able to reach the top of the streetlights as he was pulled further
away from the safety of having both his feet on the ground. Just as he saw SCP-096 push itself
off the edge of the building, drifting straight through the air towards him, Tommy shut his
eyes again and prayed he’d displace again. Sure enough, a flash of light came
bursting out in time with another headache. Suddenly, he had appeared in the exact
same spot in another universe. However, here there was no gravity storm in progress
here. In fact, no such phenomena existed, the laws of physics were much more in keeping with
those in Tommy’s home, our universe. Of course, that would be more reassuring if he wasn’t already
several feet up in the air. The second he arrived, Tommy started plummeting back down to
Earth, screaming as he felt himself falling, keeping his eyes screwed shut as he dared not look
at the ground he was currently hurtling towards. His plummet was broken by something, not
particularly soft. Whatever it was seemed to tower high enough that Tommy only picked
up a few bruises as he hit it. But the fall didn’t stop instantly, instead, he kept on
toppling through whatever he had landed on. It was some kind of mass, piled up almost as tall
as a building, a collection of lots of… things, that were all brushing past Tommy the more
he fell. He hadn’t yet stopped for long enough to recognize the sensations, that
is, until he landed with a painful thud. Slowly opening his eyes back up, Tommy could
barely see anything in front of him. He was so deep in the mass that the pile was blocking
out the sunlight, with only a few beams bleeding through the gaps, but barely enough to
give him a clear view of where he was. Tommy tried to crawl forward, squeezed between
the heavy things around him, pushing though whatever tiny little crevice he could find. As he
did, the weight of the pile shifted around him, and he was worried that any moment he would move
the wrong part of it, bringing the whole structure collapsing down on top of him like a toppled jenga
tower, only big enough to crush him to death. He forced himself not to think about exactly what
the pile was made of either. It was already long past the point where Tommy recognized what each…
thing felt like. Plus, there was the added stench, something – or lots of somethings – rotting and
producing a stomach-turning odor as it decayed. Even when you’re trying not to look, it can be
hard to mistake the feeling of a hand, an arm, cold skin against his. The light from
beyond the pyramid was getting closer, he could see it was starting to illuminate more
of his surroundings the close her crawled to the perimeter. Sure, he could have very easily used
the torch the Foundation let him keep with him. But Tommy wasn’t quite ready to see what
he was crawling through yet, intentionally shutting his eyes and opting instead to follow
the faint glow and distant warmth of the sun. Breaching the outer side of the pile, Tommy gulped
down lungfuls of air. It barely tasted or smelled that much cleaner than the air within the mass,
but at least he was free. Clawing himself out and along the ground, he finally, carefully, stood up,
still keeping both eyes screwed shut. Part of him really didn’t want to take a look around this
new dimension, maybe if he waited long enough, he would displace again and end up somewhere
with less… decomposing. But then he remembered SCP-096 was still after him, and he had no idea
how to escape it. He needed to try and figure out what he was going to do, and the only way
to do that… was to look around at where he was. Lifting his eyelids, the different sized masses
of all shades, shapes and sizes lay before him. Each one was coated in one unifying
color, all of them slick with the crimson of blood against skin. Tommy could feel the urge
to throw up quickly shooting up from the pit of his stomach towards his throat as he looked
at the massive pile of bodies in front of him. It was enormous, there were so many dead people
all laying on top of one another that the pile reached up as tall as office buildings. And
the pile that he had fallen into and crawled his way out of wasn’t the only one either. As
far as the eye could see, everyone was dead. Feeling a heavy sob at the back of his throat,
Tommy swallowed it when he heard another sound above the low buzzing of flies over the human
carcasses. Someone… something else was crying nearby, and the moment he turned around,
the familiar figure caught Tommy’s eye. Even without being the only other living thing around
for miles, the Shy Guy still stood out clear as day. Its distress at finding itself in this
horrible dimension briefly mirrored Tommy’s own, until it restablished its psychic link
with its victim and gave chase once more. SCP-096 started dashing towards SCP-507. For
a split second, he thought about just letting it catch him; what difference would it make in a
place like this? But then, the hallucinations of bright colors and a stinging deep within his skull
hit Tommy. And just like that, he was gone again. It was nighttime in the next dimension Tommy
arrived in. The cold air and dim light of the street were enough to give that away. But at
least he was away from that last world filled with discarded and unburied piles of corpses,
he thought to himself. Surely, he couldn’t possibly be anywhere worse than that now…
The first sight that Tommy was met with was a huge, white LCD screen, big enough to cover the
entire side of one of the skyscrapers facing him. Emblazoned against the bright
white glow was a familiar symbol, a circle with three arrows crossing its outline
and pointing towards its center. Around that was a thin frame, another circle, this one with three
protruding rectangles around the circumference, in line with the arrow tails. Thick lettered text
appeared on the screen too, beneath the emblem, boldly proclaiming that anyone reading
it should ‘Submit. Comply. Persevere.’ Tommy blinked in disbelief, looking around.
There was hardly anyone else around, save for a few people staring at him; had they
seen him appear? Or was it just because he was dressed so differently to them? Each of
them had on a grimy pair of overalls, sporting more of that same symbol on the chest
and across the back. Every wall of every nearby building was overfilled with posters featuring
matching imagery, each one posing different questions in the same unforgiving, accusatory
text against its clinical white background. One poster read ‘Could you be anomalous? Submit
for testing today.’ Another had the following notice: ‘Curfew still in effect, 10am to 8am the
following morning. All citizens must Comply.’ And one more touted that ‘Only through
Persevering will we all continue to thrive.’ Each of them was signed with the same name and
logo to match, the organization that Tommy had come to put some amount of trust in, even though
they weren’t always clear with him. But he knew they weren’t the bad guys, or at least, the
version that existed in his universe didn’t seem to be too bad. They had questionable
methods, but they weren’t evil… weren’t this. “By order of the SCP Foundation!” A loud,
militaristic voice barked from behind Tommy. “Get down on your knees with your hands behind your
head. You will surrender any anomalous technology and declare any memetic effects or cognito
hazardous abilities before we approach you.” Tommy looked over his shoulder, met with the
barrels of several automatic weapons that were now being trained on him. Instantly he threw his
hands in the air, terrified that this alternate SCP Foundation might be far more trigger-happy
than the version of them he was used to. From the look at the oppressive text on the huge
screen, the propaganda posters and the matching uniforms ordinary people seemed forced to wear,
this Foundation seemed to be far more ruthless. They had transformed from a secretive
organization into a full-blown authoritarian regime, maybe even in control
of the entire world, ruling with an iron fist. “On your knees!” the commander of
the Mobile Task Force shouted again. The aggression in his voice, as well
as the several laser pointers from his men’s’ guns that were hovering over his
chest, prompted Tommy to do as he was told. “Do you have anything to declare before
we approach?” the MTF leader barked. “N-no!” Tommy stammered before realizing
that was probably an inadvisable answer. “I mean, yes! I’m… I’m SCP-507, but that number
might refer to someone different here. Look, what I’m saying is, this isn’t my dimension,
okay? I have a condition that sends me to different universes at random, I can’t
control it, it just happens. Please, for the love of god, don’t shoot!”
“Better radio into command,” the team leader told one of his subordinates. “Tell
them to run that number against the Archives, then inform Lord Adjudicator Clef that
we may have a containment breach.” Overhearing what they were saying instantly
reminded Tommy that he was still being chased. “Wait,” he called to the elite operatives.
“There’s something else you need to know!” “What’s that, 507?” the commander
sighed, lacking the patience for this. “There’s another anomaly after me!” Tommy
explained hurriedly. “I don’t know how long it’ll take to get here, just that when it
does… it’ll kill everyone to get at me.” “I’ve heard enough, troopers take
him away,” the commander grunted. Two of the MTF team rushed up to Tommy and
grappled either of his arms, not letting go despite his protests. They started dragging
him towards their armored vehicle, looking like Tommy was about to spend the foreseeable future
in the clutches of one of the worst versions of the Foundation. That is, until a tall, pale
creature stepped out from behind the transport. The MTFs were instantly frenzied, and yells of
another anomalous contact were quickly drowned out by the noise of gunfire. All the while, the
Shy Guy was casually moving between the amassed troops, gripping their heads, twisting them all
the way around until a sickening crunch rang out. Dropped back to the ground, SCP-507
started to feel another headache coming on, knowing that any second he’d displace again
and end up in another alternate universe. And for the first time today, he was okay with
that. It was better for their chase to go on if it meant that him and the Shy Guy didn’t
have to spend another minute in this universe. Now, if you want to see another of the
Foundation’s most infamous anomalies going toe to toe with an unlikely
adversary from across the multiverse, then go and check out “DEADPOOL VS SCP-682”! Or,
ever wanted to know what would happen if a deadly, malicious mask was combined with one of the
most powerful reality benders ever encountered? Then watch “WHAT IF SCP-343
WORE SCP-035?” to find out!
