What Dreams May Come



SCP-4188: What Dreams May Come

Author: Mortos

Second entry for the 2019 JamCon theme "So it was all a dream…".

If you like this, you can find more of my stuff here!

Testing chamber interior during an SCP-4188 test.

Item #: SCP-4188

Anomaly Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: Samples of SCP-4188 are to be stored in standard pharmaceutical grade storage containers; no other specific measures are required for long-term storage.

Testing of SCP-4188 is limited to personnel who score 95% or higher on Foundation Loyalty Tests. Should it become necessary to neutralise a target under the effects of SCP-4188, an injection of adrenaline, preferably delivered at range, has proven to be effective.

Repeated testing of SCP-4188 in the same location is prohibited, and public spaces where repeated use of SCP-4188 is suspected are to be investigated and dispersed as necessary.

Attempts to find the manufacturer and core distributor of SCP-4188 are ongoing.

Description: SCP-4188 is an anomalous pharmaceutical compound distributed under the name "Warp", intended for use as a sleeping pill. A person under the effects of SCP-4188 will begin experiencing vivid dreams upon entering an unconscious state, and reality in the area surrounding the person will be altered to match the dream. These changes to reality include the creation of entities and objects and full topographical alterations to the surrounding area. The person will then begin sleepwalking, and interacting with their surroundings as they do in the dream itself.

Effects of SCP-4188 begin approximately one minute following ingestion and last for 50 to 70 minutes; following this the person enters a regular sleep state, though they may continue sleepwalking. Any changes to reality caused by someone under the effect of SCP-4188 persist until the person wakes up, which typically takes four to eight hours following the cessation of the primary anomalous effects. It should be noted, however, that these reversions have been observed to be incomplete1 in areas where use of SCP-4188 is frequent; the effects of long-term use in a concentrated area are unknown, but should be avoided.

SCP-4188 is highly addictive to people that suffer from insomnia and other sleep disorders, and long term abuse causes the human body to lose physical cohesion. Affected parts of the body begin to break down and fall away as particulate matter. This process typically starts at the extremities and moves inwards. In extreme cases, people have been observed to dissolve entirely.

People in the vicinity of someone under the effects of SCP-4188 who aren't themselves affected generally find navigating the altered environments to be difficult and confusing. Following the use of SCP-4188, a person waking up will consider the experience to have been a regular dream; memories of the experience fade quickly in many cases, and some people possess no recollection at all of what occurred.

Testing Log 4188/1: The following is a selection of log summaries taken during SCP-4188 tests. Due to the inconsistency in recalling dreams upon waking, each Subject during testing is assigned a researcher to attempt to document the experiences in as much detail as possible.

Subject: Agent Rosa Martínez

Results: Immediately following the activation of SCP-4188's effects a number of entities manifested around the Subject, and they began talking. The facial features on each of the entities were indistinct2 and the words being spoken were unintelligible, though the Subject claimed that these entities were members of her family.

Following the conclusion of the conversations, the Subject turned and the interior of the testing chamber was replaced by a rocky outdoor landscape. Bright glowing lights could be seen hovering in the air and a number of other planets or moons could be seen in the sky. The hovering lights began singing in Russian3, and then rapidly flew into the sky; shortly afterwards, large explosions could be seen on the surface of the other planets, which began to crack and then dissolve into glowing dust.

The Subject then approached a small building with a single door; upon opening and passing through the door, the Subject was in a classroom surrounded by children, being taught by a person the Subject claimed was their middle school art teacher. The Subject sat and participated in the class until the effects of SCP-4188 ended.

The Subject and accompanying researcher were later found in the Subject's middle school, approximately 700km from the location of the original testing chamber.

Subject: Researcher Frank Trammel

Results: The testing chamber was immediately replaced with a complex series of dark tunnels lined by pipes and cabling, and some form of energy weapon manifested in the Subject's hands. He proceed to run down the one of the tunnels and shortly after fired his energy weapon at a black quadrupedal entity with a human face later determined to be his mother's. Following each "kill", he would speak into a radio claiming to have "bagged another one", which received an incomprehensible reply.

After approximately 10 minutes of this behaviour, the Subject found a door which lead outside onto a green field at noon. A yellow bus pulled up alongside the Subject and a number of entities resembling classic mythological monsters4 disembarked. They sat at a table and proceeded to play a game of poker, in which the currency being used was the teeth of the participants. The game continued for 50 minutes, during which time the Subject lost approximately half of his own teeth, but won a notable pile of teeth belonging to the vampire and Frankenstein's monster. After a final hand, the Subject declared himself the winner and proceeded to replace his lost teeth with those he had won during the game, to the consternation of the others.

The Subject then stepped onto the bus, the door of which led to a bedroom. Three naked women were on the bed, which the Subject approached. He began to disrobe, at which point the effects of SCP-4188 ended and the Subject fell asleep on the bed. The researcher accompanying the Subject contacted the Site shortly after to report that they were in the Subject's bedroom, approximately 1km away.

Subject: Agent Roger Southwell

Results: Shortly following the onset of SCP-4188's effects, an entity bearing a resemblance to Site Director Ford entered the testing chamber. The Subject immediately attacked and began viciously beating the entity. This continued for 57 minutes, the entity remaining alive and conscious during the entire processes, before the effects ended and the Subject entered regular sleep.

Subject has been referred for psychological examination.

Operation Riding High

In an attempt at employing the effects of SCP-4188 in a way beneficial to Foundation activities, a number of experiments were lead by Director Shirley Gillespie involving the use of SCP-4188 by Foundation agents skilled in lucid dreaming.5 The project proved initially successful as the agents were able to gain some significant control over the reality manipulation abilities provided by SCP-4188. Unfortunately, following the first scheduled field test and Incident 4188/05, Operation Riding High was deemed too risky for regular deployment and the project was terminated. See Incident Log 4188/05 below for details.

Incident Log 4188/05

Three agents under the effects of SCP-4188 were deployed to a suspected Warp distribution warehouse as part of Operation Riding High. The operation began cleanly, as the agents were able to exit the Site-119 testing chamber and directly enter a small side room within the warehouse at which point the warehouse and its occupants became subject to the effects of SCP-4188 used by the agents.

Using the effects of SCP-4188, they were able to sufficiently distract the occupants of the warehouse to allow the agents to neutralise a number of them stealthily. At this point, one of the targets began exhibiting SCP-4188 effects, having apparently taken a dose as soon as the commotion began. The conflicting intentions between the agents and the hostile target caused a panic state in everyone under the effect of SCP-4188, leading to a loss of control by the agents.

The resulting chaos caused by four conflicting dream states lead to a number of large-scale events witnessed by and involving significant numbers of civilians in the surrounding areas. The range of effect of SCP-4188 during this was increased significantly beyond normal during these events. Events of note include:

A manifestation of the moon appearing in the sky above the warehouse and rapidly descending towards the surface, before stopping above the water nearby. Thousands of human corpses in various states of mutilation then began to fall from the moon, impacting the water and surrounding docks.

The appearance of eyeballs from a variety of species in the sky. Each of the eyes continually cried blood and produced a screaming sound that could be heard throughout the affected area. The eyes were observed to track the positions of any people visible to the sky.

The manifestation of a large (approximately 10m long) skeletal serpentine entity which sought out nearby humans. The flesh of anyone nearby would be anomalously stripped from their bodies and applied to that of the serpent entity. Victims remained alive and conscious during this process.

The teeth of all humans in the affected area violently burst from their mouths and onto the ground nearby, before rapidly regrowing and repeating the process. The teeth then coalesced into vaguely humanoid forms and began assaulting the nearby populace.

This lasted for the full duration of SCP-4188's effects before response teams were able to reach the agents and wake them using adrenaline shots, triggering reversion of the effects. Alongside the agents, a number of pieces of equipment were recovered from the warehouse, each piece primarily consisting of a humanoid entity with a rotary telephone in place of its head. The cord of the telephone was connected to a glass tank in which a purple fluid was being collected. The design of the equipment is consistent with that known to be used by the Oneiroi Collective.

The resulting cover-up these events required cost thousands of man-hours and millions of dollars. Operation Riding High was terminated, and the agents involved amnesticised at their request.

Footnotes

1. For example, physical injuries are not fully reversed, alterations to the structure of buildings are not fully corrected.

2. This is common of humans created under the effects of SCP-4188, especially those intended to resemble real people.

3. It should be noted that the Subject does not speak Russian.

4. A mummy, a vampire, a werewolf and Frankenstein's monster.

5. A lucid dream is a dream during which the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming, and are thus able to exert some control over the dream.