A new day.
Rob woke up.
Played some games.
Ate some good food.
And started another walk around the Foundation.
As he opened the door, he once again noticed that the guards weren't the same as yesterday.
Rolling his eyes, he ignored them and started walking.
"Hey Guide, guide me to some interesting place… you get it? Guide me, like—"
[Yes, Rob, I get it. Please stop. It's an awful joke.]
As Guide answered, he started scanning the area.
Not even five seconds later—
[Huh? That's weird.]
"What isn't weird in this place?"
[I can't find anything inside Area G45.]
"An empty room?"
[Negative. It is a containment chamber.]
"Now that's interesting."
As they talked, Rob walked toward Area G45, whose location Guide had already provided.
Pretty far away, too.
It seemed to be on another floor.
As he glanced around, security noticeably tightened.
The guards looked at him while pretending not to.
'It seems that until I reach an actual restricted area, they're ordered to pretend I don't exist.'
Rob mused while walking.
Five minutes later—
A guard stopped him.
"This is a restricted area, sir. Please understand."
A heavily armored guard with a stoic expression blocked Rob's path.
And while Rob looked at him calmly, the poor man was internally lamenting his horrible luck.
'Fuck my life… why is this walking nuke coming toward my sector?!'
Rob stared at him for a few seconds before finally speaking.
"Can I pass?"
"…Sir, please. It's a restricted area."
"I know. That's why I want to go."
"Ahem. It's not possible, sir. I just remembered this area is under maintenance. Completely inaccessible."
"…"
"…"
A few awkward seconds passed.
"Really? That's your best excuse?"
"…Can you turn around, sir? Please?"
The poor guard looked like he was about to cry. He knew that if Rob really wanted to enter, there was absolutely nothing he could do.
"Don't worry. I already sent a letter to Bright, so this won't be your fault."
"…Just make it quick."
"Sure, pal. Thanks."
And just like that, Rob entered the restricted G45 sector.
Meanwhile, somewhere else in the Foundation—
Specifically, Dr. Bright's office.
Bright was quietly working on documents when a letter suddenly appeared beside him.
It read:
[Entering the G45 zone. Sincerely, and with my best wishes, Rob :)]
A vein bulged on Bright's forehead.
"This fucker…"
—
Returning to Rob, he approached what looked like a containment chamber, but without a number or description attached to it.
A guard stood outside the door.
"Sup, man?" Rob waved at the guard.
Only to be completely ignored.
"So, what are you guarding? I can't sense anything inside."
"…"
"If you don't answer, then I'm going in."
"…I don't know, sir. I'm just doing my job."
That answer only deepened Rob's interest.
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"Exactly what it sounds like, sir. I just stand here. Nobody seems to know what's inside."
"Can I go in?"
"…Will you stop if I say no?"
"Good point."
Then Rob opened the door, leaving behind the stoic guard, who remained standing there as if nothing had happened.
Inside the room there was…
Nothing.
Just an empty room.
Or was it?
Rob glanced around and finally noticed the… thing.
It looked like a floating mass.
No form.
No meaning.
And while looking at it, the first thing that came to mind was simple:
There was nothing there.
"Guide, analyze that thing."
[What thing?]
"The floating thing in front of me."
[…There is nothing here, Rob.]
"…That's intriguing."
With a thought, Rob upgraded Guide's visual perception.
"Now?"
[Yes, I can… see it?… Rob, what are we doing here? What is that—]
As Guide spoke, his voice suddenly repeated itself like a corrupted recording.
"Interesting. Let me upgrade your memory this time."
[Rob, what—]
[Memory alteration detected… Repairing… Failed…]
[Adapting to new interference… Adapted.]
"You okay there?"
[Yes… now I'm fine. I can sense it now.]
"Perfect. Analyze it."
[Analyzing…]
[...]
[Name: SCP-055]
[Description: …]
[Type: AR | RW: 5]
Rob stared at the blank panel.
"…Why is it empty?"
[Sorry. I cannot perceive anything else about it. It is like trying to observe a blank space.]
"Well, at least now we know it alters memory. Like that guard outside who doesn't even know what he's guarding."
Rob crossed his arms.
"It seems we found our first real memetic SCP."
Then he looked back at the floating mass.
"What happens if I touch it…"
[Rob, please do not touch the unidentified information-erasing anomaly.]
touch
[...]
"It's… surprisingly soft."
Feeling it with his hands, Rob started absentmindedly stretching and molding it into random shapes.
[Please stop playing with the cognitohazard memetic anomaly.]
"You're no fun."
Rob said that while casually tossing it back into place, letting it float exactly where it had been before.
"Well, that thing is interesting, but pretty simple. Forget about it if seen or known, I guess."
He turned around.
"Let's go somewhere else."
[Sir, after your recent upgrades, I detected another presence.]
Guide sounded strangely quick to change topics.
[Extremely powerful.]
Guide was clearly trying to recommend literally anywhere else.
The existence of SCP-055 visibly bothered him, especially because he had needed Rob's direct help just to continue remembering it.
"Guide me there, Guide. Like, you know, guid—"
[The location has been sent]
Before Rob could finish the joke, Guide immediately sent the destination directly into his mind.
Rob shrugged.
Leaving the room, he noticed the same guard secretly glancing toward the containment chamber every few seconds.
As Rob walked away, the guard quietly sighed in relief.
'It's really hard to ignore him when he can kill you that easily…'
...
On the hallway, Rob glanced around at the now absurd number of guards staring at him.
It almost felt like he was walking toward some kind of VIP area.
[Observation detected… Detecting source… Failed.]
"What was that?"
[It means someone is watching us.]
"No shit, Sherlock."
Rob rolled his eyes.
The closer he got to what was clearly some sort of high-priority sector, the more guards and researchers appeared around him.
After another five minutes of walking—with more than an entire squad following behind him—he finally reached it.
In front of him stood a door.
Surprisingly, it wasn't a massive metallic containment gate.
Instead, it was a rustic wooden door with an oddly warm and homely feeling to it.
Beside it was a simple sign.
SCP-343
With a small smirk, Rob knocked on the door.
Knock knock knock
"It's open."
Nodding, Rob opened it.
A rustic wooden cabin greeted him.
It looked like a small house in the middle of a forest.
The atmosphere felt strangely relaxing.
A fireplace crackled softly nearby, and on one side of the room stood a window.
Beyond the glass, rain could be seen falling calmly outside.
Which made absolutely no sense considering they were inside the foundation, deep underground... indoors.
The entire place gave the feeling of a quiet cabin in the woods during a rainy evening.
The kind of place where someone could sit near the fire and fall asleep without a care in the world.
And there really was a sofa in front of the fireplace.
Sitting there was an old man smiling at him.
"Hello?"
Intrigued by the room, Rob glanced around while greeting the man, his attention lingering especially on the window.
"Hello, young man. You are finally here."
With a warm smile, the old man gestured for Rob to sit in the chair beside the sofa.
Nodding casually, Rob sat down without even questioning the impossible place
"So, who are you? It seems you know about me."
He observed the old man more carefully.
He looked to be around his seventies, with long white hair and entirely white robes, alongside a red cape resting over his shoulders.
Honestly, the best way to describe him was:
An old Zeus.
"I am God."
"Okay… hello God, I'm Rob. Do you have a name, or am I supposed to keep calling you 'God'?"
"Whatever you wish, son."
With a kind smile, 'God' nodded at him.
"How about Zeus? You surprisingly look like him."
"Aah… Zeus. I remember him. If only he had thought with the head above his shoulders."
The old man sighed in remembrance.
"Woah, wait—you really met him? Like, the actual Zeus?"
"Yes… it was a very, very long time ago. I do hope he is doing better in that place…"
Silence filled the room.
"…"
"…And that's it? No touching story? No explanation about what 'that place' even means?"
"The cycle of life must continue."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Rob was already getting annoyed.
Trying to have a normal conversation with this old man felt impossible.
"So, Zeus, do you know anything about me?"
"Yes… a visitor from a distant place. One who does not belong here."
For the first time in the conversation, Rob's expression changed slightly.
It was the first person who had immediately noticed he wasn't from this world.
"You will eventually depart from here, traveling through the wonders of countless worlds."
Again, Rob was surprised by how much this old man seemed to know.
"So you really are some kind of god of this universe?"
"God… as humans choose to call it, yes. Though observer and protector would be more accurate."
"…Can't you just answer like a normal person?"
Rob stared at him with a deadpan expression.
"Sometimes people simply desire a way to understand the incompre—"
"Okay, stop."
Rob raised his hand immediately.
"I already know this is going to turn into mysterious old man nonsense."
A small laugh escaped the old man.
"So… what do you know about the SCPs?"
When Rob mentions SCPs
The rain outside stops for one second.
"Aah… SCPs. That is what this Foundation calls them."
The old man leaned back slightly.
"They are good listeners."
"…and?"
"And sometimes… poor souls searching for a purpose, roaming around multiple worlds"
"…Thanks for telling me absolutely nothing useful."
Massaging his temple, Rob finally accepted that he hated talking to people like this.
Always speaking in riddles and never answering the question
[Rob, it seems you finally found your match.]
"Shut it."
The moment Guide spoke, the old man's eyes shifted directly toward the floating screen hidden beside Rob.
"What a fascinating creation."
For the first time, genuine surprise could be seen on his face.
"It possesses consciousness… and something close to a soul. It also appears capable of classifying things across realities."
[Greetings, sir. I am Guide, created by Rob to assist him during his travels.]
"Greetings, Guide. I do hope you can help Rob. His curiosity toward anything remotely anomalous appears almost limitless."
[Do not worry, sir. I will.]
As the two calmly spoke to each other, Rob looked between the floating screen and the old man with visible disbelief.
"…Why are you two getting along so easily?"
Neither answered him.
"We're leaving."
Rob stood up from the chair.
"He's not going to answer anything directly anyway. And if he does, it's probably going to sound like another riddle."
As he walked toward the door, the old man spoke once more.
"Before you leave, allow me to give you one piece of advice."
Rob glanced back.
"As you are now, there is almost nothing in this universe capable of stopping you."
The old man's smile softened slightly.
"But do not allow curiosity to cloud your judgment."
For the first time since entering the room, his voice sounded serious.
"Do not become obssesed with it."
Silence.
Then Rob shrugged.
"Yeah, yeah. I've heard that one before."
And just like that, he left the room.
Most likely not taking the warning seriously at all.
Already searching for the next interesting thing hidden inside the Foundation.
And preparing for a new travel destination across realities