TALES FROM THE NOBODIES AT THE SCP FOUNDATION

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Tales From the SCP Foundation and no profit is earned.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: There is always more behind the scenes than most realize. An organization like the Foundation has more moving parts and support personnel than most businesses and some countries. What goes on behind the scenes?

CH. 3 LOST or TRAVEL BROADENS THE MIND

"Where are we?" Olivia asked, fighting off a rising panic at already knowing the answer.

"I jumped while I was holding onto you," 507 admitted. "Didn't mean to, but I don't control where I go or when."

She approached a sign on the wall and read it. "It looks like a Foundation site, but I don't recognize the language." The placard was of the same shape and color and the arrangement of the words was similar, but she had never seen an alphabet like that. She looked at him. "Is this a place you've been before?" Then, on impulse, she reached out and took his hand.

He glanced down and looked at her questioningly. "Um, I don't recognize the language, and what…?"

"I just realized that you might vanish again at any time. I intend to ride you home."

SCP-507's face turned bright red, and he looked away. Confused, she reviewed in her mind what she had just said.

"Can we pretend I didn't say that?"

"Say what?" he asked looking anywhere but at her. His eyes were caught by a figure turning a corner a short distance away. There were some doors in the corridor, but they had no idea where any of them led, and it was too late, regardless. The figure had seen them. It approached slowly, eying them carefully.

"I-it-"

"It's wearing a lab coat," Olivia pointed out, more fascinated than frightened. He was frantically pulling at her hand, trying to get her to run as the creature approached.

"I-its-"

"Wearing spectacles and carrying a clipboard."

"A dinosaur!" He gave up pulling at her and picked the small woman up and put her over his shoulder before turning to run. Two random turns and three random doors later, he thought they had lost the reptile pursuing them.

"Can you put me down?" Olivia asked. He did so, looking sheepish. "You've been here before? Are they hostile?"

"They're friggin' dinosaurs! Raptors, even! What do you think?" He frowned, calming a bit. "Yeah, maybe I've been here before." He shrugged. "It can be hard to tell. I've encountered other versions of the Foundation before, even one run by dinosaurs." He looked around the storage room where they were currently hiding, careful to maintain physical contact.

"Really no way to tell. Regardless, safest thing to do is stay hidden till we go back."

Olivia nodded, allowing as that was probably true. She looked around the room they had taken refuge in. It seemed to be a storage room. There were lockers lining the walls, of the sort the Foundation used non-anomalous items such as supplies for the researchers and testing materials that had been altered by anomalies, but were not anomalous themselves. It was hardly an ideal hiding spot, but hopefully, it would be a safe place to wait for a time. The lockers were all secured individually, not that she felt a burning desire to explore anyway. The most import feature, in her mind at least, was that it was one large, rectangular room. There were a couple of long low tables, draped in heavy plastic for some reason, but they provided minimal cover if someone came in. There was also no other way out.

"Maybe duck down behind the far table and hope no one comes in?" 507 offered, as if reading her mind. "I was only here a couple of hours the last time, assuming it's the same place."

"Best bet, I guess," she agreed. They took cover as best they were able and settled in to wait. "You've seen a Foundation run by raptors before?" she asked quietly.

"Yes. I admit that I don't know they're hostile, but I haven't lived this long by taking chances."

Olivia nodded, allowing that that was reasonable.

"Sometimes," he offered hesitantly, unsure if he wanted to drag up old memories, "when I did take a chance, I really regretted it."

"Oh?"

"Another version of the Foundation. They treated me well at first, were really interested in my travels and my home." Looking down at the hand he held hers with, he sighed. "Then, out of the blue, one of them bites my hand off. Fortunately, the researchers back home were able to give me a new one." The reluctant dimension hopper looked back up to find a puzzled expression on her face.

"Home?"

He smiled a little at her startled expression. "Don't look so surprised. The SCP Foundation isn't a prison for me, or for a bunch of other anomalies I can think of, it's a refuge. A home. I doubt I'd be alive today if they hadn't taken me in."

"The Foundation does a lot of good. That's why I work for them, I guess I just never thought of it from the perspective of some of the, ah…"

"Friendlier SCP objects?" he offered. "It's ok. I stopped taking offense at that a long time ago. I know very well that a distance has to be maintained with some of the things and even people in containment." He shrugged. "I get along fine with Ferdinand, SCP-082, but there's a reason he scares the living crap out of most people."

Olivia shuddered a bit at the thought.

"I also have a regular video chat with SCP-2662. Cthulu has had horror stories written about him, but he's a nice guy. What makes him dangerous is beyond his control."

"Yeah. I know of a few like that." Olivia nodded. "People that have afflictions they can't control or have had things done to them against their will."

"Most aren't like that, though." SCP 507 sighed. "I can understand the need to keep that professional distance, even if some take it way too far."

Olivia winced at the memory of some of the stories she had heard off the record.

"Don't get me wrong," 507 said, misinterpreting her expression. "I owe the Foundation everything and they have some great people working there."

"They also have some people who belong in an asylum," she offered ruefully, thinking back on the events that led to her current mess, "and I don't mean as staff."

507 laughed softly. "True. Very true."

Further conversation was interrupted by the opening of the room's only door. Olivia peeked under the table and saw a wheeled cart being pushed by something with scaly digitigrade legs. The cart and legs moved along the wall toward them, but stopped. A lock was worked and she could see door of one of the lockers open. Whatever was pushing the cart placed something in the locker and closed the door before moving further along the wall and closer to them. They quietly and frantically looked around, but there was nowhere to hide even if moving wouldn't alert the dinosaur.

It stopped short of their cover; near the end of the table, they were hiding behind. Another locker was opened, but this time something emerged from it. The creature gave a startled squawk and jumped back, knocking several clear plastic containers off the cart. One hit the floor near Olivia and the lid popped off spilling its contents onto the ceiling.

What? Olivia looked up to see about a dozen ordinary looking paperclips resting on the ceiling. She had seen stranger things in her, six months with the Foundation, and didn't let it distract her long. One of the dozen or so objects that had flown out of the open locker stuck her in the forehead before bouncing away. She managed to snag one and as the unfortunate dino scrambled to keep the other cases intact. 343 alone knows what's all in those, she thought before focusing on the object.

The sphere in her hand was slightly smaller than a ping-pong ball and felt like hard rubber, but it looked like a reptilian eyeball, and the pupil was moving about frantically beneath the hard coating, dilating and contracting randomly. She nearly dropped it.

"Damn, that's creepy," 507 muttered as he looked at the one he had caught.

A startled squawk reminded them of their primary problem. The dinosaur had lowered its head to look under the table for any stray anomalous objects and found two that it didn't expect. 507 tightened his grip on her hand, hoping the current jump would end soon. Immediately, in fact.

That didn't happen.

The dinosaur jerked in surprise, banging its head on the underside of the table. It pulled back as the two humans scrambled to their feet and backed away. They and the dinosaur eyed each other warily.

"He looks kind of nervous," Olivia offered.

"I know the feeling," 507 assured her as they continued to back away. The door to the room opened at that moment and two more dinosaurs in lab coats came in. One was pushing a cart with a complicated machine on it. That one pushed a button.

"Hello." The device spoke in a computer-generated voice. The reptile holding it looked at them expectantly.

"Hello?" Olivia answered, still gripping 507's hand tightly. "Can you understand us?" The device on the cart growled and chuffed. After a moment, an answer came.

"Yes. Language very different. Difficult, but yes. We understand." The words were halting but the meaning was clear. "No harm meant."

"Ah. Okay." Olivia looked at 507 who looked dubious, but nodded. "We traveled here by accident. We don't mean any harm."

"Frightened." It might have been meant as a question, but the machine's lack of inflection made it come out as a statement.

"Yes," Olivia allowed without going into detail that she reasoned the machine might not be able to translate. She looked around the room at the mess and at the apparent lab tech that looked surprisingly sheepish for a notorious predator. "Sorry." She placed the strange ball she realized she was still holding on the table. 507 did the same.

"That is so creepy," he muttered, eyeing the ball in distaste, and dusting his hand off on his pants.

One of the researchers made a sharp noise that seemed to give the machine fits. Eventually it settled on "humor."

"Stupid prank?" 507 ventured.

"Stupid prank," Olivia nodded.

"Stupid prank," the researcher that wasn't laughing agreed via the machine.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Well, that was an interesting experience," Dr. Mann sighed after the debriefing. Normally, debriefing 507 after one of his jaunts was a routine matter for a junior agent. Given that he had accidentally taken Olivia Yaffa with him, though, things were being handled a bit differently.

"It was that," Yaffa allowed. "One I hope to never repeat." She hastened to add. "I'm sure 507 will be much more careful in the future. He meant well."

"It's alright, Yaffa," Mann assured her. "He's not in trouble. Despite precautions, things like this happen occasionally. You're just the first to make it back. Poor fellow was inconsolable for days after the last time."

"I was lucky," she nodded.

"Was there anything else you can think of?" Dr. Mann asked. "He occasionally brings back odd things."

"The lab tech did offer us the container of, ah, eyeballs. I'm pretty sure he was just tired of being pranked with them."

"Understandable."

"We turned him down. I have no doubt that Dr. Bright would have been more creative with them. I didn't want those things turning up in my lunch."

Mann winced. "Good call."