Item #: SCP-5678
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: A fenced perimeter has been established around SCP-5678. Armed guards are to patrol this perimeter.
Description: SCP-5678 is a cave system in South Mesopotamia that allows for communication with SCP-5678-1, an equivalent cave system in an alternate dimension (5678/PRIME). Sounds produced in SCP-5678 can be heard in SCP-5678-1, and vice-versa. This has allowed for the establishment of communications between baseline Earth and 5678/PRIME.
5678/PRIME is topologically identical to baseline Earth, but has dramatic sociopolitical differences. The majority of these differences are believed to stem from a single, core irregularity between baseline earth and 5678/PRIME. This most core difference is that in 5678/PRIME humanity regularly and repeatedly engages in long-term acts of armed institutional conflict, in a tradition that is referred to as war.
War is practiced extensively within 5678/PRIME, and has been observed in nearly every human culture and society in the recorded history of 5678/PRIME. Cultures that have not engaged in war are either extremely young, geographically isolated, or largely defined by their opposition to it. War appears to be the defining facet of human civilization in 5678/PRIME.
Numerous cultural changes have resulted from war, in comparison to baseline reality:
- Significantly increased diversity of sovereign nations, and expanded definitions of what a sovereign body entails. 5678/PRIME has two hundred and six distinct sovereign entities.
- The sovereignty of some of these states is allegedly disputed. These disputations are expressed through war.
- The global economy is heavily reliant on war or activities related to war. These include corporations that produce equipment for military activity or relief organizations dedicated to reducing the harmful effects of war.
- Differences in technological development. Although levels of advancement are roughly equatable between 5678/PRIME and baseline reality, multiple technologies either exist exclusively in one reality.
- All development exclusive to 5678/PRIME is the result of war or other conflict-driven development. However, not all of these developments are of military usage.
- Drastically different cultural beliefs and valuations. Traits or characteristics which are of greater importance during war (such as courage or self-sacrifice) are over-valued in other areas of society, where they are not as applicable.
- While individual humans from 5678/PRIME are not believed to be any more intrinsically violent than baseline humans, they have however been conditioned and raised to accept war and long-term systematic violence as normal. As such, they generally behave more violently.
- Individual conflict appears to be slightly more common. Inter-group rivalry and conflict is significantly more common.
It is under debate as to whether war is anomalous. While it has been established as abnormal and therefore qualifying for anomalous classification in and of itself, it is unclear as to whether it is scientifically impossible. The current leading hypothesis is that baseline humans are physically capable of war, but would need to be socially conditioned in a way completely different from current society.
The primary risk that SCP-5678 presents is the potential for the ideas associated with war to become commonplace, or spread into baseline reality. Should these ideas spread, an NK-Class Societal Upheaval Scenario would likely result. Although the ideas are not believed to be anomalously memetic, the degree to which they are present within 5678/PRIME indicates that they are naturally virulent and pervasive, and could reinfect society in baseline reality.
An organization either analogous or identical to the Foundation is believed to exist in 5678/PRIME, despite the massive sociopolitical differences. This is known to be a result of SCP-001 and is not an intrinsic property of SCP-5678. [FURTHER DETAILS REDACTED 5/001]
Notes: The following, sample interview has been translated from 5678/BETA, the constructed language designed by the Foundation for purposes of communicating with 5678/PRIME.
Baseline Representative: Dr. Neroll
5678/PRIME Representative: Dr. Smith
Dr. Neroll: Hello, doctor. Are you there?
Dr. Smith: Oh, hello there, Neroll. Bit early today, isn't it?
Dr. Neroll: Oh, a few minutes, perhaps.
Dr. Smith: What's on the bracket to discuss today?
Dr. Neroll: I believe last session ended with an agreement to discuss the technological advances that had been made on your side of the looking glass?
Dr. Smith: Wait, do you have Alice in Wonderland on your side?
Dr. Neroll: Who?
Dr. Smith: Nevermind. Yes, we had agreed to discuss that. I suppose the biggest question that our team wanted to address was the driving forces behind many creations or inventions.
Dr. Neroll: I'm not sure what you mean, Doctor. I suppose that we were always motivated by the creative spirit, by the drive to innovate. That, or the desire to solve world problems. We still have problems in our world, you know. Those require solutions.
Dr. Smith: Yes, necessity is the mother of invention. But the truth of the matter, as we seem to find it, the mother of necessity is conflict.
Dr. Neroll: That's very unfortunate. I'm sorry.
Dr. Smith: I take it's not the case in your world?
Dr. Neroll: No, not at all. In fact, I really can't say that there's a single agent by which necessity is created here. I suppose you could reduce it all to coming from struggle, but that's a very broad means by which problems arise. Too broad, really.
Dr. Smith: Let's break it down with a case example. Your side still has the Internet, correct?
Dr. Neroll: We agreed that we had two networks that functioned similar enough to translate them both with the same word in this conlang, but noted at the time there were major differences.
Dr. Smith: Right. But for the purposes of this, they're close enough. Here, funding came from ARPANET and from a Department of Defense-
Dr. Neroll: Is this the same Department of Defense where it is a euphemism for war?
Dr. Smith: I won't get into this argument again, but yes, it's the one you're thinking of. Anyway, the Department of Defense is crucial for our internet arising. It simply would not exist without it. Where did it come from with you?
Dr. Neroll: Academics who wished to share information with each other. Lovers separated by vast distances. Parents and children torn apart by the cruel nature of fate. Brilliant minds that wanted to be closer to other brilliant minds.
Dr. Smith: But what was the initial impetus for it? Where did the funding come from? Where did the drive come from?
Dr. Neroll: Government grants? There is strong funding for knowledge and education. Doesn't the government which hosts this Department of "Defense" spend more than 50% of all discretionary spending on their precious Department of War?
Dr. Smith: What's your point?
Dr. Neroll: We simply gave the money directly to the scientist! Not first to a soldier, who took years to decide to pass it along to the inventor, and only because the end result would help them butcher his fellow men!
Dr. Smith: But there would have been no direction for the scientist to use those funds for the development of the internet without the oversight that the military provides.
Dr. Neroll: So? And he invents something else, which benefits the world, or doesn't. That is insubstantial, all that matters is that he makes something.
Dr. Smith: I have a list of other technologies to go over. Take for example, nuclear power.
Dr. Neroll: There is no point, doctor. The fact of the matter is simple. Perhaps war leaves you with a few technologies here and there soon than us. You weaponized the atom. You discovered the fundamental blocks of reality and sundered them for violence. We make discoveries and our first thought is "What is the practical application for this? How do we use it? How can we help our brothers and sisters!".
Dr. Smith: I would say that the practical application is our first thought as well.
Dr. Neroll: Ah, but we never waste our time with thoughts of war. So we find a peaceful solution easier, because we are not blinded by blood.
Dr. Smith: Hmm. That's a fair point enough.
Dr. Neroll: There we go. We have our answer. Struggle breeds invention, and inventions are put to useful purpose. We simply don't include war in our thought processes.
Preface: After several months of investigation, a repeatable method was discovered which allowed for transferral of matter across SCP-5678, using a mix of anomalous and classified scientific methods. A recall mechanism was implanted into the body of a Foundation researcher, who was then prepared for a diplomatic mission to 5678/PRIME and sent soon after.
Notably, this was not a diplomatic exchange. No individuals were invited from 5678/PRIME into baseline reality, out of fears of security concerns. The process used to cross SCP-5678 was not shared with 5678/PRIME, and it is not believed that they are capable of replicating it.
Personnel: Doctor Sŏli Llărgos
Forward: I've excerpted many of my notes from the trip below.
My first day within 5678/PRIME went well. It's shocking about how much of the world is the same here, despite the obvious differences. As far as we can tell, the divergence point would have had to been somewhere before human civilization began in any form — but obviously sometime after the evolution of modern humans.
In any case, the surrounding area outside the cave is mostly the same. But the landscape looks radically, radically different. Obviously, war isn't the direct cause of all of this. Any two locations would look very different simply from the butterfly effect alone. But since the leading hypothesis is the only difference between our worlds is war and it's aftershocks, everything can be blamed on that.
So that's why they don't have trees here.
The level of security here is very different as well. The guards here are covered in black armor, and they hold massive weapons. They call them guns (gun singular). I asked to inspect one, and they granted my request since that was a large reason of why I'm here in the first place.
The operation mechanism is very simple — [DATA EXPUNGED]. They say that they initially discovered the operation process several hundred years ago, and although I was shocked they've had the ability to do so for so long, I understood the need to do so. It's a remarkably effective work of butchery.
Then they offered to let me fire one, and as repulsed as I was, I accepted. We had to drive to their nearby site, but they had training grounds set up. I was given the gun, and told to fire at the cardboard outline of a man. Violence ingrained within the system. I was able to fire the gun with ease, and I struck the man in the torso. They said that such a shot wouldn't kill, but it would cripple him easily. On my first day with the device.
I wasn't terribly interested in actually observing one of their warzones, but that was the primary mission. And strangely enough, it seemed to be like the thing they were most excited to show me. Not any of their great works or the best parts of their culture, but war.
Perhaps it is just because they knew that is why I was there. Perhaps it is simply the result of the fact that it is the only difference between our worlds, and they were merely functionaries excited to do their job. But a greater part of me feels that I am being too kind and giving them the best light when I speculate like this.
The fact of the matter is that the people I was working with seemed enthusiastic about their role and taking me to witness war. They seemed to keep their glee under wraps, but when they talked about the devices and strategies I would bear witness to, I could only see a sense of appreciation and nothing of fear.
We arrived at the warzone not long after that. It quickly became apparent that the size and scope of war was going to be difficult for me to fully grasp. The area in which we arrived was not a place of active conflict. To some degree, I knew that would be the case: I had been prepared for the fact that war was not constant in the areas where it happened.
But standing there, in that place, I could not even tell that it was happening. This was a part of the conflict, they assured me. It was just not here, specifically.
Conflicts so great that they can find pockets of peace within them. Pockets of peace so large that you do not even realize you are in the conflict. The soldiers around me seemed at ease with the idea, but I could not stomach it. It is a false calm, one that could break at any moment. But they didn't seem to realize.
They showed me their devices. Unfortunately for them, I did not share in the obvious enthusiasm that permeated the environment. I did my best to hide the fact that I was becoming rapidly sickened by what I saw. They noticed, of course, but I didn't really care about that.
I will submit the documents they showed me with my report. I have no interest in summarizing them.
I saw active conflict soon after that. I was placed in an armored vehicle and we rolled off. If the transport had existed in our universe, it would have been one of the most heavily armored vehicles to have ever moved. You'd almost think that it has far too much on it to be a vehicle that could actually move, and yet it wasn't even that secure.
Out of curiosity, I asked if there were ways to break through the defenses of our vehicle. The soldiers around me talked my ear off describing all the ways in which they could destroy the transport. Explosives, special guns and all manner of cruel devices. If they needed to, it would not be hard at all.
Death is an inescapable specter here. There is no way to avoid it. It will hunt you down and follow you to the ends of the Earth.
I am back home now. I have had the time to reflect on this assignment. My conclusions are very simple.
It has ruined my soul.
War is nothing more than a poison that infects everything that touches it. Nothing can or will escape it. It will shake you to your very core and leave you changed forever. I cannot bring myself to weep for myself, because the only tears I can offer up for the children of that other world, who have never known a chance at a pure soul.
I volunteered for this assignment. I chose to do this to myself. I regret that choice, but it is one that I brought upon myself. But I was alone in that world, in that I could have avoided my fate. I cannot begin to fathom what they would have to do to become free. I have no doubt that it is possible, but can they see the path? Can they even begin to figure out where the next step would be?
I will never unsee the things I saw in that world. The horrors will never leave me.
And to think: I had it easy.
Archaeological Division Records
Reporting Personnel: Doctor Hraksen
Date: June 19th, 2018
Subject: Analysis of Recovered Evidence within SCP-5678
Collaboration with the 5678/PRIME Foundation equivalent revealed significant archaeological differences between dimensional equivalents in the area directly surrounding SCP-5678. A summary follows:
Baseline Reality
Evidence of extended human habitation, estimated to last for approximately five hundred years after settlement. Settlement dated to approximately 4000 BCE based upon carbon dating.
Multiple fire pits, containing evidence of long-term sacrifices. Fire pits are evidently consecutive, rather than simultaneous. Bones indicative of animal sacrifice in addition to burnt seeds indicative of burned plant matter.
5678/PRIME
Limited evidence of human habitation. Evidence of brief habitation discovered, not believed to have lasted more than a few years. Habitation dated to approximately 4000 BCE based upon carbon dating.
Two fire pits, each containing evidence of short term sacrifice. One fire pit only consists of bones; other fire pit only consists of burnt seeds. Fire pits appear to be roughly contemporary.
Single skeleton found within the field. Cause of death is blunt force trauma to the head, causing skull fractures. Suspected murder implement (donkey jawbone) found next to corpse.
These differences are not believed to be the cause of the differences between baseline reality and 5678/PRIME. Instead, it is believed that they are simply one of the earliest examples of war (or whatever anomaly has created war), and potentially the reason why SCP-5678 exists. It is believed that the divergence between realities occurred at this point, and caused space-time to rupture in the local vicinity.
The following proposal was sent by the Foundation of 5678/PRIME to baseline reality.
If you were one of mine, I would ask if you were out of your goddamn mind.
You aren't one of mine. This just confirms what I have suspected for some kind: you and yours don't have any mind to be out of. You're all homicidally insane.
I suppose that I shouldn't be that surprised. There's a gulf between us. I've heard that you have an Ethics Committee, just like we do, but I can't imagine what they do. They approved this, after all. What are their ethics? Where is their soul? Where are their teeth?
Human lives are not playthings. There are tragedies you cannot walk back. There are acts of violence that I once thought were unthinkable. Well, not quite. I had thought nothing of them because before you brought them to my attention, they truly were unthinkable. And I am somebody who thinks a great deal on the nature of violence.
Imagine my shock when I am submitted with a proposal far more barbarous than I could have ever pictured in my wildest dreams. Imagine my shock when it is treated as nothing more than routine business. Imagine my shock when I learn the men and women who wrote it are perfectly sane, that they have no malicious powers driving their actions and demanding sacrifice to a blood god.
Can you picture that? Can you imagine how I felt, and understand the emotions I was feeling? Can you really? I fear it may be as unthinkable for you as your proposal was for me.
This will be the end of all discussion and communication between our worlds. There is nothing further to be gained from it. You have nothing for us, and we cannot save you. We have no reason to talk any further. Goodbye.
Κυνθία Δῆλου
Ethics Committee Chairman
Imagine, if you will, the infinite multiverse. At each choice that we have, a branch splits off from the rest. In an overwhelming majority of times, these branches are so similar to each other that they collapse back onto each other. But frequently, they split. Consequences, and the tree diverges. Keep making choices, and the tree will continue to diverge. Choices. We choose the shape of our universe.
Imagine the shape of the universe, going back to the first moment that war began in 5678/PRIME. In that moment, there is only one universe: one which will branch out, to become ours and theirs. Do you truly believe that in the grand totality of the universe, only one branch chose a peaceful resolution in that moment? No. There were a thousand ways for peace.
And so a thousand branches of the universe spring out. And going forward, we pass time until it is the time for the second war. And again: there are a thousand ways for peace. Each splits off from the rest.
Continue that onward, for the entirety of human existence. A simple choice, at every turn to choose a solution without violence. Without massive bloodshed. Perhaps with only a battle or two, but never more. No such thing as escalation. That is the universe we live in. Here and now today.
