Directorate Archives

(Decrypted and translated from Russian)

The newest batch of test subjects arrived today. Illya saw them to their rooms in the dorm and got them squared away and we'll start with them after lunch. First, they'll receive a complete physical and then, over the next few days, an extensive set of mental tests and psychological profiling. Some will have problems. Each time a new set is brought in, there are at least a few who are so unhealthy that the regimented meals and daily exercise are the first time in their lives where they have an opportunity to get healthy. Some make it through the program, like Sergei the year before. But most don't. Dr. Korolev has a theory that since the talented tap into sections of the brain that aren't normally used, they may deplete their bodies of certain types of vitamins and minerals in ways that other people do not. It would explain why they historically have always had a tendency towards poor health.

Talented people often break the rules in many ways. A statistically significant number of them are left-handed. I too am left-handed and Sascha ribs me about it mercilessly. But Sascha tested me personally and found that I was about as psychic as a rock.

The profiling work is going to keep me busy for a number of days. The children are always harder to draw out. They are almost always terrified. And since they are often smart as well, their imaginations are working overtime. The elders are less scared but are almost always cagier. In the bargain, they oftentimes have ingrained pathologies that can't be removed. There is at least one man from the Ukraine in this batch who seems to have phobic reactions to being touched. Granted the file says that he has psychometric powers that may be unscalable, but the screaming and convulsions may prevent him from finishing the program, or even starting it. Which is a shame. I like Pavel. For a man with that much pain in his life, he has a dry, dry sense of humor. He and I shared a foul tasting cigarette and talked about how the local police had press-ganged him into service once they'd found what he could do. Originally he'd volunteered, but as the crimes he was asked to look into got fouler and fouler, he was unable to extricate himself from the service. The police weren't about to let him go until they saw our papers, and then got on the phone to yell at the bastards in Kiev who were about to throw them back onto traditional police work. I think if they'd had the chance they would have pissed in our coffee as we waited.

Dr. Korolev thinks that the method by which the talented tap into their internal resources is one that all people can learn. He think that there may be some form of subtle body energy that the mind can manipulate, and his work is directed towards locating and understanding this energy source. I remain skeptical as to whether it can be a learned skill. When speaking with most of our test subjects, most of them are ignorant of how or why they seem to be able to do what they can do. Most of the real subjects just do it, and have been able to in some way or other since birth. This can be especially bad for pyrokinetics.

Naturally, Kolya will be watching them in the intermediate trials. Kolya and the Doctor have a running bet over how many of the test subjects will be fakers. Some people hear about the project or have friends in the government... They want to make a little money and do as little work as possible, and they are smart enough or sly enough to realize that they'll never be comfortable working in the boot factory outside of Smolensk. Kolya handles the cameras and the test equipment and plays the role of being dumb, but Kolya was a stage magician for a number of years. It's why we brought him in.

The fakers are lucky. We bounce them without prejudice. There's no question as to whether they will have to be liquidated.

Tomorrow there will be fresh fruit with breakfast and, while I am dreading the next few months to come, I am at least looking forward to that.