Chapter 3: Director's Log

Siberia Region, Secret Research Institute No. 40120191. Director Petrov's Log.

1970/4/20:

Several days ago, a giant meteorite was found to have crashed in the Siberia Region. After local defense forces conducted an on-site investigation, they discovered an advanced flight pod clearly not belonging to our country's or America's technology. Inside it, they found an infant.

Following superior orders, an Alien Research Institute was established around the crash site of the flight pod. The infant is referred to by the codename 'Alien One' and is under secret protection and study.

1974/6/26:

Some fool actually proposed dissecting our only living sample! How did this guy get assigned to my institute? Which high-ranking official in the KGB had a son by a prostitute and shoved him into my institute to pad his resume!

Let that fool go to hell. Not providing more research funding, yet wanting to exhaust our limited research resources all at once; that guy is definitely a spy sent by America to make such a stupid proposal.

I will report that guy and have the KGB investigate that bastard. We must find out which women his sperm reached and completely cut off this stupid bloodline.

1976/8/14:

Alien One is already six years old. Observing his growth period, it is much like a human's, and various physical signs prove this claim. It's just that we cannot figure out exactly how large his appetite is.

Some researchers proposed providing him with sufficient nutrition to see how far he can grow.

But another faction of researchers worried that if Alien One grows up smoothly, some uncontrollable changes might occur.

The trouble caused by mutants is already enough; before finding a good control method, restricting Alien One's development will be the most suitable choice.

Regarding the opinions of both factions, I chose to adopt the conservative side's view.

Besides worrying about loss of control, there is only this one living sample. I do not wish to lose this precious sample by applying unnecessary pressure due to unpredictable expectations.

This is not 1944, when Russian rebel forces allied with German Nazis conducted a demon-summoning experiment on the Scottish coast.

Originally, they hoped to summon a powerful demon god to cause destruction within the Allied interior. The result was summoning only a demon infant; is this a joke?

I heard that infant has been raised by American scientists into a soldier, used to fight against supernatural forces.

Using demons for these things is only natural. But what I have on hand is just an alien; no one can expect him to be as formidable as a demon.

Raise him into a soldier? Let the fool who made the proposal bring the funding for the Winter Soldier Project or the Red Room Project. With more funding available to provide protective measures, I would agree to such foolishness.

1980/2/19:

The superiors are quite dissatisfied with the institute's results. To this day, we have been unable to decipher the technology of the flight pod, and even its materials cannot be replicated.

Nor have we obtained anything eye-catching in value from Alien One.

The Super Soldier Serum abandoned seeking materials from Alien One long ago. Because neither the blood nor the spinal fluid showed any super effects for enhancing humans.

Moreover, judging from Alien One's X-rays, if given to an unaware doctor to study, they would only say this is a very ordinary human skeleton.

If they were to see other physical sign data, they would probably only conclude that this is a child suffering from long-term malnutrition.

In fact, if I did not know this child was an alien who crashed to Earth in an advanced flight pod, I would have reached the same conclusion. But now, I cannot help but feel doubtful about such a claim.

To verify this, I did not hesitate to use connections to ask the soldiers who first discovered it.

Because from various signs and manifestations, I have to suspect whether these people swapped the alien inside the flight pod. What the institute obtained was just an ordinary human child.

But after cross-interrogation, the only conclusion obtained was that Alien One was indeed carried out from that flight pod.

Is this trying to tell me that the sci-fi fairy tale that human origins come from outer space is true? Or is it trying to prove something else?

Unfortunately, exploration in the field of philosophy cannot serve as a satisfactory result. I must hand over something more convincing.

1983/9/30:

The mutant war that occurred in Egypt, although our homeland did not directly participate, indirectly yielded a great deal of intelligence. Especially the various terrifying abilities displayed during the battle.

For this reason, all superhuman research institutes received orders from superiors, and this institute's progress was criticized once again. More than ten years of funding investment, yet not a single bit of harvest to date.

Do these fools expect to hear claims like 'replacing one's own blood with the fresh blood of a virgin can preserve youth forever'? And then drain my only sample dry!

Then they might as well catch a few vampires to study; there are plenty of those things in Eastern Europe.

I believe there must be a secret of human evolution on Alien One; otherwise, their appearance and various physical characteristics would not be so similar to ours.

It's just that I haven't found the correct entry point yet. Or perhaps the existing technology cannot observe what we should be observing. Maybe I should start with genetics and explore more minute things.

Otherwise, I simply cannot imagine that an alien race whose technology can support small spacecraft traversing the universe would not consider developing biotechnology for extending lifespan and strengthening the body.

The mystery of that body is absolutely more valuable than that flight pod!

To allow the research to continue, I had to compromise with the superiors and hand over that alien flight pod.

The institute has still not been able to complete a full reverse engineering of the technology on the flight pod. The main reason, besides necessary sampling, is that I do not wish for excessive destruction. My thinking is the same as the attitude towards Alien One.

However, the superiors seem not to approve of this approach. Especially in March, when America announced the Strategic Defense Initiative, deciding to vigorously develop military strength in outer space, making the superiors even more urgent regarding relevant materials and project progress.

To be able to continue researching Alien One, handing over the alien flight pod was a compromise that had to be made. At the same time, they will also pull out relevant researchers and streamline the institute's organizational structure.

In exchange, the institute's funding is not directly deducted for the flight pod research part, but slightly reduced. This also means that more research funding can be invested in Alien One.

I hope this price will allow the research to make a breakthrough.

1986/12/8:

The change in the leadership comrade's line sounds like a good thing, but I don't think so. Specific criticism is not the focus of this record, but I only hope it won't affect the institute's operations. Obviously, this is just a wishful thought.

To support the change in the new line, many ineffective projects were forced to shut down, and funds were diverted for other uses. The Alien Institute was unfortunately placed on the observation list, and the pressure that cannot be delayed is imminent.

Fortunately, Alien One has reached the adolescent stage, and physical growth should have reached a certain level. So I had to agree to some experiments I dared not try in the past, using extreme methods to test the functions of that body.

I hope this change will bring me some progress.

1988/1/7:

Damn policies affect not only the homeland but also allied nations. The muzzle on the mouth of that evil wolf in Germany is loosening; doesn't anyone see it?

The institute's funding and material supplies are also encountering problems. Food previously allocated by distribution must now be bought with rubles, and the prices are getting more and more expensive.

I suspect that if this continues, the situation of buying a black bread for five hundred thousand marks will also happen in my beloved homeland.

For this, I had to contact some old friends and, through them, raise funds and materials on my own.

Dawn can already be seen on Alien One; although his excellent healing ability is not as good as those mutants with self-healing abilities, for the same injuries, he can heal in a shorter time than ordinary humans, and mostly without leaving scars.

Unfortunately, Alien One's gene sequence still cannot be decoded to this day. Speaking of seeing this thing, I finally believe that what I hold in my hand is an alien, and not an Earthling disguised as an alien after being swapped.

At least with existing genetic technology, those verified methods cannot be reproduced on Alien One. The only reasonable explanation is that Alien One's genetic structure differs from Earthly organisms.

But even this discovery still failed to convince the higher-ups to keep funding us. They only said they wanted something more practical—say, the super-soldier serum that could produce more Winter Soldiers, or the black tech needed to make Project Firefox a reality.

I could only try to use whatever resources I had on hand to trade for things that would let the research continue.

It was dangerous, and the source of those funds wasn't quite right either. But I couldn't worry about that now. The mysteries of Alien No. 1 were like a goddess lifting the hem of her skirt right before my eyes.

All it took was one key, one inspiration, one chance—or some random, half-baked thing.

1989/11/9:

Damn it, that wall has fallen. The survival of the GDR is hanging by a thread.

The voices of doubt no longer circulate only among a handful of far-sighted elites, the way they used to. Even ordinary people have begun to doubt their own situation—how it was neither as wonderful as the leaders claimed, nor as prosperous as the Western world.

I can't say whether the path was right or not, but something was definitely done wrong somewhere.

I hope some sensible person steps in soon to clean up this mess. I feel I'm only a hair's breadth away from success—right at the critical moment, and I absolutely cannot be disturbed.

1990/8/1:

Damn, damn it all! An old colleague of mine from the Cheka told me I've been targeted by the KGB.

I'm loyal to the motherland, loyal to the doctrine, everything I've done has been for the sake of a better future. What right do they have to stop me!

Wasn't there some plan being hatched? So why does it have to be me who's eliminated?

I'm not leaving. I'll stay till the end. This place is my final life's work, and I won't give it up lightly.

—

The August 1st journal entry is the last record.

(End of chapter)