Personal diary of Lazarenko K.G.

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## Technical information

### ID

Ruins\_Lazarenko

 — In-game description

**Personal diary of Lazarenko K.G.** (Russian: *Личный дневник Лазаренко К.Г.*; Ukrainian: *Особистий щоденник Лазаренко К. Г.*) is a text document in *ATOM RPG*.

## Transcript

...I acknowledge my mistakes, and I am ready to receive the proper punishment for them. But Aksenov's position on this matter disturbs me greatly.

Need I even say that they are all unhappy with my statement? The talk was really hard. And the ending of it - very awkward. But now this topic is finally closed. So it was all for the best!

 02/X/1982

A few words about my future home. They sure didn't spare any expenses… Automatic doors. Each equiped with motion sensing apparatus. You can even input a code to use instead of a key. It seems like an overpriced, unnecessary thing… But I think someday doors like this will be everywhere, even in shops. Krasnov got a strange fobia because of these doors, though. He is afraid that after some error, these doors will endanger people around the bunker. The tech staff proved there is no danger involved, but he still believes that sooner or later one of these doors will cut his head off... A strange superstition from a rational man.

The lab is equipped like something out of this world! All the instruments are in ideal condition. The machines lack markings, but I believe they are East German. There is a room for test animals. I believe we will have to experiment on them during our stay. Vivisection comes to mind... We also have some Elecon computers, EVMs and even western designs. An amazing level of equipment.

I think these machines surpass everything I used before.

 02/XI/1982

The nature of our research is not known to most of us. The full picture is probably only known to our leader, Nina Semyonovna. She is pulling all the strings. As for me - I suspect we are working on a kind of a biological weapon. Most of us think that nuclear weapons are the most destructive. How wrong they are! The most dangerous weapon is indeed biological.

 17/XII/1982

I started ordering the Pravda newspaper to keep up with the times. So many things happened during my stay in the Bunker. I am also considering a subscription to the Literature Digest and the New World Journal. A good read never hurts!

 03/II/1983

Today I got the chance to get to known our leader, Nina Semyonovna. At supper, she asked what I think about poetry. I was really surprised by this, because I always thought of her as someone too practical for such matters. Without even thinking, I lied, saying that I love poetry. She recommended reading Blok.

What an interesting person she is... Her green eyes sometimes light up with no apparent reason... With no connections to the topic of the discussion. But these eyes, they do not live on their own. They follow Nina Semyonovna's feelings and thoughts. What does she think about, I wonder? Just about work..?

 26/IV/1983

Got a bit sick today. I blame the trip to the local site called the Zagoremsk waterfall.

Quite the place, actually. The water in it has a reddish tint. Almost like blood. Some microorganisms are probably to blame. Strange nobody ever tried to learn more about that phenomena.

Local legend tells us of a fight between two strongmen - Big Normer and Anzaur the Brave. They fought on the Zagorem hill until they ran one another through with swords.

I can only imagine how surprised the people of the past were to find this bloody waterfall...

Anyway I am writing this from the med bay. I have to spend a few days here. How good it is that I started subscriptions to newspapers.

 05/VII/1983

Change in staff today. The new specialist is Neyman Y.G., who will be replacing the departed Nikolayev.

Today we and Neyman discussed what is more important. The physical body functions, or emotions. I think that the body is more important. Emotions are a product of it. But Neyman thinks otherwise. He loves music and is fairly creative. Sort of a mix between a scientist and a poet.

Interestingly enough, judging by my observations, Neyman himself isn't prone to empathy.

 13/IX/1983

It seems that we are not the only lab that is currently busy with the project. There is at least one more. Although where it is located and who is part of the team there - I do not know.

Interesting information, though. Are we working on parts of some giant project? Are we making the same thing but with different approaches? Maybe we have the same work plan, and the other labs are spares in case something goes wrong in one? Too many questions. Sadly, I doubt I will ever find answers for them.

 27/III/1984

Today, me and Krasnov finished a chess session that lasted two days. Each afternoon we met in the rest area to continue our play, and the others watched us with interest. I must say Krasnov is a great chess player, but sometimes he is prone to risky moves. Thus, he has a more "adventurous" play style. I on the other hand believe that the best style of play is that of a tactician. Each move is a riddle, a puzzle, which must be solved. This is why I love chess.

Krasnov lost, by the way. But I must say, it was quite the battle. Now I won't play chess for a while. I like making pauses between games. Krasnov wants to have another go at me, but he isn't too urgent. He wants to think about his mistakes first. This is why I respect the man.

 14/IV/1984

Another change in staff. In place of the departed Boris Snyder, we got two new scientists.

Terentev and Vavilov. Fairly young. We'll see how they cope with the research. I liked Terentev from the start. He is energetic. And he knows his place in life.

 07/VI/1984

Met another rookie in our team today. Vavilov. A young man. Fairly reserved, if not shy. Also seemed to me kind of sentimental.

He also enjoys chess, and would like to play sometime. I'd like that. I want to know his play style.

 23/VI/1984

I have a vacation, but I rather not go home. A resort is also out of the question. The only idea I found worth while for my free time is to pursue my small passion. I am a folklorist at heart, so I decided to drive around local villages, asking about local legends. Some folks around here remember legends and songs of old that are still unheard of by most folklore students. I am so interested in finding how folk stories were conceived. What pushed the ancient people to create a certain myth? Where are its roots? Solving such problems is like being a real detective!

I also learned that I will be followed. Wherever I go, people from the secret service will shadow my every move. Well... I'm not offended by that. It's safer that way.

 27/VI/1984

"Rich Man Drone"

Written from the words of an old man living in the Duplyanskoye village, named Gregory Korova.

"Once, there was this lonely farmer that lived over yonder, where there's now a clearing! His surname was Trofimov, methinks! But we called him Drone. You know, like the lazy bee, that only buzzes around with no work done! Now he was one lazy son of a bitch! But how rich he was! Had no servants, almost no relatives. But still he prospered! It was like his farm was running itself somehow! People from our village avoided the man. My grandma used to say that each night a certain gate opens on Drone's field, and devils pour out, holding pitchforks, plows and shovels! Ya know! To work Drone's fields! I don't know if that was the truth... But when the Revolution of 1917 happened, and the communists came to take his riches, he gave them everything without a fight. All of his crops, all of his livestock. And when the revolutionaries started to leave, he told them - "Take it all! I've got fertile land. I will grow more riches for myself".

And ya know what, comrade? I swear, this is the truth..! I saw it myself! And others saw too! We all saw... How during the next night, Rich Man Drone's field changed... Oh yes... We saw it... Saw cows and goats and horses emerge from the ground... First the heads grew from the ground, then the bodies followed... Pale and milky, like they were still undevelopped somehow... They crawled out of the ground screaming, foaming at their mouths, watching each other with wild, mad eyes... They grew out of Rich Man Drone's field like horseraddish or potatos... It was like the field birthed them. And next morning Rich Man Drone and his new herds were gone without a trace. There are things on this Earth much older than humanity... And they like one thing, my friend. Solitude. This is why Rich Man Drone left these lands, I think. Because we, humans, bothered him too much. Oh. And the livestock that the communists took from his farm? All of it died out soon. Horses, cows, pigs and goats all fell apart, and turned into moist soil... Like the soil of Drone's field, from which they came..."

 03/VII/1984

In the Konoplyasovo village there is a legend that somewhere deep in the woods there is a tree that is "not really a tree". It was really hard to understand what that phrasing means. The only answer the locals gave me was "you'll know it when you see it". One later added that if I manage to find this tree that is not a tree, I should bow to it. "If the tree will continue standing still after that - you walk away, boy... But if it bows back, there won't be no place to go no more..." - He said.

 25/IX/1984

Nikiforov from the Control Center visited us today. We had a talk. Later even drank together. Secretly, of course.

We discussed the latest game in the World Chess Championship between the current champion Karpov and the new star on the scene named Kasparov. The match is still going, but Nikiforov already thinks that Karpov will win. I, on the other hand, doubt it. I think Kasparov can still give a good fight. Yes, the Sicilian Defense, and a beautiful victory in 31 moves already happened. But I think the man is still just warming up.

 14/XI/1984

Visited Dr. Braude today to get some medicine against my headache. I do get those sometimes, but this one I have right now is just something else. If almost stings the skin on my head… Braude made a quick check-up and gave me a pill.

I think I feel better. But why did it hurt like that? I sleep well... I eat healthy. Maybe it's cabin fever?

Noticed that Nina Semyonovna and her team also look pale and sickly.

 19/II/1985

I'm so lucky that I never took a wife and have no kids. It's frightening to look at how some of my colleagues miss home…

 04/III/1985

Nikiforov visited today. Had a bottle of something special with him this time. We drank a little bit, talked about Karpov vs. Kasparov, the famous chess match. I still believe that Campomanes made the right move… but Nikiforov thinks he chickened out. After the talk Nikiforov told me about a project called ATOM. He heard that it's a code name for a contingency plan that will be enforced in case of an all-out war. A creepy rumor. It means they are seriously preparing for war. But does the public know? I don't think so...

After that talk we mostly stayed silent. Finally, Nikiforov shook my hand and went back.

I am somewhat unnerved.

 27/IV/1985

A bizarre and terrible fight broke off between Vavilov and me today. I can't even remember what started it, but we were almost at each other's throats moments later.

We're lucky that the others pulled us apart and made us make peace. In the end of the day, we even decided we will play chess together as was planned.

It's interesting to point out that the flash of rage was instantaneous and completely irrational for us both. We both can usually keep our emotions in check, and our hands to ourselves. What has gone wrong?

I think I should look into the behavior of my other colleagues.

 03/VII/1985

Doctor Braude told me that a fair few of our research members came to him with violent headaches. Mostly men from Nina Semyonovna's team. Colonel Malyshev and some soldiers also reported pains in the head region.

 10/X/1985

Just now I awoke from a terrible nightmare. As I woke up, quite terrified, a strange thought occured to me. This is why I'm making this entry. It was not the first time I got that exact nightmare. I had a few of them, differing only slightly between themselves, starting from March.

I will now describe the nightmare. I sit inside of my room in the Bunker. On a bed, I think. Although it doesn't matter. There's light in the room. A lightbulb is shining, quite brightly. I'm reading a newspaper or something like that, when the door to the restroom suddenly starts opening slowly. I turn my head and ask: "Semyonov?". It's dark in the restroom. As nobody answers me, I get up from the bed and go to check why the door has opened. At this moment, I hear a voice from the darkness. It says a word, or a frase... It's in Russian, I think, but I can't understand it. I ask again: "Is it you, Semyonov?". And then a thought occurs to me: "It is not a human voice. It is not a human...".

I woke up in tears. Have to pay attention to my dreams from now on.

 21/XII/1985

My dreams are getting more vivid. In my last I saw my first teacher, Maria Ivanovna. She was wearing some sort of a cotton vest, covered with rusty red velvet spots… She was walking around the classroom, giving me a lecture… When I suddenly had that thought again: Her voice is not human. She is not a human.

I awoke overwhelmed with terror.

 16/II/1986

Had a chat with Vavilov. Learned something bizarre. He gets nightmares, that are very close to my own. The only difference is that in his dreams he is in Leningrad, his favorite city.

Doctor Braude supposes it's because of the stress. Strange. I don't feel very stressed. Maybe some type of hidden neurosis?

 05/V/1986

They finally told us the news… While we sat underground… our planet died.

Why am I not surprised? Strange… Dr. Braude gave everyone sedatives, but I didn't take any. I feel pity for my colleagues and their families… But I don't really give a fuck about everyone else.

 05/VI/1986

Today, a group of soldiers is planning to go to the surface. We need food and resources. A lot of things, really. We also should find survivors, and help them in any way we can. Probably.

This is all too surreal.

 1987

We don't have a lot of options. Colonel Malyshev, me, Semyonov, Martynenko, Neyman, as well as Drill Sergeant Denisov and the privates Krasilnikov, Hatchatryan, Chaykin, Samoylov, Khasanov, Chernyavskiy and Sveklov are going top-side. The others were hit by the news too badly. Krasnov went off his rocker, I believe. Good luck to us, I guess... Hope to write a new entry soon...