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[Alexandr Korol]

Question: It’s always been interesting when, in “Alternative History,” you talk about those you feel and call “they.” Why do you use the plural? How is it that you’re able to feel their diversity or their number?

It had always been like that. That’s the whole point — if I were more like most people, relying more on the mind and living solely through logic... You know, before trusting the mind, one should actually develop it. If I had tried to shape everything with my mind back then, as people tend to do, I probably would’ve just said, “It’s God,” and left it at that, referring to it in the singular. But since I didn’t try to fit anything into a predefined box or framework and instead focused on what truly is, on what’s natural and authentic — just letting it be as it is and avoiding simplifications — even though everyone around me wanted to categorize it immediately, saying it’s the Freemasons or aliens or someone else, I chose to describe only what I was actually feeling. I remember joking along with those friends, laughing, “Maybe it is them, who knows.” Back then I didn’t even know who the Freemasons were — they were the ones who told me. What I felt, I spoke: I sensed that those communicating with me, those watching me, their presence and attention — it was plural. Not a single entity, but many. They could even be interacting among themselves, like different ones speaking to me. So simply because I always had that sense of a presence in the plural, I referred to them as “they.” Nobody confirmed that for me. Even Big Alexander didn’t deny it, but he also never clarified who they were. He would just say things like, “They’re the knowing ones,” or “They are teachers,” or “They’re guiding you.” But who they are, where they are — he never said. But I understood that they were the ones who controlled everything, and they were somewhere “there.” Where exactly “there” was — I didn’t know. Somewhere beyond something. But you could feel them as a form of consciousness. Imagine the sensation you get when someone is staring at the back of your head — you just feel it. Now imagine several people sitting behind you discussing you, and you can sense they’re thinking about you or talking about you. It’s the same with “them.” At some point, you begin to feel that “they” want something, are saying something, or are trying to communicate. But that feeling wasn’t constant. It came during certain periods. The first time I felt it was after my high school graduation.