A quick report on what has been a remarkably busy yet marvelous day around Zero-A. It is amazing how a little thing can be so useful for planting the seeds of evil.

The Mother decided that today was high time to do a “few little” changes around the home. These changes involve quite a lot of work: a bit of minor construction, quite a lot of painting, some wallpapering, and so on. Father was less inclined to the idea. His work is done primarily out of an office in the home, which means he is actually around most of the day: and Mother decided today was a perfect opportunity to take advantage of this. Father, of course, with a little bit of nudging from us, felt quite taken advantage of indeed. This was not what he intended to do, and since he didn’t feel particularly like sacrificing we were able to tip him in favor of petulance.

Elder Brother might have been helpful but had planned other activities for the day and, taking his cue from Father (without even realizing it), he too moved in favor of petulance. Unfortunately we were unable to sway the daughter–curse her sainted little head. But I am not clear if she is being “good” because it earns her points with her parents or because she truly wishes to be. Whatever the case, she managed to balance things out.

Still, as we were able to show the interns today (Zho particularly showed his mettle here) one mustn’t count out the little things. All throughout the day we managed to draw each patient’s attention to (real or imagined) slights, insults, digs, etc. Resentment and no small amount of bitterness will hopefully be the fruit of the seeds planted in their minds. The trick is to keep their eyes on things small enough to be proudly overlooked (”shows how big I am, I will ignore this”) and not confronted, dealt with, forgiven and set aside–yet big enough to remain embedded in their thoughts and minds for days and weeks to come. This is particularly useful where the women are concerned. Women, of course, remember things forever–a fact which men can be brought to find highly annoying.

The upshot is that our interns were kept very busy, and more importantly we have managed to discover many specific little things that can trigger our patients to listen to us. At the same time, we were able to pass on “bad vibes” to all manner of people–the sales clerks at the store, the delivery truck drivers, between the Elder Brother and the Zero-B girl, between the Mother and some of her friends, and so on. We are mapping all of the relationships based on how easily certain attitudes can be transmitted. Very useful intelligence, indeed!

Meanwhile, Father is starting to feel certain pains and discomforts. Today he chalked it up to the unsual exertions. We have to decide what our strategy is going to be. I will reflect on this and report next week.

What progress on our reinforcements? I have heard nothing on this. They would have been very useful today!

Yours affectionately,
Greystone

After my disheartening experience yesterday, I did indeed decide to make the rounds. One in my position has to remember not to get caught up solely in one family’s story, and in particular the sordid soap opera of emotional and uneven children. Their short-term view is delightful, but at the same time it is a very short view which can make more habitual corruption difficult. Older patients are very good Index Patients as well. Reminded of this, I decided today to spend my time with our first long-shot candidate, the teacher named Finnegan. I took Saltslug and a few of his more promising interns, and sent our excellent spy Alikan to monitor the Zero-A father at work.

School is not in session right now, of course. Her primary job does not begin until this fall. We followed her during the normal course of the summer day.

Saltslug and I were both impressed once again with how much a human being can come to be dominated by the corruption of evil, and yet be so utterly blind to it. At the same time we could also present our interns with an object lesson on how the corruption of evil and its resulting Isolation can work against us, by denying us viral Access to the relationally connected humans.

I almost feel sorry those responsible for the Finnegan portfolio. They clearly took a very risk-averse approach to this Case. They are rather like the fearful servant in the Enemy’s story: they worked so hard to ensure Finnegan was kept in our camp that they failed in any admittedly higher-risk play for those related to her. As a result the Finnegan portfolio is very thin indeed. They might have been feasting on ten souls, or even a hundred—but instead they have just this one, bitter old woman.

This is the tricky play I constantly strive to pass on to my interns, one I learned from Screwtape during his tenure as head of the College. Yes, you can Isolate a patient from all possible contact with the Enemy by planting distrust, bitterness, cynicism—all of these anti-social seeds. But by doing so, you also burn any bridge over which you might have Access to others, and plant seeds in them. On the other hand, you can make the play of encouraging selfish relationships on the part of the patient. It is a risk because, of course, Access is a two-way street: your own Patient might encounter resurrection life that destroys your work. But if you’ve got the guts and the skill you can end up not with one course at the Table, but many.

It seems to me that the best method is a light relational connection—enough so the patient’s corruption passes easily through the atmosphere to others, but tenuous enough that most with resurrection power find it easier to back away from a black cloud than to try to invade it with light. Make it a seemingly far more formidable task to lift the blackness than in truth you know it to be, so the less experienced will turn away from the challenge, thinking it beyond them. Smoke and mirrors and illusion are the name of the game here: the ideal is a highly sociable person who seems friendly and outgoing and yet constantly passes on seeds of corruption, who puts up a great front that no one will want to pass beyond while spewing the sweetest poison everywhere.

Finnegan, on the other hand, is too far gone to be of use to us to infect the Enemy’s camp directly. No matter that the Enemy ate and drank with sinners; his followers today do not tend to do this. They don’t smoke, and they don’t chew, and they don’t run with those who do: indeed they run far the other direction. Finnegan’s overt sins have caused those with Life to Isolate her lest she infect them; and she, in turn, has become so bitter at being left out and ignored that she has Isolated herself from anyone and everyone who might unselfishly love her. I am uncertain that any relationships beyond work and the bare minimum of social connections could be reactivated without a major shift in her heart and mind, and such a shift would be a very high stakes play indeed—one to be avoided except at the last resort.

It may be that we at least can make use of her constant black depression to likewise infect others, but perhaps with a lighter version, a dourness, a put-upon grumpiness, a self-centered bad mood, that could be useful. We will see when the school year begins. Until then there is hardly any use in pursuing this portfolio further. To try to expose her to any friendships might undo all the… diligent work that her Case Officers have put in, and I would so hate to undo the fruits of their labor!

Yours affectionately,
Greystone

Per your insistent instructions, I took a detachment and followed the girl to church today. As I reported before, the light and sound—the very air around her—grew heavy with the weight of the Enemy. She was deep in prayer and worship before she even arrived, her whole being aligned to that endless Note. It was sickening. We could barely keep our composure. Only by constantly reviewing the Math of the Feast was I able to continue.

The building itself is unremarkable. Those inside, too, are fairly normal: a cross-section of humanity united under four walls and a roof with bad music, too-hearty handshakes and repulsive speaking. I do not know what she sees in this place or in these people, personally: fortunately right now she is caught up in the rapture of her ecstatic faith. When the trials come—as trials surely will, and particularly given her father’s condition—we will I hope stand a very good chance of highlighting how faithless wood, stone, glass, and overly hearty handshakes can be. Questions without answers are excellent testing grounds, and many a ship of faith has run aground on the rockiness shoals of saints who do not live up to our expectations.

I am not writing coherently, I fear. The light was so great. It is good that they cannot see the lights we see, or else a great many more meals might be lost to us.

In the meantime we made the best of a bad situation and were able to do a little reconnaissance. The girl has a number of friends and acquaintances at the church; fortunately, most are only distantly known. Some of them are known to us—some, well indeed. When it comes time to seek comfort, we should be able to manage them easily, and give her a good picture of how easily a human, given the chance to be compassionate, can be tempted to fail.

Those small trivialities aside, I have interesting news. You will remember I reported a long-shot Index Patient, Zero-D, a missionary returned from the field. The family was there. It was interesting to see how they put on a brave front and yet it seems clear they are still facing many challenges, not the least being the emotional hurts they received while abroad. The son, indeed, seems overly cynical about this little church. I should like to know more about that situation. Please ask Intelligence to forward me a detailed report about their time abroad. Did they receive much support from home? Was this church in particular one that failed to support them to the level they deemed adequate?

The girl admires the family because of their supposed saintedness. Depending on the history, I might be quite interested in doing what I can to shove the two of them together and disabuse her of the notion of holiness.

In the meantime, I am going to sign off this all-too-brief report and try to compose myself. The girl spent much of the service’s prayer times whispering about her brother. It is disturbing. I may perhaps take a visit to one of the local homes for the aged. It reassures me greatly to count all of the souls being cordially escorted to our banquet.

Yours affectionately,
Greystone.

** CONFIDENTIAL **

I received your response, and while I do not agree I will nevertheless bow to the wishes of the Regional Board as well, of course, as the Table itself.

I believe the Enemy is planning something Long-Term for this Zone. The forces in this area are slowly and subtly being bolstered. The destruction of our reinforcements is something not to take lightly. Such an overt constraint on our position is not typical in my experience.

I will keep you apprised.

Your humblest servant,
Zho.

I am sorry to hear of the demise of the replacements you attempted to send. It certainly makes our work here more challenging, but I suppose it puts paid to the question of whether they were any good. Perhaps you ought to ask Division to reassign some from a nearby Zone instead. Surely there are a few nearby who have already successfully sent their Patients on, and could be useful here?

In the meantime we have a good assessment of the Zero-A Elder Brother. The positive thing is that he is something of a sensualist. He enjoys pleasure, he steeps himself in pleasure, he basks in pleasure. The negative is that in secret he seems to most crave the pleasure of intimate friendship and the desire for approval.

This is a double-edged sword. I would much have preferred a corruption which made him exclusively crave the pleasures of drink, or of food, or of power over others, or even at best cruelty and violence combined with any of the above. All of these would obscure any sense of the Long-term, and Isolate him further. Be that as it may we must play with the blade we are given.

He secretly craves the approval of his family, but my predecessor at least was able to achieve a certain Isolation there, turning the family’s attentions to the “baby” of the family: the Daughter. This was the one really brilliant piece of work Smilock did. They fawn over her because she is the youngest and she is “cute” in their eyes, not because of any spiritual maturity on her part. Meanwhile they ignore the Elder Son, or hold him to an impossibly high standard. Bad blood cannot help but be spilled in such a circumstance, and that is all the more useful for us.

Lacking the approval and attention of his parents, he has turned instead to his peers. Here the Elder’s sensuality has come into play. Happy parties, modern toys and stolen moments of physicality satiate his sensory lusts. It’s like a famous story of the Enemy’s, but inverted.

Unfortunately, in the midst of these he has come to latch on to Zero-B. My current underlings are thrilled with the events that transpire on any given Friday night—that are going on right now for example. The drunkenness, the occasional physical dalliance, the fear that will transpire the morning after, the avoidance of parents, the lies, the guilt, the regrets, the bitterness, the anger, the jealousies. All of these taken together are quite a heady brew for any Power, and we obviously get to sip these pleasures of the moment for they cannot be stored. They are our rightful bonus for the work we conduct. Unfortunately the difficulty here is not the short-term but the long-term, and drunk devils often lose sight of this. It takes responsible, mature, experienced heads such as you and I to keep our eye on the ball.

Where does the relationship between the Elder Brother and Zero-B have to go? Simple cold mathematics contains the answer: there are only two possible options. One is that they continue to grow closer and closer: not just physically, but unavoidably relationally and spiritually. That is the unfortunate spoiler in the Enemy’s design: two people cannot easily be in each other’s presence and parasitically take advantage of each other without either both reversing course into unselfishness or one eventually retreating defensively. To arrange a state where they both continue to prey on each other requires quite a lot of skillful effort which is difficult with overheated youths such as these.

Each moment of the day, each social encounter, is a binary choice: moving them into our hands or out. If their passion ever rises above a focus on personal pleasure into a passion for the other, it could very well move them away from lust and into romantic love, and dare I say even into the Enemy’s idea of unselfish charity. This leads nowhere of use to us.

The better play for us: to bring one or both of them to consistently act selfishly, lustily, and eventually that line will lead toward heartbreak, breakup, and for the Elder Brother to move on to the next in a long string of failed romances. Ideally, we would string several failed romances together. Each failure makes the next failure of course more possible, for in each new relationship he will see all the failures of the past, “recognize” oncoming train wrecks and be all the more willing to pull out of them.

The lack of parental involvement and mentoring at this juncture is especially fortunate because this young fool has no experience to guide him. He has no real skill at knowing when to invest time and energy and when to cut and run, and he is all the more likely to invest too much time when he should not, and to cut and run just when he should have stuck it out. And he certainly has no Resurrection power. If enough failures were strung together he might even avoid future romances altogether, and pass the rest of his time as a sensualist, avoiding relationships in favor of short-term pleasures. A victory vindicated for us in the end.

Thus this first relationship is one to be handled with extreme care. We must get him addicted to the pleasures in the relationship, while avoiding his heart entanglements, so that he will be unwilling to risk any pain. He must be willing to move on to the next girl, the next party, the next pleasure if the pain becomes too great, while having just enough heart entanglement to provoke bitterness and not enough to provoke repentance. Tricky, indeed.

The greatest challenge in this work is keeping the brother and the sister Isolated. Isolation must be more on the part of the brother, for the sister is open to relationship, praying for him, encouraging him, forgiving him—all of those annoying “disinterested” (unselfish) loving attitudes that make life so incalculable. Denying her Access by turning the brother away from her is a key challenge, for the unselfish self-sacrificing high love of his sister could very well awaken self-sacrificing love in his feelings toward Zero-B. Fortunately we have his bitterness and jealousy to work with, but her power could very well be greater. We must take much care.

There is more at stake here than just this soap opera–even more than just his family, too. The Elder Brother holds influence not just with the girls in his social circle, but the boys also. The boys will one day grow up to be men. If together these peers go into self-reinforcing cycle after cycle of poor relationships, they will amplify each other’s tendencies, and an entire Zone of men could be corrupted. Eventually they will likely marry for social reasons, and a future generation could then be well in hand. It could be a veritable buffet line.

Yours affectionately,
Greystone.

Thank you for finally taking Thomko off my hands. Now, when will my new replacements and additions arrive?

We are stretched rather thin here, as you must know. Our ability to get meals past the blockade relies on two factors: first, our brave troops to escort supply runners; second, those like myself who labor over patients in order to provide for your hunger.

Our first few days of intelligence monitoring of Zero-A have been fruitful. This was especially so in the context of the reports Division has provided with regard to the father’s medical condition. His likely terminal condition certainly impacts our strategy, but fortunately it is a way off and we have some time to consider the effects of his illness on the rest of the family, and how it might be turned to our benefit.

The Zero-A household consists of Father, Mother, Elder Son, and the Younger Daughter. The Father does not know yet what we are aware of. His discovery is perhaps as little as several months or as much as several years away. The question is whether to encourage or to discourage the revelation. If he finds out earlier, there is the possibility he will successfully meet the spiritual challenges as well as find a cure or at least an extended postponement of its terminal nature. If he finds out later, he will have less time in which to grow bitter and a greater chance of a crisis that shoves him to rediscover his spirituality, but there is also a greater chance of a family explosion that will wreak the havoc of bitterness and perhaps break the Younger Daughter’s certainty in her loyalty to the Other Side.

The Mother is at the moment an uncertain play. It is possible she, upon learning the news of his illness, will fall into our hands, but it is equally possible she will side the other way. She is somewhat vain and more than a little given to gossip, and something of a social butterfly, flitting here and there. At the same time she has many deep friendships for whom she appears to care deeply in that markedly unselfish way the Others have, which is so hard to analyze and deeply confusing. Monitoring her and experimenting with approaches may be a College project that may yield fruit in this eternally challenging area.

The Father’s current passion for his work, and the Mother’s for her friends, fortunately leaves them less time than either would like with their children. This leaves a useful gap which we can exploit. What will happen when the illness is revealed is a guess only the Intelligence arm would care to take (and probably, as usual, fail at). However, the more wedges we are to drive here, the better off we would be in the long run when the illness is revealed. The ideal condition is one in which the Father and Mother both retreat into bitterness and isolation upon learning the news, leaving the Elder Son—who is well in hand at the moment—to go even more strongly into our camp, and the girl to deal with a crisis of faith on her own.

The son is vain and shallow, and secretly already bitterly jealous over the attentions afforded his younger sister. He has acquired the attentions of several young girls at his school, and one in particular which he regularly encourages. This one–our potential Zero-B–is also a shallow-thinker, and gives in very easy to sensuality. All sorts of feedback loops between the two of them, their friends, and their families are possible, with likely explosively damaging results, each adding to the cup of woe so appreciated in the shadowed realms. He is perhaps our most ideal Index Patient, and I will go deeper into his case in my next report.

The Younger Daughter is, as I have mentioned before, the wildcard, the uncertain variable. She has latched on to faith and loyalty to the Enemy. Her room cannot be penetrated—we would probably lose any force that dared to try. We are having a hard time guessing at her thought patterns, for she is quite circumspect in her words to others. At school she has a few close friends but tends to keep herself away from others (which could be made to work for us), but we cannot approach the church where the rest of her friends gather for regular events. We have tried but the atmosphere becomes far too muggy and foggy as we draw near, and direction is lost. Even if we could follow her in, I’m afraid the light and sound would blind and deafen us, so that we could gain no useful intelligence. So we are at the moment forced to monitor her phone conversations and her emails, to see if her words will betray any chink that we could use.

In summary, gaining access for the seeds of evil which will eventually kill and provide a meal for us will be fairly easy in certain cases. At the same time we wish to take care before investing ourselves in Zero-A, for the Younger certainly has the power of Resurrection. Introducing any seed into her at this time is impossible, and introducing it into the others might very well unleash a Crisis in which this power could be made manifest. Isolating the others from her insidious smell will have to be the first operation if we are to be successful in the long-term. Yet if we are, here are at least three very good meals to be made–not to mention the many that they touch.

Yours affectionately,
Greystone.

I feel we are now ready to begin the work in earnest, although I should have liked to have gotten rid of the tiresome Thomko by now. When will the detachment arrive? In any event he is under lock and key, along with two of his middies. I’m afraid one fell prey to the same kind of pilfering that they have become reviled for. But I suppose that’s what you get when you trifle with the advance corps of a hungry nation: a certain sense of vengeance coupled with a satisfied belly. The jailed three certainly were cowed by the howls.

In any event, I making some headway even in these initial days. The Slattery clan is our initial outpost: we are keeping them under close watch. They seem an ideal candidate for a Patient Zero, but I am not sure at this time whether it should be him, his wife, or elder child–the son, of course. Certainly not the younger child, of course: she being the fly in the soup for that particular case.

There is another potential Patient Zero: this being the girlfriend of the son. We’ll call this one Zero-B for the moment. Lover, really—and the fact that this is not acknowledged does tend to give the possibility of so many scenarios that almost—almost, mind you!—overrides the danger of the Slattery daughter.

The third potential Zero—Zero-C, I suppose—is more of a long-term project. This is a teacher in the local school, by the name of Finnegan. She is rather lonely and bitter but in an excellent position so that, if infected, she might actually have a fairly long reach. But inward isolationism has weathered all attempts so far to use her as a vector: I suppose this is a time when evil unleashed works against us, rendering inert an otherwise fine weapon.

The fourth potential Zero, Zero-D, is the longest of long-shots. This is actually a missionary recently returned from abroad whose son will likely attend the same school as the Zero-A and Zero-B children. I know that normally missionary types would be seen as virtually impervious to our work. Of course they are always vulnerable to a little short-term sniping that might even remove them from the field of struggle: but they are almost always immune to becoming a long-term vector. However, this is a quite unusual case. I do not know that I should say more; our communications channels are typically quite safe but with such a sensitive subject, I am uncertain to trust them even here.

Of course I know we must keep a record of all our work, so that if anything unfortunate should happen to our leadership, new workers will know where to begin. Not that I expect anything unfortunate to happen, of course: I have guards quite loyal to me. So I shall keep private records of some of our doings, so that they can be accessed if necessary while not committing all our tactics to this possibly breached channel. (I know it has happened before.)

In any event, there are many possibilities here. Do send us the additional manpower. I have Alikan and his resources out gathering information so that we will have a very clear picture of the relational lines, and then we will have some idea of how to proceed.

Yours affectionately,
Greystone.

** CONFIDENTIAL **

I write in protest, trusting that my long years of humble service in your region will be enough to earn your discretion.

Greystone is an excellent campaigner but his style and strategy, I estimate, will not work here. I do not understand why Division did not allocate command of this Zone to me upon Smilock’s demise. I have had the longest experience here after Smilock, and understand the situation precisely.

The solution to this ample field of food is the removal of the Target. That’s it, pure and simple. If it can be accomplished by one of the potential Index patients, so much the better, as it will in any scenario create such tremendous ill will as to Isolate all involved for what remains of the Father’s life.

Greystone, unfortunately, is a great practitioner of the art of attempting the infection of those already in the Other’s camp. Admittedly, sometimes this strategy has worked, and with unforeseeably good results evidenced by some of the more spectacular “falls from grace.” On the other hand, it can also fail spectacularly too. His complete and total abject failure in the G case—the most dramatic of the century—is a case in point. Why someone of his stature has been assigned to this little Zone (unless it is rehabilitation?) is incalculable to me.

All is not lost. I can continue to work under him. What I propose is that, as a backstop, I be given permission to eliminate the Target when and if an opportunity presents itself. While I understand Greystone’s high-stakes play may very well result in many meals, I also emphatically believe that the fewer meals provided by her removal are better than having all the meals slip through our fingers—the most probable scenario in his most likely failure.

Your servant,
Zho.

Here forthwith is the promised assessment. I have charge presently of four Seniors, nine Middies, and two score of Juniors, the latter of whom are hardly worth counting. I will run down my views of the Seniors and such Middies as are worth mentioning.

The four Seniors are of course Saltslug, Thomko, Alikan and Zho.

First, Thomko has to go: he is clearly as corrupt as any devil, perhaps three times as much, but worse he has organized the pilfering of the food supplies. This of course cannot be borne. His three Middies must go with him. We must have a clean sweep. Send a detachment at once to bring them back to face the Table. From the look of them, I do not think the detachment even need be very strong: they are sly and cunning but weak and easily cowed.

Saltslug is positively brilliant in his work. I cannot recommend this black hearted spirit enough. He has set up what amounts to a small college here, complete with practical field work, and the Juniors he is running through it are presently the most promising of the lot. He only has two Middies at the moment, and needs two more. This is the first of the requests. I am certain with the results of this effort we will attract more to our side.

Alikan shows some promise, and seems best suited to the intelligence work necessary even if he is a little weak on compromising the targets. I will keep him for the moment.

Zho, too, I will keep, though not eagerly. I have known him from work before, and am pleasantly surprised to see him here—if guardedly so (for why did you not tell me he was here?). Nevertheless I know him to be a master at the task of seed-planting, and I am certain any Middies and Juniors under him will come to be excellent field hands in time.

With the loss of Thomko and the three Middies under him, we are left short handed. I need five extras. Please send these without delay. Zho’s Middie, Greensnot (a name that suits him quite well!), is an excellent example of the sort I want: devious and quick to take advantage of opportunities, yet loyal. I expect the same loyalty from these that you should desire of me.

Please inform me as soon as may be when I may expect the new arrivals, as well as the detachment to take the dead weight off our hands.

Also, send as soon as may be a complete dossier on the Slatterys of 21st Street. I have need of that as soon as possible.

Yours affectionately,
Greystone.

Thank you for the intelligence file, but while I knew a few months or even a few weeks was too much to ask, you might have waited at least a few days before you began sniping about our progress. You and I are old campaigners in this struggle, and you know the early days are always the most difficult: particularly when one (even one such as I) takes over from the shoddy work of a predecessor. It will take a little while for me to arrange matters in anything like an orderly process.

The first priority, of course, is to maintain the status quo—not to lose the Patients that are so close. A first glance at the files kept here tells me many will soon be on their way past the blockade to storage in the cold. So do not whine to me: your meals will not be interrupted and we both know when the pinch is in, it is our Juniors who go without. Perhaps instead you should look to doubling your own guard against marauders, and keep close by your terminal to send me what I need.

It is far too early to consider Patient Zero. An infection must be introduced with care. We need a target which will not immediately repel our efforts—in whom we can at least get a germ of a thorn that can start working its way inward—but who also will have maximum broadcast exposure once the seed sprouts in full bloom. Such a Patient is not always easy to find, even in a Zone as populous as this. It will take some time to comb the records: but that, of course, is one of the things I do best. So let me do my job.

Meanwhile in the next day or so I will send the assessment of the current workforce and my requests for replacements and additions. Yes, you read that right: I have seen enough here to know both will be warranted. Not all of the Middies and even one or two of the Seniors are worth keeping on; in fact, one or two are positively worthless and more to the point fat enough to serve at a meal—they have evidently been sipping a bit before passing food on. They know it, too: they are shedding pounds just sweating over what awaits them.

On the other hand, there is reason for optimism, too. Some of what I have seen in my survey last night suggests this Zone may be ripe for not just one but several Patient Zeros. And if that is indeed the case, I will need reinforcements to manage it properly.

Yours affectionately,
Greystone