In his novel “The Justification,” poet and journalist Dmitry Bykov first introduced himself as a writer. The theme of political repression in the 1930s–1950s is treated here in a philosophical and fantastical spirit: it turns out that victims of arbitrary power who did not break under interrogation and did not name either themselves or their loved ones were not shot—but sent to special camps. There, they were prepared for a special mission, as they tried to create an army of superhumans, free from human weaknesses…