The program "Acolyte" which was mentioned in this novel was based by me on a real-life CIA program "MK-Ultra".

According to available information, the program existed from the beginning of the 1950s and at least until the end of the 1960s, and for a number of indirect signs it continued later.

The participants of the experiments were continuously injected with chemical agents for several months or injected with electric discharges into a comatose state and at the same time forced to listen to sounds recorded on tape and repeatedly reproduced or simple repetitive commands. The purpose of these experiments was to develop methods for erasing memory and completely remaking the personality.

Surviving CIA documents indicate that the program aimed to study the effects of "chemical, biological and radiological" methods on consciousness. In particular, such topics as:
---------memory disorder

---------discrediting a person by his behavior

---------changing sexual habits

---------methods of extracting information

---------suggestibility

---------creating a sense of dependence in a person

The scale of MKULTRA can be estimated from the fact that the program budget in 1953 was 6% of the total budget of the CIA, while no means of monitoring and controlling expenses were provided.