The captain of the plane noticed a man who looked a lot like him: after a few minutes, something terrible came to light.
When Flight 417 landed at its destination, Captain Alexei Morozov, a seasoned pilot with 20 years of experience, shut down the engines as usual and handed over control to ground crews. Everything was going according to plan until his gaze accidentally fell on one of the passengers passing by the window.
The man walked with his carry-on baggage, unsuspecting, but the captain froze. This man was his exact copy, down to the smallest detail. The same jawline, eye color, nose. He was looking at his own living reflection, only in civilian clothes.
Alexey called the senior stewardess and, showing her this passenger, whispered:
– Ask him to stay. Tell him I have a question for him. Just be careful.
The stewardess, perplexed, caught up with the man at the exit and said:
– Sorry, sir, the captain asked you to wait a little. This is due to the documentation check.
“Of course,” the man shrugged in surprise.
The captain came out into the salon. His face turned pale when he saw the double. The captain wanted to say something, but the stranger beat him to it.
“What’s going on here…” the man asked.
– I should ask you this.
The man introduced himself:
– Igor Sokolov. I am a historian, a lecturer, I often fly to conferences. You and I are… like two peas in a pod.
There was a moment of silence. Then Alexey suggested:
– Let’s go to the utility room and talk. This is something strange.
In the staff room they exchanged documents. Different names, different dates of birth, but… both had the same small town listed as their place of birth: Vyazemsk, Khabarovsk Krai.
“I grew up in an orphanage,” Igor admitted. “I didn’t know my parents. I found some old papers, but they were almost illegible.”
Alexey felt his insides tighten.
— I’m also from an orphanage… In the same city.
“Do you think we’re… twins?” Igor said.
Alexey nodded:
– It’s possible. We could have been separated at birth. It happened. Especially in the 80s. Orphanages are overcrowded, archives are incomplete. Maybe one of the medical staff decided to separate us to make it easier to settle us.
“Or…” Igor hesitated, “perhaps it wasn’t a coincidence.”
– What do you mean?
— I study secret experiments that were conducted in the USSR. Some documents indicate that in the late 70s and early 80s, genetic research was conducted in the Khabarovsk region. Twins were used to study the theory of “psychological synchronicity.” They were sometimes given to different families to observe their development.
— Do you think we are part of this experiment?
— Should we do a DNA test?
A few weeks later, DNA test results confirmed that they were twin brothers. One became a captain, the other a historian. Fate separated them by thousands of kilometers, but brought them together in the sky – in that very plane.
They decided to go to Vyazemsk together to try to find traces of their real family… and perhaps the truth about why their paths were torn apart in the very beginning.
