"Igor & Tudor in Stars"
Y. Misdaq

At night-time he dreams of scorpions. They were friendly, and reminded him, somehow, of his best friend Tudor. He looked up at Tudor, who was a strong and animated man, which is why the two were such an unlikely combination as the first two Soviet Astronauts to tell lies in space. They were part of a psychological team that had funded their way to a week long trip to the moon to study the psychological effects of 'lunar-living'. The two of them had become close through the long training programmes. Now they were best-friends. Friends of the best kind. Tudor had strong black hair and a square jaw, although his eyes revealed a great deal of laughter and humour in him.

"Hey Igor, come here, look at my special move" Tudor yelled to his rather pale and skinny best-friend. Tudor danced a unique and electric dance, a dance that his friend Igor had never seen before. "It's amazing Tudor, what do you call it?" Tudor looked at him with a fiendish smile and whispered into his ear, "The People are excited!" Igor liked the name, he smiled approvingly. "Yes, this is a good name" said Igor with a smile for his 'crazy' friend.

The two of them were now on the moon, making various studies, and carrying out their various experiments. The head of their institution (Moscow centre of psychology") was a very rich and irrational man. He had devised the psychological tests himself, and one third of all the funding for the lunar project was provided from his personal stash, yes, Max was a millionaire. The tests that Max had devised were not very reliable. The results that Igor and Tudor collected were not at all conclusive of anything. Nevertheless these two men carried out the tests, doing their duties as they had been instructed.

Reading from his sheet, after two days in deep space, Igor, always the careful and calculated one, measured each word with a near-perfect balance. "Do you feel lonely in the lunar environment Tudor?" Tudor pretended to think about it for a few seconds with a wide grin on his face, "umm, no I think not. I feel quite happy in my lunar environment." That was the final test for the day. The two of them went back out to play on the moon. It was fun, they created a game, they would both stand opposite each other, and on the count of 3, they would run away in opposite directions until they got tired and had to come back. The first one to arrive back was then considered the winner, or loser, depending on the amount of fun they were having. Tudor liked to call this game, "Calamity Afar."

"How do you feel living on the moon?" Read Igor, Tudor again thought about it, "I feel quite nice" he said as he finished his food. He had smuggled aboard some water inside a small bottle of Vodka that his instructor had given him a week or so before he left. He didn't care for alcohol much, so he gave the Vodka to a homeless man in a glass, and went to a well nearby his country house on the outskirts of Grozny. The well was a tiny, almost miniature piece of naturally occurring art. It was so small, and yet, even as an adult, you could lie on your stomach on a dry day, and look at it as if you were the child that Tudor once was. It still looks like the most amazing stream of water that no human could ever imagine until they had seen it with their own loving eyes. Tudor filled up the bottle with pride. And as the Rocket took off for the moon, he felt it in his shirt pocket and smiled. "Igor, did you bring anything with you to the mission?" Igor looked at him confused, "Anything illegal?" said Igor in a whisper, he liked to play by the rules and had a deep rooted fear of being wrongfully accused of something and winding up in jail for the rest of his natural life. He went close to Tudor and whispered in his ear so quietly that it tickled and made Tudor giggle, "I brought my diary, and inside the diary, I brought some photographs of my wife. I have an idea to take a photograph of me with my wife's photograph in space, and then show it to her on our anniversary. If she doesn't divorce me that is!" He added. "Why would she divorce you Igor?" Igor stood still and thought about it, and then shrugged, "I don't know, but she might!" Tudor laughed at his friends paranoid nature. His laughter got louder and heavier in the next five seconds until Igor was finally laughing himself, beating the floor with an insane passion for the lunar laughter. They were out of control, it was a good day. Tudor called this day, "The glowing day."

Igor's Diary-
May 18 2064, Tudor is asleep. He is definitely my best friend. I like him. Tonight I told him about the diary, he did not report me, it was such a relief knowing that he really is the laid-back human I thought he was, and not just pretending to be so. I sometimes wonder why me and him are so different. I know if I was his size, I might have been a different personality altogether. I would have been the tough guy in school instead of the little child getting abused by the other boys. But I feel good now, and I can't wait to take the photograph for Totti.

May 19 2064, I was an idiot earlier today, very stupid. I realised that I had forgotten to bring a camera with me, so I had the photograph of Totti, but not a camera to take the photograph of me with the photograph. I was angry and sad for five minutes, but Tudor helped me tremendously. He made me pose, and he drew the most amazing life-like portrait of me and the photo, it looks almost like a photo! I didn't think people still had pencils it was like a dream! Tudor says he carries this pencil with him all the time in case of an emergency! A pencil in the 60's! Only Tudor, only Tudor. So I am happy and tomorrow we will return.

The time was coming for them to leave. Tudor went outside to pray, and for once, Igor joined him, watching in silence as Tudor did his prayer in the ancient traditions of the "Muslim people." Praying on the moon. Igor was fascinated by this religious behaviour from such a young man, especially in these modern times. The way he prayed, and the smile on Tudors face as he prayed always intrigued the older Igor.

"I'm jealous of you" Tudor shouted to Igor as they approached Earth in a very noisy cockpit. "Why?" asked Igor almost smiling with embarrassment at the absurdity of the suggestion. "Look at your family!" said Tudor, you have such a happy family! It is beautiful that you can go home every day to your wife and baby. I love children!" Igor smiled, as relaxed as he had ever felt, picturing his beautiful wife and child. "Yes." He said thinking of their faces, "Yes, yes."

"Everybody receives what is right for them at the right time I suppose" Tudor said quietly, almost to himself, as the noise grew to insane levels and the space-craft blew up.

Within seconds it was over and they both left holding each others hands, whether or not they were actually holding each others hands, neither of them were sure, but they both felt each others presence as a fresh wave of life came over the both of them.

"Hmmmmmmm" said Igor to Tudor, "Smell that air!" Tudor laughed, and put his arm over his best-friends shoulder, silent and laughing, taking in the view that no-one ever sees. "Hmmmmmmmm" Said Tudor with a wide grin. "Hmmmmmmmmm."

By Y. Misdaq
© 2002 Y. Misdaq & Nefisa.co.uk All rights reserved.