- Anna Ilyushina: A number of pilots in the Soviet Air Force were trained specifically, then, to become cosmonauts and to go into outer space - this is before the success of Yuri Gagarin... None of them have come back but one.
- Alex Marx: [surprised] He might be still alive?
- Nurse Inese Darzina: We call him "Ptitsa". It means bird.
- Alex Marx: [skeptical] Mr. Ptitsin, is it true that you were the first man in space?
- Mr. Ptitsin: I'd rather talk about birds... There is a breed of South-American hummingbird. The males court the females in twos. The male who is rejected fluffs up his feathers for a second and flies away towards the sun - he flies, and flies, and flies until he dies from exhaustion.
- Alex Marx: [skeptical] Is there any evidence that these stories are true?
- Mr. Ptitsin: [enigmatically] Believing certain things is a choice.