Vladivostok

Sedmog jutra vlak je trebao stići u Vladivostok u 06:15 po moskovskom vremenu, što je bilo 13:15 lokalno. Polly se probudila s prvim lokalnim svjetlom, negdje oko pet sati.

On the seventh morning, the train was due into Vladivostok at 06:15 Moscow time, which was 13:15 local time. Polly woke at first local light, sometime around five.

Kroz prozor, šuma je ustupila mjesto niskim valovitim brežuljcima i travi. Pacifik je bio negdje ispred. Mogla ga je osjetiti, kao što možete osjetiti veliko tijelo vode prije nego ga vidite.

Through the window, the forest had given way to low rolling hills and grass. The Pacific was somewhere ahead. She could feel it, the way you can feel a large body of water before you see it.

Posljednja stanica prije Vladivostoka bila je Ussurijsk. Vlak je stao na petnaest minuta. Polly je sišla. Žena je prodavala dimljenu ribu s preklopnog stola. Ribe su bile srebrne. Oči su im još uvijek bile bistre. Polly je probala mali komad. Žena ga je zamotala u novine i nije prihvatila plaćanje. Neka tržišta tako funkcioniraju.

The last station before Vladivostok was Ussuriysk. The train stopped for fifteen minutes. Polly hopped down. A woman was selling smoked fish from a folding table. The fish were silver. The eyes were still clear. Polly tried a small piece. The woman wrapped it in newspaper and accepted no payment. Some markets work this way.

Pacifik se pojavio s desne strane vlaka oko jedanaest sati po lokalnom vremenu. Bio je siv i svijetao.

The Pacific appeared on the right side of the train at around eleven local time. It was grey and bright.

Vladivostok je stigao odjednom. Grad je izgrađen na brežuljcima koji se spuštaju do mora. Vlak prolazi kroz jedan od tih brežuljaka. Kraj pruge je na luci. Odbojnik na kraju tračnica udaljen je četrdeset metara od vode.

Vladivostok arrived all at once. The city is built into hills that come down to the sea. The train tunnels through one of those hills. The end of the line is on the harbour. The buffer at the end of the tracks is forty metres from the water.

Vlak je napravio svoju posljednju stanicu. Sat iznad vrata odjeljka, sedam dana na moskovskom vremenu, pokazivao je 06:23. Lokalni sat na stanici pokazivao je 13:23.

The train made its final stop. The clock above the compartment door, on Moscow time for seven days, read 06:23. The local clock at the station read 13:23.

Polly je skočila na peron. Vladivostok je bio lučki grad niskih kamenih zgrada i strmih ulica. Zrak je mirisao na ribu, hrđu i sol.

Polly hopped down to the platform. Vladivostok was a port city of low stone buildings and steep streets. The air smelled of fish and rust and salt.

Na kraju perona stajao je mali bijeli obelisk. Natpis je glasio KILOMETAR 9,289. Kraj pruge.

At the end of the platform there was a small white obelisk. The inscription read KILOMETRE 9,289. The end of the line.

Polly je stajala kod obeliska dugu minutu. Sedam dana. Pola milijarde godina uralske stijene. Dvadeset i pet milijuna godina Bajkala. Jedna dizalica. Osam vremenskih zona, od kojih je vlak promatrao samo jednu.

Polly stood at the obelisk for a long minute. Seven days. Half a billion years of Ural rock. Twenty-five million years of Baikal. One crane. Eight time zones, of which the train had observed only one.

Ispružila je svoja krila. Pacifik je bio odmah iza zidova luke. Podigla se s perona, preletjela dizalice kontejnerske luke i iznad zaljeva.

She stretched her wings. The Pacific was just past the harbour wall. She lifted from the platform, climbed over the cranes of the container port, and out over the bay.