Vladivostok

Pada pagi ketujuh, kereta dijadwalkan tiba di Vladivostok pada pukul 06:15 waktu Moskow, yang berarti pukul 13:15 waktu setempat. Polly terbangun saat cahaya pertama muncul, sekitar pukul lima.

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.

Melalui jendela, hutan telah berganti menjadi perbukitan rendah dan padang rumput. Samudra Pasifik ada di depan. Polly bisa merasakannya, seperti merasakan keberadaan air besar sebelum melihatnya.

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.

Stasiun terakhir sebelum Vladivostok adalah Ussuriysk. Kereta berhenti selama lima belas menit. Polly turun. Seorang wanita menjual ikan asap dari meja lipat. Ikan-ikan itu berwarna perak. Matanya masih jernih. Polly mencoba sepotong kecil. Wanita itu membungkusnya dengan koran dan tidak menerima pembayaran. Beberapa pasar memang berfungsi seperti ini.

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.

Samudra Pasifik muncul di sisi kanan kereta sekitar pukul sebelas waktu setempat. Warnanya abu-abu dan cerah.

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

Vladivostok tiba dengan tiba-tiba. Kota ini dibangun di perbukitan yang turun ke laut. Kereta menembus salah satu bukit tersebut. Akhir jalurnya berada di pelabuhan. Pembatas di ujung rel hanya empat puluh meter dari air.

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.

Kereta berhenti untuk terakhir kalinya. Jam di atas pintu kompartemen, yang selama tujuh hari mengikuti waktu Moskow, menunjukkan pukul 06:23. Jam lokal di stasiun menunjukkan pukul 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 melompat turun ke peron. Vladivostok adalah kota pelabuhan dengan bangunan batu rendah dan jalan-jalan curam. Udara berbau ikan, karat, dan garam.

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.

Di ujung peron ada obelisk putih kecil. Tulisan di sana berbunyi KILOMETER 9,289. Akhir dari jalur.

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

Polly berdiri di obelisk itu selama satu menit yang panjang. Tujuh hari. Setengah miliar tahun batu Ural. Dua puluh lima juta tahun Baikal. Satu derek. Delapan zona waktu, di mana kereta hanya mengikuti satu.

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.

Dia merentangkan sayapnya. Samudra Pasifik berada tepat di balik tembok pelabuhan. Dia terbang dari peron, melintasi derek-derek pelabuhan kontainer, dan keluar ke teluk.

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.