Vladivostok

Siedme ráno malo vlak doraziť do Vladivostoku o 06:15 moskovského času, čo bolo 13:15 miestneho času. Polly sa zobudila pri prvom miestnom svetle, niekedy okolo piatej.

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, which was sometime around five.

Cez okno sa les zmenil na nízku vlnitú krajinu suchých kopcov a trávy. Tichý oceán bol niekde pred ňou. Ešte ho nevidela, ale cítila ho, tak ako môžete cítiť veľké vodné plochy bez toho, aby ste ich videli. Svetlo bolo iné. Vzduch, aj cez zatvorené okno, voňal inak.

Through the window, the forest had given way to a low rolling landscape of dry hills and grass. The Pacific was somewhere ahead. She could not yet see it, but she could feel it, the way you can feel a large body of water without being able to see it. The light was different. The air, even through the closed window, smelled different.

Žena na hornom lôžku bola tiež hore. Balenie jej trvalo už hodiny.

The woman in the upper bunk was awake too. She had been packing for hours.

Poslednou stanicou pred Vladivostokom bol Ussurijsk. Vlak tam zastal na pätnásť minút. Polly zoskočila na nástupište. Žena predávala údené ryby z rozkladacieho stola. Ryby boli strieborné a oči mali stále jasné. Polly si kúpila malý kúsok s posledným zvyškom svojej chuti do jedla. Žena ho zabalila do novín a neprijala žiadnu platbu, ktorú by Polly mohla vidieť. Výmena bola, ako Polly pochopila, jednoducho taká, že ryby boli ulovené a Polly bola hladná. Niektoré trhy takto fungujú.

The last station before Vladivostok was Ussuriysk. The train stopped there for fifteen minutes. Polly hopped down to the platform. A woman was selling smoked fish from a folding table. The fish were silver and the eyes were still clear. Polly bought a small piece with the last of her appetite. The woman wrapped it in newspaper and accepted no payment Polly could see. The exchange was, Polly understood, simply that the fish had been caught and Polly was hungry. Some markets work this way.

Vlak sa pohol ďalej. Teraz pomaly. Tichý oceán sa objavil na pravej strane vlaku okolo jedenástej miestneho času. Bol sivý a jasný. Svetlo z vody zaplnilo vozňu. Polly sa usadila pri okne a sledovala.

The train moved on. Slowly now. The Pacific appeared on the right side of the train at around eleven local time. It was grey and bright. The light off the water filled the carriage. Polly perched at the window and watched.

Vladivostok sa objavil naraz. Mesto je postavené do kopcov, ktoré sa spúšťajú k moru, a vlak tuneluje do mesta cez jeden z týchto kopcov. Koniec trate je priamo na prístave. Nárazník na konci koľají je štyridsať metrov od vody.

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

Vlak urobil svoju poslednú zastávku. Hodiny nad dverami kupé, ktoré boli sedem dní na moskovskom čase, ukazovali 06:23. Miestne hodiny na stanici ukazovali 13:23.

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

Polly zoskočila na nástupište. Vladivostok bol prístavné mesto nízkych kamenných budov a strmých ulíc, natretých zmesou jemných žltých a morskou modrou vyblednutých farieb, s sťažňami rybárskych lodí a žeriavmi kontajnerového prístavu viditeľnými na konci každej ulice. Vzduch voňal po rybách, hrdzi a soli. Čajky sa hádali o niečo na móle.

Polly hopped down to the platform. Vladivostok was a port city of low stone buildings and steep streets, painted in a mix of soft yellows and sea-faded blues, with the masts of fishing boats and the cranes of a container port visible at the bottom of every street. The air smelled of fish and rust and salt. Seagulls argued over something on the quay.

Na konci nástupišťa stál malý biely obelisk, podobný tomu pri Pervouralsku, ale namiesto EURÓPY a ÁZIE, nápis na tomto znel KILOMETER 9 289. Koniec trate.

At the end of the platform there was a small white obelisk, similar to the one near Pervouralsk, but instead of EUROPE and ASIA, the inscription on this one read KILOMETRE 9,289. The end of the line.

Polly stála pri obelisku dlhú minútu. Sedem dní. Dvadsaťpäť miliónov brestov. Pol miliardy rokov uralskej skaly. Dvadsaťpäť miliónov rokov Bajkalu. Jeden žeriav. Osem časových pásiem, z ktorých vlak sledoval len jedno. Jedno more na každom konci.

Polly stood at the obelisk for a long minute. Seven days. Twenty-five million birch trees. 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. One sea on either end.

Natiahla svoje modro-zelené krídla.

She stretched her blue-teal wings.

Tichý oceán bol hneď za prístavnou stenou. Vietor z vody bol silný. Polly sa zdvihla z nástupišťa, preletela cez žeriavy kontajnerového prístavu a von nad záliv. Vladivostok zostal za ňou. Japonské more sa otvorilo pred ňou.

The Pacific was just past the harbour wall. The wind off the water was strong. Polly lifted from the platform, climbed over the cranes of the container port, and out over the bay. Vladivostok dropped behind. The Sea of Japan opened in front of her.

Niekde ďaleko na druhej strane toho mora bol malý inštitút v Neapole, ktorý opustila pred dvoma týždňami. Niekde ďaleko na druhej strane TOHO bolo Moskva, kde nastúpila na vlak. Svet, pomyslela si Polly, bol skutočnej veľkosti. Vlak bol spôsob, ako to cítiť.

Somewhere far on the other side of that sea was a small institute in Naples she had left two weeks before. Somewhere far on the other side of THAT was Moscow, where she had boarded a train. The world, Polly thought, was a real size. The train had been a way of feeling it.

Zatočila na juhovýchod a išla hľadať ďalší vietor.

She banked southeast and went looking for the next wind.