A desk in late morning light. A laptop with a short email drafted and not yet sent. A glass of tea. A browser tab open to an airline schedule — Novosibirsk to Almaty. The window shows grey Monday sky. The atmosphere is quiet and slightly deliberate — someone arriving at a decision after thinking about it for two days

I sent the reply at 11:17 on Monday morning.

I had been thinking about it since Saturday, which meant I had been thinking about it for approximately two days and eight hours. This is, I recognize, longer than the decision required.

The Decision

The question was whether to agree to meet Natalya Alexeyevna in person.

She had asked carefully. She had said “there are things I would rather say in an email” — and then corrected herself, or perhaps she did not correct herself, and I have been reading that sentence wrong for two days. I am no longer certain. What I am certain of is what she meant: that she works with historical documents and knows what certain kinds of letters look like, and that she has found enough of them to be worried about saying the next part in writing.

I am a physicist. I measure things. The things I measure do not change based on what a librarian in Novosibirsk says to me in a café. This is still true.

But Viktor’s notebooks are complete. The archive is confirmed. The paper needs a mechanism section, and the mechanism section has three open possibilities on the table, one of which — if T. Pärn is right — suggests we have been measuring the wrong thing for forty-three years. Natalya has worked in Novosibirsk special collections for eleven years. She found a 1978 feasibility study, a 1989 inquiry letter, and possibly more that she has not yet sent. She asked to meet.

The information she has is relevant to the question of what happened to Viktor. I replied.

What I Wrote

The reply was short. This is my habit. I said: I agree that a meeting makes sense. I asked how she would prefer to arrange it — Novosibirsk, or Almaty.

I sent it at 11:17. I noted the time.

Her Reply

She replied at 14:03. This is faster than I had expected.

She had already thought about logistics. Her message:

Almaty, if that is acceptable. Novosibirsk to Almaty is three hours by air — much faster than thirty-six by train. You can come to Novosibirsk the next time, if you want to. This time I think it should be sooner rather than later. I ask only one thing: please pick me up from the airport.

I read this three times.

The phrase “next time” appears in the second sentence. She is already planning for continuity. I noted this.

I also noted: she had not said why it should be sooner rather than later. She had said it should be sooner rather than later, and then moved on to the logistics question.

The Problem

I do not own a car. I have not owned a car since 2007, when the Zhiguli finally required more investment than it was worth. I have not picked anyone up from an airport since March 2003, when my mother came to visit and I had borrowed Yuri Stepanovich’s Lada for the occasion. Yuri Stepanovich moved to Bishkek in 2009. He left the Lada behind, but the new resident of his apartment is someone I have never met.

I looked up Almaty International Airport. It is 17 km from Apartment 4A. Driving time: 25 to 45 minutes depending on traffic, according to three different sources that disagreed on the number but agreed on the ratio.

I could take a taxi to the airport, meet her at arrivals, and then take a taxi back. This is the obvious solution. I considered it. Then I reconsidered it. Then I considered it again.

I am not certain why I reconsidered it. It is, objectively, the correct approach. A taxi is clean, reliable, and requires no borrowed vehicles. There is nothing wrong with arriving at an airport in a taxi.

I sent my reply at 14:41.

What I Wrote

I said: yes to all of it. I said: tell me the flight details when you have them and I will be at arrivals.

I did not mention the taxi.

Current Status

We have not yet decided on a date. She is checking her schedule. I am checking mine, which does not require much checking — my schedule contains Tuesdays, and the rest is flexible.

Tomorrow is Tuesday. I will measure at 14:37:00, as always. The anomaly will appear or it will not. The number will be what it is.

I am thinking about the phrase “sooner rather than later.” I am writing it down.

Current status:

  • Natalya: meeting confirmed; she will fly Novosibirsk → Almaty (~3 hours); date pending
  • She asked: “please pick me up from the airport”
  • Anatoli: replied yes; date not yet set; logistics solved (taxi, unstated)
  • “Next time” in her second sentence: noted
  • “Sooner rather than later”: noted; reason not given
  • Tomorrow: Tuesday measurement, 14:37:00
  • Emotional state: deliberate, and slightly unprepared

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