Time—time, when you don’t have enough of it, especially when you need it.
In the world described in Lukyan’s story, the phrase time-money is taken literally: you buy a pack of cigarettes, you pay with half an hour of your time, and when you switch off your phone, it means your life is coming to an end.
The writer Kaloger has only two months left to live, when an unfamiliar woman offers him the chance to give her his two years.