Then the camera zoomed in on the grass and trees and showed a bald man chopping wood who looked about 40. Lots of letters were flying around like insects, which made me feel dizzy until they settled into words, a caption, which said ‘LE TEMPS, Eco-landscaper’ and Le Temps was a talking head. He said, ‘I plan the land,’ and I was surprised because I expected him to have a French accent but he just sounded posh. I know le temps means weather in French so maybe he was in charge of the weather as well. He wasn’t doing a very good job!

Then the camera went into the building and zoomed in on a café sign, with green tendrilly writing on a white background that read ‘The Beanstalk’, then into a large white room with a brown floor with a giant beanstalk in the middle that went right up into the ceiling, and it focused on a fat woman who was older than Le Temps but younger than Millennia and looked Indian. She was kneading a big lump of white dough like it was a punchbag. Her long black hair had silver streaks and it was wound up into a knot on top of her head and she had her nose pierced with a sparkly blue stone. The caption said ‘SEASON, Cook’ and she became a talking head. She said, ‘I make the food.’

Then the camera went along a corridor and up a spiral staircase to a door that said ‘The Igloo’ and went inside. The room was round, with large white bricks and a dome ceiling. Then a teenage boy appeared out of nowhere, disappeared, appeared again in another part of the room, and I recognised him because he came to our school last year at the beginning of Seventh Year. He looked exactly the same: a skinny black boy with hair like antennae and white clothes with graffiti on them. A caption came up saying ‘MC2, Energiser’. I assumed he charged us up like batteries. The camera zoomed in on his face and he blinked several times before he said, ‘I move through time and space,’ and Big Ben pumped his arm in the air. That was the end of the video.

Mrs C Eckler turned off the equipment and smiled.

‘Any questions? Yes, Ben.’

‘In 2048, are we 40 years old?’

‘No, Ben. When we leap, we’ll all stay the same age as now. But you’ve raised a very important issue.’ She cleared her throat, so I knew she was going to say something important. ‘Very rarely, when people leap they meet their future self. Your FUTURE self would be 40.’

I raised my hand. ‘Is it dangerous?’

‘No, Elle. But you mustn’t approach your future self. Let them approach you. They will know exactly what to do.’