Martin Aston swears and Maria says her mum’s going to ask for a total refund, which is better than swearing in Portuguese. But I don’t get upset because I know that we just had graduation and after graduation you have to go home. We’re told to pack our clothes and vacate the centre by 2 p.m. Millennia waits until it’s quiet before she speaks again.

‘I founded this centre in the 2000 millennium when I CREATED the Time Squad. Our objective: to FIGHT CRIME ACROSS TIME. We have been fighting crime for 48 years. During that time, much has been achieved that I am proud of. But,’ she gives me the cat’s-eye for three long seconds and I look away, ‘the time has come for me to retire, to make way for other visions. I will NOT be idle.’

MC2 and Season raise their eyebrows so high they get lost in their hair. Millennia didn’t tell them. Does that mean they have to run the centre themselves until they get a new boss? Or is the Time Squad totally finished? What’s Millennia going to do, now she’s not managing the centre? Is she going to spend a whole century taking revenge?

GMT, Big Ben and I are speaking in whispers in case someone’s outside the Common Room listening. GMT wanted to talk to us, alone. I’m tired now. Everything’s happened so fast. Again, I’m confused. If it’s 2048, has this really happened yet or is it still going to happen? She’s saying something about Millennia being upset because Le Temps was her favourite colleague who helped her develop the centre; then something about the Predictive and I pay more attention. That it might have been sent by an infinite number of possible other individuals with an infinite number of reasons. SOS L could have an infinite number of interpretations. I can see Big Ben likes this because he starts listing all the possibilities till I’m scared he’ll go on forever.

But I like GMT talking about infinity because it’s my favourite mathematical symbol, a figure 8 lying on its side: . Something without a beginning or end. I used to doodle the sign in primary school until I got into trouble because I wouldn’t stop. Real infinity’s scary, though. I like to know when things start and stop. But I’m getting better at coping with things I can’t see.

GMT’s obsessed with time. She may not look at her watch 24 hours a day any more, but she keeps on about what you do in the present changing the future.

‘That text, Elle. If you rewrite the future, it can mean different things. Might not even happen at all. Save Pete LMS, save the planet!’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Be his buddy.’

‘He’s a bully!’