The Infinite

by Patience Agbabi

  mind over matter.’

  He clicks his phone and it starts to snow. I don’t think it’s real snow, as the room’s not cold enough. I LOVE snow. Every snowflake’s different, an infinite number of patterns. Eve starts to shiver. In 1924 they hadn’t invented virtual snow. MC2 clicks his phone and it stops snowing. He did it to show off.

  ‘Some of you came holding hands in a Chrono.

  Today, gonna teach you how to leap solo.

  Before you leap through time, you gotta learn to leap through space . . .’

  He vanishes from the middle of the circle and reappears a split second later outside it.

  ‘. . . or you’ll throw up all over the place.’

  So that’s what I did wrong. I changed the correct order of things.

  ‘Some of you came by jet without fuel.’

  he says, walking back into the middle of the circle,

  ‘Gonna teach you how to leap old skool.’

  He taps his phone and E=MC2 vanishes from the centre of the floor and an old film is projected on the walls. The title of the clip is Leap of the Century. My heart’s beating so fast, I’m scared it’ll jump out of my chest. This is it! This is what I play over and over in my head every day of my life till it’s part of who I am. Bob Beamon doing the long jump at the Olympics in Mexico City on the 18th of October 1968. The run-up, the leap, the kangaroo-hopping afterwards. It’s over in seconds. It doesn’t show the long wait before they announced the world record, the measuring with the old-fashioned measuring tape because the modern technology only went to 28 feet.

  Robert Beamon jumps and makes sports history. The makers of the measuring instrument never foresaw a jump so staggering.

  The film, the commentary, it’s like I’m there on the runway, in the moment, leaping through space and time. The best feeling ever. MC2 must love it too. I know Big Ben and Maria will. I can’t wait to discuss it with them.

  8 metres, 90 centimetres = twenty-nine feet, two and one-half inches flashes up on the wall followed by a quote from Lynn ‘the Leap’ Davies, who got the long jump gold medal in 1964.

  He has broken the Olympic record by a half-century.

  MC2 blinks his body.

  ‘In 1968, Bob Beamon smashed the world record. World got a new word: Beamonesque. In 1969, man set foot on the moon. Peeps weren’t Leaps. Not only Leaps leap. ANYONE can leap. Don’t have to be a leap year. Leap’s a feat no one at the time could believe. Can be physical, physiological, psychological, logical, lexical.

  ‘To make that leap, you gotta have IMAGINATION.

  ‘Anyone can leap with mindset. Leaps know it. Annuals know it. Why’d they change the school system? So peeps can play to their strengths. E-College-E max the eco. Triple Ms got the motto MIND OVER MATTER. Today, you get the strategy, the funda-mentals. Up to you to apply it.’

  He divides us into pairs, each Leapling with an Annual. Leaplings have to leap within the room; Annuals have to coach us and give feedback. In the second half of the workshop, we’ll go outside on the field so Annuals can long jump and Leaplings give feedback. You must focus on exactly where you want to land, find a blemish like a crack in the floor, a spot of dirt, a fuzzy tile. Channel your mind into it, imagine you’re already there. When you’ve gone into the zone, count down slowly from 10 to 0 in your head. When you reach zero, you leap.

  I’m paired with Ama. She isn’t a very good coach since she spends the whole time staring at MC2. She wants to ask him about Kwesi. Across the room there’s a blemish under the floor that looks like ice when it splinters and starts to melt. I hope it doesn’t act like real ice. The blemish is beautiful, like a waterlily. I stare and stare at it till my mind leaves my body. My brain’s tingling. Maybe that’s what meditating is supposed to feel like. When I leapt by mistake at school, I never reached the relaxed stage. I try to count down slowly but my mind is racing from the Bob Beamon film. It comes out like German.

  10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,zero.

  ‘Elle. Elle!’

  Someone’s calling my name. I don’t recognise the voice. It sounds old and wise. ‘ELLE,’ it says. I’m scared to open my eyes because I don’t know where I am. I know I’m not in the chalet but I feel like I’ve just woken up. Slowly, I open my eyes. They feel gummed up like when I was little and ill and Grandma would give me pepper soup, which made me cough and get well again.

  My eyes are wide open. There’s a circle of light above me which forms into windows. I’m still in The Igloo. A face comes into view. Millennia. Another: MC2. Millennia speaks first.

  ‘Elle. You have recovered. You passed out when you leapt.’ Then she lowers her voice so only I can hear. ‘Up to your old tricks?’

  ‘Everyone nukes sometime,’ says MC2. ‘If they got talent. Your boy freaked maestro. Season sorted him out.’

  He means Big Ben, who worries when I get upset so he must have panicked when I fainted.

  ‘What time is it?’ I say. My voice doesn’t sound like my own, as if it’s coming from outside my body.

  ‘3:22,’ he says. ‘You hit the right spot but went an hour ahead. You’ve only been out a few minutes.’

  Millennia helps me sit up. I realise I’m on the ground and try not to look down through the clear floor. They say it was best not to move me in case of complications. I’m starting to feel a bit queasy, from the leap, and Millennia’s words. She thinks she met me before. She must be mistaking me for someone else, someone she hates. I wish she’d go away. I’m scared.

  Season enters the room and she and Millennia discuss what happened. Their words are echoing so loud I can almost see them bouncing off the walls. Suddenly my mouth goes dry, my body starts to convulse. I’m going to vomit. As I retch, Season puts a bowl in front of me and I realise there aren’t any sweets in it. She guessed I was going to be sick and brought an empty bowl with her. I hope she has some of her sweets to make me better afterwards.

  When I’ve finished, Season helps me to wipe myself clean and gives me a glass of water. She nods at Millennia, who’s standing by the door.

  ‘I hope you recover sufficiently, Elle. I must attend to the centre.’

  Millennia hesitates for a second until I look up at her, then leaves the room. I’m glad she’s gone and she must be glad too. I bet she’s fed up with people being sick all over the place. Season offers me a sweet from her pocket. It tastes of juicy oranges and I feel better immediately. I still don’t want to stand up because I’m scared I’ll be sick if I move. Here, cross-legged on the floor, I don’t feel nauseous at all but I still don’t feel able to speak again. MC2 raises his thumb to Season. But Season’s face has gone white. She doesn’t look like Season at all.

  ‘Elle. When you went missing. We were worried you’d—’

  ‘Done an interdecade,’ MC2 finishes her sentence. ‘You’re prime, Elle. Mind over matter, you could’ve. Glad you didn’t. Season, rest up. It’s sorted. Elle needs space.’

  They thought I might have leapt to another decade by mistake. Then I’d be much harder to find and they’d have another missing Leap! Season’s slowly starting to look like herself. She rises slowly to go. Before she does, she gives MC2 a handful of sweets. I’m pleased there’s only one person here now. Three was too many. I was scared I was going to die and they were standing round my bed like in the olden days. He sits cross-legged on the floor like me.

  ‘Elle, I know stuff’s happening.’ I open my eyes in surprise and he shrugs his shoulders. ‘OK. Greenwich told me you got a Predictive. Knew you was Special. Like Kwesi. Me and him go back decades. We used ta hang all over the timeline but brother went missing, went silent on me. Something’s up and I can’t work out why. Noon missing since last night.’

  I open my mouth but nothing comes out. He knows about the Predictive and Kwesi AND Noon? Did I say something in my sleep?

  ‘Knew soon as the twin walked in with the high-rise feet. Noon don’t move like that. Nothing gets past The Squared.’ He sways from side to side like he can’t stay in one place
for too long. ‘We SHOULD report it but they won’t do nothing. Noon’s 4-leap. Adult. She ain’t gone long enough. But we need to act. Eve knows we know. Double-act could help us.’

  He stands up like he’s about to start rapping again. I hope he doesn’t. My brain couldn’t stand it.

  ‘Too many Leaps gone missing here.’ He shakes his head. ‘Time Squad didn’t deliver. Kwesi tried to solve it solo. Now he’s AWOL. Greenwich says glitch in the anti-leap. She’s sharp but she ain’t cracked this one.’

  ‘Kwesi told Ama he was going on Leap 2100.’

  MC2 whistles through his teeth. ‘First I heard. Greenwich know?’

  I nod and he disappears, appears on the spot. He can’t help himself.

  ‘Thought she was trying to tell me somethin’ last night. We got interrupted.’

  I think of Le Temps interrupting his freestyle, Millennia interrupting Season when she couldn’t find the right word.

  ‘Season wanted to keep us safe but Millennia and Le Temps want to put Leaplings in danger.’

  I tell him about their conversation when I was under the table. He whistles again, this time much longer.

  ‘Don’t say I said nothin’ but Millennia’s past participle. She switched sides. Time Squad used to catch crims every week. Now we’re told, wait. Turn a blind eye to small crime: go for the big boss. Problem is, Elle,’ he disappears, appears, ‘Millennia’s the big boss.’

  ‘Millennia? She’s pretending to catch criminals when she’s HEAD of the criminals?’ I knew she was bad but never guessed she was bad to the power of 3. He nods his head.

  ‘We got proof but not enough. Trust me. Leaps are on the case.’

  He forms a fist with his left hand. The infinity tattoo: .

  ‘See this? Earned it the hard way. Kwesi the same. Greenwich got one on her ankle. She don’t flaunt it. We work for Infinity. Call ourselves The Infinites.’

  He disappears, reappears the other side of the room. I look at him out of the corner of my eye without moving my face. He continues:

  ‘Kwesi wanted a Youth League. Thought Time Squad wasn’t doin’ enough for the planet. Suspected Millennia. Infinity got wind of it and next I knew, I got TWO jobs. I’d ditch Time Squad, but I’m contracted.’

  ‘Have you got a motto?’

  ‘Yeah, sis. ROOT FOR THE FUTURE. We gotta protect tomorrow. Sow the seeds for the planet’s needs. Infinites are top secret. Only report to Infinity.’ He checks his watch.

  ‘Time’s ticking, Elle. Need to step up. I told Eve keep up the act but skip tonight. Film’s optional anyways. And lie low tomorrow. She can tell Ama but say nothing to no one else. Wise Old Owl.’ He opens a sweet and pops one into his mouth. ‘We gotta find Noon. She’s phone-dead. Maybes she heard from Kwesi.’

  I frown at him eating the sweet. It’s like he reads my mind.

  ‘Won’t hurt me,’ he says. ‘Jus’ making sure the sweets are sweet. Season’s safe but we can’t take no chances.’

  It must link to the Predictive. Maybe MC2 detects a crime that hasn’t been committed yet. A crime that will be committed at 11 o’clock tomorrow evening. Or a crime that’s already been committed in a different future, the future that happened when I was making my speech in school. He offers me another sweet. This time it’s cherries. He pauses for a long time and then he speaks.

  ‘I smell an Anachronism. Elle, some advice. You get a Predictive, you’re chosen. You gotta act solo. Dial the 2 and the triple 0 on your Chrono.’

  For dinner I have braised tofu stew with dumplings. I’m starving. Season gives me a second helping and an extra potato- bread roll freshly baked. I hope she’s not fattening me up to eat me. I’m really looking forward to her B(re)aking Bread workshop tomorrow. Ama’s speaking more now. She’s even talking to GMT! I think she’s feeling happy because she knows MC2 is looking for Kwesi. She tells me about the second half of the Mind Over Matter workshop. It was held outside. The sun was shining, so it was like the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. The Annuals had to visualise a leap like Bob Beamon did and practise on the grass or, if they preferred, brainstorm a robot. Bob Beamon visualised his winning leap for months before he did it. The Leaplings had to coach them and offer feedback.

  Megan Smith jumped 5 metres 26 centimetres. Big Ben worked out that was an 89.45% age grade, similar to Kwesi’s. Maybe they know each other. Megan goes to Triple M. Lots of the pupils there are good at sports. Some of them are good at dancing or gymnastics as well as athletics. Some of them are brilliant at all three: music, movement and maths. Like Ama. She brainstormed a brilliant robot that could speak Akan. I’d like to go to that school because I like sports and I could still learn PPF secretly online. I’m even better at PPF than I am at running.

  Ama’s sitting opposite me. She had to stop Eve complaining about the food because everyone would realise she’s not Noon. Eve’s gone back to the chalet to sulk. Noon forgot to tell her there’s no meat. This food must look alien compared to 1924. Ama’s eating chocolate sponge and custard. It looks and smells amazing but I’m too scared to eat it. I wish I could be more adventurous like Ama. She’s making the kind of noises you make when you love the food. Big Ben’s on my right. He hasn’t left my side since I came to the canteen. I went back to the chalet to lie down a bit after fainting so they didn’t see me all afternoon.

  ‘You should have seen Big Ben. HEARD him. He went crazy. Thought you were dead!’ says Ama.

  ‘I only fainted,’ I say. I don’t really feel like talking. Only eating! I break open the roll. It’s still warm and the coconut oil melts into it. I take a bite.

  Big Ben still looks pale, as if he was the one who passed out, not me. He’s hardly eating anything. Not himself at all.

  ‘I couldn’t see you. Then they said I can’t come in the room.’

  ‘Tried to kick the door down.’ Ama laughs. She thinks it’s funny. ‘He missed the whole outdoor session. MC2 carried on as normal. He wasn’t quite sure how far you’d leapt into the future but he guessed around an hour. “The show must go on,” he said.’

  ‘I like him now,’ I say. ‘Even though he’s a criminal. He’s trying to help us.’

  Big Ben stands up so quickly I’m scared he’s going to throw a chair. He starts grinding his teeth.

  ‘Do you want to do running?’ I say.

  He gives me the glass-eye, still grinding his teeth. His fists are clenched. But why? MC2 is helping us. Maybe he doesn’t know Noon’s missing. That Noon is Eve. I want to get a piece of coconut cake but I don’t want to leave Big Ben like this. Season comes over, sits opposite him.

  ‘Ben, do you want to see Fiona?’

  There’s a long, long pause. It looks like Big Ben’s gone into a trance. Then he nods his head and slowly follows Season out of the café. A minute later I see them through the glass. Big Ben’s sitting in the driver’s seat and Season’s in the passenger seat. I’m worried he’ll start the car and speed off at 200 miles per hour but he doesn’t. He just sits in the driver’s seat, pretending to drive.

  I fetch myself a piece of coconut cake and eat it. Cake makes me think of the leap celebration and the leap celebration makes me think of Grandma. When I get home, it will be the 29th of February 2020 and I’ll be able to celebrate my birthday again with Grandma. I’ll make Grandma the vegan birthday cake out of coconut cream, white sugar, white flour and lots of baking powder to make it rise. I think Grandma will like it.

  Chapter 17:00

  TO BAKE MY BREAD

  Today SOS L is going to happen.

  I don’t know how but I do know when. 23:00. Tuesday, 3 March 2048. Ama thinks Kwesi sent it first time round but we’ll never be able to trace the sender because I deleted it. I still don’t know. But it definitely wasn’t sent by Pete LMS because Pete LMS is in my school in 2020 and he can’t leap to 2048 to send the text.

  Big Ben still isn’t talking to me. I don’t know what’s wrong with that boy. Today, my heart’s like a balled-up fist in my chest, it’s so hard to breathe.
There’ve been so many Oopses, I think they should rename this week Oops 2048.

  The first Oops is breakfast. My routine is to run before breakfast, then go back to the chalet to shower. This morning, the sky’s still red with the sunrise and so foggy I can hardly see Fiona – and she’s bright green! I can’t see any sky traffic at all. I peer ahead of me. Big Ben isn’t standing by Fiona to meet me. His routine is get up and admire Fiona before we go on our run. Before we start running, he always says, ‘I’m going to hack into Fiona in drive mode,’ and I say, ‘No, you’re not.’ His uncle taught him to drive not fly. I haven’t seen him since dinner.

  Fiona’s parked where she usually is. There’s a smoky smell coming from The Beanstalk. You can’t usually smell breakfast cooking so strongly. It’s a good thing and a bad thing. A good thing because I like the smell, even though it’s strong; it smells of salt and fat, it makes my mouth water, and it’s a bad thing because it’s the smell of meat. Bacon! Surely Season hasn’t become a Carnivore overnight!

  I go into breakfast with Ama. GMT refuses to enter the café. Her lips are pursed and I say I’ll get her a bread roll if she likes. Everyone else is already there eating bacon rolls like they haven’t eaten for a week. The boys have two or three on their plates. Jake looks the happiest I’ve seen him, ever. Big Ben’s sitting with Martin Aston and he looks away when he sees me. This makes me sad. I missed running with him this morning and him timing me to a nanosecond.

  ‘Morning, girls,’ says Le Temps.

  I jump. I hadn’t noticed him. I was expecting Season to come out of the kitchen looking like Season, even though she’s become a Carnivore overnight. Maybe when she smiles she’ll have fangs instead of teeth. But I wasn’t expecting Le Temps.

  ‘Where’s Season?’ I say.

  ‘Season’s off season today,’ he says, smiling.

  I don’t know why he’s smiling from East to West. It isn’t a very good joke.

  ‘No, she isn’t,’ I say. ‘Her car’s outside. What have you done to her? Have you locked her in the pantry?’