The door closed behind Eske, and he was back to .159265359, Pi. He walked among a crowd of time travellers who had just returned from one of the deleted timelines. The enormous open space was reminiscent of airport wards at the point of arrival and departure, filled with doors and clocks aligned against the walls. Today those doors were more dedicated to those arriving than to those departing. Small groups of stewardesses welcomed new passengers to Pi, stepping into this timeline for the first time and orienting them on how to start a brand new life in this new utopic world.


    Anyone could be a Time Traveler, but only a few could be accepted, those whose time footprint would be below 0.9%, the called T-DNA. In other words, there would be only one version of themselves. You could travel thousands and thousands of timelines, but there would be only one version of them. And to preserve those unique humans, Pi had open doors. But, the selection was rigorous and confidential. No harm from outside could stain the ecosystem of Pi. Any misstep could collapse its foundation and reality. Eske and Nona worked too hard to make this almost perfect world.


    Eske walked down the hallways, his hands deep inside his pockets, inspecting all his surroundings. Everything went as smoothly as they had planned. No mission is easy, but somehow everything has been done well enough. Nona will come back safely. He felt excited and right on time for their little girl''s birthday.


    Eske took the elevator to the HQ Control room, where his team was based, and all magic happened. As soon the elevator doors opened, he could feel it, like a wave crashing against him. It wasn''t the same feeling that Nona gave off when she would forget. This was different. This was something else entirely. But before long, when his eyes stumble on the monitor flashing all passengers from the world timeline .604241965 and WTL .502884197 as green only, traces of both timeline were displayed deleted only three names remained red.


    ''Marie Sue?''; called Eske with his eyes locked on the screen.


    ''Mr Schrodinger, I think we should activate the SCA.''; she said in a trembling voice. A short, chubby lady with a round face. Marie Sue was one of the first residents to join the Pi timeline and still couldn''t find it in her to call him by his first name.


    ''It''s Ava''s birthday, and I don''t want to call upon a state of calamity alert yet.'' Nona''s picture with a red border and the word error: T-DNA unreachable flashing over.


    ''Penny is missing too.''; she added, expecting him to explode at any time now.


    ''Does Robert knows?''


    ''Not yet.''Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    ''Keep it like this.''; Eske was on auto-pilot, not realizing yet what the words error: T-DNA unreachable: ''Who is on nightshift?''


    ''Oh, it is Vihaan. He''ll start in two hours, anything more or less.''; said Mare-Sue twisting her fingers.


    ''Okay, prepare a report for him. If there is no news from Nona or Penny, start the SCA. I want all decimals to be scanned and sent to Travellers for each WTL in the record. We need to know if anyone has changed anything since yesterday morning.''; Eske paused. What did this mean? Did she get lost again with no memory? Would Penny be with her?


    ''Mr Schrodinger, are you sure? Two hours might be a very long time for both of them.''


    ''We don''t have much choice, do we? I have to go now, telling a little girl her mother will miss her party again.''; replied Eske looking away from the monitor and into the distance, trying to focus on something else.


    He turned around and headed towards the exit, passing through the corridor full of people dressed from different timelines. An old man was wearing a blue coat with white stripes. A young boy with a beret holding a book and reading while walking down the hallway. An elderly lady sitting next to a window, staring out the arrivals monitor.


    Eske knew each of them, their faces, and their names, when they were initially formed. In a world of two billion people, each resident was hand-picked by him and Nona. They were the founders of Earth-3.14, also known as WTL: .159265359.


    Eske walked with hasty feet down to the parking lot. He got his keys out of his pocket and pressed the button on his car remote. A beeping sound was heard from a black 1981 DeLorean DMC-12. Until this day, Eske has no idea where the vehicle came from. But it was his wife''s wedding gift, and he never wanted or imagined having any other car.


    Eske sat on the front seat behind the wheel, placed the key on the engine and meltdown. He kicked the wheel as hard as he could and shouted his lungs off until he finally hit his head against the wheel''s rubber and cried his heart out.


    He stopped when his phone rang. It was Ava. He cleared his throat, rubbed his hands on his face to dry out the tears and picked up the call: ''Hey, sweety!''


    ''Daddy, did you guys arrive?''


    ''Yes, I''m on my way, sweetheart. Hum, mummy is a bit late.''


    ''But she promised. She said she had a surprise for me! A huge one!''


    ''I know, sweetheart, but you know what she does is for all of us. Especially for you, baby girl, don''t be mad at her, please.''


    ''But I wanted her to see me in my costume.''


    ''Oh, you are in a costume? What happened to the dress mummy picked up with you? You don''t like it anymore?''; Eske was trying really hard to sound his everyday self.


    ''I do, but I don''t feel it today.'' Eske laughed, remembering about the last time Ava went to school without a proper outfit. She had worn a pink tuxedo, which made her stand out amongst the rest of the children. That day everyone looked at her strangely because they thought she was some kind of a superhero, just like her mum. ''Oh! And Tommy''s dad is asking if his mum is with you.''


    Eske felt his spine crippling to her last question: ''Tell Robert that Penny is with mummy. So they will both run late.''


    ''Oh crap!''


    ''Language!''


    ''Not even on my birthday?''


    ''Sweetheart, daddy is going to hang up. I will just stop at home, pick up your cake, and meet you there, okay?'' Eske smiled.


    ''Okay, bye, Daddy.''; Eske hung up the phone and stared blankly ahead of him. He sighed deeply, turned the engine and tried to concentrate on driving. ''This isn''t good.''


    He turned the lights on an empty house. It was immaculately cleaned. Nona liked to keep the place neat and clean. The birthday cake was on the fridge, and he thought about taking a real quick shower. Hoping the HQ control team would call him informing of Nona''s arrival.


    He climbed the stairs to their room. Nothing was out of place. It was exactly how they left this morning, but it still felt like three years ago. Upon entering the bathroom, he saw it. Nona''s big surprise party. A lovely basket with blue and pink balloons attached to it and inside there was an envelope and a rectangular box. Outside the envelope was written "Surprise! For both loves of my life!" and a quick drawing of a happy face.


    Eske looked at the box. His hands were shaking while he opened it. Inside was a room key and a thin, plastic stick with two strips and a digital marker displaying "pregnant". He understood why Nona didn''t tell him. She wanted to surprise Ava, who had been asking for a little brother or sister. She didn''t tell him either because she knew he would cancel any mission outside their timeline.


    Nona was lost in Time with his child. How many times did they say that they wanted another baby? And now, here it was, she was pregnant. He couldn''t help himself from crying.


    Eske closed the door behind him, leaned against the wall, and took his phone: ''Hey Robert? We need to talk. We have a new Ava incident.''