video;

[dreamkid]

[ The teen who appears has his face a little too close to the screen. He's youthful, wide-eyed with excitement, with a head of downright cherubic curls and a huge smile that shows off the dimples in his cheeks. ]

Hey! Guys! The Porter, it brought me back! I'm--

[ There's a voice from offscreen, difficult to pick out the words but from the sound of things he's being chastised, and when he looks up and lowers the camera it reveals that he's still inside Cape Canaveral, in one of the rooms every imPort should be able to recognize as a briefing area. His eyes grow somehow even rounder, his mouth forming an 'o' for "oops". ]

Ohhhh, not here? Sorry--

[ A shadow covers the feed and then it cuts out entirely. For the next fifteen minutes, Matthew and his temporarily confiscated communicator are unreachable.

The next time he pops up on the screen, he's in the front passenger seat of a government car in motion, squinting against the sunlight coming through the windshield and beaming as though he never left. ]

I guess we're not s'posed to film in there, [ he explains, with a less-than-concerned laugh. ] But I'm back! [ He tugs his seatbelt looser so he can lean in towards the screen with proper earnestness. ] That was wild, like, going back and forth, remembering all this stuff again. I mean, I know it's happened to lots of people, but I didn't realize it'd be so weird.

[ If at this point you're wondering, "who the hell is this kid, and why does he keep saying I'm back," it might be because Matthew (who is a bit dim, to be charitable) has failed to take into account that he's been gone for a full year and a half. ]