"Maybe they'd like the fresh air," he agrees as he follows alongside. Stumbles over a rock briefly, but recovers his balance without faceplanting, so that's a stroke of luck.

"I can't wait to have fresh vegetables again. Actually fresh, not... whatever comes through the portal. It's all right, but this'll be nicer."

Not that he's sure he'll be here to enjoy it all when it's ready to harvest, but he can hope. If Will can work out how to easily go back and forth with the portal technology, and if they can consider this a home base to return to, then Beacon will become a welcome sight with its new greenery as things grow.

"I grew up with a goat around the house," he adds as a belated attempt to explain his minimal animal experience. "Well, and sometimes birds. And that gorilla that used to stop in."