I peered down the hallways, both the two to my right and the one to my left, just behind some furniture. Over at the left of the lobby, there was the reception desk, and next to that was a door that I had to guess was for the main office. A light momentarily flickered above what felt like my exact spot in the room. There was a muffled static buzz coming from the light whenever it had flickered, so I decided to move out of its range, just to be safe.

I decided it would be best to read the signs around the lobby, and find the map, if there was one. Hopefully there is one, otherwise I'd have to ask for directions, and I'm not sure what to ask for then. I was reading, and reading. I had to read through poster after poster, paper after paper. I was taking zig-zag swaths of the walls, first the right and moving on to the left.

I heard an echo down one of the right halls, like a door had been closed but not exactly opened. Then there was a faint voice somewhere down there. I quickly skimmed over the mirror tiles that lined the ground in almost every direction, barely tripping over a small wooden table. It was there that I had finally found the thing I needed to look for: a map for the school! Thank all the stars in Orion's belt!

But just as I was able to process anything, I didn't realize how complicated it had looked up close. There were two stories with classes, more than one building, and it seemed like classes were scattered all over campus. Astrophysics here, Geology there, and what felt like every other class I could take as a spacecraft were scattered just like the stars in three-dimensional space, let alone asteroids.

I was trying to focus, trying to process what "2B" meant and where "4A" was. And that was when I heard stepping coming my direction. Whatever had been near the door at the hallway, it was now coming to be near me, perhaps. I heard another voice, "Hey, this doesn't look much like xenon", this time farther away --just barely detectable for me-- and of a different origin. Another human, perhaps. But then there was a mechanical whirring sound that passed by the lobby, just before stopping.

I locked onto the map, evading getting myself attention. I kept it as quiet as possible. Then the steps entered the lobby, and slowly came for me. Or, rather, the map. I looked at them from the side, it was another robot. Actually, another spacecraft like me, with a quite impressive solar array on his left.

"Pardon me, but is this here the map?" He asked. I tried my best to keep myself calm, because I had no idea how to talk to other spacecraft yet. But I need to say something.

"Oh, uh, yeah! I think so." I think so? That is the map! I think?! Come on, you can do better than that!

"New here, too?" I asked to check to see if he was new, I mean, I hope that was the right thing to say. I wanna know if he's new like me.

"Yeah," oh thank goodness, "came in from Arizona." he replied. Now I was genuinely curious. What is that? What's Arizona? Uh, that sounds like Airy Zona...is he from the sky? Okay that's just silly. Was he still new, in some way?

Then the whirring from the other hallway began again and slowly came closer. "First time?" The voice came from where the whirring stopped.

I glanced at the map, at the entity which the voice came from, and back at the map before back to him, "Hu--Oh!" I was confused on if he was talking to me or the other robot, but it seemed like it was both of us, "Yeah, yeah. It's my first time out of the cleanrooms. Europa Clipper, by the way." I held my hand out for him. Then I just remembered he's a Mars rover. He can't shake hands.

"Oh! Wait! You probably can't move your arm like that. Sorry." I retracted it back to my side as fast as I could. Grah! How could I be so silly?! I'm sorry! I was more embarrassed than I had ever been, in fact this is very well my first time, and gah! I really don't like this! Oh, you just had to do that, Europa Clipper! You just had to, didn't you?

He didn't look offended at all, or was he? Am I overreacting? He's taking this well, or so it seems. Am I the one overreacting?!

The spacecraft next to me tipped down his payload hat in a neat, respectful manner. "Landsat-9" he introduced, "Here for my launch next year. Figured I'd come early and ready." His eyes were closed and his hand was on his lower body on the side. Early? Do spacecraft launch earlier than what had been planned for?

The two spacecraft were having a quick talk, mostly about the rover. His name was Perseverance, how interesting. I wasn't sure what to say, or when to talk. I kind of stood there spectating them have their conversation, showing a little of my interest to say Hey, that's pretty interesting. Landsat-9, as he was called, was particularly excited to see the Mars rover. Should I have been excited, too? I mean, a lot of this was to just observe how spacecraft talked to eachother.

Perseverance drove a little more closer to the map, maybe about a few inches closer, "Anyways, what're you looking for, mate?"

"Erm...nothing much, really." I replied. "It's my first day, so I guess I'm just here for a...uhm..." Graaagh! What was it again?! My engineers just told me this half an hour ago! What was it, what was it?

"Orientation?" Perseverance said.

That word rang the tiniest bell, "Yeah. That. I think." Why was I so confused? That had to be it! I think it was it? He probably knows, I mean, it does sound familiar.

Landsat-9 began to talk a little more about his classes, and how he himself needed to take one of these orientations. Him and Perseverance had another conversation about their classes, but I noticed that it seemed like interplanetary spacecraft had to take the more intensive and lengthy classes. There's astrobiology, navigation, surviving in deep space. I'm going to deep space! How am I supposed to get this done in time?

"Wish I were an Earth satellite." I said under my breath. Landsat-9 and Perseverance peered back at me like it was unusual of me to say that --or say anything for that matter-- "I have to go to Europa. In Jupiter. Out in the outer Solar System." I found myself feeling more unprepared and unsettled for every sentence I spoke.

"If I just had to stay at Earth, it wouldn't sound so...intimidating." It was intimidating. I didn't like it.

Landsat-9 nodded with his eyes closed, but he gave me a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. It was like he knew what I was thinking, he understood me. Not just with what I said outside but with what I felt inside.

"Well, y'know, Earth's always gonna be our homeplanet, and we're still on it, so we don't have much to worry right now."

What he said was oddly comforting. I like it.