It was only Mission: SPACE's second day open to the public, but he felt like he'd been doing this for years.

Maybe it was because of his immense popularity, and maybe it was because he knew himself pretty well, but the new attraction felt like an experienced astronaut. A veteran of outer space training a bunch of newbies, who were all technically older than he was. He knew because there was no way a days-old newborn could meet the height requirement.

And it was only those who could who comprised the group he took under his wing. For a thrilling five minutes or so, he showed each of them the excitement of space travel through a high-tech spinning simulator. Did people get sick? Occasionally. But other than that, it was great seeing their reactions.

Like the "Whoa!"s and "That was AWESOME!"s coming from the day's last group of trainees. The front doors were already closed as Mission: SPACE waved goodbye to the park guests on their way back to the hotel. Or to see that fireworks show.

In any case, Space wasn't ready to end his night just yet. So he decided to take a walk around the south side of the park. This was his home, right? He figured he might as well get to know it.

His journey took him to the other side of Future World, which was the formal name for the park's southern half. At first, he was worried that he'd left his station too early; there didn't seem to be any other pavilions wandering around. But relief came over him when he saw two of his kind having a conversation in front of a glass-capped building.

Space had met everyone; they'd come to visit him the day before. But he couldn't for the life of him remember these ladies' names. Let's see…the one with the overalls and the gardening gloves had a plant theme, right? Yeah, something like– hey, was she talking about him? He decided to come closer and listen.

"So I heard that the new guy's doing pretty well," Overalls Lady said.

"Oh, Mission: SPACE? Yeah! People have been waiting for him FOREVER!" said her companion, a cheerful young woman in a lab coat.

"No wonder. Disney's been advertising him since those construction walls went up around Horizons's house." She sighed. "I still miss him." Horizons? Who was that, and what had happened to him?

"Yeah," Lab Coat Lady agreed. "But, hey, maybe he'll come back as a ghost!"

A ghost? Did she mean that this Horizons person was dead? Well, THAT was unsettling. Space definitely needed to find out more. He'd go ask Spaceship Earth, then; that guy seemed to be the leader around here.

So Space traveled back to the front of the park, where Earth lived. And sure enough, the "golf ball"-dwelling young man was standing right outside his house. "Hey, Space," he said as soon as he saw the newer pavilion. "How's it going with the guests?"

"Pretty good," Space replied. Then it was time to find some answers. "Hey, Spaceship Earth?"

"Just Earth will do. Don't worry; I'll keep telling people not to call me Space anymore."

"Thanks, Earth. Anyway, do you know anything about this Horizons guy?"

"Horizons?" Earth repeated in surprise. "I haven't seen him since '99!"

"That's when he died, right?"

"How did you know about that?" Earth asked. "Ah, never mind. Actually, he didn't die until the next year…to make way for you, actually. But he was in a coma for–"

"Wait," Space interjected. "To make way for me?"

"Of course!" Earth replied. "That's how it works. If someone comes in, someone else has to go."

"So he died because of me?" Space was REALLY unsettled now.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about it." By this point, Earth had a mischievous grin on his face. "It's not like it's your fault or anything." He chuckled to himself. "Well, goodnight." And with that, he climbed up the ramp back into his home.

With Earth gone and this side of the park closed, Space felt so…alone. That was enough wandering for tonight, he supposed. Time to go back home.

When he was almost there, he spotted another pavilion. Now, THIS lady was hard to forget; she was the one with the dinosaur tail. "Energy!" Space called out.

"Space!" Energy called back. As he walked over to her, she asked, "How's it going?"

"Okay, I guess," Space replied. "Hey, if I replaced Horizons…then you used to be his next door neighbor, right?"

"That I was," Energy confirmed. "How'd you find out about him?"

"I overheard the lady with the overalls and the other lady with the lab coat talking about him."

"Land and Imagination?"

"Oh, yeah!" Those were their names. Now he remembered. "Anyway, Imagination said that maybe he'd come back as a ghost. Is that…true?"

"Come on, Space. That's Imagination being Imagination! A lot of her ideas couldn't actually happen," Energy assured him. "Besides, he was really nice! A true idealist, that guy. He would always share in my hopes for an energy-efficient future."

Yeah, energy efficiency. How exciting.

"So even if he does come back, it won't be for revenge. The scariest thing he'll do is come up to you and whisper, 'If we can dream it, we can do it.' You'll be fine." She started on her way back into her building. "Goodnight!"

"Goodnight, Energy." That had helped at least a little, but Space's fears still refused to go away. He told himself that it would be alright; Energy seemed reliable. But still, he wasn't sure.

He decided to put the thought aside and reenter his station. Things seemed to be going well at first, apart from it being eerily quiet, but then Space began to hear some humming.

Wait, humming? That was a cast member, right? The ride needed quite a few people to keep it running. That song wasn't anything Space had heard before, but then again, there were a lot of songs he hadn't heard before. It was only when the humming turned to singing that it became worrisome. "Horizons, all shining and new…"

Horizons?

He was just hearing things, Space told himself. That was it. All it meant was that he REALLY needed to go to bed.

Which is exactly what he set out to do next. He made the proper preparations and lay down on his bed, hidden in a "cast members only" room. But as soon as he was settled, he felt the presence of someone next to him.

Slowly, he tilted his head to the side, and the sight that stood waiting for him was the transparent figure of a man in a futuristic outfit. And sure enough, he was humming that song. But he stopped just in time to say, "Hello!"

"AAAAH!" Space jumped up and dashed out of the room. It was true! Horizons HAD come back as a ghost! No way Space could have imagined that guy!

Who seemed to be following him. "Wait, stop!"

Space, of course, kept running. Soon he found himself in the queue area, and, without thinking, he ran up to the slowly spinning wheel supposedly meant for training. That turned out to be a bad move, because once Horizons got there, Space was at a dead end.

"Please don't hurt me!" Space begged as Horizons came closer, phasing right through the queue bars. Wait, not all hope was lost! He had just enough time to escape before Horizons…

…never mind. The deceased pavilion was already right in front of him. But to Space's surprise, Horizons just stopped and floated there calmly. "Hurt you?" he said. "Why would I do that?"

"Uh…"

"Is this about your replacing me?" He chuckled. "I'm not mad about that!"

Space breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. But wait, someone indirectly KILLED you, and you're not mad at all?"

"'Killed' is such a strong word. I prefer 'took my body.'"

"That's not much better," Space remarked under his breath.

Horizons continued. "Besides, it's the company who made the decision, not you! And they were planning on getting rid of me anyway. If anything, I'm glad they made good use of the space." He paused. "No pun intended."

"You're not even a little upset that they got rid of you?" Space had forgotten his fear. Energy had been right; this guy was much too nice to ever hurt a fellow pavilion.

"I was upset at first," Horizons admitted, "but it's been what, three years? I've had plenty of time to come to terms with it."

"Where were you all that time, anyway? Earth said he hadn't seen you since '99."

"I was staying at Canada's place. Hidden from guests, of course. There, I had a lot of time to think. And as I was floating around, making sense of what had happened, I realized something."

"What was that?"

"Well, I'm all about making a better future, and putting good in the world as we take the journey to the 21st century."

"It IS the 21st century."

"Oh, right. I keep forgetting. Anyway, if we want that bright future to come, we need change. And sometimes, we need to say goodbye to something in order to make room for something better. So if the company believes that your addition is for the good of the park, well, who am I to complain?"

"Wow," Space said. "That's a really nice way of looking at it."

"I try to look on the bright side of things."

"I can tell. So if you didn't come for revenge, what DID you come for?"

"To see what they put in my place, of course! And to meet you. It was only polite to get out of that building for once and say hi."

"Well, here I am. Did you want to see the ride, too?"

"I would love to! You'll show me around?"

"Sure!" No matter who his guest was, Space took any chance he got to talk about his ride. So he started with where they already were. "This is the Gravity Wheel, designed to help trainees adjust to weightlessness. Just look at it spin!" He stepped to the side so Horizons could better see the multi-roomed wheel slowly rotating.

"Reminds me of Omega Centuari," Horizons commented.

"What's that?"

"Just something from my ride." His eyes lit up as he noticed something else. "Hey, that's my symbol!"

"What?"

"My symbol! Right there in the middle of the wheel!" He pointed to the symbol's location, and Space took a look at it.

"Oh, that's yours?" he said. "I was wondering what that meant. But why do you have a symbol?"

"All us pavilions have one! Aren't you wearing yours?"

Space glanced down at his plastic astronaut sleeping clothes, bearing the words "Mission: SPACE" with a rocket zooming around them. "That's just the logo," he told Horizons.

"So they don't have the symbol system anymore?"

"I guess not." He stepped away from the Gravity Wheel to lead Horizons down the nearby hallway. "Come on! There's more to show you!"

And they spent a good few hours exploring all the pavilion had to offer, including the employees-only rooms. The only thing Horizons couldn't experience was the ride motion, since, due to his being a ghost and all, the restraints didn't restrain him. He just hovered in place as the vehicle spun around him. He seemed to enjoy the rest of what was shown, though.

By the time the tour was done, it was fairly late. Horizons was just about to head home to Canada's house when Space called after him. "Wait!" he said. "Aren't you gonna show yourself to the others?"

"And wake them up? Of course not! Not tonight, anyway."

"Tomorrow, then?"

"That's a better idea. It's about time I show myself to them. Well, see you, Space!"

"See you!" Space called. He still had a few questions, like why Horizons had chosen to stay hidden from his friends for so long, but for now, it was time to go to bed. That went pretty well, he thought to himself.

And to think he'd been afraid Horizons was out for revenge.