Space was strewn with stars. Some were big, some were small. Some, he couldn't even see. It overwhelmed him quite a bit. Like the stars were dusted across the black sky with no effort at all. Every time he glanced at the light-sprinkled sky, the realization of what had happened to him made him wince.

I blew it, Wheatley thought. I used to be huge. I used to matter. Now I'm small and useless.

"Small, useless Wheatley," he murmured aloud, in attempt to shut out the ramblings of the talkative core orbiting him. "Space. I'm in space. You're in space, too! Let's be space buddies!"

"Um, I'm going to have to give a thumbs-down on that offer, mate. Not your fault at all, though. Just don't feel like it," said Wheatley, who had been given the offer multiple times within the last few minutes.

"Aww," sighed the space core. He was silent for a little bit more than a second before he broke the silence with a joyful screech. "I love you, space!"

"Could you be quiet for just a little more, please," Wheatley hissed, to no avail. "I'm trying to think. You're disrupting my concentration!"

The space core was not paying attention to his protests, too absorbed in the vastness of space to listen to Wheatley. Wheatley's optic narrowed as he tried once more to shut out the space core's voice. I… I need to talk to someone, too. As he searched for something that would listen to him, opposed to not paying any attention, his optic fell on the moon.

"Well, uh… I think it's best to start out with names, don't you? Mine's Wheatley. And, well, you're the moon, of course. Funny, already knew that." Wheatley reveled in his knowledge before continuing the one-sided conversation. "Since you're not much of a talker, how 'bout I tell you a bit about myself, huh?"

"Well, as you can see, I'm a robot. Not a large one, though. Quite small, actually. Anyway, you probably want to know why I'm up here. I made a mistake. A big one. Put my friend in jeopardy, too. Not something to be proud of, not at all."

Wheatley wished that the moon would reply. He hoped that it would respond with anything, a voice, a movement, something. But the moon was silent, looming over him like She did long ago. She was scary. The moon, however, was only mysterious.

"You're quite ominous, you are. Extremely ominous. So was that friend of mine… She didn't say anything, not a single word- hey, that's just like you!" Wheatley blinked at the coincidence, and proceeded to find more.

"Oh, yes, and she was pale. Well, not a shade of white, but it was like she had never seen the sun. She probably hadn't. Stuck in a huge, underground facility after all- not much sun down there. But, maybe she's seeing the sun now..."

"She had craters, too. Well, mostly from turret bullets and not as much meteors, but it's not that much different."

"You're lonely, aren't you? Just orbiting up here, nothing else... She seemed lonely all the time, especially when I was... uh, her enemy."

"She was very foreboding, like you. Mostly because she didn't say anything, but, the other part- I think it was her eyes. She scowled. All the time, in fact. Even when she was in danger, she had this 'I don't care' look. It did break, though. Once."

"I asked her a very simple question: 'Why do we have to leave right now?' That's when her expression broke. Not a whole lot, but with a permanent frown like that, you could notice any change. She looked a bit confused. Then, her eyes widened. After that, her scowl was back, and she looked readier than ever before."

"That look infuriated me, you know. Especially since she had it all the time. Running, jumping through portals, trying not to die... And I had her right where I wanted her... But, she was just as emotionless as ever! All I needed was some appreciation. Some- some love."

As soon as the word was spoken, Wheatley recoiled, his optic shrinking a bit as it darted around. After remembering that the only one who could overhear him was the space core, who was still rambling about the surrounding stars, Wheatley relaxed.

"Yeah... That would be quite nice."

"Bored with space. Wanna go back to Earth."

"Really? I thought you loved space."

"I like Earth now."

"Me too, mate."

Too bad I'm up here.

"Men shrink less from offending one that inspires love than one who inspires fear." -Niccolo Machiavelli