"This is pure madness, I'm telling you, boy," said the Space Men as she scooped a large portion of chocolate ice cream into her mouth. The bowl before her was overflowing with chocolate chips.
"Hmm..."
A long silence filled the hall.
The Space Men glared at Elder.
"He summons me on one of the most important days of my life, sends me to the far side of the universe in the northwestern direction, and for what? Some mysterious signal from a vision!"
Another scoop vanished into her mouth.
"And who knows how many vortexes I'll have to cross? How many of them will be Grand Vortexes? What a drag!"
"Hmm..."
The silence returned.
The Space Men slowly lowered her spoon.
Her eye twitched.
Elder continued staring at nothing in particular while absentmindedly eating ice cream.
Another minute passed.
"Hmm..."
That was enough.
The Space Men grabbed a fork and hurled it across the hall.
The fork shot forward faster than light itself.
THUNK!
It buried itself into the side of Elder's chair.
Elder jumped.
"What in creation?!"
He looked at the fork.
Then at the Space Men.
Then back at the fork.
Only then did he realize she had been talking to him.
"Oh."
He blinked.
"What did I miss?"
As if nothing had happened, he served himself an enormous scoop of ice cream and shoved the entire thing into his mouth.
Instant regret followed.
The freezing cold struck his brain like a hammer.
Elder grabbed his forehead.
"Ahhh..."
The Space Men sighed.
Like father, like son.
Before she could throw another fork, one of her officers entered the hall.
The officer immediately saluted.
"Miss Space Men, we have located the Seven Clouds."
The Space Men sat upright.
"And?"
"As requested, we calculated the shortest available route."
The officer activated a holographic screen.
A map of countless stars appeared above the table.
"The journey will require crossing approximately two hundred and fifty Vortexes."
The Space Men nodded.
Vortexes—also known as miniature black holes—were among the most common methods of traveling vast distances across space.
The officer continued.
"In addition, the route contains four hundred and fifty-nine Grand Vortexes."
Even Elder stopped eating.
Grand Vortexes were supermassive black holes large enough to connect distant sectors of creation.
"And finally," the officer said, "the route contains three hundred and thirty-three wormholes."
Silence.
The officer looked between them.
"This is the shortest path our navigators could find."
Silence remained.
The Space Men stared at the numbers.
Then she stared at Elder.
Then back at the numbers.
Then back at Elder.
"Tell me something."
Elder swallowed.
"What?"
The Space Men pointed at the screen.
"Are we trying to reach the Seven Clouds..."
She paused.
"...or are we trying to leave Creation itself?"
The officer quickly lowered his head to hide a smile.
Even Elder struggled not to laugh.
The Space Men leaned back in her chair and groaned.
"Two hundred and fifty Vortexes."
She pointed again.
"Four hundred and fifty-nine Grand Vortexes."
Another point.
"Three hundred and thirty-three wormholes."
She looked directly at Elder.
"If I come back from this trip and discover your father was chasing ghosts, I am personally throwing both of you into a black hole."
Elder immediately raised his hands.
"Why am I included in this punishment?"
"Because you're his son."
"...That's fair."
Here's a polished and more novel-like version of your scene, while keeping the same meaning, humor, and pacing:
Back at the School of Pearls
"Attention, everyone…" chimed the grand announcement bell that echoed through the School of Pearls.
"Please prepare your orientation guidebooks and proceed to Hall H."
Nate, meanwhile, had finally found the room he had been dreaming about all day. He had already stuffed his pockets full of snacks and was halfway out the door when a terrible realization hit him.
"My guidebook…"
He turned and saw it resting peacefully on the table of the dining hall.
Nate frowned.
"Do I really need it?"
He thought for a moment.
"Nah. I'll just borrow one from whoever sits next to me."
Satisfied with his brilliant plan, he ran into the corridor—
—and stopped dead.
The hallway was empty.
Not "a few students left" empty.
Completely empty.
Every student had already gone to Hall H.
Nate looked left. Then right.
Nothing but polished floors and silence.
"Okay… fine. I'll ask someone for directions."
He checked the nearby rooms, but his luck had apparently boarded a ship and left the galaxy. The dorm rooms were empty too. What Nate didn't know was that many of the students from those rooms had already been assigned to help serve food in the hall.
He sighed dramatically and stuffed another snack into his pocket.
"Maybe if I just walk around, I'll hear the noise from Hall H," he muttered. "There's no way an orientation hall full of students is quiet."
So he wandered the corridor, listening carefully.
Silence.
Absolute silence.
The campus felt strangely calm, almost abandoned.
Nate stopped walking and slowly turned in place.
"…What am I supposed to do now?"
For the first time since arriving at the School of Pearls, Nate looked genuinely concerned.
And somewhere far away, destiny probably laughed at him.
Just as Nate was beginning to consider the possibility that he might spend the rest of his life wandering the endless corridors of the School of Pearls, a familiar voice called out from behind him.
"Nate?"
Nate froze.
Slowly, he turned around.
Standing at the far end of the corridor was Miss Mary.
For a brief moment, the professor simply stared at him.
Then she looked around the empty hallway.
Then back at Nate.
Then at the empty hallway again.
A long silence followed.
"Nate..."
"Yes, Professor?"
"Why are you here?"
"Well..." Nate scratched the back of his head. "That's a very difficult question."
Miss Mary's eyes narrowed.
"Nate."
"Okay, okay!" he said, raising his hands. "I may have gotten lost."
"You got lost."
"Technically, I was trying to find Hall H."
Miss Mary sighed.
"Please tell me you brought your orientation guidebook."
Another dangerous silence followed.
Nate slowly looked away.
Miss Mary's eye twitched.
"Nate."
"Yes?"
"Where is your guidebook?"
Nate pointed toward the center of the campus.
"Probably on a table in the Great Dining Hall."
"The Great Dining Hall?"
"Yeah."
"The place you spent nearly an hour admiring?"
"That's the one."
"The place where you stuffed your pockets with snacks?"
Nate nodded.
"Also that one."
Miss Mary closed her eyes.
"You left the guidebook in the very room where you found it."
"When you say it like that, it sounds bad."
"It is bad."
Nate immediately pulled several snack packets from his pockets.
"In my defense, Professor, I secured important supplies before leaving."
Miss Mary stared at the mountain of snacks.
Then at Nate.
Then back at the snacks.
"Did you replace your guidebook with food?"
"...Maybe."
The professor covered her face with one hand.
Somewhere deep within her soul, she could feel a headache forming.
Of all the reasons a student could be missing from orientation, this was certainly a new one.
"Nate."
"Yes?"
"The entire school is waiting for orientation to begin."
"Oh."
"And the school security system informed me that one student was wandering through empty corridors."
"Oh."
"And that same student spent fifteen minutes trying to locate a hall while standing beside three signs pointing directly toward it."
"..."
Miss Mary smiled.
"Nate."
"Yes?"
"The school already knows who you are."
For the first time all day, Nate felt a slight sense of danger.
His reputation at the School of Pearls was growing far faster than he had planned.
And orientation had not even started yet.
"Come on," said Miss Mary, turning toward a nearby corridor.
"Where are we going?"
"To Hall H."
"You know where it is?"
Miss Mary slowly turned her head toward him.
"Nate."
"Yes?"
"I work here."
"Oh."
Without another word, Nate followed her, quietly eating one of the snacks he had rescued from the Great Dining Hall.