2 A few months, and a few days later

"Yip." A bark woke him up.

Cody groaned, turning around in bed. "Five more minutes…"

"Yip, yip!" There was a low growl, and then his blanket was pulled right off him.

"Streako!" Cody protested, getting up at last. "Don't bite my blanket!"

Streako wagged his tail excitedly, grinning at Cody as if proud of himself. He was a black-and-white wolfcat (wolfish body, cat claws) mainly black on the back, and white in the front like someone wearing a tuxedo, but he also had this white line in the center of his head that gave him his name. Right now, he was roughly five months old and still very much a playful cub.

"Ugh… what time is it?" Cody rubbed his eyes. He smelled bacon. Breakfast must be ready. That was why Streako came in looking for him excitedly.

He got up and yawned, stretching. "Retrieve bed. Start full cleansing." He told the room.

The bed slid into the wall, then machinery started churning, taking away his blanket, sheets and pillows for cleaning automatically. The wall above his bed slot opened up, revealing clothes and a large mirror.

"None of those today." Cody went over to a hanging rack by his room window and took up his most comfortable biosuit. It was a living dark brown full body suit that looked and felt like leather, though it was actually a sort of plant that required watering and sunlight. Biosuits like this were especially popular for absorbing the sweat off whoever wore it.

He went into the washroom, stuck his ultrasonic bit into his mouth and waited the six seconds it took to clean his teeth and such. He gargled, returned it to the autoclean holster, undressed and sonic-misted his body then blew dry with a warm hot air gust. Sticking his sleeping clothes into the laundry chute, he slid into his biosuit, legs first, then pulling the top over each arm, sealing it from the front. Over that, he put on a steel-gray Floater Vest, checking its power levels and anti-gravity diagnostics by habit. Then, he put on his belt pouch, triggering the low level personal shield on it to ward off bugs outside.

"Okay, I'm set." Cody told Streako. "Room, two hour sunning."

Streako climbed up to his favorite spot on Cody's shoulder, and thus they went out to find breakfast. Behind him his room shut off the ARAC (Air Recycling And Conditioning) and opened walls and windows to sun the room properly.

Cody's family lived in a typical Floran home; deep brown wooden walls, plenty of large sunny windows, greenery and sky outside in every direction. It was, to be sure, a tree house, but it was a large one, sharing this branch of its Sky Tree with only two neighbors. The rooms were spacious, and the dining hall was large enough for a rectangular table that seated ten, with plenty of room to spare on all sides.

On that table were bacon and eggs (scrambled), baked beans and bread, various bread spreads and… yes! Fried synth-beef sausages!

Streako's tail started wagging already.

"Make sure you feed yourself before you feed the cub." Cass instructed him.

Casiphia Rivers was the oldest of the four Rivers siblings. Cody's elder sister was tall for a girl, with long straight hair, colored stark black in stunning contrast to her fair face and silver eyes. Cody's eyes sometimes turned silver too, when his Xenokan bloodline was acting up, but Casiphia's eyes were always silvery, no matter how bright or dark it was. She was born that way, and that was probably why they named her for 'silver'. She was twelve and was a student of the Frontier Imperial Academy. While it wasn't one of the famous Five Great Academies, the Frontier Imperial Academy was still a top rated school which gave a distinct advantage to anyone wanting a job with the Hiranin Empire.

"Also, today it's your turn to clean the table and do the dishes." Casiphia added.

Cody sighed. "Okay."

Meanwhile, Cyril trooped through, packing his own breakfast to go. Cyril was nine this year, having the same dark brown hair as Cody, but dark blue eyes like their mom. He studied at the Blue Moon Academy, one of the Five Great Academies, which was famous for their tech. He seemed quite popular there.

Lastly, there was Cindy. Cody's younger sister was two, brown haired, blue eyed, and already seated at the table eating very, very slowly, watching a holovid projected from the tabletop as she did so, something to do with unicorns and beaches.

Cody sat down to eat, and a notification popped up from the tabletop. "Oh? I have a reply from Sophia Academy."

Sophia Academy was actually a new school started by one of Dad's friends. Stephen of the Golden Shield was famous in Syrinx, which was a star system far farther Galactic North than Flora, and his good reputation meant people had high expectations for this new academy.

A holographic elderly man popped up, three inches tall and standing on the table. "Dear Cody, I'm pleased to inform you that your application to Sophia Academy has been approved. As long as you pass our standard entrance exam, you'll immediately be enrolled as an official student. You can access it any time, from any Comm Sphere. Just, remember to mention next time that you actually had a previous application approved by another Academy. It's not a big deal, but it would be good to be thorough. Oh, and send my regards to your dad. We're all wishing you guys the best. Stephen of the Golden Shield, Principal of Sophia Academy, signing off."

Cody stared. "I had a previous application approved by another Academy? When? I don't remember it."

He frowned, trying to think back. Did he ever apply to any other Academy before?

Well, whatever. In any case, he got in. "Dad? Stephen of the Golden Shield sends his regards!"

"Got it! Did you get in?" Dad yelled back.

"Yep! I can take the entrance exam now!"

"Great! Where and when is it?"

"Any time! From any Comm Sphere, he said!"

"It's a VR test online, then? Well, get to it as soon as you finish breakfast."

"But it's my turn to clean up and do the dishes…"

"I'll do it today. You get to school." Dad offered.

"Thanks, dad!" Cody cheered up.

"You can take my shift tomorrow." Dad added.

Cody's face fell. "Shucks."

***

After breakfast, Cody went to their family Comms Room. There were six Spheres in this room, one belonging to each of the Rivers family members, though Cindy had never yet stepped into hers.

Cass and Cyril were already in theirs, both fully closed up and set on full privacy mode. They were already at school and weren't likely to appear for hours. Cody clambered into his, and activated it.

Lights and force fields activated. Cody was suspended six inches off the ground within the eight-foot Sphere. Screens and images appeared in every direction all around him, many of them containing advertisements that matched his interests and previous activities online.

There was a notification about a new package from Sophia Academy. Cody tapped it.

"Warning; Sophia Academy Entrance Exam Package requires Level 3 Immersion. Proceed?" The Sphere asked.

"Proceed." Cody gritted his teeth.

"This Package also requires deactivation of personal shields and anti-gravity fields."

Cody turned off his belt and his vest. "Okay. Go for it."

The world turned black for a moment.

The next thing he knew, Cody Rivers was standing in a small field surrounded by gray mists. There was an oval patch of grass with a small pond at one end, and a bridge on the other. Hedges lined the sides. The whole thing was about 5 meters by 2 meters, and looking very bare indeed.

He looked down at himself; he was just as he was in the real world, a six year-old in a brown biosuit. Bending down to touch the grass, he felt it and found it to be perfectly realistic.

"Yep. Definitely Level 3 immersion." Cody said to himself.

"Dear new student. Welcome to the Entrance Exam of the Sophia Academy."