Varian went to the passenger side beside Carmen while the rest went to the back of the van. The vehicle appeared to have a miniature lab inside it as panels with information were all over the walls of the van. A map giving directions to the academy appeared in the panel that was in front of the car. Felicitte popped her head out of Varian’s bag.

“Oh hello Felicitte nice of you to join us,” Carmen greeted Felicitte.

The cat smiled back.

“The pleasure is all mine Carmen,” Felicitte responded which caused everyone besides Carmen to look at her in pure shock.

“You can talk?,” Varian asked Felicitte which she responded with a nod. He soon looked at her sister with pure amazement.

“You got a talking cat?”

Carmen just nodded with pure pride.

“Yup and wait until you meet Laika!,” Carmen responded with pure excitement.

“Wait who?,” Enola asked before a dog popped out from the shadows at the back of the van. The dog barked enthusiastically to the group. Inez stared at her with pure awe before quickly picking her up for a hug.

“Oh my god you’re so cute!,” Inez yelled in joy before lifting up Laika to admire her.

“Thank you!,” Laika responded happily as she wagged her tail at the compliment. Inez eyes grew wider than before which almost seemed physically impossible.

“Oh my god you can talk too?! Carmen you are so awesome!,” Inez said as she proceeded to cuddle Laika.

“So am I gonna get a friend in this adventure or what?,” Enola asked a bit jealous of the fact that her siblings already got companions for the mission.

Just then a chimpanzee had entered the van through Carmen’s window and handed her what seemed to be three glass tablets.

“Here you go! I found them laying on a table in the restaurant,” the chimpanzee said as he handed the tablets to Carmen who smiled gratefully.

“Thank you Ham!,” Carmen thanked him.

As he saluted her he noticed Enola playing around with a diamond apple in the back and his eyes seemed to shine a bit. He quickly jumped over Carmen’s seat and landed on the empty seat beside Enola who looked at him curiously.

“Hello the names Ham. Is it possible I could get a bite of that apple?,” asked Ham with huge puppy eyes. Enola looked at him like he was one of the most precious things in the universe.

“You can have it all actually. Here you go,” Enola responded before handing Ham the apple which he took happily.

“You happy now?,” Carmen asked as she turned around to her twin with a smug face. Enola looked at her for a bit until she nodded slowly as she pat Hams head. Carmen smirked a bit before turning back to look at the front.

“Alright then! Now buckle your seat belts everyone! This is gonna be a long ride!,” Carmen warned as she buckled her seat belt. She turned on the car and gripped the wheel as if she was preparing to participate in a professional car race.

“I never knew you learned how to drive,” Varian said genuinely surprised at her sister finally taking up the task of learning how to drive.

Carmen shrugged.

“Oh I didn’t I just played with the controls for about a day when I invented the van,” Carmen responded which caused everyone to look over to her with fearful stares.

“Wait you what-!,” Varian yelled in shock before Carmen hit the gas and started driving cutting him off in the process.

Carmen’s siblings started to scream in fear at the fact that Carmen was driving the van despite the fact she doesn’t know how to drive in real life. Carmen playfully rolled her eyes at her siblings reactions but kept her focus on the road. Yes she may not know how to drive in real life but she still her van well enough to know how to use it. She didn’t invent it to sit and look pretty in the garage back at the restaurant. This van was made to take massive damage and was going to be useful for her mission.

“Look I wouldn’t have made this van if I didn’t have knowledge on how to use it. I invented it be easy for beginners anyways. Also it’s not like we could die. This is a sim remember?,” Carmen reminded her siblings about the fact that they were in a sim she had created herself. Varian instantly stopped screaming when he was reminded of the fact that they were in a sim.

“Oh yeah I forgot about that,” Varian remembered which caused Carmen to smack her head against the steering wheel for a second before she collected herself and put her focus back on the road.

They were currently out on a highway in a middle of a desert named The Sun Blazed Fields which she had created out of her pure imagination. So instead of a barren land of sand and shrubs it had large rocky boulders with beautiful trees on top. A wandering skeletal giant deer were traveling in a herd in the near distance. Carmen’s siblings stared out the window of the van in pure wonder as they took photos with the glass tablets Carmen handed to them during the trip. Carmen looked the the map in the front and noticed that the academy was nearby.

“Hey everyone! You see those lights in the distance?,” Carmen asked as she gestured to the small lights in the far distance in front of them. The sky were painted with purple and orange as the sun was setting so the lights were becoming more visible by the minute. Her siblings turned to look at the lights and were enchanted by them due to their various colors.

“I’m guessing that’s the academy?,” Varian guessed which Carmen responded with a smile.

“Yup! We’re almost there. Just a couple more minutes. Once we get there I just got three rules,” Carmen said before she raised her right hand with one finger out.

“First off, always have your guard up. This may be just a sim but the characters here are programmed to be observant and intelligent so they could sense something off if we act weird. Number two, whenever I give you a task you must complete it by any means necessary as long as you don’t get caught. And last, but not least, if you guys ever get caught your either use your glass tabs for help or…you kick someone in the peanuts,” Carmen stated her rules as her siblings nodded along until she got to the third rule and they exploded with laughter. Carmen chuckled along with them.

“I know it sounds stupid but I’m serious. We can’t get caught. Who knows what Cybrim will do to this world if they catch wind that their is a rouge AI character on the loose. We only need to be here long enough to recruit a handful of students then we will be straight up out of here. I never like staying to long in government buildings anyways.”

The mention of the academy being apart of the government caused her siblings to go wide eyed for a moment.

“Wait a minute! This academy is a part of the government? Like the bourgeoisie?!,” Varian asked as he started to panic.

“Oh yeah. NASA got a partnership with Cybrim called “The StarFinder Program” were they select a few creators to use datasets in their worlds in order to help them find meteors, radio waves, and other stuff like that in outer space. I got accepted into the program once I showed them my idea of implementing a virtual robotic testing sight in the space academy I was making,” explained Carmen proudly. She had dreamed of working in robotics since she was in elementary school until she realized the price of a college education was too high a price to pay. Once she heard of the program she leaped at the opportunity to show her skills to NASA and celebrated her acceptance with a deserved delivery ordered pizza. Too bad this was the way her siblings found out the good news.

“I was going to tell you guys about my acceptance tomorrow when we went to the park like we planned but I guess the cat’s out of the bag now. So…surprise?”

Carmen did a poor attempt at celebratory jazz hands as the rest stared at her like she was completely insane which wasn’t too far off.

“No wonder drones are hanging around the academy! You’re holding priceless assets from NASA! A government agency!,” exclaimed Varian.

“Whelp! It’s been a nice life. Do you think they would allow Laika to come with me if we ever get arrested?,” Inez genuinely asked Enola who seemed to be still processing the fact that they were waltzing into a government building.

“I’m going to set this place on fire. Carmen can I set this place on fire?, Enola asked earnestly as her eyes had a mischievous glint to them.

Carmen shook her head earning her a grown of disappointment from her twin.

“No Enola. We can’t do that right now we have a mission remember? And I really don’t want to ruin my chance at having a shot at working at NASA. Also I have to remind you guys that this is a sim and nothing here is going to affect us in real life. You also have the creator of this world as your sibling so the odds are with us,” Carmen reminded them again as she pulled up the parking lot of the academy.

“Oh right I keep forgetting that,” Varian said as he immediately calmed down. He soon turned to look out the window along with Felicitte.

The lot was more than halfway filled with cars and trucks. There were families of various backgrounds walking along the lot to the front of the academy which was a green field cornered by trees and flower bushes. A white marble fountain with a dog on top sat perfectly in the middle while a concrete walkway looped around it and led from the lot to the front door of the building. There were balloons and banners decorating the outside of the building as plastic tables and chairs were placed on the green field. A food table was set near a couple of rose bushes on the left side of the field while a DJ was playing music on the direct opposite side of the field.

The quartet stepped out of the van and looked at the view with a mix of awe and excitement. Inez was practically bouncing in place at this point while Enola took pictures of the scene with her glass tab. She motioned for everyone to gather together for a picture.

“Say party crashers!,” Enola exclaimed which the group repeated before she snapped a photo.

A crow soon landed on their van which caused Carmen to turn around before playfully tilting her head which the crow mimicked. She held out her hand and the crow landed on it before walking over to sit on her shoulder. The group looked at her confused for a moment.

“Everyone meet Reaper. They’re gonna be surveying the area while the party happens,” Carmen introduced her friend to her siblings who waved it him. Reaper waved at them before nodding to Carmen and taking off into the sky again. Carmen waved him goodbye.

“By the way. Are we allowed to have pets here?,” Varian asked as he petted Felicitte who was still sitting in her bag.

“I created the school to allow students to have pets for emotional support so yes we can bring them with us,” Carmen said with pride as she had been the one to program the school to have this cool feature in the first place. She also created the entire school itself but that was so last update.

“Well, what are we standing around here for?! Let’s party!,” Inez yelled before she ran off to the party as her sisters followed after her.