I asked for his name. "I'm Nikolas. You already know that I'm really PEP-08787." he said. That explained the ill fitting clothes. "Thanks for telling me. I hope I can call you something like Niko from now on. A nickname." He just looked at me and said "You can call me whatever you want if you get me an X-frame." That was a good attitude to have. "If you listen to me, I'll give you more than an X-frame." I said to him. "Where is the X-frame for me? You don't have all of my time. Don't waste it." he warned. The time to show my hand was now. I pulled out the spare X-womb from my inventory and held it out. His eyes went wide. Nikolas knew exactly what it was. "How the hell do you have that!?" "I don't mess around making promises I can't keep. I'm the clan technician. I want to see how this works. Wanna tell me?" I said with confident smirk. He rolled his eyes. "Ask your clan." he snapped. "I could. It would mean there would be no reason to give you an X-frame for the help." He just sighed and began. Basically, each PEP unit had a single sexual organ upgrade port at the navel. It was good to know.
Giving the X-womb to Nikolas, I said "Go in the library and upgrade yourself with this. I want a demonstration before any of my clan members use it." He looked at me and scoffed. "I'm a male unit. Why the hell would I want the female upgrade. Give me the semen replicator." he demanded. I just shook my head. "I'm testing this out. If a male like you doesn't want the upgrade, you can give it back and the deal will be called off. I'll just find a female." He glared at me. "I just told you we only have one port for the upgrade. I need the semen replicator. If I take the womb, I can't cum for real. I'll be stuck with the synthetic fluid forever." he argued. "I'm sure you can do all of the calculations. How long will it take you, Emil and Berry to form a clan and make X-frames on your own? How likely is it that you'll live that long in this small town with low risk and low reward. Even then, there are still scrappers and reprogrammers around. I know that you know how I was there when Emil got caught by now." I coaxed him to see it my way. He looked down with a blank face. I supposed he was doing calculations.
He took a minute and a half before raising his head and glaring. He then sucked his teeth as he scratched the back of his head in annoyance. "It will take decades, even if we moved to the city. The probability of me living to see us make an X-frame is 7.348%" he reported. "Oh. About a 1 in 13 shot. It's not impossible, but I'm offering you an 100% guarantee within 10 weeks." I said smugly. Nikolas stood up and asked "So what do I have to so exactly? I know that you won't give a non clan member an X-frame for free. What's the catch?" I looked at him and said "I want to test it. Once you get the upgrade, I'm going to fuck you and see if you get pregnant. I'll take care of you and join all of your missions during the pregnancy. I want you safe. When the child is born, I'll take it and give you the last part of the blueprints. I'll give you parts, weapons and the blueprints in stages. Does this deal sound good to you?" He gave me a look of disgust. "Emil was right. You're a creep." he spat. I just shrugged. "Are you taking or leaving the deal?" He held the X-womb in his hand. He smirked and said "Fine."
I did not trust the smirk, but I had no way to know how he was trying to wiggle out of it. He said "The upgrade should take a few hours. I'll call you when I am ready." That was when we exchanged numbers. There was no point in going anywhere so I just went into the library a little after him and picked a book. It was a book to give more lore and flavor to the world. It was a book about how the PEP units were getting along to solve a climate crisis. The cyborgs could not help in the ocean as the salt water would make them allergic, but they helped develop new ways of using and conserving energy. That was why there was so much high tech stuff around that was available to certain NPCs. It was mostly for the rich and well connected in practice. However, that did not stop the scrappers from getting their hands on it occasionally. It was a good read and I was about to get a second book when my phone rang. I told him to meet me where I was. Nikolas only took 3 minutes to arrive. "I now have the X-womb inside me. It is fully functional by the way." he whispered. It worked. That was good for me.
