I took Lucy's and fabricated it in the PEP lab. The others were still doing their self-selection before being given the go ahead to design their own X-frames. It gave me the time to make enough for the whole clan by the time that the newest members came back with theirs. "I saw them gathering materials for a new X-frame. I wonder who will be using it. It looked like they were both 07 models." Claudette said. Jessica nodded and added "They did not want us anywhere near it." It made sense. We filled them in on the "Next Stage." I gave them the new upgrades. Thankfully, they were unisex. Even if the best of the best were chosen, it was really first come, first served when it came to the Foundry. They were able to install them and were pretty happy with themselves. Claudette took the XF-10F. Jessica was operating her XF-02F. That made for some interesting dynamics. Alex, Alexis, Sunny and Lucy all had the XF-06Mx. Ryder, Claire, Rosalyn and Claudette had the XF-10F. Sparks, Katie and Finian had the XF-09M. Maroon, Orange, Jessica, Erin and Cecil had the XF-02. That's 16.
Even with those numbers there was still a mismatch. there were only 7 male model X-frames. That meant some of them would need to do double duty. I gave the honor to Alex and Alexis. They had been with us from the very beginning, and I still remember that they were the reason we got the special X-frame in the first place. They looked really pleased to be given the honor. I then said "Since you have the honor as the most senior male members, it only makes sense that the second pairing will be with Claudette and Jessica as the most junior female members." They all looked at each other before nodding. "Other than that, you should pair with whoever you feel most comfortable with." I said. Paul, Brett and Mason were also there. "Where should we go?" Alex asked. I took a map and went over to the archipelago. I pointed out the Plan A location. "We could go to the island to the north. That way we can have a private area for us and still be close enough to help the units over there if something goes wrong." "How will we get there?" Sparks asked. "We'll fly there." I told them all.
Financing the trip was no joke, the librarians came to us with a large bill. We literally had unlimited resources, so it was not a problem. They wanted 8 of our archwings. I guessed that with 4 locations, they were only going to put the 4 pairs most likely to make the trip. The other locations would have 3 pairs each. We had way more than that in reserves. Doing the math, they were also billing us for the cost of the X-frames that would be going. As for the non-cyborgs, we all needed to fly there ourselves. I told them that we would go first to make sure the island was safe before marking out a landing area with flares. I was concerned when they said the sea over there was simply unnavigable. Who knew what would be there? Even then, there was the simple point that we would need to have enough ready for them to stay online until they gave birth. It would need to be established on the island beforehand and that was where the Devils in our clan would come in. Since we were going to go first, we would need a plane. It would be easy to spawn a small plane. We could recruit a PEP unit pilot.
Going to the airport was easy. We had a cab and there were only 4 of us. The nearest airport was in Neo-Rutten. I was preparing to get ready for the big trip when I was informed from upstairs that we had a delivery. I asked who it was. The knight said "They just said 'Volition Clan'." I told him that I would be up to see them. I saw the leader and the 2 PEP units that he bred. He looked at me and then tilted his head to a giant moving truck. "Look in the truck." he said. There were another 2 in the truck waiting. In the truck, there were 5 X-frames and a sixth PEP unit. "With the blueprints we got, we needed to open up our own PEP lab. In there, was the 11F and 01M models. Our incubators here took the 11F to be bred even more. My real clanmates choose between all 3 models." I could see 3 bright yellow and black ones, 2 orange and gray and the fifth was lavender and light blue. "I wasn't chosen for the next stage. I know you guys were not chosen either. What are we going to do about it!?" he demanded. I just chuckled. "What's so funny?" he said as he tried to threaten me.
