As I was doing my research in the labs, I learned something really interesting. The PEA units were not part of the Next Stage of the cyborg evolution, but they played a great role in the success of the clan. It made sense as their birth needed so many prerequisites. PEP units needed to do enough missions to earn the sexual upgrade and install it. Then they needed to go out into the world and find a PEP unit with the opposite sexual upgrade installed in them. At that point, the now pregnant PEP had to wait 9 weeks for the child to be born. All while dodging suspicion from the government, scrappers and reprogrammers. That was a tall order specifically for the game balance. In the early game, Players at level 1 would be hard pressed to go against the level 15 units. Even the low tier ones with massive faults could still easily kill a newbie. That was why they had to go around and look carefully to spot and stop the cyborgs from progressing if they wanted to take an anti-cyborg stance. Paul, Brett and I thought it would be more entertaining to help them than hinder them. We were right.
The PEA units were no different. Before we made them nearly obsolete by rushing the mid game, PEA units were supposed to be the big clan commandos that got called up when the PEP units were not enough. They were the cleaners and enforcers of their own transmission hub. Through studying Colton's body, I learned something very important. Thought we had thought that the line ended with the PEA units, we were wrong. Or we were not getting the bigger picture. PEP units were prototypes. They had a large range of appearances to better capture the true tastes of the humans they would be infiltrating. Their offspring were the PEA units. PEA units did not go make any new type of unit. However, they were rewarded for their great service, nonetheless. It was just a few functions within 02 that could be overlooked, but I saw the ones that were for them. "PEA memory chip" was a folder buried deep. It seemed that the PEA and AEP units were reverse compatible. In a symbiotic way, they worked together to enhance themselves. They would simply mate among themselves to do it all.
PEA units, after 15 successful missions, could get their sexual upgrade. Once they did it, they could have sex with an AEP unit. There was a 5% chance it would work on the first try. Their "genetic material" was actually just a special type of nanite that carried their personal data and personality. Every completed mission rose the odds by 2%. It was a very desperate race to complete the missions and try again. Once it took hold in the AEP, they could create a personalized chip. That chip would be able to resurrect the fallen PEA unit if they died by putting the chip in a new PEA unit's body. In this way, as long as we had the chip, the units with the best results would then be immortalized. Each of the AEP unit had the capacity to support 3 chips. They were also prototypes. I am sure the AEA units would have a large capacity. Still, for each major clan, there were 3 AEP units. That meant that each region on the continent would have at least 9 if the PEA units were able to complete enough missions. That made it a race among their own. That was why they all were antsy every time I saw them.
Obviously, we would have to be there to extract the chip from their corpse before we could bring them back in a new body. It was also a good thing for the AEP units that were getting fucked. With the chips in their bodies, they could take the best attribute of the PEA and boost their own efficiency 10%. With 3 inside them, it was possible for an AEP unit to get a 30% buff to a stat. The bonus nanites was good too. I had 9 AEPs with me and a lab full of PEA units that were not aligned with any clan. We did not need them. They were just sent here to be here. Aside from Heat Clan, we were the only lab open. They had nowhere else to go. Except for Keith's kids. They left with him every evening to come back in the mornings. In the time I was away, he was able to see 2 children reach maturity. The third was still a bit young, so she had to continue coming to the lab. The others were all ready to be used at any time. That meant that they were with Keith as part of his clan. Like clockwork, Keith arrived to pick up his daughter. I looked at Keith and he frowned at me. "I don't have all day." he said.
