“Of course, my Seth.”
“NAID mentioned there were things about your species you didn’t understand, but then she got squirrelly.”
His eyebrows drew together. “I don’t know what that word means.”
“Squirrelly?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Evasive?” I offered.
“I don’t know what it was referring to.”
“She,” I corrected.
“Excuse me?”
“NAID is a she, not an it.” I swallowed, unable to keep from tensing.
“NAID is not a she. It's an it. A computer program.”
I crossed my arms to conceal my shaking. “NAID told me she likes to be referred to as a she, sosheis a she.”
His mouth curled into a frown, and my breathing turned shallow as I scooted away from him, but Kal did nothing. After a moment, he asked, “NAID told you this directly?”
“Yes.”
Kal’s head tilted to the side, making his long earrings kiss his neck. “Interesting.” Before I could say anything, he continued, “You are correct. If NAID identifies as a female, then she is indeed a she.”
I sagged against the arm of the couch from his easy response. I had not made him angry. This time.
“As to the other matter, I don’t know what she was referring to.”
“NAID?” I asked. “What were you talking about?”
This time, she took the appearance I was used to. “Yes, Seth?”
“What were you talking about earlier?”
“Copulation habits?”
Heat shot to my face.
Kal whipped toward me. “Copulation?”
“The other thing,” I said, trying to change the subject before Kal could read into it.
“His inner fire.”
“Oh, that. I would like to visit the other topic.” His tail flicked wildly.
“I don’t. Explain the inner fire thing.”
NAID smirked, and the monitor went blank. If she had a physical body, I would’ve contemplated strangling her for her obvious amusement.
“We’ll talk about copulation another time,” he said.
Or never.
