âYeah, thatâs perfectly fine! Itâs nice to meet you, Aerith.â He smiled at her, and then turned to the pod which hovered close by. âWeâre going to help her out. She asked for a bodyguard.â âAnalysis: This lifeform does not appear to be in danger,â Pod 153 informed him. âNot right now, but she could be later.â He was a tad annoyed with the pod at the moment, but it would subside. âProposal: Scan the area for possible threats.â âYeah, letâs do that,â he said irritably. His covered eyes shifted back to the woman. âHey Aerith, what do you need protect from?â
Her eyes quickly locked onto the⌠machine? It was floating and actually SPEAKING. Greens sparkled and widened in girlish surprise. She held her breath, as if that would stifle whatever excitement began to explode within. It was a legitimate talking and intelligent robot! The only robots she ever saw or dealt with were simply war machines.
Aerith glanced at Nines, attempting to bring herself down long enough to answer his question, âOh, uh, this violent guy. I may or may not have touched his perfect, apple-bottom booty. And he took offense to that. Honestly, I didnât think heâd flip out at me. Anyway, pretty sure heâs gunning for my head now.â
Gears switched as if she hadnât just casually talked about possibly being murdered, âIs this your robot!? Iâve never seen one that can talk like that! At least on its own! I saw war machines and stuff like that, but nothing like this!!!! Can I touch it? Or⌠uh⌠does it have pronoun preferences? It seems mean to call something âitâ.â
