a few deep breaths and let your head clear.”
“Greetings, Salvo.” The intuitive computer responded to their arrival, bathing the living room in soft yellowish light.
Natalie didn’t pull away. She lifted her head off his shoulder and opened her eyes. “That was...strange. I expected streaks of light and bursts of color.”
“Sorry to disappoint you.” He smiled. He did that a lot when Natalie was around. “I manipulate subspace where there is neither light nor sound. Just energy.”
“Yeah, I felt that part. My fingers are still tingling.”
He wanted to make other parts of her anatomy tingle. He wanted to watch her back arch and hear her moan. He cleared his throat and ignored his body’s response to his current line of thinking. “Would you like a glass of water or—”
“Your com-queue is nearly full, Salvo. Would you like me to prioritize your messages?” Intuitive computers weren’t supposed to be sentient, but Salvo frequently noticed ICA responding in ways that hinted at emotion and individual thought rather than anticipatory programming. A newsfeed scrolled across the wall directly in front of them and the air purifier cycled on.
Natalie looked at him with a knowing smile. “She sounds lovely. Does she have a name?”
The computer had been programmed with a soft, undeniably feminine voice. It was one of thirty available in the system, but he found this one soothing. “I call her ICA, but it’s an acronym not a name.”
“What does it stand for?”
“Intuitive computerized assistant.” He took a step back and motioned around them. “Welcome to my humble home. What’s mine is yours.” The offer sounded strange even to him, and he wasn’t sure what made him say it. He might have known Natalie for the better part of two lunar cycles, but this was the first time they’d been alone together.
She slipped her hands into the pockets of her long, full skirt and continued her visual assessment. They stood in the middle of his living room. The area must feel large, even extravagant after the cramped confines of Lake Walker cottages. The kitchen was situated in one corner of the spare room, a table and chairs nearby. A short hallway led to the bedrooms, and the living room’s primary seating area was arranged around a fireplace. The far wall was constructed entirely of selidium resin. The transparent surface presented a view of city lights, sharp-angled silhouettes, even a narrow ribbon of the star-dotted sky.
“What do you do when the sun rises?” She motioned toward the wall of windows. “Do you have a sunscreen dispenser in your shower?”
“That’s a great idea, but no. The panels darken automatically,” he explained. “The brighter the light, the darker the shading.”
Nodding in acknowledgment, she strolled toward the windows. “My parents and most of my siblings preferred the suburbs, but I’ve always been a city girl at heart.” She gazed out in silent wonder.
He watched her, mesmerized by her exotic beauty. Her skin appeared supple and golden brown, a stark contrast to the shimmering ivory of his people. She’d pulled her dark hair back into a messy braid. He preferred it loose, the thick waves framing her lovely face. Her endless nearly black eyes were also a rarity in the world below. Everything about her was fascinating and unique. It didn’t matter what he was doing. If she was present, he couldn’t keep his attention focused on anything but her.
“Riverside is entirely underground,” she was saying, “so their timetable has nothing to do with the sun. Lake Walker Village operates on a split schedule. How do the inhabitants of Ghost City deal with their susceptibility to sunlight?”
He stood beside her, hands clasped behind his back. It was the only way he could keep himself from touching her. “Everyone deals with it in their own way. There are various sunscreens. Many of us simply avoid the sun as much as possible. The city has an underground transit system, not unlike the subways found on Earth, so transportation is not generally a problem.”
She turned her head sharply and looked at him, expression quizzical. “You and Jaron speak of Earth with confusing familiarity. Have you visited my planet?”
An enigmatic smile was his only response to her question. Instead, he continued his explanation. She would be shocked if she found out just how many of his people had visited Earth. “The entrance to most of our buildings and a network of pedestrian tunnels are also underground. Moving about is relatively easy without ever going outside.” He pushed open the door at one end