        Still, it seemed to be satisfied with the progress they had made.  He looked at it again, thoughtfully.  When he had first seen it up close, he had come to the conclusion that it was female, and its voice seemed to support that theory.  Of course, they all spoke like that, and it was unlikely they were all female.  Maybe they didn’t even have genders, or maybe it was something weird, like an earthworm or a tree, or something he couldn’t even fathom.  It could even be a robot.