"And they're not only going to get the rights to your genetic material, they're going to cheat you," Jason continued. "You won't get money or knowledge out of the deal, just some cheap toys that they think will really impress you."

"But we thought your ship would bring us some devices and information to help our world recover from what was lost," Kira said.

"No," Jason said, looking unhappy. "We know you've got the survival technology manuals from the colony ship, but even if my mom and her company wanted to provide extra stuff, they couldn't because we're legally restricted from giving you anything important."

"What? Why?"

"There are a lot of people back home who think you need to be protected because you've got this unique culture that shouldn't be 'disrupted.' Nobody asked you whether or not you wanted to be disrupted, right? But my mom and her company don't plan on giving you anything worthwhile anyway. They just want to cheat you."

Kira put her hands to her mouth, trying to think, her mind focusing on one word. "What exactly does exotic mean?"

"Uh, unusual, different, exciting. You know."

"My mother? Me? You think we're…beautiful?"

"No," Jason insisted. "Exotic. That's not the same thing. Beautiful is easy. Just select for widely admired appearance traits. Exotic is a sort of random thing, where features come together in unexpected ways."

Features coming together in unexpected ways. That didn't sound like a compliment, even though Jason apparently thought it was. "Why would anyone want to look just like me?"

"Uh, not like you," Jason said, sounding apologetic. "Your mom. Lady Mari. Back on Earth there have been vids and books and stuff. I'm sure the details are all wrong, but the basic thing is, your mom is really famous and sort of a folk hero."

Kira heard someone laughing and realized it was her. "My mother is so famous on Urth that people want to make their children copies of her?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, that's just so…awful." Kira managed to stop her bitter laughter. She had spent her life worrying how she could ever live up to being the daughter of the daughter. But her mother's shadow extended out to the stars. Even on Urth people would look at Kira and see simply a copy of Lady Mari, a copy who could never match the original.

She had to fight off the urge to scream.

"They want your dad's genetic material, too," Jason continued, unaware of Kira's internal turmoil. "That Mage stuff has them stumped, if it's true, but there must be some genetic component. There's something about the Mage thing that has them excited, but I don't know what it is."

Kira's felt an odd tingle cut through her distress as if trying to focus her attention. "They want to know a lot about Mages?"