"Yeah. And they figure that you're a hybrid," Jason said, "so they want your genetic material as well. That's why she asked if you could do Mage stuff."

"A hybrid?" Kira asked, hoping that her voice wasn't trembling. "Like a farm animal?"

"Well, genetically, sort of. The term just means—"

"I know what the term means!" Think, Kira. What would Mother and Father be doing now? Trying to learn more. "Why are you telling me this? Why are you working against your mother and her company?"

"I don't want her to win," Jason said, hostility simmering in his voice. "Not her company, which I think is way too big and too powerful but hey I'm just a kid so what do I know, and especially not her."

"You don't like your mother?"

"Don't like? Yeah." Jason stopped walking, gazing into the sky. "I don't want to bore you with my hard life story. But I guess I have to explain. My parents got divorced even before I was born. They decided they hated each other before their honeymoon was over," Jason said, trying to sound sarcastic. Kira heard something else in his voice, something sad and deep, but didn't interrupt. "That's why I look different. They couldn't agree on a genetic package, so to spite each other they mix-and-matched me."

She barely managed not to look at him in horror. "How could anyone—"

"I'm just a weapon for them to use against each other," Jason continued. "They only keep me for the visitation periods because they think it bothers the other one. And they constantly tell me how messed up I am because I supposedly take after the other one. Just a useless, worthless parasite, that's me."

"Jason, I am so sorry—"

"Hey, I don't need pity. It's my life. I'm just explaining," Jason said. "Why do you think I'm here? Because I was on a six-month visitation with my mom. So, technically, she could take me on this trip and be gone for twenty years Earth time, but only have me with her for about four months on the ship. What a great way to mess up my ties with my dad, huh? Actually my dad would be really happy not to have to deal with me for twenty years, except that he never wants her to win, so he's probably raising a big legal fuss back on Earth." Jason inhaled slowly. "Yeah. It's great to be wanted."

"You're telling me all this to get revenge on your mother?" Kira asked.

"Well, yeah. I mean, I made up my mind when you were nice to me. But what they want to do to you sucks." His glance at her was challenging. "That matters. I mean, not wanting you guys to get messed over. There's nothing wrong with that. I can worry about it and want to help, can't I?"