"Of course you can," Kira said, wondering why Jason sounded like he thought he had to defend caring about what happened to others. "What about—"

"The app!" Jason was looking at the space in front of his face, his fingers moving before him. "I've got to kill it. Don't say anything about what I said. Just talk about dumb stuff from now on. Okay?"

"All right." Kira waited until Jason made a small, unhappy hand gesture toward his ears. "Uh, I've been wondering. A lot of us have. What exactly does oh-kay mean?"

"Huh?"

"Does it stand for something?"

"I don't know." Jason squinted at her as if trying to see if she was serious. "It means okay. Like, uh, good, fine, sure, all right…"

"It means all right?" Kira managed to smile naturally at Jason despite her inner turmoil. "That's what I guessed."

"Okay." Jason turned and began walking back toward the ship, very awkward now that his burst of information had been exhausted. He had seemed lively and engaged for a brief while, but once again appeared sullen and unhappy.

Based on what he had told her, Kira wondered if Jason was ever happy. "What's Urth like?"

"Boring. You people have funny accents, you know."

"How nice of you to point that out," Kira said, trying not to sound too resentful.

He must have picked up on her tone, though, giving Kira a worried glance. "I say stupid things like that all the time. I'm not too smart, I guess."

"You seem smart enough to me," Kira said, wondering if Jason was now making excuses or seeking sympathy. "When are people going to get to see the inside of your ship?"

He shook his head, his unhappiness deepening. "They're not. We were told none of you get to go into the ship. Too dangerous and, uh, disruptive."

Disruptive. There it was again. Kira, too shocked at the disrespect toward everyone on this planet to be angry right away, fumbled for something to say.

Jason looked over at the cavalry, standing next to their mounts in a long row, the horses shifting position slightly and occasionally trying to nip at each other. "Those are cool. Are they real?"

"Nothing is real," Kira said, unable to resist the chance to lighten the mood.

"Uh…what?"

"That's what my father says. Everything we see is an illusion created by our minds. But those cavalry are part of the illusion, yes."

To her surprise, Jason laughed. "You got me. Yeah, the observer effect and all that. From what we've heard of your, uh, Mages, scientists on Earth have speculated that their magic involves some sort of quantum-level manipulation."

Kira shrugged. "My uncle Mechanic Calu figured that out twenty years ago."