"Ah." He lays his finger alongside his nose and gives her a knowing wink. What is the girl driving at? Does she suspect? No, surely not, he thinks. Then the question would be people who have to lie for their work, or people who lie and it's dangerous, or some other naive circumlocution of what spy-work entails. But...

But he doesn't want her digging too deeply into him and what he does. What he is. Not now, on the eve of his betrayal. The fewer the number of people who think about his character, the better. Especially Beth, who doesn't like him, but who seems inclined to search for the best in people.

So he tries to defuse her curiosity with a cheeky little joke. "That's called a politician. You run into all sorts of them on Beta. We haven't got so many here - a pleasant side-effect of living under an Emperor instead of dealing with a democracy."