PARA: What's going to happen to me?
PETEY: An excellent question, Ms. Ventura.
NARRATOR: Parnassus Dom, the outed, de-fanged Int-Aff-Int agent Para "Usar" Ventura...
PETEY: Traditionally, enemy spies are executed, exchanged for other spies, or traded for political capital. But I don't do executions, and you aren't worth much in trade.
PARA: I'm sure U.N.S. Int-Aff-Int would give you something for me.
PETEY: They won't grant me an alliance, and I already have access to more information than they would knowingly offer.
PARA: Then you know I'm no threat. I'm not an enemy, either. Just send me home.
PETEY: Ah, home! That place that no place is like. The place where your heart is, and your hat hangs.
PETEY: Let's talk about "home" for a moment.
PETEY: I took the liberty of scanning you rather thoroughly. I found a shaped charge making up most of your fourth cervical vertebra.
PETEY: I removed it and placed it in a net-accessible chamber. After fourteen minutes and twenty seconds a hypernet packet arrived and the charge exploded.
PETEY: Conclusion: they hope you're dead. If I send you home they'll be disappointed, and then they'll mindrip you in a vain attempt to ascertain which of their precious not-so-secrets you spilled while in my care.
PARA: Wait... which secrets did I spill?
PETEY: "Vain attempt," I said.