Look - put yourself in my shoes for a second! You effectively handed me a time bomb, what was I supposed to do? Give it back and wait for it to go off in your face?!

[ At the time, it genuinely did seem like the best option. Peter doesn't have to suffer. Qubit doesn't have to watch helplessly. Anchor doesn't lose its second-best technician. Everyone wins - at least, until something like this happens.

But Qubit based that logic on one critical postulate, which he's only now starting to realize was flawed. And that was the assumption - no, the fear - that Peter wouldn't be able to handle finding out the truth. Not an unreasonable fear, given his experience, but...

Do I really have that little faith in him? ]