Endnote 42 — Pretending only to pretend
Restates the tangle plainly: Marathe's superiors think he is only pretending to betray them to win cardiac technology for his wife, but he is in fact really betraying them — probably for that same medical tech — and so is only "pretending only to pretend" (p. 995).
What links here
- Gertraude's terminal illness; Marathe agrees to betray the A.F.R. for U.S. cardiac care — the triple/quadruple-agent structure
- The cell penetrated from within: Marathe's quadruple-agent structure
- The mountainside interface with Marathe — the Office runs the A.F.R. from inside
- The price of the betrayal: her medical care is what Marathe sells his loyalty for