[He's greatly regretting the entire plan to have this conversation right now, but then again maybe that means it was a good idea after all; if he's nervous, then he probably has reason to be concerned about his motives. Right? Right.

So although he really wants to make an excuse to get out of the conversation, he resists the urge and focuses on explaining.]

I wanted to go over more details on attempts to find it, and how to handle the issue of those here who might want to cause it harm.

[And of course get a better sense for how Michael feels about the whole subject, but he decides not to mention that.]