In reply to:

To a complete stranger, what's an NDA?

A legally binding contract, one with penalties for breaking.

In reply to:

If you for a moment slip the code out to a friend, the potential magnitute of disruption to empeg's viable revenue is hard to predict let alone compensate. Would they sue you? How much can they take from you? Would it be the same as the amount the hard to predict financial losses from indiscrete disclosure of intellectual property?

They would (should) sue, for copious amounts of cash (8-9 digits mininum) and kick my said ass around the planet. That's what NDA's are for, and that's why very rarely are they broken.