ardor456: посты

Доброго времени суток! Переводя книгу, столкнулся со следующим:

Tahmina proved to be quite right. After they finally returned to Constantinople, whatever empress regent fury might have fallen on Photius for his presumptuous appointment was almost completely deflected. Photius and Tahmina never had to suffer worse than a Sour Beta. Maybe even Sour Alpha.

и еще:

«I hate mine, too,» Tahmina whispered in return. «So what? It's part of the job. And so what if Theodora has a fit? It won't be worse that a Sour Beta.»
«You're crazy.»
«Am not. First, because Justinian's coming back with us on the same ship, and however much she shrieks and hollers she actually does love the man. God knows why, but she does.»
«Well, that's true.» Since the audience room was now filling up, Photius lowered his voice still further. «What're the other reasons?»
«Belisarius and Antonina are coming back too, all at the same time. She'll be too busy hollering at Belisarius and trying to stay on Antonina's good side at the same time to worry much about what you've done.»
«Well, okay. But that only knocks it down to a Sour Gamma, at best. How do you figure Beta?»
«Because-»
But she had to break off. A Roman courtier was stepping forward. The official audience was about to begin.

Что бы могло означать здесь «Sour Alpha (Beta/Gamma)»?

Текст книги сам по себе довольно сложный, так как изобилует греческими, персидскими, римскими, индийскими терминами и названиями. Часто встречаются идиомы. У кого есть какие соображения по поводу значения данного словосочетания?