"Hello, Bella. Hello, Zag."

"Crystal clear," laughs Sherlock. "Thank you, Zag."

"'Testing, testing, testing' and then 'no problem'."

"Noone! Lin linoone?"

"According to Bella, I am psychic," says Sherlock.

"Did he ask how you do it?" Bella laughs.

"Yes he did!"

Sherlock laughs.

Bella hangs up the phone and wanders back towerward with her Zag at her heels, nuzzling the backs of her legs every few steps and threatening to trip her. She tolerates this with good grace. "So you work over the phone," she says.

"Apparently so."

"You want me to bring you a job application from Charlie's department, when I swing by with the Porygon sweaters?"

"I think that is a fine plan."

"Charlie'll be thrilled."

"Hooray for Charlie."

"How amenable are the vocalizations to exact-words translation? That'll probably come up if the 'mon are being witnesses."

"...How do you mean?"

"Like, if somebody's Starly sees a couple of shoplifters arguing, and the conversation the Starly witnesses contains, like, proper nouns - names - times, little clues that could be used to identify them - will the Starly be able to reproduce those to you, assuming it's smart and has a good memory and wants to help?"

"Yes."

"Interesting. I wonder how that works."

"I haven't the least idea."

"Does it only work if you're reproducing meanings or could a Pokémon give you - song lyrics in languages you don't know? Outright nonsense words? Onomatopoetic sound effects?" asks Bella in fascination.

"I have not studied these questions extensively."