"What are you doing there, Q?"

Sighing wearily, he turned his chair around. "Bond, you have asked this a hundred times already. It does not concern you."

The agent grinned mischievously. "But I want to know how it works!"

"No, you don't. You're not interested in anything I make that doesn't explode or fire bullets."

A few moments of blessed silence followed.

Then: "But maybe I would be interested, if you'd stop fiddling with the wire and told me how this functions."

Q turned around fully, pulled his chair directly to the sofa Bond was perched on, and stared him squarely in the eye. And before Bond could open his mouth fully, the quartermaster snapped "Bond, I have neither the time nor the crayons to explain this to you."

The clicking keys which normally filled the branch stopped. There was only silence.

Q was sure he'd never be seen again. Bond had his pride and the minions were afraid for a reason.

And then, applause exploded.

They didn't see Bond again for four weeks.