Concatenation (слэш)

It’s rare that Q comes up against anything that puzzles him at all. Rarer still that he can’t quickly work through whatever barriers present themselves to resolving it. And yet people, certain people, present predicaments through which Q can’t navigate as cleanly as he can through code and number, through data and encryption. Too many variables. Too many illogical processes.
He doesn’t know what game Bond is playing, or if he’s even playing one at all or simply defaults to flirtation. But that’s the only key that comes to mind, again and again and again:
Q is being flirted with by 007. And what’s worse, he’s not sure that he minds it.