A scientist, Paulson, who specializes in neurolinguistic computing, built an ASL translation system into the chat software she uses to video-call with her deaf sister Tasha. It creates an avatar for her that speaks verbally while Tasha inputs her sign language hand movements, and vice versa for Paulson while she speaks. The system also reads body language as data, like gestures and facial expression, to provide more accurate translations. Tasha is an avian conservationist, so her house is filled with birds. She also frequently invites visitors, like graduate students and other conservationists, to stay in her home and see her private aviary. One day, a call comes to Paulson's home from Tasha's computer and Paulson's daughter Billie answers. The caller's avatar is too generic to recognize, and it doesn't seem to understand Billie. All it can say is "Hello, hello." Paulson means to call Tasha to look into it, but forgets. The generic avatar calls again, answered by both of Paulson's children, who are entertained by its incompetence, and Paulson calls Tasha this time. Tasha knows nothing about it. Paulson with her wife and kids go to visit Tasha. While everyone is in the kitchen catching up, Paulson checks out the computer. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, she sends a clone of the call record to her own computer to look into later. The avatar calls again, and this time it understands more words. After watching Paulson's wife talk to Tasha both verbally and signed, Billie does the same. She has turned off her own avatar to do so, exposing her face to the Internet. Paulson is concerned about this and warns against it, but also lets her stay on the call. She sets off to Tasha's house to get to the bottom of who this caller is, suspecting the worst. But when she gets to Tasha's, what she finds is not an Internet hacker--it's a bird. The bird's gestures and sounds are being translated by Paulson's software. She immediately brings it to the lab. The bird will only talk to Billie, so with her in front of the screen, her coworker witnesses the bird talking through the translation software. She has broken new ground that could change the world forever, all because she wanted to give her sister a voice.