X marks the spot

[zen_navigator]

Who: Dirk and OPEN
What: Productivity is the enemy of something or other. Map making.
Where: Out and about
When: Day 95

In an effort to get a better idea of the lay of the land, Dirk has made a rough map of the town, complete with all buildings, pathways, and obtrusive foliage. Like most of his projects, however, Dirk's map has quickly transformed into something obtuse and oddly managed. His current project is cameras. If he can mark down where every camera is, he hopes it will reveal where there aren't any cameras.

He's assuming for the moment that all of the buildings are wired, so he's starting outside.

Starting in the early afternoon, Dirk works his way across the town starting near the lighthouse and eventually working his way back through the town. He's trying to be systematic about his recording, but it's hard to be systematic when some of the cameras are so easy to miss. He climbs a few trees with his red pen tucked behind his ear, he peers up into the eaves of buildings, he checks under benches and around shrubbery, and he's filling up his map with small red triangles.

Comments

[zen_navigator]

Well, if he's going to be professional about it Dirk's not sure if he wants him along. "I think you'll find that my methods are quite unlike any traditional police work you may have been a participant in in the past."

It's not that far to the Library and they soon reach the doors. Dirk yanks the door open to allow Daneel in.

[thezerothlaw]

Daneel enters, though it's strange for that courtesy to be extended to him.

"How might your methods differ? I would not wish to interfere with the process that you find successful. That would not be productive."

Surely not. He knows partner Elijah's methods, but certainly they were not the same as every member of the police force. They had been good, after all, but they had been his own. And Dirk... well, Dirk is not partner Elijah. That is very clear.

[zen_navigator]

"The police tend to stick to a formulaic approach to crime solving." Which is to say, the normal, sane way. Dirk obviously disapproves of such things.

As they walk inside, he props himself on the edge of a table to sip while he explains. "My approach is more holistic, as I said. Holistic as in 'of the whole'. It's the principles of quantum mechanics applied in everyday use. Because everything in the universe is fundamentally connected, all I must do is follow one thread, no matter how tangential, and I am invariably led to the solution to the crime."

[thezerothlaw]

Daneel considers this, even as he approaches a likely looking bookshelf. He's not convinced that quantum mechanics can really apply in investigative situations.

"I'm not sure that this logically follows," he says, cautious about offering a contradiction. "While I do not doubt that truth can be found by investigating apparently inconsequential details -- and indeed, I have seen partner Elijah come to the truth of something by focusing upon a fact that would seem to be irrelevant -- that does not mean that any tangent will lead to a productive solution. How do you determine which tangent is worth following?"

[zen_navigator]

Dirk isn't stranger to people not believing a word of what he has to say, so he goes on to explain without much fuss. "I..." He thinks about this one for a moment. He hasn't really ever been asked how he manages to solve his cases. He just does. "I use my intuition. My delicately attuned faculties, my intelligence."

"Up until my capture, I also had a business partner. I found it helpful to have someone to-" He makes a vague flailing hand gesture. "-bounce ideas off of, to voice my theories to in order to gain better understanding of them myself. The mind does not exist in a vaccuum, Daneel, as I'm sure you know."

[thezerothlaw]

"So if you are uncertain, you have a partner whom you ask questions of to clarify the situation. This is what you want Ned for."

It sounds... very reasonable, put like that, and Daneel can't deny that some good might be done this way.

"I was unaware that quantum mechanics had applications like this, but if Ned wishes to help you, then he should." He's giving his blessing, Dirk. "I only ask that you keep him safe, as he has become very important to me."