Difference between revisions of "Scoping Out Arthur"

Arthur lives basically downtown. Near the intersection of Winder and Woodward, across Highway 75 from Comerica Park. A combination residential and commercial building, he lives on the second floor, has his offices on the first floor, and the laboratory is in the basement. The sign up front is vague, and tells you nothing unless you're already aware of who you're trying to visit.

When Alma arrives, it's Jaylen who answers the door. "Good morning, Dr. Hackenmiller-Simons's office. Please come in. May I ask what business you have today?"

It's a tidy day for Alma because she's been working indoors. She's carrying a broken purple umbrella, but it's not dripping too much because she's tried her best to shake off all the water.

"Hi Jaylen, I don't know if you remember me. We met at firing range, briefly. You are a chemical engineering student? I'm Alma Hunter, a visiting behavioral ecologist." She holds up a bag with squares of acryllic. "The other day Dr. Hackenmiller-Simon mentioned that he has a working laser cutter here. The one at the university needs repairs. I was wondering if I could possibly submit a job here? I've got some svg files and materials."

Jaylen nods, and closes the door once she comes in. "That's right," he nods, gesturing for her to have a seat. There is a glass meeting table, surrounded by comfortable desk chairs. "I will go ask him." He then steps out , and can be heard knocking on a door.

Arthur comes on up. In his coat, and comes out. "Ms. Hunter, welcome, please sit. You need a laser cutter job done?"

"Hello Dr. Heckenmiller-Simon." Alma sits. "Yes, but I don't know if you are set up to accept jobs from the public. The school's equipment is down for maintenance, but I was really in the flow for this job and I want to see if I can piece the parts together today."

Arthur nods. "In general I won't, but I'll listen to a proposal. My lab is spinning up, and I do have idle time right now. Can you explain to me what you're trying to do?" He then sits across from her. "Coffee?"

"Oh yes please! Thank you," she grabs some coffee. "This is actually a side project. Normally I'm assembling devices to determine the cognitive abilities of animals, corvids in my case. But I do some crafts ont he side." She pulls her notebook out and opens it to a page with drawings. The page is titled Optimal/Pessimal Directions. multiple smoothed octogons are drawn in a maze. There is an exploded diagram with a crank, various labels, 'oil?' 'decay rate?'

"This is more like concept art. It will help me ponder the affects of time and decay and time reversal on a rigid system. Sort of, but not at all, like a prayer wheel."

Arthur takes out his phone and taps into it. Murmuring as he types "Just a moment. Let me pull up the group chat. Could someone please bring two mugs of coffee to the front office." Then looking back to her. "Sorry, we're going to have a second machine installed up front, but I only moved here recently. I'm still setting up some of the niceties. It's not long before Jaylen comes in with two mugs, plain white each, setting them in front of each scientits. "Thank you Jaylen."

He leaves, and Arthur goes on. "So this is a personal project. You need different variations of these octagons cut, what, about 6 or so of each?"

"No worries," Alma says. She picks up the coffee when it arrives. "Thanks," to Jaylen. "Not exactly. I'm still thinking the piece through. I want to have tiles of the same size for now. I want more than what would go in the ultimate design because I'll be playing with color, drilling and cutting in to things. I've played with some cardboard already, but now I want to experiment with clear tiles." She wave her hand slightly while desribing things, as though to point out where something would be, or to demonstrate a handle turning. "This is a little outside of my work-work," she says.

Arthur sips his coffee, but then looks at her puzzled. "So this is... art, and not a research project?" he smiles." Setting the coffee back down. "Though with the laser cutter you're going to be able to have any color you want, as long as you can supply me the acrylic or wood in that color. I think that'll be fair." Sitting up, nodding. "I'll use your project as a training exercise for the interns. They can learn to use the laser cutter and software by cutting your project."

She smiles, "Oh that's great. I'll get the files to them. I brought a usb stick, but you all prefer, I can upload them somewhere. I've heard weird things about usb sticks." She shrugs and waves her hands, "Some kind of hardware virus things or something? I dunno."

"For the color, I'm not sure if I want to do staining on wood after cutting, or maybe do some weird wash effect with paint on a clear medium. I want to experiment and see what it looks like." Then she stops and says "Oh! you are giving me a great idea. Maybe it could be all clear and someone could pour different colors when they deploy it. What a neat idea!".

"Well, I can leave my supplies here and make sure you all have my contact information. Oh, and I don't know if you remember, but the other day I mentioned the possibility of having a listening station here? I can come by with the equipment once we are ready." She stands up, "I need to head out now. Thanks for the advice and the help."