So here’s something I don’t get.
If you’re going to lie to Heaven about your fraternizing, and you know for a fact that there are extensive records of exactly what went down, why wouldn’t you get rid of the evidence first before going and acting all suspicious? We know from the book Aziraphale is smart. And also very sneaky. Seems a terrible oversight to me.
I don’t think he can. I think the Earth Observation Files are the all seeing eye of God. I think the surveillance is potentially constant — the ‘camera’ is always on, everywhere, always running— but no one is at the other end watching. So Aziraphale (and we) are under constant potential surveillance but mostly none at all. Aziraphale releases I think that no one is actually watching, the surveillance is only potential. And then he thinks nothing more of it.
My guess is that either:
The surveillance is constant, but passive. The images can only be found when you search for them. You have to know what you’re looking for, and you may have to do it manually. Or:
The camera could be looking in at any moment, but you never know which moment. Maybe it’s once every two hundred years. Maybe it’s for a month straight. Anything suspicious noticed at the time is flagged, and can be gathered when it’s time for a crackdown. Or possibly:
A combination of the two, camera could be on you at any moment, you don’t know when. The camera itself may or may not be monitored at any particular moment. Everything it sees is recorded forever and can be accessed at a later date.
And I think it’s very likely Aziraphale doesn’t know which method Heaven employs, another level of uncertainty (though I lean towards the first or possibly the third).
The best thing to do to avoid getting caught?
Never look suspicious on camera. Don’t make direct eye contact in public meetings. Always have an excuse why you just happened to both be there. If it’s an algorithm looking for certain behaviors, try and avoid them.
Assume you’re being recorded at all times.
Never do anything that would make your superiors go back for a closer look. Act normal in meetings. Smile. Lie. Apparently you’re getting away with it, but never let the act fall.
His level of commitment to these rules rises and falls. Pre-arrangement Aziraphale doesn’t seem to be trying to hide their meetings. Just bumping into someone. Casual chat. Nothing to worry about. During the arrangement it varies; at the Globe he’s being cautious, but not quite as cautious as he should. At St James’s Park before the argument, he’s putting on a very good impression of not noticing who is next to him (until he reads the note).
Hmm, I was going to comment that Aziraphale’s level of vigilance probably wavers depending on how safe he feels.
But then I looked at the images again. I can’t pinpoint exactly which part of the conversation the 11 Years Ago picture is, but the one on the far left seems to be right when they start arguing in earnest, and the Globe one is from when they’re swinging back and forth between talking about business and the play.
I wonder if there’s something about that moment of transition that makes them slightly more likely to be noticed? Because Michael only found a few still images, not video of the whole conversation. Did Aziraphale do something at those points to draw a camera’s attention? Or did his exact thought at that moment get the image flagged and stored? 🤔
My brain is now going three different ways. I have no conclusion.
I kind of always assumed the pictures were taken from humans’ memories. When Crowley makes a big deal about who or what has ears, I took that to mean Heaven/Hell could potentially watch earth from the eyes of a mortal, possibly one who ended up in that place after death. None of the pictures are of Aziraphale and Crowley when they were alone together, it’s all from when they were definitely being seen by other humans.
On the one hand, “walls have ears” is a figure of speech meaning “anyone could be listening.” And Crowley, noticing the lack of walls, wavers off on a tangent in a very ADHD way. “Walls…there are no walls…trees…no that sounds weird…ducks? Does that make sense? Do ducks even…?”
On the other hand, the idea that Heaven can pull a memory from any human is very cool. So the moments Michael finds are moments that stuck in the minds of humans nearby.
Seeing two men argue passionately in the park. Being one of the few people at the Globe that day and noticing two men talking to the writer and the actor. But not the Bastille, because no one was there to witness it. Not Rome, because friendly as they were acting, they didn’t stick out from the crowd in a way people would notice.
And there’s no way to erase them, because they don’t exist as physical files until Michael goes to retrieve them.
Yeah, I like this idea.
I’ve been thinking EXACTLY this. A human’s memories are “uploaded” so to speak when they die, to whichever destination got them, but either nobody’s really watching actively, or who ever is watching doesn’t care.
.. I like to think there’s someone who has to watch all the files and saw them popping up but decided not to say anything because they shipped it.
*We* are the Earth Observation Files. :o
