The Iron Man [Serial]

Resonance

"I don't argue that," David said plainly.

There was a, perhaps, awkward silence, until Nikola called from the large step at the upper end of the gallery. "This area shows especially detailed work, considering the other chambers," he said. "A system of baffles?"

"Baffles?" Prim asked.

"An arrangement of vertical slabs, some which could be raised or lowered."

"The portcullis system," Howard said.

"What's a portcullis?" I whispered.

"A gate that raises and lowers," Alpha said, "as on a castle."

Nikola ducked through the antechamber into the next room, which I supposed was the King's chamber of which one often heard. I stood up on the ramp to follow, and gave Murphy a hand along the way.

"We sometimes use the ladders to check the so-called relieving chambers," Howard said, "But, we're nearly running into the time when Selim's group is scheduled to enter. The chambers are rather cramped, in any case."

I went after Prim and Nikola through the antechamber and into the chamber beyond. The blue glow of the wireless bulbs and golden light of oil lamps colored the rectangular chamber, but I thought it might be lined in that the reddish  granite common to the Necropolis.  The walls were littered with scratched graffiti.

At the far end, there was rough-edged stone box, and to the right a hole in the floor partially covered by a stone block.

Murphy came into the room, followed by Thierry and Alpha.

"Try hitting the sarcophagus," Murphy said, tipping his head towards the stone box.

Thierry looked to Alpha with brows raised, and then walked across the floor and, holding his umbrella like a golf club, took a swing at the sarcophagus. It rang hollow, like a deep bell.

"What are you doing?" Howard cried as he entered the chamber.

"Guides used to do this all the time," Murphy said.

"Just...." Howard trailed off.

"The acoustics in these stone monuments is fascinating," Prim said, "there was a small chamber in the Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni, which Alpha and I visited on Malta, in which acoustic resonance allows a low voice to be amplified and heard throughout the adjacent chamber."

"Like a chant?" I said it mostly to myself. I went towards one of the side walls, took a series of meditative breaths, and then began an Om chant.

ॐ

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Chapter 78!

I dedicate this chapter to DavidFarland whose work Drawing on the Power of Resonance in Writing I have been reading.

The Iron Man is entered in the Chosen One Contest at  FANTASCI If you want to support it, it's running against seven other works in Round 1 - Group 7. Even if you don't vote for any of the works, there are good Science Fiction and Fantasy stories to read.

The audio media for this chapter is "Initiation: Psalm 3" from the Paul Horn album Inside the Great Pyramid. I believe this track was recorded in the King's chamber. It's not identified in the track itself, but from listening to the other album tracks which do have some artist introductions, I think it is. This one is a vocal recording, but most of the album is like New Age Jazz Flute. I started to just get sleepy while writing, so at some point I stopped listening to it while writing and listened to the Chelsea Wolfe album Abyss instead.

The in-chapter images are, again, from the collection by John and Morton Edgar. These are all titled: "chambre du roi dans la pyramide de Khéops".

Also, if you caught it, I think Alpha made the first suggestion that he's acquainted with a historical Faisal associated with Syria during the Great War.