Secrets of Sound

"Haaaah huuuuu" Shry took in two heavy breaths.

Shry's heart stirred a little; he knew that nothing would happen even if he took a step, but yet, every time he stood in the Resonance Hall, he couldn't help but get his hopes up, with thoughts like 'Maybe it'll respond this time' or 'I wonder what resonance path I'll have if it responds' running through his head.

Unable to contain that expectant feeling, he took a step...

...

Nothing happened.

(Of course) Shry thought to himself solemnly, feeling the weight of his disappointment.

With that over with, Shry quickly shook his head to get himself out of the tyrannical negative thoughts bombarding his mind and focus on the present activity instead, instantly bringing his excitement back.

(It was in the middle of the hall, right? I guess I'll have to be very careful...)

(Hopefully I won't break anything today) Shry thought as he proceeded with caution.

Shry quickly found the lumps on the ground as he imagined the layout of the hall. And just like his first ever run, he scooted himself slowly and carefully while putting both of his cupped hands far in front of him so he wouldn't accidentally run into the experimental apparatus.

Not too long after, Shry felt something cool and metallic make contact with his cupped hands, and immediately, Shry stopped in his tracks.

(Now where's the hole...?) Shry questioned internally.

Nothing was visible, so in order to find it, Shry, with his hands cupped together, had to awkwardly bump them against the experimental apparatus to feel where the hole was.

Suddenly, right as Shry started to get used to bumping his cupped hands against the experimental apparatus. When he finally found the hole, he put too much weight on his hands, and as a consequence, his whole body began to lean forward, almost causing him to topple over.

"Ah—" Shry accidentally let out a peep.

(That was close!) Shry thought as he took a breath in relief.

Shry's stance was crooked, barely maintaining his balance, as he put as much force as he could on his feet like an anchor while impressively keeping both his hands cupped while doing so.

Using his upper body strength, Shry gradually pushed backwards, and steadily, his body began to straighten up, back on both feet.

"Huuuuu" Shry let out another sound unintentionally, but he didn't seem to be bothered that he did that.

After going through the Resonance Hall god knows how many times, Shry no longer stays quiet on purpose anymore.

After trying so many different things to get the Resonance Hall to respond, Shry has no reason to be worried about making sounds anymore; in fact, he'll be glad if the sounds he makes actually get a response from the Resonance Hall.

...

After getting himself back on track, Shry gave his body a brief stretch to both cool off and prepare himself for the experiment.

Now familiar with where the hole is, Shry held his cupped hands to the same level, and just like before, he began poking around the experimental apparatus, with the difference that he's much more cautious this time.

(It should be around here...)

"There!" Shry said out loud,

Right as Shry got a good grasp on the general location and placement of the experimental apparatus, a vivid mental image of it began to form inside of Shry's head.

(Hmmm, I wonder if I can hear the Natural Node trapped between my hands?) Shry wondered internally.

Tempted by his curiosity, Shry began to lift his hands up, unconsciously clenching them harder as they got closer to his right ear.

*Uuuu*

The sound was extremely faint, almost unintelligible. It wasn't any sound Shry had heard before, but yet it also had a familiar feeling to it, almost like he had known it his entire life.

(I don't get it. Am I really the only one that can do this? It just seems so... normal) Shry questioned internally.

Finally done with his little experiment, Shry stopped dilly-dallying, and with the mental image he now had, Shry easily found where the hole was, and without a second's delay, he squatted down and carefully slid his cupped hands into it, trying his best not to touch the sides, in fear of accidentally breaking something.

As Shry's cupped hands went deeper into the experimental apparatus, he didn't anticipate that he'd have to reach that far in, so he tried his best to adapt, carefully and awkwardly waddling with his squatted legs to get closer.

Shry reached further and further in, and right as he began to run out of space to waddle to, the experimental apparatus suddenly began to move.

The miniature machinery in between the layers began to rumble at the same time, slowly and gently moving plates of material reflecting each of the layers around Shry's arms to compensate for the empty spaces that make up the hole that Shry's cupped hands went through.

One by one, the gates shut, clamping onto Shry's arms without leaving gaps.

(That was intense!) Shry thought as a bead of sweat ran down his face.

Somehow, throughout the process, Shry didn't freak out or flinch too much, because if he did, then some of the material that was clamping around his hands would've broken.

"Jeez, Mr. Luftra could've warned me about this..." Shry spoke out loud, his annoyed voice faintly echoing through the Resonance Hall, knowing full well that Hytile would hear.

As Shry calmed down, he adjusted himself into a more comfortable position, waiting for his echoing voice to fully die down, afraid that it might interfere with the experiment they're doing.

Finally, after about half a minute, the Resonance Hall became completely silent again, but even after that, Shry gave it some more time, patiently waiting until a full minute had passed.

(I wonder if there'll be a mineral in there that can really contain Natural Node.) Shry began imagining, and as a result, his curiosity was piqued.

With a heart full of anticipation, Shry uncupped his hands.

*Pin-*

As Shry released the Natural Node trapped between his hands, his expectations were thoroughly crushed.

Just like every other time he did this, the Resonance Hall response lasted for a split moment. Something that would've usually made Shry giddy, even if he knew that it wasn't truly responding to him, now, for the first time ever, caused him to be disappointed. That's because this time, that response meant something else... It meant that the experiment was unsuccessful.

(Really! Not a single one!) Shry widened his eyes in surprise.

Right as the response from the Resonance Hall finished, all the restraints that were keeping Shry's arms inside the box pulled back, freeing them.

(I wonder if there is really a mineral out there that can actually contain Natural Node?) Shry's mind wandered, immersed in his imagination.

Shry pulled his arms out of the experimental apparatus and immediately began stretching both of his arms upwards to get rid of the stiffness.

With both hands freed, Shry moved them downward, against the floor, to his side, and in the next moment, lifted himself up from the ground by exploiting the strength in his arms until his sleepy leg readjusted.

(Hmmm, I wonder why they haven't been able to discover a way to contain Natural Node yet.) Shry's thoughts continued to wander, but right as he began stretching again while tilting his head upwards in thought, it was then he finally noticed something, something that stunned him.

(Wait! Doesn't the Resonance Hall repel Node?) Shry's eyes widened, and as his thoughts spiraled, his mouth couldn't help but lay agape, showing how frazzled he was after his revelation.

Bursting with excitement from his new discovery, Shry frantically pulled out his controller from his pocket and immediately pressed the open/closed button that's now faintly glowing in the dark.

Impatient, Shry didn't even wait for the entrance to open. Right after he pushed the button to open the Resonance Hall, he instantly began running, expertly trotting through complete darkness like he had clear vision of his surroundings.

Even as he reached the entrance, because he was so quick, the entrance hadn't even opened yet; darkness still draped the halls, not a single peep of light in sight.

"C'mon, why are you sooooo slow!" Shry raised his voice in annoyance.

He even raised his hand, about to bang on the entrance, but luckily, right before he did, his self-control kicked in and made him stop midway.

...

"Sometimes I forget how immature he is..." Hytile shook his head as he giggled quietly, listening to the live feed from the camera.

Below the canopy, Hytile was sitting down, laid back on his chair as he began switching between the data he gathered from the sensors while keeping a tab of the camera feed open so he could hear Shry.

The ring he wore that creates a working monitor from water and light wasn't on his finger anymore; instead, now it's standing vertically on the clear table, like an actual monitor, with the twist being that it could roll off the table anytime if bumped.

(I guess I better prepare another lecture for him.) Hytile thought with a small smile on his face, excited to teach Shry more about the Resonance Hall.

"I'M OUT!" Shry shouted with joy.

As soon as Shry got out, he didn't even bat an eye at the uncomfortable feeling people would get when exiting the Resonance Hall.

"Mr. Luftra, I have a question for you!" Shry toned down his loudness, but his voice still raised as he chased after his curiosity.

Without saying anything, Hytile sat in the same spot relaxedly without moving, only using his left hand to beckon Shry to come over to the canopy so they can have a proper discussion.

...

Promptly making his way to the canopy after Hytile's beckoning, he went in front of Hytile and frantically prepared his questions.

"Doe-"

Before Shry could start spiraling out of control, Hytile stopped him, interrupting him with his voice.

"I know you have a lot of questions right now, but remember... We're still in the midst of an experiment, so please take this seriously." Hytile said in a professional but warm tone.

After Shry heard that, he was opposed to it at first, as his curiosity flared even stronger, but right as he was about to oppose Hytile's words, he couldn't get a word out. Again, his self-control kicked in at the last minute.

"Alright, first of all, have you noticed any difference when the Resonance Hall responded to the Natural Node?" Hytile asked his first question, seeing that Shry had calmed down.

After that, Shry and Hytile discussed the details of their experiment, watching the recording, analyzing the data from the sensors, and ripping apart and delving into the details of Shry's firsthand account.

...

"Hmmm... It's not like none of these minerals have no effects; it's just that none of the effects are potent enough." Hytile tapped his chin as he spoke his thoughts out.

"Only a single microsecond of difference, after going through all those layers" Hytile babbled.

Looking through his hologram-like water screen, Hytile scrolled through tens of tabs with data from each of the sensors, leaving a continuous line of ripples across its glowing screen.

"It's still amazing that we managed to find a material that worked on the first try!" Shry retorted in amazement.

Ever since Shry heard that one of the coppers managed to hold back Natural Node, even though it was barely a microsecond, it's like his mind was opened up to a whole new world of possibilities.

It felt like he was witnessing a sequence for the first time all over again; his imagination sparked and blazed larger and brighter with each second that passed.

"That means I can potentially use Node myself, AND IT'S NATURAL NODE AT THAT," Shry announced maniacally.

While Shry was talking, his hands were busy moving, stretching, and bending across multiple sheets of paper on the table, frantically sketching out dozens of ideas on multiple papers all at once.

However, each of those sketches was no more than the shallow idea of what technology is to a child, a glimpse into the vast imagination of a child.

"Haaaah" (He really did gloss over everything I just said, huh...) Hytile sighed as he thought about the experiment, his disappointment flaring but slowly fading away as he watched Shry's innocent wonder.

"This is exactly what I need!" Shry's eyes shone as his attention drifted to one particular drawing.

Picking up said drawing, Shry climbed onto his chair, kneeling on it as he lifted his body over the table.

"Is this possible?" Shry raised his voice in excitement.

Shry held his drawing with both of his hands as he proudly presented it to Hytile, getting as close as he could.

"That's quite ambitious," Hytile exclaimed in intrigue.

On the paper, Shry drew several circular disks with numerous kinds of incomprehensible circuitry in the middle.

Unfortunately, Shry didn't bring any colored pencils with him today, so it is fairly hard to distinguish between each of the disk drawings, but...

Accompanying each of the disk drawings, on the side or wherever there's space, each of the disks had their own name, as well as an explanation as to what it can do, and on top of all these disk drawings were bold letters spelling out... THE ALL DISK