ACOUSTIC METADATA

​

• TIMESTAMP: Summer, 1981

• LOCATION: University Library (Acoustic Research Phase)

• CAPABILITY: 0.5 Hz Hypocritical Offset Detection

• SUBJECT STATUS: Evolution from Human to Listening Post

​

​

No one is stronger than I. Those "acousticians" in their labs only measure decibels. They will never hear the carnal overtones vibrating from a row of traditional silk buttons. They could never calculate the 0.5 Hz hypocritical offset in a powerful man’s baritone—the specific frequency of arrogance.

 

They study waves. I hear Destiny.

 

To me, the human body is nothing but a carbon-based vibration device. The mechanical friction of 206 bones is a broadcast I cannot ignore. Circulatory, digestive, reproductive—I switch channels at will. I am a listening post that the surveillance teams in Compound No. 7 could never imagine.

 

The black crows in the trees are noisy amateurs. They hear predators; I hear the muffled sigh of a cigarette butt hitting a Persian rug miles away. I hear the exact moment a vocal cord named "Solemnity" snaps under the weight of desire.

 

I closed the book. The White Crow trembled in my spine. They see a visually impaired cripple, a boy surviving on his father’s shadow. They see the dyed hair, the wood-like silence.

 

"Heh." I touched my ears. I removed my shades. My eyes, scorched by the overload of sampling, throbbed behind a thin red mist. I breathed. I almost wanted to thank them. Without their betrayal, I would still be human.