The Second Chamber was smaller than the first, more intimate. The corridor connecting them sloped downward at angle that made Lia's inner ear protest, that suggested they were moving not just deeper underground but also sideways somehow, at angle to normal geometry.
"The chambers exist in dimensional stacks," Thorne explained as they descended. "Each one occupies slightly different position in quantum possibility space. You're still physically in the catacombs beneath Aethelgard, but you're also stepping between dimensional layers. That's why the geometry feels wrong—because it is wrong by three-dimensional standards."
"I'm a physics major," Elena said, "and that should be impossible. You can't just walk between dimensional layers. There's no mechanism."
"There is mechanism," Omar corrected. He'd been muttering to himself since the First Chamber, fingers tapping complex patterns against his thigh. "The Resonance Key creates quantum tunneling probability field. When Thorne activated it, she didn't just generate frequency—she created bridge between dimensional states. We're not walking through physical space anymore. We're walking through probability distribution."
"How do you know that?" Marcus asked.
Omar blinked, looked surprised. "I... don't know how I know that. It's just there. Like someone installed the knowledge directly into my consciousness while we were experiencing 396 Hz."
"That's the Codex's broadcast working through you," Thorne said. "963 Hz—divine consciousness frequency. You're connected to information source that transcends individual knowing. As we go deeper, as you experience more frequencies, that connection will strengthen. You'll know things you shouldn't know, understand concepts you've never studied, perceive structures that human education doesn't teach."
"That's horrifying," Omar said.
"That's transcendence," Thorne corrected. "Same thing, different perspective."
They reached the Second Chamber.
It was indeed smaller—circular, maybe fifteen feet in diameter, with domed ceiling covered in those living symbols. But unlike the First Chamber's stone pedestal, this one contained technological equipment: computers, monitors, quantum processors, fiber optic cables running through walls and floor, disappearing into dimensional angles that shouldn't exist.
"This is Professor Finch's research station," Thorne said. "He set it up two months ago when he realized the chambers weren't just philosophical spaces—they were functional quantum computational environments. The frequencies don't just affect human consciousness. They affect quantum states directly, allowing information processing that's impossible in normal reality."
Marcus moved to the equipment immediately, started examining configurations. "This is quantum entanglement terminal. Multiple qubit processors running in parallel, but the entanglement structure is... wrong. These qubits shouldn't maintain coherence across these distances. They should decohere within microseconds."
"They maintain coherence because they're existing partially outside normal spacetime," Thorne explained. "The chamber's frequency—417 Hz, transformation and change—keeps quantum states fluid, prevents decoherence, allows information to persist across dimensional boundaries."
"So this is how they communicate," David said, understanding dawning. "The Sixth Earth refugees. They're not using radio waves or light signals. They're using quantum entanglement across dimensional layers. Information transmitted instantaneously, no lightspeed limitation, no signal degradation."
"Exactly. The Codex you've been experiencing—the text that appears on screens, the frequencies you hear, the visions you have—all of it is quantum information transmitted through entangled states maintained by the chambers' resonance."
Elena sat at one of the computers, started pulling up files. Screen after screen of data: frequency analysis, dimensional maps, consciousness topology diagrams, quantum state vectors.
"Finch documented everything," she said, scrolling rapidly. "Every chamber exploration, every frequency experiment, every communication attempt with the Sixth Earth. This is... this is decades of research compressed into two months."
"How?" Lia asked. "How did he do that much work in two months?"
"Temporal dilation," Omar said, still tapping patterns. "The chambers don't just stack dimensionally—they stack temporally. Time passes differently in each chamber. What feels like two hours in here might be fifteen minutes outside, or six hours, or two days. Finch experienced subjective years while only two months passed in normal reality."
"Which is why he looked so exhausted in the video," Grace noted. "He'd lived through years of research in weeks of external time. That kind of temporal discontinuity would devastate human psychology. Memory formation depends on consistent temporal experience. When that gets fractured..."
She didn't finish, but they all understood: Professor Finch hadn't just disappeared. He'd potentially experienced so much subjective time in the chambers that his consciousness no longer synced with normal reality's temporal flow. He might still exist somewhere, somewhen, trapped in dimensional layer where time moved differently than he did.
Thorne activated the Second Chamber's frequency. 417 Hz filled the space, transformation and change resonating through flesh and consciousness and quantum states.
This time, Lia was prepared. This time, she let the frequency take her without resistance, surrendering to transformation rather than fighting it.
She saw:
The quantum terminal's true purpose. Not just communication device, but consciousness interface—technology that allowed human minds to directly access information stored in quantum states, to process data that existed beyond normal computational limits.
She saw Professor Finch's research notes, his discoveries about the refugees, his attempts to establish communication with beings from the Sixth Earth. She saw his growing understanding that the refugees weren't invaders but desperate survivors, fleeing something that consumed consciousness itself.
She saw the quantum entanglement network that connected all seven Earths, the information flowing between dimensions, the shared database of consciousness evolution that the Original Twelve had created.
And she saw the Consumption—the vast, hungry entity that was hunting the refugees, that fed on consciousness and meaning, that would eventually reach their dimension too.
The frequency faded gradually, leaving them gasping, reorienting, remembering how to be individual selves again.
"That," Marcus said, voice shaking, "was the most terrifying and most beautiful thing I've ever experienced."
"And that's just the Second Chamber," Thorne said. "There are five more. Five more frequencies, five more dissolutions, five more transformations. Are you ready to continue?"
Lia looked at the others, saw her own determination reflected in their faces.
"Yes," she said. "Show us the Third Chamber."
"Show us everything."