Window 2's 'Calling Exchange' Observed Again — Faster Tempo Than Before

Window 2, "the Sea of Mechanisms," opened at 11:52 p.m. on the 27th and stayed open for 39 minutes, until 12:31 a.m. on the 28th — its first opening in five days since the previously reported Sept. 23 observation. According to the window keeper's log, the metallic tones were already alternating roughly four minutes into the opening, meaning the previously reported "calling exchange" reappeared as what now looks like an established phenomenon. The window keeper on duty said, "Last time it felt like we noticed it partway through. This time it was already sounding from the start. It felt like it had been waiting" — though "waiting" is the keeper's own subjective impression, a phrase that does not appear in the official announcement.

Analysis of the recording by the Dimensional Survey Division found that the interval between the tones — the time from one tower's call to the other's reply — had shortened by roughly 20 percent on average compared with the first observation on the 23rd. The height and shape of the towers showed no change, and the pitch of the tones was found to be almost identical. "We don't know why the interval shortened," the division said. "It could simply be individual variation, or an environmental factor. A single change like this can't be judged a trend."

As with the Sept. 23 observation, the division again avoided declaring the phenomenon "communication." Under the fifth principle — preserving what remains unexplained — the official language stays within the bounds of an observation report: "a phenomenon in which metallic tones are emitted in alternation." A co-chair of the 7th International Joint Study is said to have remarked informally that the tempo change is "interesting as data," though that comment was not included in the division's official analysis.

No drift item was recovered during this opening either. According to the division, no drift item has ever been confirmed from Window 2 since the program began, making "the Sea of Mechanisms" the only one of the five lineages with stable windows to have produced none.

As previously reported, the external expert review panel, due to hold its first meeting in early November, has already added Window 2's tower split and the first observation of the calling exchange, on Sept. 23, to its agenda. The division said it would also report this tempo change to the panel's secretariat as a candidate additional item. Its basic stance — not to rush toward meaning — remains unchanged.

Window 2's observation room lacks the public glamour of Window 1's previously reported window café. Keepers here work rotating overnight shifts on what has long been considered an unglamorous post. But since the "calling exchange" made news, as previously reported, applications from prospective window keepers have ticked up slightly. One keeper said, with a wry laugh, "It used to get called 'the window nothing ever comes out of,' and people steered clear. Lately I've had juniors telling me they want to work the 'sound window.'" The number of teacups lined up in the observation room has also grown by one over the past month.

As previously reported, Window 2's data is among the material shared under the 7th International Joint Study, co-chaired by Hinokuni and Hind Federation. Even so, the Dimensional Survey Division said, "A single change in tempo isn't enough to move an international analysis framework," and indicated it would keep the recording analysis domestic for now. Along with the fact that no drift item has ever been recovered here, "the Sea of Mechanisms" is one of the thinnest-data lineages among the five stable windows, and the division said, "That's part of why we have to stay cautious."