My first unexpected echo

Several days have passed since I wrote those last words: the sun has wheeled across the heavens, or, as I understand science tells us, the Earth has made several revolutions on its axis. Such revelations aside (and they are revelations, no?) I take up my pen -- that phrase is purely a stylistic tic I admit -- and cast myself back to those long-gone underground days near the grey wastes of the North Sea. You remember my story? Well, if not, there are the Archives for that, of course. In search of knowledge, and ales, I had journeyed to the northern edges of the English continent, and had discovered there a town which was suffused by the most unsettling form of radiation, waves constituting a phenomena which (although had it had been described in any detail in scholarly journals) which I termed 'Cathedral Sickness'. I had resolved to find the source, origin and motivating power of this Cathedral Sickness. The rays seem to extend up to several nautical miles away from the foundation stones of that great mediaeval edifice. Barometric and magnetic measurements provided me with no clue or hint as to the origin of the field, although I strongly suspected that my instruments were not reliable. I had read legends of the passage of the Worm in those parts some centuries earlier, and I suspected that such an event would leave a lasting imprint on the soil's character, rendering empirical measurements impossible. Moreover, I was not so certain that a solution to the puzzle of the cathedral rays could be elucidated only by recourse to purely scientific techniques. A breakthrough occurred one evening whilst I was taking a short rest from my studies. I had visited one the taverns in the shadow of the cathedral, and after consuming many litres of the local ale, I felt a strong need to relieve myself: I descended to the facilities which were several metres below ground. It was just as I was leaving, and preparing to mount the stairs again, that I perceived a strange vibration: some coins in my pocket were quivering. I took one such coin from my pocket and found it was hot to the touch: it was also emitting a low hum. I pressed it against my forehead the humming became even louder. But what I found most remarkable was that the amplitude of the humming depended on the direction which my head turned! This was truly remarkable. I carefully marked in my notebook the direction relative to the front door of the tavern for which the amplitude was the strongest, and left. It was only later that night, in my attic flat overlooking the railway lines, that I had time to consult a map of the town. I realised, placing a cross on the map where the tavern that I had visited was, and drawing a line along the axis pointed to by my quivering coins, that this line neatly intersected the cathedral. I had found a way of directly detecting the cathedral rays! I took the coins from my pocket and laid them on my table. They were still and unmoving and did not notice a lone ray from the setting sun as it unhurriedly crossed my desk. Silence. No movement. I realised that this was because here in my retreat I was too far above ground. My attic was a good dozen or so metres distant from the Earth, and it seemed clear to me that the heavy northern soil was essential to channel and focus the rays: too much sky (and, importantly, sunlight) would undoubtedly prove deleterious to their passage, weakening them beyond the point of measurability. But I had a start, a path by which I could possibly understand the cathedral rays. These coins seemed to sensitive to the rays in a which I was not, and earth channeled and reflected sounds from the cathedral in a way I could not. This was -- I subsequently realised -- my first encounter with a cataphonic phenomena. I realised I would have to descend below ground. I would have to visit every tavern near the cathedral, and see if they had underground bathrooms! Perhaps, concurrently with this, I could also use my time to compile a guide of drinking houses in the City. I could imagine creating a detailed map, with vectors and magnitudes, and with this data at my disposal, I might at last understand what was the motivating force, origin -- and possible cure? -- for the Cathedral Sickness.