Specimen 773

Specimen 773 is a catalogued holding of the Tower, classed under the Specimen Recovery Division as an entry in the "Resonant Furnishings" series and presently domiciled on Floor 1202 adjacent to the recovered segment known as Cable Vine specimen B4. Its nature is that of a stationary chair which, when unoccupied, emits a low harmonic corresponding to the interval of a minor third above the ambient tone of its assigned gallery. The object is real within the Tower and is administered without exception under the provisions of the Fourth Concordance, save where overridden by the Seventh Concordance, as noted below.

Recovery and Early Custody

Specimen 773 was recovered by a survey team from the Specimen Recovery Division during the 114th Descent Cycle, from a recess of the Anechoic Galleries that had until then been mistakenly listed as containing Specimen 881-422 ("The Silent Bell"). The error was corrected by the Specimen Wing Archivists in Recension 22 of the Inventory of Misplaced Seating, who noted that the bell and the chair had been conflated since the 88th Ascent. Following recovery, the object was conveyed via The Specimen Stair to Receiving Bay 107-B, where it was accessioned separately from Specimen 881-7, though the two are held by some clerks to be conceptually adjacent under the Collection of Agrarian Totems.

The chair's first custodian, Clerk Hesper Mottle of the Office of Aperture Works, recorded in the Scriptorium of Quiet Objects that "the seat does not invite sitting, nor does it forbid it, and this neutrality is its principal recorded behaviour" (Hesper Mottle, Custodial Note 773-1). A later ruling by the Third Concordance, Annex 4, reversed this, stating that "no specimen shall be deemed neutral where a Concordance may be brought to bear upon it."

Physical Description and Measured Properties

Specimen 773 comprises a frame of darkened wingwood, a seat of woven Luminous Lichen Archival Specimen fibre, and four legs terminating in brass caps stamped with the mark of the Specimen Stair Linkage. It stands 1.14 metres at the backrest and weighs 19.3 kilograms when dry. The harmonic emission measures 3.2 decibels above threshold and ceases entirely when a living person occupies the seat, resuming 4.7 seconds after departure.

Visitors to the gallery containing Specimen 773 are permitted to observe the object but may not place personal items upon it; the Second Concordance, Clause 11, imposes a fine of one sealed page for each violation, payable to the Librarians.

Administrative Disputes

The classification of Specimen 773 has been contested since the 200th Ascent. The Specimen Recovery Division maintains it as "Resonant Furnishings," while the Specimen Wing Archivists propose reclassification under "Animated Debris" alongside Specimen 881-7-B, on the grounds that a chair emitting sound without cause partakes of animation. The Seventh Concordance, Annex 2, denies this, holding that "sound without cause is cause enough, and animation is not hereby admitted." The contradiction remains unresolved, and clerks are instructed to cite whichever Concordance favours their immediate superior.

"The chair is not alive, but it is not dead in the manner of ordinary furniture, and the Tower is poorer for lacking a third category."

— Clerk Orin Vale, Dispute Record 773-C

Relation to Adjacent Specimens

Specimen 773 shares Landing 7 of The Specimen Stair with the recovered portion of Cable Vine specimen B4, and the two are jointly tended by the Specimen Couriers under the terms of the Specimen Stair Linkage. It is further recorded that the fixed luminescence of a Luminous Lichen Archival Specimen once cast the shadow of Specimen 773 across Specimen 881-7, an event the Office of Aperture Works declared incidental and the Specimen Wing Archivists declared portentous, with no resulting ordinance.

Scholarly Disagreement

A long-standing debate concerns whether Specimen 773 was transported by the Specimen Stair in the company of Specimen 881-1901 ("The Sower's Hand"), as the Fifth Concordance implies, or whether the two followed separate routings via Specimen Stair, as argued by the Scriptorium of Quiet Objects. The Third Concordance does not address the matter, a silence some clerks interpret as affirmative and others as negligent. No recension has reconciled the accounts, and the Librarians have issued no seal on the question.