This chapter is all about the rumble, which is the sound of a ship's engines. It's not just the rumble of the ship itself, but also the rumbles of the engines of the other ships that are passing through the area. The rumbles indicate that the ship is in the process of burning itself to the ground, and that the occupants are trapped inside the ship. The narrator says that this is the "power of a phoenix" , but that he doesn't fully understand it.