Chapter 93: The Calm Sovereign
Sixty feet above the frozen flagstones of the courtyard, inside the reinforced observation deck of the primary residential tower, the air remained undisturbed by the arctic storm. While fifty knot gales battered the exterior concrete cornices and dropped the temperature along Crestline Avenue to forty below zero, the ambient climate inside the command center remained locked at a steady seventy degrees.
The heat did not come from fragile electric coils or choking wood hearths, but rose continuously through closed loop radiant floor conduits fed by the primary geothermal boreholes deep in the coastal bedrock.
Rowan Mercer sat comfortably in his high backed ergonomic chair, his posture relaxed, his dark linen shirt sleeves rolled neatly to his elbows.
On the
