Chapter 19: The Steel Cocoon
Pneumatic nailers hammered against the outer perimeter wall with rapid, ear-splitting cracks that echoed through the misty morning air of Blackwood Crest. Rowan Mercer stood in the gravel courtyard with a clip-on thermal sensor in his palm, watching Orson Drake oversee the installation of the final structural shielding. The sleet from the previous night had frozen into a thick, milky crust over the lawn, but the work crews moved with methodical speed, lifting four-inch slabs of aerogel composite and interlocking sheets of ballistic alloy into place.
"Anchor the perimeter brackets directly through the damp-proof course," Orson yelled to a pair of riggers hoisting a dense panel against the eastern facade. "If there is even a millimeter of thermal bridging betwe
