A crisp early-October dawn broke over the Hudson Valley, washing the eastern face of the Westchester ridge in cool, lavender light. Below the high stone balustrades of the terrace, mist drifted off the river in thick silver ribbons, weaving through the dark foliage of white pines and yellowing sugar maples.
Inside the conservatory observatory, where the primary server terminals once ran their high-frequency diagnostic sweeps, the air was still and clear. The massive slate desk remained clear of emergency monitors. Instead, three large physical architectural folios lay unrolled across its surface, their blue-line schematics detailing the secondary expansion phase for the Nemesis Global Archive’s field campus in Stony Point.
I stood beside the glass wall, holding a wide stoneware mug of da
