Location from deaths-end by
A circular concrete vault three hundred meters under the steppe outside Hohhot — one chair, one switch, one person responsible for two civilizations.
The Deterrence Center is the loneliest place on Earth, by design. Whoever sits in the chair lives here for the duration of their tenure with no visitors and one assistant. The room has the silence of a cathedral and the smell of nothing — recirculated air, distilled water, synthetic linen. The chair is comfortable, the food is decent, the responsibility crushes everyone who has held it. Visitors during a transfer ceremony stand on a narrow concrete ring above the chamber and look down. Sophon attends every transfer in person. The room does not echo; the engineers tuned it to not echo.
A perfect cylindrical chamber, white walls, recessed soft lighting that never changes. At the center, a low platform with a single ergonomic chair. On the chair's left armrest, a red lever the size of a fountain pen — the broadcast trigger. The walls display the live position of every droplet, every ship, every gravitational-wave antenna on Earth, in real time. The air is filtered, neutral-temperature, and very quiet. There is a small wash basin and a cot in an adjoining alcove.