Corporate Architecture

Marissa stood at the edge of the infinity pool, her third martini warming in the desert heat. Below, Las Vegas sprawled like a circuit board that someone had spilled something corrosive upon. The water lapped at the concrete edge, rhythmic and indifferent.

"You're going to jump in fully clothed again, aren't you?" A familiar voice behind her. Tom. Always Tom.

"It's a corporate retreat, Tom. I'm supposed to be networking. Building bridges." She turned, her silk blouse already clinging to her back. "Not discussing how our division's getting restructured into a pyramid scheme that somehow benefits only the C-suite."

The pyramid-shaped hotel loomed above them, its glass facade reflecting sunset colors that shouldn't exist in nature. Five thousand rooms, five thousand conversations like theirs happening simultaneously.

"I know what you are," Tom said, not meeting her eyes. "Corporate sent you to spy on the regional team. Report back who's loyal, who's looking elsewhere."

Marissa laughed, bitter and sharp. "Tom, I've been loyal to this company for twelve years. They gave me this promotion knowing I'd divorce my husband for it. Knowing I'd miss my mother's funeral. I'm not a spy. I'm a monument to their ability to hollow people out."

She stepped into the pool. The water shocked her system—chemical cold, smelling of chlorine and other people's expensive perfumes. Tom watched from the edge, silhouetted against artificial lights that were just beginning to flicker on across the strip.

"There are worse things," he said quietly.

"Like what?" She floated on her back, staring up at the pyramid's apex where a laser shot into the purple sky.

"Like never realizing you're drowning until someone points out you've stopped swimming."

Marissa closed her eyes. Somewhere above them, executives were making decisions about lives they'd never touch. Somewhere below, people were losing everything at tables designed to make them feel like winners for moments before stripping it all away.

"Get in, Tom. The water's terrible."

He did. They floated there as the desert cooled, two small things in a massive machine that didn't care if they sank or swam.