The Riddle of Touch

The corporate retreat was held at a desert resort, because nothing says team-building like forced proximity in an environment where everything wants to kill you. Maya sat by the pool, watching the artificial **palm** trees sway in the wind. Their plastic fronds caught the light—cheap, durable, utterly incapable of providing shade.

"You're hiding again," said Daniel, sliding into the lounge chair beside her. He was the one person from the office who didn't make her skin crawl.

"I'm contemplating. There's a difference."

"You're avoiding the workshop on synergistic leadership." He handed her a drink. "I saw you slip away when Richardson started his speech."

Maya groaned. Richardson—the man they called the **Sphinx** behind his back. Not because he was wise or mysterious, but because he sat at the top of the corporate food chain asking riddles no one could answer, devouring those who failed. His face was a smooth mask, giving away nothing. "His riddles aren't riddles," she said. "They're traps dressed as philosophy."

"So leave."

She turned to him, really looked at him for the first time. Daniel with his crinkled eyes and the small scar above his left eyebrow from some childhood mishap he'd once told her about, back when they'd stayed late formatting slides and eating takeout from cardboard containers.

"I can't just leave."

"You can. The whole **pyramid** scheme of corporate existence—it's just people agreeing to pretend it matters." He reached out, his hand hovering near hers, not quite touching. "I'm putting in my notice next week."

The silence stretched between them, heavy with possibility.

"Where will you go?" she whispered.

"Somewhere with real trees. Where people don't call each other human capital." His thumb brushed her palm, electric and terrifying. "Come with me."

She looked at the artificial palms again, at the Sphinx holding court inside, at the pyramid she'd been climbing for seven years. Then she looked at Daniel's hand, warm and calloused and waiting.

Maya entwined her fingers with his. "Okay."