Prologue

A familiar feeling settled over Naomi as she looked out over all the empty cubes. 

Guilt.

It hardly seemed fair that she should still be here after so many others had been laid off. Why her? Honestly, she felt lowkey disappointed in the job, and she couldn’t imagine what made her so special.

And yet, this wasn’t the first round of layoffs she had survived. When she started a few years ago, nearly every cube on this floor was occupied. Now almost all of them were empty. Soon, there wouldn’t be any more people left to cut. 

But for now, there were still a few real-live humans banging away at their computers. Mostly they were on other floors, spinning up and monitoring AI agents. At some point, the one remaining finance guy would probably insist that everyone move onto a single floor to save money. But for now, she and her boss, Rosa, had this floor to themselves.

And even though Naomi felt guilty about all the people who were laid off and rather room temperature about the job itself, there was one thing she loved about the situation.

Everything was so quiet.

She hadn’t moved in silence like this in a long time. It reminded her of college when she found an ancient, unused corner of the library where she could study. Her jaw would unclench, her shoulders would drop, and the demands of her frenetic life would drop away.

It was a lowkey masterpiece.