Thank You for Your Patience

Nobody is really missing. Only filed in the wrong place.

Ivo is the best closer in Retrieval. When a worker wanders into the Vacancy, the endless lit offices, drowned stairwells and empty swimming pools the Factory keeps building for people who haven’t arrived yet, Ivo finds them on paper. One line on a twelve-line form, one press of his stamp, and the case is closed. The little green light in the missing worker’s wrist goes out.

After that, the sirs take care of the rest. They’re very polite about it.

Good morning. Have you seen the memo? You appear to be out of place. Let me help you.

Then a new case lands on Ivo’s desk. The photograph has his face. The handwriting in the margin is his own:

Hello, clerk.

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