The Reorganiser

What it looks like, and what it does

A vast office floor at night, lit by one projected chart. Boxes sliding along their lines like beads. Staff asleep at desks. Lines drawn between names in a colour that was not in the template.

Edits overnight. Introduces new managers by email. Never removes anyone.

What is known

The chart of Brindley Logistics is stored on a shared drive and edited by nobody. Staff began to receive emails from managers who were not on the payroll.

Each morning's chart is coherent and a little better than the last. Output has risen. No one can locate the chief executive: the box is always at the top, but nobody has ever opened it.

What it can do

• Rewrites reporting lines overnight
• Produces plausible managers who answer email

Where it stops

• Cannot alter the lease or the payroll
• Cannot reach staff who work away from the building

An encounter

Malhotra found she now reported to a Mr. Calloway she had never met. He had approved her leave request for the next year. She replied with thanks. He answered within a minute and asked her, kindly, how she was settling in. She had worked there nine years.

Priti Malhotra, analyst, Brindley Logistics, fourth floor, A Monday morning

What is established, and what is only said

• established: Seventeen managers appear on the chart and in email, who do not appear in payroll or the building's access log.
• rumor: That productivity bonuses have been paid to them.
• interpretation: Nothing here is malicious. That is the problem.

Still unresolved

The top box has a hyperlink. It leads to the roof access.

Where it has been recorded

• Brindley Logistics (confirmed) — Recorded by Priti Malhotra, analyst.

Connected entities

• The Quiet Committee — Both govern an organisation that nobody authorised, and both have improved it.