(Act I: The Spark) The boardroom of OmniCorp was a temple of mahogany and ego. We were in the middle of the Q3 merger meeting, discussing the acquisition of a mid-sized logistics firm, when the first dimensional glitch happened. The CEO, a man whose confidence was as oversized as his cufflinks, was mid-sentence when his head suddenly shifted forty-five degrees to the left, remaining there as a static, two-dimensional image while his body continued to speak. We all stared at him. Then, the coffee in my mug began to flow upward in a perfect, spiraling helix.

(Act II: The Undercurrent) The "Collapse" was treated with the typical efficiency of corporate New York. A memo was sent out by HR titled *Guidelines for Dimensional Shift during Office Hours*. We were told to keep our productivity levels high despite the fact that the 42nd floor had become a non-Euclidean loop where employees were forced to attend the same meeting for eternity. The apocalypse was an inconvenience. We spent our afternoons debating whether the end of the universe qualified as a "force majeure" clause in our contracts. I spent my time trying to figure out if I could trade my survival slot for a better parking space.

(Act III: The Outburst) The climax occurred during the annual shareholders' gala. As the champagne flowed, the "Dimensional Foil" finally hit Manhattan. It wasn't a blast; it was a la own a gentle, sweeping curtain of light. I watched as the billionaire next to me was flattened into a stunningly detailed piece of art. He looked like a high-end infographic of a human being. The panic was brief and remarkably polite. People complained about the lack of elevators before they too became part of the wallpaper. I found myself clinging to a mahogany table, watching as the entire city of New York was compressed into a single, exquisite, two-dimensional postcard.

(Act IV: The Echo) I am now a very detailed drawing of a man in a suit, pinned to the void. I can see the rest of the city—the Empire State Building is a thin silver line, the taxis are yellow dots. We are a gallery of corporate failure. Occasionally, a higher-dimensional entity drifts by and looks at us with a sense of mild amusement, as if we are a particularly funny comic strip. I find myself wondering if the merger ever went through.

*** OTMES_v2_Code: [M1:6.0, M3:10.0, N2:0.9, K2:0.5, TI:45.2, Theta:225, E:11.8]