Through the glass wall of the elevator I watch the atrium floor fall away.  It's intimidating, the twenty storeys stretched above and below, layers of brightly lit but empty hallways, rectangular offices, lonely desks and long solemn conference tables surrounded by ghosts because it's now well after 5 PM and the living have evacuated for home. 

As the elevator rises higher I pretend to be in New York City visiting my some-day publisher, but this is not only for fun -- it's an…