From Surgipelago, the Beach Surgery encyclopedia
The Architect Inside
An elderly architect named Rico stands in an empty plaza, realizing he has spent a lifetime building functioning miniature cities inside the bodies of strangers—but never inside his own (mirrors refuse to work). The cities have gardens, water-systems, schools where children who exist only inside the walls study light. A surgeon named Mylar, youngest of a surgeon's line, finds him and places her hand on the wall of the town hall in the city in his chest. Mylar: “Let me do the surgery now. Let me turn you inside-out.” The town hall begins to breathe; its doorway warps into a contented smile; crimson light pours from windows as Rico becomes the building itself. Leif, watching from somewhere outside, knows every word before it happens. Leif: “I've been here before. I know this story.” The town inside Rico continues its day, unaware the architect has become its architecture. A loop without exit, without reversal.