A call to the boss

The woman was wearing another knitted sweater, reading a book in her tall armchair by the side of her tall ornate fireplace, when the phone rang. She hadn't been expecting a call, and so was more than a little miffed at having her evening interrupted, but the list of people who had her number was small enough that it would be unwise to ignore it. She picked up the handset before listening to a worried voice on the other end for a good minute. After the summary, she sat in silence for a moment, thinking. Then -

"So, Stephan" she spoke into the receiver. "You had to call in the cleaners for an incident this early? Should I be worried?"

More chatter on the other end, taking full responsibility, etcetera, etcetera.

"Well, we're certainly not going to trash the formula. No," she responded. A bit of protest. "We deal nastier substances every day to paying customers. Sure. Sure. Don't give me that. Oh, well from how it was described to you, it doesn't seem consumer ready of course. Doesn't work as a recreational. Probably not even in the right category for our colleague's entertainers; while the inhibition suppression is certainly interesting, we want them dumber if anything, not smarter. Yes. Yes."

Stephan mentioning something about the researchers.

"Well, they've shown themselves to be less than completely trustworthy, but so long as they're alive, they're still an liability. Do they have any family? Anyone who will miss them?"

Protest.

"If you really think they're non-fungible, then you can keep them around, but I'll insist on keeping them in the lower levels. They've probably deduced we're not running a normal lab from the cleanup crew already, so we'll have to isolate them from the remaining employees. If you like, they can continue their line of research, but keep them under lock and key. See if they can avoid some of the undesirable properties of the **** we saw today. A solid brain **** does have its uses, if that part is salvageable. Withdrawal free inhibition suppression too. And if they can't make any progress ... well, you know what to do."

Acquiescence.

"You can tell the other employees they've been sacked. I know we'll have to find some suitable replacements, but Harriet can keep the ship running for now. We've got a potential candidate lined up for you, smart when it comes to his work but not when it comes to his money. Makes our job easier. Right, right, I know you like to handle these things yourself, but this one fell into our lap."

Professional, but frustrated, approval.

"Alright, Stephan. Pleasure as always. Call me in the morning when you've made the arrangements."

She hung up the phone, turning back to her book. This business was never easy, was it.