"If we're all here, let's get started," said Miss Planner. "We have a lot of ground to cover today."

Miss Planner looked absolutely exhausted, and she wasn't the only one. The head of production, the bearded, middle-aged man Mr. Gable, looked especially tired. He stared blankly ahead without saying a word, clearly overwhelmed and worried about his future. To his left sat the head of distribution, a sullen man in a red leather jacket who went by the name Unfolder, as well as the acting head of security, Donovan. They were both sitting stiffly, staring at the table like zombies.

There were two more people in the room, and they had no part to play in the discussion whatsoever. One was the skinny, apelike Elder Drifter, draped in an oversized, stained white robe. He was energetically rocking back and forth in his chair eating cake with his bare hands. Next to him was his sworn caretaker, a kindly old man named Brother Ben. He was the foremost Keeper of the Sacred Mystery, and he was there to keep Drifter from running off and getting into trouble. The little Elder’s bedtime was close at hand, but he wanted to see Miss Planner so badly that she didn't have the heart to tell him he couldn't stay for the meeting.

"First of all, we have to deal with the obvious problem: the next shipment is going to be very, very late," said Miss Planner. "Our back stock is all used up. At the rate we're going, it looks like we're not going to get another batch finished until Wednesday. We'll have to check it for contaminants, of course, as per our new policy... and I'm afraid that means we won't be able to get any product out to customers until Thursday at the earliest. That's with the Sanders Point acolytes working around the clock and no more unexpected delays."

Miss Planner was trying to sound upbeat, but her voice came across as flat and cold. Everyone else in the room was silent, each lost in their own thoughts. All except Drifter, whose repulsive slurping and smacking noises were starting to grate on everyone’s nerves. Miss Planner closed her eyes and kept going.

"The newest round of testing just confirmed we've been shipping out tainted batches of Nuke all month. This wasn't an isolated incident. It's still not clear at this point whether it was the equipment, the personnel, or the ingredients. Could be all three for all we know, which is why I asked Donovan to put together a team of inspectors to go through the whole Whiteview production line with psychometry. They're working on that now. Hopefully they can determine where things went wrong and what steps we need to take to make sure something like this never happens again."

Mr. Gable nodded his head weakly. He looked as though he wanted to say something, but couldn't find the words. Miss Planner sighed.

"We're low on manpower, so we’re looking into contracting some independent testers to help Mr. Gable out with quality control," she continued. "Obviously, our researchers are doing everything they can... but it's going to take a lot of time and effort to sort through this mess. It’s going to be tough filling orders with Whiteview closed. The plant downtown is still under construction, meaning our Sanders Point facility is the only one producing Nuke at present. We need to get another processing plant up and running by the end of the week, or we're never catching up."

Miss Planner paused to collect her thoughts. An oppressive silence filled the room. Unfolder leaned forward in his chair. Donovan cleared his throat loudly, causing the rest of the group to look over at him.

"Where do you think the contamination came from?" he asked. "I mean, that's the real issue, isn't it?"

"There's no way of knowing for sure," said the weary Mr. Gable. "At least, not yet. We don't know where the lost product went, either. If I had to guess, though... I'd have to say the Controllers are the most obvious suspects."

"If the Controllers are behind all this, things are about to get really ugly," Donovan said with a sigh. "They'll be coming for us here in the Tower next. You can count on it."

Elder Drifter suddenly sat up straight, chuckling and licking his fingers clean.

"Khhkhhh! Khhh! Miss Planner knows the Controllers... she's working with them..."

Miss Planner grabbed a napkin and wiped Elder Drifter's face clean, then rubbed his cheek gently to calm him down. He cooed like a contented kitten, nuzzling his head into her hand while smiling dreamily.

"There, there, dear. Settle down. No more talking about the Controllers, okay?"
"Uhhhhh... Miss Planner... Drifter wants huggies..."

Without hesitating for even an instant, Miss Planner leaned over the table and wrapped her arms around the skinny little Elder's shoulders, pulling him close. He was drooling. The division heads looked away, clearly uncomfortable.

"I know things are scary right now," said Miss Planner softly. "But now isn't the time to panic. We need to work together as a team to stop the bleeding. It won't be easy, but I promise we're going to fix this mess. It's going to be alright. Isn't it, sweetie?"
"Yesssh... Drifter likes hugging... khhhkhhh..."

"There'll be plenty of time to point fingers later. Right now, we just have to figure out how to survive. Expanding production should be the first priority, and keeping our employees focused and working hard should be the second. That’s why we have to go public with what happened at Whiteview and get ahead of the problem."
"Mmmmmm... wanna kissy... Drifter wants a kissy from Miss Planner..."

"The Chosen Ones need to tell everyone the truth about the contaminated batches tomorrow. Show them we're doing the right thing. If we keep things quiet, people are going to assume the worst. Our employees need to know first, then our clients, then the Nuke-smoking public at large. We'll apologize, offer full refunds, do whatever needs to be done, and move on. How's that sound? Good?"

Donovan, Unfolder, and Mr. Gable shot quick glances at each other in miserable silence. Miss Planner stood up, letting Elder Drifter slip out of her arms. Then she stared at the division heads sternly, hands on her hips.

"Don't like it? Too bad. Honesty is how you build and maintain trust. Trust is how you build and maintain a business. We can't hide the delays at this point, anyway, can we? There are going to be consequences, but we have to do it. That's the only way forward. Trust me on this one."