I should have seen this coming
I really should have seen it miles away. I mean, it was bloody inevitable, but I, of all people, assumed some things would stay constant like a fool.

At one o'clock this afternoon, everybody got called into the lobby for a meeting. What Mr. Kraft had to say was brief and to the point, and we all knew part of it, but we didn't expect it to be so drastic. Basically, he started out by mentioning how we all must know by now that Dmitri shooting Carter was not just a crime of passion, otherwise the FBI wouldn't have gotten involved. In point of fact, Dmitri had for at least a year, been selling confidential information on several projects BioSoft was consulting on to a currently-unknown third party, which had allowed them to develop certain formulations. Dmitri had then tested them on several unsuspecting individuals, he said, including his girlfriend Samantha, his comatose father, and "our own Michelle Garber".

Everyone gasps. Mr. K continues to mention that the effects of this experimentation are not immediately obvious but will have long-term ramifications, and that while the FBI has requested the exact nature of it remain quiet, he assured everyone that it was nothing contagious, and that I was completely safe to be around. Luckily, the folks working here aren't prone to panic.

Now - the new and predictable stuff. The owners of the projects Dmitri stole would be suing him for breaking his non-disclosure agreement, the company for the same, as well as for apparently not having sufficient security to prevent this from happening. BioSoft's attorneys have basically informed them that there's no way they can fight it without bankrupting the company.

That, of course, was assuming a stable source of income, or that the company wasn't already carrying an operating debt. But word of Dmitri's security breach has gotten around the scientific community, and nearly every client that can is voiding their contracts with BioSoft. These cases, the company could probably win, but combined with the likely crippling settlement necessary with Dmitri's clients and the lack of new work coming in or payment for existing work will inevitably leave the company in a hole that it can not likely escape. So, over the course of the next few months, BioSoft will be dissolved. Most salaried employees will be paid through the end of the month, and some will remain on staff longer to complete the projects that are still active, but by the end of June, BioSoft will likely be nothing but a memory.

I'll be staying on through the end of the week. Kate will probably be around until the end of next week, and Maureen probably until the end. Jen's last day is tomorrow. This is happening faster than the last dot-com I worked at as Martin Hartle collapsed.

-Marti
- posted 6:56 PM - - (archive use only)