The Sorcerer's Apprentice

The fiasco at the big No. I Plant atop Pikes Peak began like this.

"Hoskins," said the man known the world over as The Sorcerer,
turning from the empty water cooler, "will you pick up the phone
please and call the storeroom down at the ten-thousand-foot level and
ask them to send up a bottle of mineral water? This one is dry."

"Yes, Sir," said Hoskins, obediently, and began flicking the
number. He clicked impatiently several times, then announced, "The
phone's dead."

"That's so," agreed The Sorcere...