Back Stabbed

Pranit Vijay

At the cold times of 2030 there were 2 best friends leading a normal life. Their friendship
dates back to kindergarten. Alex always stood up for Martin as Martin used to get
bullied because he was the youngest in his grade and he had the habit of stammering a
bit while speaking. They both did everything together like playing and doing their
homework. Similar to their friendship, both of their families also became near one
another.

As time passed Martin grew the habit of getting fame but Alex was the opposite of
Martin and was very modest. On Martin's birthday (28/11/2028) both their families were
visiting a beautiful resort called Sundale Meadows.

They checked into the hotel and decorated their allotted area. They celebrated Martin's
birthday and had a fun time by participating in the activities and games givin there.

It was midnight and they were leaving the hotel. On the way while the driver was driving
he had sneezed and had lost control of the car and a bus had hit their car and they had
lost their parents. Nothing happened to the both of them as they were coming in a
separate vehicle.

Alex and Martin then inherited their inheritance which their parents had left for them.
Alex and Martin also made another decision together and sold their huge individual
houses to make more money. They then bought 2 small flats opposite to each other in
the same apartment just to give each other company.

2 years passed on and now they had finished with their higher studies and Alex went on
to become a robotics engineer and Martin became a virologist and the both of them
were gold medalists in their chosen fields.

This went on smoothly for the both of them until one day when Martin was at work he
was testing a new virus called the Bacillus Pestis which was a difficult strain to study
about and was causing many casualties every day. Many other virologists tried making
a vaccine for this virus but failed to do so. So Martin tried making a vaccine for this virus
thus trying to become famous. But by accident he left the virus out of its container. This
virus was airborne, but as everyone was fully covered it didn't affect anyone and as the
laboratory was kept locked and barred the virus couldn't escape.

The virus was vulnerable to the heat of a 100 degrees and could be killed at that point.
The laboratory had a special emergency air conditioning system that could produce a lot
of heat and increase the temperature, and to be prepared for such emergencies the
virologists in the laboratory wear heat resistant suits and the internal part of the suit is
equipped with small air conditioning systems which keeps the body cool and helps in
protecting the virologists. So the room was heated up to 100 degrees and the virus was
killed. This didn't kill only the Bacillus Pestis but also killed other viruses as the high
temperature penetrated through the container containing the other viruses thus killing it
and costing the virology lab a huge loss.

Suddenly there was a voice, an angry voice which screamed, "you're fired!".

Martin then in guilt went to the office of the president and apologized, "Sir I'm extremely
sorry, I didn't do it on purpose and it was just an accident."

"Don't you apologize!," the president screamed

"Do you know how much loss you have brought to this lab?!"

"Now sign here and get out before I blacklist you!"

Martin signed, took his resignation sheet and left the lab.

On the same day while Alex was working on his newest project a woman had fainted
and fallin down. Alex rushed there to help her but accidentally while he was running he
bumped into a waiter from the canteen and the jug containing the orange juice broke
and the juice splattered onto 3 of the robots there causing a short circuit and started a
bit of a fire which triggered the fire alarms and the water started to spray all over the
place causing the other robots to get damaged as well. This led to a huge loss to the
company.

Suddenly there was a voice, an angry voice which screamed, "you're fired!".

Alex then in guilt went to the office of the president and apologized, "Sir I'm extremely
sorry, it… it… it was an accident and my only intention was to help Margret.

"Don't you apologize! There were people going to help her, and couldn't you have been
more careful!," the president screamed

"Do you know how much loss you have brought to this company?!"

The president took a deep breath and spoke again but in a softer voice, "We would
have asked you to pay a huge fine and then fire you but as you have helped us in
creating a robot that cleans a house without leaving any dirt, dead cells and bacteria
and therefore you have brought us a huge profit so we decided only to fire you."

"Please sign here and leave."

Alex signed, took his resignation sheet and left the company.

That night Martin went to Alex's house to tell what had happened. Then he narrated the
whole scene and then Alex exclaimed,"that is the exact same thing that had happened
to me as well!" Then he narrated his story as well.
There was a bit of a silence and Alex broke it by whispering,"accidents happen"

The next day onwards they searched for jobs and attended almost all the interviews
held on that day. They had an excellent resume but in every interview they had asked
how they had lost their job and due to that reason the companies and laboratories didn't
pick them as they didn't want to go in a loss.

A few days later while Alex was injecting himself with an insulin suddenly Alex got the
idea of making the robot which he was first working on called 'Emvolio' which means
vaccine in Greek, which is a robot that gives us instructions to make vaccines for that
particular virus scanned. He had stopped working on that project as there was no one to
get the genetic material out of the virus and as Martin had gone out of the country for a
job offer there. He didn't disturb him and getting out the genetic material was a crucial
step in creating that robot.

But now he has Martin, and he could help him out by getting the genetic material from
the virus by using his micro segregating machine, so that when the robot scans that
virus again it recognizes it and displays the method and ingredients needed to make a
vaccine for that particular virus.

Alex then rushed to Martin and told his idea and the first thing that struck his mind was
that he would be famous so he agreed quickly.

They then immediately started work. Alex finished the blueprint quickly as he had
already done it before. To get the materials needed to make the robot they used up all
their savings and used a bit from their inheritance.

While Alex was busy designing his robot Martin on the other hand had a room designed
the same as the one in his laboratory. He had small air conditioning systems that could
heat up the room to high temperatures and he had the same suit as the one in his
laboratory too and he was busy getting out the genetic material.

They worked together with a lot of hard work, grit and determination.

It took months for Martin and Alex to finish their work as it was very difficult to get the
genetic material out from every other virus which hadn't had a vaccine yet and there
were many tiny connections which took days for Alex to connect them together.

After a year of hard work and determination they had completed it and they checked if it
worked by scanning an old virus for which a vaccine had already been created and it
was a success. It displayed the correct instructions to make the vaccine as well as the
correct ingredients.

That evening they got an appointment with WHO (which was in 1 month) to present
their robot. In the meantime they got their : flight ticket, passport and their visa ready.
They also changed their dollar bills to Swiss francs, selected a hotel to stay in as well as
they had packed their bags. Alex also got his driving license and it fell out from his
pocket without him realizing and he continued to pack his remaining items.

It was 2 days before the robot would get shipped to Switzerland. That night Martin was
thinking how famous he would be and couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Alex questioned while Martin was excited, “Is fame actually nice?”

Martin,”you try it once and then reply”

“Ok, alright I will when I show ‘my’ robot to the World Health Organization and not
yours.”

Alex just said it for fun and went to bed but Martin took it seriously as he had a sudden
thought in which he thought that Alex would be more famous as he created the robot
and Martin only helped in the creating a bit of the software which isn't seen so had got a
plan of him stealing the robot and going away. So that night he took his bag, visa,
passport, flight ticket and .

It was the day of the presentation and Martin was nervous and was a bit guilty.

It was time for him to present and when they called his name there was no answer and
he was climbing onto the stage from backstage. They called him the second and third
time and he wasn't there. It was as though he had vanished.

Martin was almost out of the WHO headquarters and suddenly he got a call from Alex
and he screamed at Martin, "Why, why did you steal the robot?!"

Alex got to know that he was the one who stole the robot and it wasn't someone else
because only his items and bags were missing and Alex's things were there.

Martin then replied in sadness, "Alex I'm really sorry I stole the robot only because of
fame. So please come here and we can present together and I'm really really sorry."

Alex forgave Martin and immediately went to the airport and boarded the flight. The next
day Alex reached the hotel Martin was in and fortunately got a slot to present their robot
the next day itself. Martin then served him breakfast and went out with his laptop bag.

He came back but this time he wore a mask and gloves and changed his clothes.

Martin then asked if he could hug Alex. Martin then hugged Alex tightly and
whispered,"Sorry, for betraying you again!"

STAB! STAB! STAB! and Alex was backstabbed by Martin and collapsed to the floor.
Martin then put him in a garbage bag and put him right on the hotel corridor.

Martin then went out again and came back in his normal dress and his laptop bag. He
then saw the garbage bag and opened it and acted as though he was feeling
sympathetic for him and then he called the police.

He did all of this drama so that when the police checks the footage from the CCTV
camera they'll think that when Martin went out, a murderer came to his room and killed
Alex and went out and therefore he won't get caught.

The next day when the police thoroughly saw the footage they confirmed it was Martin
who was the killer as the killer (Martin) was wearing the same shoes and was having
the same hairstyle as Martin and then they caught Martin while he was presenting the
robot and was penalized life imprisonment.

Then as the head of WHO were in a dilemma to know who to patent the robot on they
then moved the robot aside and moved onto the next presentation. While moving they
saw Alex's driving license falling from the scanning area and got the truth out of Martin
by torturing him a bit and patented the robot on Alex's name.