The Alternative Temperament-1

“You are a Genius, Dr. Boris Veselovsky..! You helped me a lot. Thanks for that…but , I’ll surely miss you..!”

“Dr. Alexei Gagarin, you are given a very major responsibility.” Dr. Boris Veselovsky, aged 78 years, head of the Senior Panel of Doctors & Botanists at D.Z.C.O.R., said to his junior sub-ordinate, as he drove his car along the deserted highway at night. “We have started the fermentation in the plants. The split gene generation inside them will take almost 20 years to develop. Being the youngest doctor in our team, you’ll be the only person alive at that time to test the medical samples. We have also appointed Dr. Donald, who will assist you in knowing the exact quantities of all the compounds. Let’s hope they turn out right. And, we do believe your guardian, Dr. Dmitry Zakharov, has mentored you nicely …!”

Dr. Alexei, aged 24, gave a light smile. As the car drove, they both were discussing how the newly discovered fungus can halt the growth of certain medicinal plants, inducing the alternate Gene factor inside them.

“The development will take time. Well, good things always take time. But when it’s completed, it….” Dr. Boris was so much involved in talking that he never saw the sharp left. Immediately trying to control his car, he turned left and braked hard, but his car brakes had failed. Shocked, he looked down & tried hard to brake again, but his car never stopped. Still trying to control, his car swerved rapidly left & right. Dr. Alexei hadn’t locked the door next to him & as the car swerved towards right, he was thrown out. As he banged hard on the asphalt, he somehow stood up, only to see Boris’s car turn sharp left at high speed & before he could shout, the car banged forcefully sideways on the nearby tree. The airbags exploded out, but it was too late. The resulting impact made Dr. Boris’s head bang sideways on the tree trunk with tremendous force. Before Dr. Alexei could help, Boris was already dead.

20 years later…

“The samples are developed as per my calculation,” he thought, as he mixed the alternate fungi with the main organic compounds supplied to the plant sternum, “Good that they are undetected, as I have used the formula with careful experimentation. They’ll show the results at the right time.” He then destroyed the syringes. As he exited the Lab passage using a swipe card which did not belong to him,he turned on the CCTVs which he had hacked using remote server access, causing them to shut down.

Dr. Alexei Gagarin, now almost 44 years old, was heading towards the lab with Dr. Donald. The information was kept hidden from the public & a general media announcement was scheduled to be made a couple of days later. Dr. Alexei & Dr. Donald were the only members alive & working from the panel of senior doctors that had started the experiment more than 20 years ago. Now he entered the lab to check the final apparatus, which was supposed to be tested on infected animals.

“The readings are right,” Dr. Donald said, “let’s inject the samples in infected animals.”

As they injected the residue extracted from the plants in the animals, immediately the infected cells in their body started getting destroyed. Within minutes, all the infection in their body was gone, and the animals were perfectly fine.

“Our efforts finally worked,” Exhaling out, Dr. Alexei said to his team, “Congratulations, dear team, I am now sure the samples are fine for human testing. Let’s schedule the presentation next week. We’ll announce the invention of a new medicine, which took more than 20 years to develop…!”

“I am damn sure of my invention, Dr. Alexei,” he said as he exited the lab , “you’ll get the biggest surprise of your life for which you had been waiting for the past 20 years…!”

After 7 days, the entire panel of young doctors at DZCOR were present at the convention hall of the organization. A huge press conference was called upon with LIVE video presentations & reporters were broadcasting direct news to various channels, as Dr. Alexei had declared that he will be making a huge announcement which will lead to a major advancement in the medical history & everyone was curious about it. Exactly at the scheduled time, Dr. Alexei started the presentation, speaking in front of a major audience related to field of medicines.

“ Since the past 20 years, we were working on an experiment. Our patience has now beard fruits & we are ready for a major breakthrough in the field of medical science.” He presented before them a funnel filled with apple green coloured liquid. “What you are seeing in front is a residue extracted from the plants that were injected with an organic compound. 20 years ago, we discovered this unique form of fungi which if injected in a certain species of plants, will make them grow slowly, but will also alter their tissues in the course of time using photosynthesis to develop a certain type of chlorophyll. This altered type of chlorophyll will have great medicinal effects on human body & will help a lot in curing all of the major diseases which the humans are still struggling with.” Dr. Alexei wiped off the sweat on his forehead. Probably I forgot to take my medicines, he thought. “We have tested this sample and have found it working nicely on other living species. We would now test it directly on humans.” As he finished saying this, Dr. Donald got two stretchers with diseased patients in the hall. As soft whispers ran through the entire hall, Dr. Alexei filled syringes with the apple green coloured liquid & slowly injected them in the patient’s bodies.

“These two patients are suffering from a deadly disease. We have now injected this organic compound in their bodies. Within a short time, the healing process will start, gradually eliminating all the infected tissues inside.”

As the audience eagerly waited to see the results, Dr. Alexei turned from the podium to take his medicine. As he gulped down the tablets with water, suddenly he heard commotion behind him. As he turned, he was shocked to see the patients on the two stretchers shaking violently. Their bodies were slowly turning blue, and all the electronic graphs started showing straight lines. Their shivering continued & as Dr. Donald tried attending to them, they had already collapsed. Their healths started deteriorating fast. As per Dr. Alexei’s orders, they were immediately moved from the hall & were taken to DZCOR’s medical centre. The entire hall erupted in chaos. The whole show was flopped. Dr. Alexei & all his team, including Dr. Donald, exited away in midst of the questions fired by all the reporters present. Millions of people watched it LIVE on television. The whole event became instant news on all TV channels.

“They won’t recover from the wrong medicines you gave them, Dr. Alexei,” he said as he observed the health pads written above the beds of the infected patients during the presentation. “This is happening since the last 20 years, doctor. I kept on adding the altered harmful compound in your fermented medicines. You’ll of course get more surprises ahead. Be ready for them.” He thought as he slowly exited the observation rooms, limping with his left leg.

The next day, Dr. Alexei immediately held a meeting of all the panel of doctors. Owing to the sorrowful thing that had happened during the presentations, they all decided to check the entire apparatus & all the experimental observations done during the course of 20 years. Since Dr. Alexei was the only one present & alive since the start of the experiment from the senior panel of doctors, he was selected as the chief medical practitioner to assist the police & to look over the case.

After the meeting, Dr. Alexei was surrounded by all the reporters, asking him about the recent developments & why his experiment had failed, endangering the life of both the patients. Assuring them that right answers will soon be found, Dr. Alexei went to his lab to start the investigation.

“I had personally observed & tested all the apparatus injected in the plants.” He said to his team & to Detective Albert Carter, who was appointed by the Government to look over in the case. “Just one day before the presentation, we had checked all the readings. Everything was fine and good, but I donno who modified all the organic compounds being injected to them.” Dr Alexei said as he took his tablets.

Detective Albert was observing him. “What tablets are those, if I may ask you, Doctor?”

“Anxiety, panic attacks & hypertensions,” Dr. Alexei answered back.

“I need total data of all the CCTV footages, all swipe card entries as well as total information on all the doctors working on this project.” Detective Albert’s commands were immediately carried out.

“No use of all the efforts to save yourself, Dr. Alexei,” he said, as he entered limping in the medical room where the two patients were kept. There healths were deteriorating fast & they were being injected with different medicines through syringes. With his left eye blinking rapidly, he injected toxic medicines inside one of the patient’s syringe. Looking around carefully & limping with his left leg, he exited slowly in darkness outside the medical observation room.

The next day, Dr. Alexei rushed in DZCOR, as he was informed that one of the patients had died. Detective Albert was waiting for him.

“We have gathered some important CCTV footages from the one outside the medical room. Also we observed all the readings of the past 20 years. We never found anything in it. However, we did find something fishy in the compounds added two days before the presentation,” Detective Albert said

as he observed Dr. Alexei taking his tablets. “The reports suggest that someone added extra dosages of some altered compounds which resulted in the accidents that happened during the presentations. These altered compounds caused the death of one of the patients, leaving other in critical condition.” As they talked, Dr Alexei saw that some police were questioning someone in the adjoining room.

“We had to detain him. He was the person taking care of all measuring compounds that were added in the plants during the past 20 years. Plus…..” Detective Albert paused as he said, “He is the only limping doctor in your entire team. The LIVE footage caught by the CCTV outside the exit passage clearly showed a limping person exiting out in the passageway.” Showing him the recorded footage, he further continued, “He had cleverly switched out all the other CCTVs using access to remote server, but we did find him in one camera which was quite away in the passage. He forgot to shut it down, eventually helping us to identify him.”

As Dr. Alexei saw the recorded video from the CCTV, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“You mean Dr. Donald?” Dr. Alexei almost screamed. “But...why would he do it…?”

“You know that doctor. We have got some information regarding his past with this organisation. Would you like to shed some more light on it?” Detective Albert said, removing some papers from his pocket.

TO BE CONTINUED…….