It was April 1st 1985 and while people were playing pranks on April fool’s day, it was a big day for the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) as they launched their new cancer therapy machine, Therac-25. The machine according to the chief engineer offered two modes of radiation therapy to cure cancer. This machine according to some was the innovation of the century and a gift to mankind. As the team of engineers was celebrating the day of the launch of their “successful invention”, the medical team of the Death Valley Cancer Hospital (DVCH) was installing the first ever model of Therac-25.
This was not the only big news why AECL was in the news, some newspapers claim that AECL had fired the assistant engineer of Therac-25, Dr. Steve Turing and the rumors were that the reason behind the engineers falling out with the company was because he was reluctant to launch Therac-25 soon as he believed that the machine was not tested enough and could injure and possibly even kill patients if not tested before its use on humans.
The team at DVCH installed the machine and were ready to take in patients for cancer cure within 2 days of installation. Alan Jobs became the first human to be treated using this new invention in the field of medicine and science. After about a month of treatment using Therac-25 Alan Jobs and several others including the president of AECL felt fitter and cured of cancer entirely and the reports did show the improvement. However, a few days later, Alan Jobs started feeling clumsy and spotted a few “rash” like marks on various parts of his body.
He thought of those as some sort of a symptom of skin allergy and did not take it seriously, a few more days later he noticed an immense increase in the size of his K-9 teeth but he ignored it as well. A few days his best friend visited his place to see how he was doing after the therapy and could not believe his eyes as he saw Alan pounce on him and tried to bite him, he somehow managed to escape and reached a safe place and as he got time to recollect his thoughts, he realized that his friend had turned into a non-human creature that feeds on human flesh.
He ran to the nearest Police department and told them what he saw, the Police contacted the hospital that Alan use to go to treat his cancer and started to inquire and while all of this was taking place other branches of Police department across the city were reported about similar instances and all these cases had one thing in common, Death Valley Cancer Hospital and turned out that all the non-human creatures were previously cancer patients and treated using Therac-25 at DVCH.
This is when the Police department contacted the Mayor of the city and put together a team that comprised of highly ranked police officers and AECL engineers to stop this situation and try to turn these victims in to humans again. The engineers however were not capable and adept enough to re-design the machine and change the code that it emits radiations that could reverse the effect of its last emitted radiations. The team then decided to approach Dr. Steve Turing and ask for his help to code the machine to cure these victims and bring the city to peace.
Dr. Steve Turing agreed to help but said that in-order to help code the machine he would need a DNA sample of one of the victims so he could study the changes that have occurred in the victims. The team began to plan a strategy to trap one of the victims and then collect a DNA sample. From the complaints that were recorded by the Police department they realized that these victims are attracted to human flesh and blood and hence the only way to trap one of the victims was to setup a bait and then catch the victim by deceiving him.
Dr. Steve Turing being a responsible engineer stepped forward and agreed to act as the bait as he said that Therac-25 was his creation and hence it is his responsibility to correct his mistake. The trap was setup and Dr. Turing (the bait) was on his mark when he saw a victim sprint towards him with big K-9 teeth and ripped clothes and blood dripping from his mouth. The team was well placed as the victim approached Dr. Turing, as the victim tried to bite and eat Dr. Turing, the team attacked the victim and trapped him successfully.
While the team celebrated their catch, Dr. Turing started analyzing the DNA sample that was collected from the victim. It took Dr. Turing and his team to decode the DNA and code the machine such that it emits the radiations that undo the effects of the old radiations on the victims. Then began the task of capturing the victims and exposing them with this new radiation that was emitted from Therac-25.
After 5 days of long hard work of the special team of police men, engineers from AECL and medical experts the city was safe and free of victims that were turned into non-human creatures as they were turned back to humans and that too without any signs of cancer. Dr. Turing was felicitated with several awards and was elected as the president of the AECL where he was previously fired from. Since this incident every machine around the world is tested several times in several conditions before it is launched and opened to use by people.
