Love, Lies and Nanobots

I had never believed in destiny. I believed in hard work, intelligence, and being the best damn bioengineer in the world. I spent the last six years proving myself at PulseCorp, one of Earth’s top medical tech companies, designing artificial organs that saved thousands of lives. And today? Today was supposed to be the day I finally got rewarded for it. A promotion was just what I needed. I adjusted my blazer, took a deep breath, and stepped into the glass conference room, where the entire executive board sat waiting. My boss, Dr. Langford, stood at the head of the table, smiling. “Dr. Voss, please sit.” My heart pounded. I had spent the past three years competing for this promotion, Head Bioengineer, the youngest in PulseCorp’s history. I had worked overtime, pulled all-nighters, solved impossible problems. There was no way they were giving it to anyone else but me. I could feel it already. “We’re happy to announce that the position of Head Bioengineer will be awarded to Dr. Ethan Roe.” For a moment, I was sure I had misheard. The room burst into polite applause, and Ethan, my longtime rival, the man who spent years undermining my work, the guy who once called me ‘dangerously impulsive’ in front of the board stood up and shook Dr. Langford’s hand. I sat frozen, staring at the betrayal unfolding before me. How could this be happening? Is this a bad dream? Langford turned to me snapping me out of my thoughts. “Dr. Voss, we deeply appreciate your contributions. Your work on artificial hearts has been invaluable...” But I didn't let him finish. “I...I don’t understand,” I stammered feeling annoyed. “I had the best performance record. I led the SynthValve project. I....” Langford gave me a sympathetic-but-not-really expression. The kind you give your dog for wanting more food after it already finished it's own. “Ethan has shown exceptional leadership skills. We believe he’s a better fit for this role.” My fists clenched under the table. Exceptional leadership? A better fit? Oh please. Or was this because I wasn’t the type to play office politics? Because I had focused on doing the actual science instead of networking at corporate dinners? Ethan, that smug bastard, turned to me smirking. “No hard feelings, Voss.” he stretched out his hands to shake me. No hard feelings? Yeah right. I ignored his offered hand and stood up so fast my chair scraped against the floor. “Congratulations, Dr. Roe.” I said through gritted teeth. The words tasted like acid in my mouth. I walked out of the room before anyone could see how badly my hands were shaking. I stormed into my lab, my breath coming in short bursts. I yanked off my blazer, tossing it onto the desk. I had sacrificed everything for this job. I had slept in this lab more nights than I could count, missed birthdays, dates, skipped vacations—hell, I hadn’t even taken a proper lunch break in years. And for what? For Ethan to walk in and steal my future out from under me? My fingers hovered over my work tablet. I wanted to quit. But what would I even do after? It wasn't easy to get a good job these days. Plus this was literally my life. My entire life. The lab doors slid open, and my boyfriend, Darren, walked in. He was tall, lean but muscular and handsome. “Zara,” he said, his voice concerned . “is something wrong?” I barely looked up. “Not now, Darren.” “But you look so stressed.” He added. "You have to open up to me. Maybe I can help" I chuckled dryly “Unless you know how to get me a new job title or a better one, I don’t think you can.” "But that doesn't mean you should keep it all to yourself, Sometimes talking helps" "DO I f*****g LOOK LIKE I NEED TO TALK?" I screamed as I banged on the desk. People began to cast us side glances as I bowed my head in shame at my sudden outburst. Well that came out worse than I expected. "Look Darren like I said, not now" I muttered putting my palms over my face. Darren sighed heavily, the kind of sigh he used whenever I worked too late or canceled a date. And then, he placed something on the desk. I frowned. It was…an engagement ring. My stomach dropped. I looked up, and Darren had that pained, guilty expression that people got when they were about to say something awful. “I can’t do this anymore,” he said. I blinked. “Can’t do what?” “This.” He gestured vaguely at her, at the lab, at everything. “Us.” My brain stuttered. “Wait, Darren I'm sorry” I apologised . “It's just that it's been a really long day” Darren exhaled. “Zara, I understand but it's not just that. You don't have time for me anymore and we barely even see each other. And when was the last time we had a real conversation that wasn’t about your work?” “I...” my words caught in my throat. “This is just a bad day, okay? I’ll take some time off, we can....” “I met someone.” The words slammed into me like a hard punch to my stomach. A cold, empty silence stretched between us. “I didn’t plan for it to happen,” Darren continued. “But I couldn't spend time with you because you're always busy so I met someone who was always available for me, and she....” “Who?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. Darren hesitated. “Mira.” I frowned. “Who the hell is Mira?” “The yoga instructor,” he said. “From the Mars retreat.” I stared at him. “The one you went to two months ago?” I asked. “…Yeah.” I sucked in a sharp breath. Two months. Darren had been cheating on me for two months. Slowly, I pulled off the ring still on my finger and set it down next to the first one. “Get out,” I said. “Zara, I...” “GET OUT.” Darren hesitated, but in the end, he did what he always wanted to do. He left. And I was alone. For two hours, I sat at my desk, staring blankly at my work tablet. Then, something inside me snapped. I stood abruptly, grabbed my latest project. A prototype for a self-regulating artificial heart valve and stormed down the hall to the testing lab. If I couldn’t get the promotion, I’d prove I deserved it anyway. I set up the testing interface, The system flashed a WARNING: UNAUTHORIZED PROCEDURE, but I ignored it. I knew what I was doing, or so I thought. I just needed one win today. The machine whirred to life. The artificial valve pulsed on the screen, perfectly syncing with the digital heart model. It was working. I exhaled. See? I was the best. And then the power went out. All the power. City-wide blackout. Every screen flickered off. The lab went pitch black. And then I realized, with dawning horror, that I had just fried at least half the city’s power grid. The emergency generators kicked in, bathing the lab in red warning lights. I quickly fled the testing lab. Maybe no one will know it was me. I snuck into my lab and to my desk. I picked up my tablet and pretended like I was busy. Then a message popped up on my tablet: SECURITY BREACH DETECTED. CEO REQUESTING IMMEDIATE TERMINATION REVIEW. I dropped the tablet onto the desk. Fuck, I am so screwed. I had lost my promotion. I had lost my boyfriend. And now, I had probably lost my entire career I closed my eyes and let my head fall against the desk. This was, without question, the worst day of my entire life.