MUTANTS

The year - 2017
The place - the wreckage of Central London
Their target - the makers of a lethal new designer drug
Their problem - they only have thirty hours to live

[Picture: Hassid threatens Travis
with a big gun]

Synopsis
Extract from Scene 10
Cast
Notes
Another picture
Review

The full text of Mutants is available on request.
Please note that this text is copyright and ask permission before using it. Thanks.
Requests to perform Mutants should, in the first case, be directed to me.

MUTANTS - Synopsis

Anarchy rules inside the United Nations containment zone, and a strange new drug appears on the black market, with properties far exceeding previous genetically-engineered mind-altering substances. Mercenary deserters from the Gulf Invasion Force, Travis and her hacker partner Jackson are coerced into tracking down the source of the drugs, where they discover a secret that threatens the Future of Life As We Know It, Jim.

Inspired by The Talking Heads "Life During Wartime" one late night on the M1 motorway, with liberal borrowings from William Gibson, Ridley Scott, Carlos Castenada, Tim Leary, Lucius Shepherd and John Carpenter - Mutants was dark, effective, SF nonsense.

MUTANTS - SCENE 10 (in full) - BACK AT U.N. HEADQUARTERS

TRAVIS ALONE. TABLE AND CHAIR. ENTER COL. BLUNT.

BLUNT: Sergeant Travis... Nice work.

TRAVIS: I'm not a soldier anymore. Colonel.

BLUNT: But you are - you were never court-martialled.; You're still under British military jurisdiction....

TRAVIS: I don't give a shit. We did our job - we got you a sample and a grid fix.; Aren't I the green-eyed girl? I assume you've done your job and been in to zap the 'Cong?; Or did you leave that to your Arab friends?

BLUNT: You find anything else?

TRAVIS: No. The data track Jacko ran was logged into that expensive box of softtech; you lent him - it's probably being broken up for spares right now.

BLUNT: No other hard copy?

TRAVIS: There wasn't time. I've done my job, so get this shit out from my neck; and let me back into the Zone to find Jacko.

BLUNT: OK. You did fine, Travis. I'm making arrangements for you right now.; I'm sorry about your friend.
TRAVIS: He'll be O.K. We walked out of a ten kiloton nuclear D.Z. in Abu Dubai.; A long walk home won't kill him. If your ratbrain friends had done their job,; he'd be here along with your very expensive toys.

BLUNT: The Syrians work hard and do a great job.; I don't see the British working too hard to preserve their expensive lifestyle.; Except illegally. Did you hand in the rest of your kit?

TRAVIS: Yes.

BLUNT: Everything?

TRAVIS: Yes.

BLUNT: So you won't mind if we search you?

TRAVIS: What?

BLUNT: You won't mind if we search you. You heard.

TRAVIS: Sod off.

BLUNT TAKES A VERY LARGE HANDGUN FROM HIS HOLSTER AND HOLDS IT TO TRAVIS'S HEAD.

BLUNT: What else did you see in the grid?

TRAVIS: I don't know what you're talking about. Jacko ran the grid, not me.

BLUNT: (TOUCHING HER NECK) Teterodetoxin, Travis.; By noon tomorrow he'll be paralysed from the neck down.; He won't be able to speak, or breathe, his vital signs will be non-existent.; To all intents and purposes he'll be dead. And so will you.

TRAVIS: We had a deal....

BLUNT: This is the real world, my little green-eyed girl...; (CALLING OUT) In here, Soldier!

A SOLDIER STEPS INTO THE ROOM.

BLUNT: (FORMAL)Would you mind if we searched you?

THE SOLDIER STEPS FORWARD AND RAPIDLY SEARCHES TRAVIS.

TRAVIS: I hope you're enjoying this.

THEY FIND THE DATA CARTRIDGE. BLUNT PUTS THE STASIS CUFFS BACK ON TRAVIS.

BLUNT: I am normally a man of my word, Travis.; Circumstances force me to make an exception.

TRAVIS: Your integrity leaves me speechless, you American shit.

BLUNT: Canadian. I'm a Canadian shit.; And you're going back to an English prison. Tomorrow night.

TRAVIS IS PALE WITH ANGER. AS SHE STEPS TOWARDS BLUNT, HE PRESSES THE REMOTE FOR THE CUFFS. TRAVIS FALLS, WRITHING IN AGONY.

BLUNT: (TO THE SOLDIER) Take her down to D-block.

TRAVIS: You can't do this. I'll die! You're United Nations for Jesus' sake!

BLUNT: (GIVING THE REMOTE TO THE SOLDIER.) Be careful.; She used to be Special Forces. Use this a couple of times on the way down.; This is the key switch, here. It's not coded.; Thanks for all your hard work, Travis - but we do have to take security measures.; Just for the time being, you understand? I really have to go now. So long.

BLUNT EXITS

MUTANTS - Cast

Cast of 8. Running Time - 90 minutes (no interval)

Original 1989 Edinburgh Fringe Cast

Travis - Ex-Royal Marine-turned-deserter and mercenary-stone-cold-killer - kind of cross between Sharon Stone, Angela Mao (Bruce Lee's sister in Enter the Dragon?) and Robert de Niro.
Played with blue steel eyes and whiplash charm by Karin Charlesworth (ex-London Contemporary Dance Co.)

Jackson - Travis's Marine buddy from the Gulf War, deserter and good-lookin' RastaMan-Datathief.
Played by Michael Palmer in tight combats and impenetrable Jamaican patois.

Dr. Rassall - British Government molecular-biologist on the track of gentically Altered States.
Played with steadily fraying moral resolve by Anne Haydn.

Colonel Blunt - U.N Peacekeeping Force official with several agendas short of a picnic.
Played with odious sincerity and a perfect Southern Ontario accent by Hugh Hayes.

Major Mariam Hassid - Irani New Muslim Special Forces Officer, cutting edge of a New World Order.
Played with Arabian passion and a suitably curled upper lip by Valerie Bahakel.

Mikki Anderson - Twenty-something gene-splicing genius.
Played by Laura Beckford, playing God with a disingenuous and toothsome grin.

The Changin' Man - Unwilling Victim of an attempt to erase Life As We Know It, Jim.
Played with wild physicality by Sam Halpenny in an increasingly ripped pinstripe suit.

Anna - Child victim and Genetic Avenger.
Played by Belinda Peters with that eery mixture of pathos and psychosis that persuades you to get off the bus a stop or two early.

MUTANTS - Notes

Considering that I originally wrote Mutants about three years before the real Gulf War, I guess I got that bit more or less right - though no nukes were used in the real one, thankfully. I'd also like to point out that any similarities to William Gibson and Lucius Shepard were entirely uncoincidental, but that Greg Bear's Blood Music got given to me well after Mutants was over.

In fact, though Mutants was never intended to be taken seriously, we did hope to push the multi-media angle, even talking to 200AD/Crisis and a couple of smaller UK comic publishers about a strip, and to Mirrorsoft about a game. But the Edinburgh Fringe, though a great showcase, is also a great asset-stripper, so I ended the run too much in debt to follow the show up, despite a rave notice from The Independent newspaper (the reviewer was an old friend - honest).

The year - 2017 The place - the wreckage of Central London Their target - the makers of a lethal new designer drug Their problem - they only have thirty hours to live

Synopsis Extract from Scene 10 Cast Notes Another picture Review