B E N E D I C T ' S 9
a creative
collaboration

. B A C K G R O U N D.

Welcome to Benedict's 9 . . .
. . . . . When Aunt Joan, Uncle John and Uncle James originated the idea of "The Mutants," as our story was first titled, they hoped to envision a world fifteen years in the future—the mid-80s. With the revival of the almost forgotten manuscript by Brendan at the turn of the century, our orientation is still fifteen years removed, however, now we are imagining, in contrast to an unknown future, a past that was never to be. Our setting is the dawn of the Information Age and the twilight of the Cold War, and our diverse cast of characters has been thrown together (first, by the carelessness of an eccentric scientist, and then, by his ingenuity) to face a peril none of them yet fully understand.
. . . . . Recently, Uncle John has plunged ahead to expand our narrative to nine parts and establish this Website as the focus of our efforts. You are hereby invited to participate in the ongoing development of this exciting story. Take a few moments to review some of the background points essential to our creative project, but NOT before you have read the first nine parts of our saga.
. . . . . 1) Benedict hires a Chicago-based P.I. named Howard Mosby to find the nineteen evolving mutants, but "Mo" is successful at finding only eighteen of them. Of these, eleven ultimately agree to learn more about the master plan, and seven agree to take a monetary settlement.
. . . . . 2) Benedict takes his band to a secret Canadian location. Two seaplanes are used on the final leg. Aboard one craft are Benedict, Yates, Gallagher, Lafayette, Wise, and Mosby. The pilot is longtime Benedict employee Griswold Wilkins. Stromberg, Epson, Capriconti, Bering, Amberly, and Mann are on the other plane, with pilot Joseph Henshaw, younger brother of Scott Henshaw, a buddy Mo had in the Navy Shore Patrol.
. . . . . 3) A return trip to Chicago with Mosby, Gallagher, Amberly, and Epson enables Benedict to return the teen mutant to the custody of her parents and gain the association of Kethan Mortice. He finalizes his legal process with the remaining mutants and returns to join the others, but abruptly changes plans after a startling flashback. He dispatches Wilkins on a separate assignment and goes with Mo and the rest into concealment at a camp near Hessel, Michigan.
. . . . . 4) After the assault on the island retreat, Lafayette and Stromberg are left to their own devices, while Yates, Wise, Capriconti, and Bering manage to join the other group. The fates of Mann and young Henshaw are unknown.
. . . . . 5) Mutants Janus Tackett and Lauren Ballard collapse and die in Chicago. The former in the lobby of the Winston-Carlton Hotel and the latter outside the studios of WGN, but not before Ballard grants a TV interview revealing the details of Benedict's presentation.
. . . . . 6) Gwen Amberly leaves her family's New York suburban home in search of her brother Russell, a brilliant computer scientist and experienced hacker.
. . . . . 7) Unknown to Benedict and his companions, the group is being sought by a mysterious person named Eric Sternheimer. Whether Sternheimer and his operatives are involved in the deaths of Tackett and Ballard is unknown. One thing is clear, though—his organization is responsible for the brutal deaths of Benedict's mentor Vaughn Milton and Westock chief of security Raymond Kerns "Raker" O'Cull. The whereabouts of Wilkins is unknown, as is the status of the other six unnamed mutants, including the one Mo failed to trace.
. . . . . Press on, fellow collaborators! See what we can make of this "noir-ish, slightly-sanitized-pulp-sci-fi, late-cold-war, prime-time-soap, early-political-correctness" style (Whatever the heck that is!!!). Don't forget—the key is participation, collaboration, diversion, and, most of all, fun!

. . . . . U N D E R. . D E V E L O P M E N T

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