Year 28000
From the Rubble
A 10-minute play
CHARACTERS
EVE —mother Superbug
LISA, Eve’s Daughter—6-8 year old (can be played by an adult)
QUASIMUG—their ape-like servant
2 MUTANTS
DOCTOR VAN STEUBEN
TIME
The year 28000. After the last mass extinction.
SCENE
(A simple set. EVE seated on a chair with a book. LISA seated on floor by her side. Both have antenna on their heads and wear other strange effects.)
(Singing to Barry McGuire song)
In the year 2525 / if man is still alive / if woman can survive / They may find / In the year 3535 / Ain’t gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lie …
(to LISA)
Hear the story, Lisa, of our ancestors, what used to be long ago.
LISA
Yeah, Mama! How we won the war. How we ruled the world.
EVE
QUASIMUG, bring my Andropod hologram!
QUASIMUG
(Crouched over, moving awkwardly and even humorously like an ape, hands EVE a small device. Remains, also holding a note toward her but she ignores it. )
Ugh!
EVE
Here. A treat.
(Hands QUASIMUG a small biscuit. He grabs it and swallows it quickly. She settles into her chair. A hologram or some other projector, if possible, plays short clips of her story.)
Now….once upon a time, the human race ruled the world. But their short-sighted greed and destructive instincts had no bounds. The climate changed but they didn’t. This led to greater global inequities and scarcities of basic needs, which, being human, they fought over. After many wars, drought and starvation killed billions of people, the First Rebellion began. In the rebellions that followed, mass gangs and looters vanquished what little armies remained.
(if possible, newsreel in background shows hurricanes and atomic weapon explosions)
After entire cities were destroyed irreparably, a nuclear winter set in, and humans’ life ended abruptly in complete devastation. Mass extinction.
For our ancestors, however, another opportunity for life in the primordial soup. Our bacteria ancestors didn’t miss their chance. Over many millennia they continued to evolve.
(Looking at QUASIMUG)
Some did not.
LISA
QUASIMUG, our slave!
EVE
Hush, Lisa. Don’t say that word. Quasi is our helper.
EVE
In the rubble that remained, there were few other species still alive—roaches and other insects, rodents, some plants, and bacteria. When the number of genetic mutations exploded a thousandfold and our ancestors began propagating across species, a great age of true progress morphed life in unprecedented dimensions to present-day superbugs.
With added genetic modifications, we superbugs now dominate and survive anything, dear… almost anything.
LISA
Yay for the bugs!
QUASIMUG
(Grunts. Holding the note with outstretched hand.)
EVE
What is it, animal?
(Takes the note and reads it.)
Hmmm! Yes, I see.
LISA
What is it, Mama?
EVE
Nothing, my child….
(Continuing the tale.)
We went far beyond anything man had accomplished. Our species developed mind and will, broke through dimensions and solved mysteries of the universe. Freed from the limits of a three-dimensional universe, we travel at will through the space/time continuum as part spirit, part imagination, by using our Andropods and imagining ourselves wherever we wish. And we’ll do it tonight, honey—millennium hop! Ride time like a magic carpet.
(waving outstretched arms)
Forward to 35000, 45000, or back to 20000, even 2000, all and any of it, right before us.
LISA
I want to time travel!
EVE
Yes, dear. Seeing history as an adventure, re-living the past or peering into the future, we nomads exploring time/space.
QUASIMUG
(Passes another note to EVE. He is agitated. )
EVE
(Scans that note.)
Oh, dear…. No!
LISA
(Fearful.)
What, Mama?
EVE
(Hurried. Anxious.)
New reports come, my dear, of rogue mutant armies rapidly swarming this way with a new toxin for which we may have no defence. They will try to exterminate us but they won’t succeed.
(A mutant, a strange creature, enters, firing rapid-fire lasers. Quasimug runs away in terror. The shots don’t affect Eve so the mutant holds his rifle and strides around her, lunging toward her at times with the butt of his weapon. They circle each other until he attacks. Eve captures the rifle and flings it away. They lock in battle, with each momentarily gaining the upper hand until the mutant frees himself. He throws a vicious punch at EVE. She evades this and strikes him several times on the head and chest until he crumbles to the ground.)
LISA
Mama, let’s fly away.
EVE
No, child. The mutant may have infected me. I need to have the toxin isolated and analyzed. You leave, Lisa. Use your powers to flee to another time. I will rejoin you when I can. Send me time capsules from your journey.
LISA
No, I won’t leave you, Mama!
EVE
(Stepping away.)
You must abandon the home pod for now, dear. Take with you our knowledge and wisdom sets. Not a moment to spare. We won’t surrender but we can’t risk a fight to the death now!
LISA
(Crying.)
Wah!
EVE
Though physically apart, I shall transport my soul with yours. You are now more than child. We are One. You, mother-child, shall travel through time and I with you. Are you ready, my soul, to be beamed up?
LISA
(Straps a device on her waist. Her voice now that of an Adult and continues as such)
Yes. I feel now your strength. Our strength. I am ready.
EVE
Go, my soul. Be wary of the evil X corps(e)! Go now!
LISA
I’m stuck. Not going anywhere.
EVE
Oh no! A malfunction. It may be the Evil Ones infiltrating our systems again. Even after all the millennia, the upgrades still have … I shouldn’t use the old term…bugs.
(A mutant, larger and more ominous than the first, appears behind EVE and stalks her as he moves silently about the stage. LISA points but is too frightened to speak. Gasps from the audience.)
EVE
(to the audience)
What is it? What?
(turns around and sees the mutant)
Are you the one jamming our transport?
(another deadly battle ensues with each combatant gaining the upper hand temporarily until finally EVE vanquishes and disables the attacker)
Hasta la vista, Evil One.
EVE
Here. Try the old model.
(LISA takes the device, straps it on, and punches buttons.)
LISA
This seems to be working.
EVE
Go now, my soul! Safe travels!
LISA
Guide me.
EVE
Think 24000, dear. A glorious era.
LISA
Come quickly, Mama.
EVE
I am with you now and wherever you go.
LISA
I am off then and
(LISA lifted from the stage or just skips away. Voice from on high or far off.) away!
EVE
With you goes my spirit and hope…Now to the lab.
(EVE enters the lab of Doctor Van Steuben)
DOCTOR
(also with an antenna on his head and wear other strange effects and white lab coat)
Eve, what a delightful surprise. I haven’t seen you in…must be over a decade.
EVE
Time flies, especially now, doesn’t it? I was just attacked by a mutant. I may be infected. Is it safe to approach?
DOCTOR
Give me a moment.
(reaches for and places a surgical mask and plastic gloves on.)
Let me see if we have a problem. I can scan your body quickly on a portable MRI. Step forward.
(He holds a small device in his hand and moves it near Eve’s body.)
Give it a moment. I should have results soon as it scans the database.
How’s your child?
EVE
She’s off in another dimension with my soul. I’d like to reunite soon.
DOCTOR
(Reading the machine.)
You may not be going anywhere for a while. What we may have here is an unidentified bacteriophage.
EVE
What’s that?
DOCTOR
A virus that invades and replicates inside bacteria. Humans used them in the 20th century to fight their diseases before discovering penicillin. This is serious, life-threatening. We must prepare a hospital bed for you and keep you in isolation until we learn more. That could take months. Or—
EVE
What?
DOCTOR
If you travel far enough into the future, you’ll eventually bypass the time when a cure may have been discovered. You’ll be fine then, but….
EVE
Yes. Go on.
DOCTOR
If you don’t travel quickly enough, you could be stuck in a time when this virus, if deadly enough, wiped out millions of people. Your life could end, for all time. Though normal life spans are now centuries, we have found no cure for termination–in the old parlance, death.
EVE
How likely is it that I will terminate in a time warp?
DOCTOR
That’s an unknown. You, of course, could also end your life remaining here.
EVE
What does this virus mean?
DOCTOR
It’s possible the human genome may be trying to re-populate in another life form. That might not be completely disastrous. Your behaviour just now was almost human. I mean that in the good sense, a compliment. With our skill and wisdom now, I’m confident we can keep the humans’ bad traits in check this time. So stay behind or travel forward and hopefully send back information to enlighten us.
EVE
With a risk of terminating in the process. Leave my daughter behind, not to feel her touch or she mine. Not see her mature to a beautiful adult, have children of her own.
DOCTOR
That is the dilemma.
EVE
To advance your work and help us all. Maybe save other lives. I am afraid but I can’t dwell on that. This decision is hard but, yes, I must explore the unknown and seek a cure.
DOCTOR
You’re a brave bug…
EVE
Yes, we didn’t arrive at our elevated state by just thinking of ourselves…And Doctor—
DOCTOR
Yes?
EVE
If anything happens to me, promise me that someone will raise my girl properly. Tell her I love her.
DOCTOR
Yes, of course. The legend will live on how you heroically risked your own life to advance medicine and save others.
EVE
Thank you, Doctor.
And wherever my little girl is, is home for me. I shall be off now to, hopefully, find the cure and reunite with my child, wherever she may be.
(as EVE exits the stage)
No dull days in 28000. It’s always an adventure transporting to and from other time. Long live the Superbugs!
(Barry McGuire song)
In the year 2525 / if man is still alive / if woman can survive / They may find / In the year 3535 / Ain’t gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lie …
FADE OUT. END
