Mutant by Henry Kuttner
"Mutant" is a collection of five interconnected stories set in a post-World War II world, where the consequences of nuclear warfare have given rise to a group of telepathic mutants known as the Baldies. The narrative explores the complexities of their existence as a minority facing societal suspicion and potential violence from non-mutants. The first four stories, published in 1945, depict the struggles of rational Baldies working against a faction of paranoid Baldies who seek dominance over others. Key events show the rational Baldies' efforts to protect their community from the threats posed by their extremist counterparts, including a plot to indoctrinate children into feelings of superiority.
As the stories progress, the Baldies confront their dire circumstances, culminating in the final tale where they consider a drastic measure—Operation Apocalypse—to ensure their survival against humanity's rejection of their telepathic gift. This story raises moral questions about the implications of their actions on both their own kind and non-mutants. Ultimately, the narrative concludes ambiguously, leaving the fate of both groups in the balance when mankind is faced with a choice regarding telepathy. "Mutant" delves into themes of identity, power dynamics, and the ethical dilemmas inherent in the struggle for coexistence.
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Subject Terms
Mutant
First published: 1953 (serial form, Astounding Science-Fiction, February, June, July, and December, 1945; and September, 1953)
Type of work: Stories
Type of plot: Science fiction—extrasensory powers
Time of work: The near future to the twenty-second century
Locale: Earth
The Plot
This book is composed of five separate stories sharing a common background. The first four—“The Piper’s Son,” “Three Blind Mice,” “The Lion and the Unicorn,” and “Beggars in Velvet”—were published in 1945. The series was popular, but the authors lost interest; the final story, “Humpty Dumpty,” was not published until 1953. When the stories were collected in book form, the authors added framing and linking sections to tie the stories together into a somewhat novellike whole.
Mutant begins two generations after World War II ended with the use of nuclear weapons, radiation from which created the Baldies: mutant, hairless humans with telepathic powers. The Baldies are a minority in a suspicious, violence-prone postwar world, and they justifiably fear lynchings and pogroms if they antagonize nontelepaths. For the sake of their species, they agree to sacrifice the individual advantages and comforts their special ability might have brought them.
A subgroup of paranoid Baldies, however, believe that Baldies are a master race and deserve to rule the world. Most of Mutant deals with the efforts of the rational Baldies to foil the plots of the paranoids. In “The Piper’s Son,” for example, a Baldy named Ed Burkhalter learns that a paranoid is trying to condition Baldy children, including his son Al, with the telepathically transmitted “Green Man” adventure story, designed to instill feelings of racial superiority and destiny. Ed confers with other Baldies, and, agreeing on the danger and determined to keep the peace, they kill the paranoid.
The middle three stories depict other unsuccessful efforts on the part of the paranoid Baldies to sow confusion, mistrust, and violence over succeeding generations. By the last story, “Humpty Dumpty,” the Baldies’ situation as a minority among humans has become so untenable that they embark on a project to find a way to artificially give all humans the power of telepathy. If the project fails, the Baldies decide to carry out “Operation Apocalypse” and release a virus that will destroy all the nontelepaths in order to save themselves. The Baldies learn that the telepathy-inducing device they have developed will not work on adult nontelepaths, who have subconsciously grown too fearful and distrusting, but will work on their children. If the nontelepaths do not accept the device on those terms, Operation Apocalypse will have to be carried out. Baldy Jeff Cody realizes that if it is, the Baldies will not be able to shield themselves from sensing the destruction of all those lives. The memory would never fade, and the guilt would finally consume the Baldies. At the end of the story, he decides to stop Operation Apocalypse by erasing key information from the computer. He is comforted by many other Baldies linked with him in telepathic rapport as they wait for humanity either to accept the offer of telepathy for their children or to exterminate the Baldies. The story ends on that unresolved note, but in the last part of the framing sequence, the reader learns that humanity has accepted the Baldies’ offer.