Deleted Scene

"Celestite's Request, Snapper's Nigh-Endless One-Take Single-Camera Monologue"

All things considered, luck was on Snapper's side. Between a daughter who was a crack shot with a harpoon launcher, an alien guest who could kick said harpoon through a stadium-sized monster, and a daughter sharp enough to figure out how to survive the aftermath - the Cerise Fishing Company's F/V Miz-Rey had a hold full of fish… and lots of insurance paperwork to fill out on land.

He sighed. Having an administrator/accountant was a much better idea than he'd originally thought, and he was glad Jane had talked him into it. A night like this one would have ruined him back in the old days. Maybe it was time to start talking up the 'Cerise Luck' and the 'Cerise Deskwork' as well.

As part of that Cerise Luck, he'd picked up an alien as a passenger. Jane told him that she, Celestite, was somehow responsible for that monster. But in his experience, any single being responsible for something that big and that potentially destructive had probably had responsibility shoveled onto them. So long as they could give the insurers a good explanation, he didn't think it mattered all that much. Sounded like a one-off thing anyway.

Besides, she'd saved them from it, and was asking to help repair; offers of physical assistance from someone stronger than Seana weren't to be scoffed at. They'd be up and running again in a week.

"Excuse me, Snapper?" Celestite asked. She was standing at the bottom of the steps up to the helm. (He hadn't heard her walk over from the forward pulpit, and with only one motor running slow, he should have. Some aspect of her alienness, no doubt.)

"Yes?"

Celestite looked confused for a moment, then continued. "What would I need to do to go back to the exact spot the Gem St- the monster exploded at? I appear to have lost something valuable there."

"Oh, you mean like a diving expedition?" He looked over at the digital map display on the console, which showed the path the Miz-Rey had taken. "Well, we have the coordinates saved and everything, so we could in theory head back, give you a line and a radio, then let you swim down and get what you're looking for. But the ship is, as you know, in all ways scientific and mechanical: FUBAR. We, uhm, might have needed you get back in the water and push us home, if you kids hadn't gotten the motor working," Snapper laughed.

"E- excuse me?" Celestite said. The confusion in her expression had not abated, and instead had mysteriously increased.

"But don't worry about it. If you need to get out there soon, I'll call in a favor, get one of my buddies to take you out there. Think Yellowtail still owes me one… You up to traveling to Beach City, Celestite? He's basically my equivalent there, does a lot of specialty fishing work. Guess his oldest isn't like Seana, doesn't want anything to do with fishing, and his youngest can't get on a boat yet. Doesn't have the sea legs, or because he's too young? Anyway, the oldest. I think he's a musician? Seana and Jane've seen him perform at one of those warehouse rants, or whatever they're called. Gets it from his mom, he told me. But that's weird, because Yellow used to be a drummer! On the side, I mean. It's a city career, not a small-town one. Used to play gigs with that car wash owner in Beach City, I think. But yeah, we've got all kinds on the sea. I actually got as far as E-6 grade before I decided I needed a career. Met Seana's... mom, got hitched, started a family. Stuff happened, met Jane-Maria, started a new family. Now look at me - owner and CEO of Cerise Fishing Company, not just some squid on a skating trip. Wife at home, I get to work with my daughters, all of them harder workers than any of those skimmers or canoe clubbers they've got nowadays. I've got it all, I've got all I need, and today I nearly lost most of it. I haven't thanked you yet, Celestite. I don't know if they're a hundred percent aware of this, but I know my daughters are probably alive now thanks to you. You said it might have been your fault? Doesn't matter, because you worked to clean up your own mess, and now it's clean. Good janitorial skills, the metaphorical kind in this case, are more important than never messing up, where I come from. You've got my respect, Celestite, and if you ever need help don't think for a second you can't ask me for it."

"...uhm?" Celestite said, head tilted slightly to one side, nigh-visible question marks hanging in the thin air about her.

"Besides that, though, who were you talking to? You had a little crystal or something you were talking into. Now, I'm pretty sure you came here by accident - Gems don't have much reason anymore to come to Earth. You're not a scout or a warrior by the look of it. That means you sure aren't here officially, and I don't need Seana to interrogate you to figure that out. A one-off, right? No place in the hierarchy or caste or whatever it is your Homeworld sets their clocks by? That's why you gave us a X-number serial number instead of one of those facet-cut IDs. Never could figure out why those Almighty Melodramatics or Shinies or whatever your leaders are called, think they're the Prince-sses of the Universe - sorry, I realize you've probably never heard that song - when it's the groundpounders that do the work. No way to live, that. Got no place for kings or queens of the world, on our world. I'm not representing the whole planet here, but we don't mind taking in runaways on Earth, like you, like my friend. Ha! My friend; friend of mine from off-planet told me about you guys once. Haven't seen him in years, and it's probably for the best because he only comes by to save us from something big. You know I was about to call him back earlier? If I see him again, if he comes on by for the holidays or to just say hi or something, you know what I'm going to tell him? I'm going to have the great pleasure of telling him that my five-oh peak-human daughter and a human-sized alien hero beat down something he'd need three minutes to work over. You understand, Celestite? You saved our lives and gave me a good drinking story-slash-brag. Don't think that means more, because we have to be alive to talk about it afterwards. So, just to be clear, I personally owe you a huge favor. You need a place to stay here on Earth?"

Celestite paused for a second, and replied: "...yes?"

"Well, you're staying with us! I'll let Seana know, roomie!"

Celestite tried to parse out just exactly what Snapper had just told her. He spoke in a dialect of Human she'd never heard of (not that she knew very many), and simply couldn't understand. In fact, it sounded very much like "FFFFFRRRRRR" repeated over and over, with variations in the lengths and tones of the 'FFF' and 'RRR' sounds being where meaning was held.

All she knew was that Snapper had told her something extensive. It sounded like idle conversation though, so she made a note to ask Seana or Jane later what they'd talked about.

Maybe she'd subtly request a transcript.