[SHOW THEME - INTRO]
ANH
Rusty Quill Presents: Trice Forgotten.
Episode 5: Trawl.
[THEME FADES OUT]
[TENSE MUSIC FADES IN]
[INT. NETAOANSOM – CAPTAIN’S CABIN – EARLY MORNING]
ALESTES
(weak) Please…
[A PAINED GROAN]
I’m sorry! Whoever you are… Whatever I’ve done to you…
(straining) I can make it right. Please! Just please… Stop this…!
[THREE KNOCKS]
[THE CABIN DOOR ROLLS OPEN WITH A RESOUNDING SLAM]
[TENSE MUSIC STOPS IMMEDIATELY]
ALESTES
Baker! (pained) Baker…
NOOR
Baker’s not coming.
[NOISES OF SOMETHING BEING POURED]
ALESTES
Please… I need to see him.
NOOR
Mm.
[STIRRING, CLINKING]
Drink this.
ALESTES
Baker! Baker…
NOOR
He’s in the sickbay with Siva.
ALESTES
(darkly) He should be here with me.
NOOR
Come on, Captain! Take a few small sips for me.
ALESTES
How do I know it’s not more poison?
NOOR
(small snort, then, matter-of-fact:) If I wanted to poison you, I’d have done it while you were still delirious, so you didn’t know it was me.
ALESTES
Did you do this to me?!
NOOR
Why would I poison everyone I work with?
ALESTES
To steal my treasure!
NOOR
(chuckles) What treasure would that be, ‘ukhtaa?
ALESTES
Oooohhhhh, tricky trickster. Trying to steal your bracelets back!
NOOR
I didn’t poison you, Captain.
ALESTES
If it wasn’t you, then – (strain) how come you’re fine?
NOOR
(gently) Probably because I’m the only one that did not eat the fish that was slimy and smelled bad.
INEZ
(calling, far away) Hellloooooo?
[BEAT]
NOOR
I’ll go see who that is.
ALESTES
Whoever it is, tell them I can still shoot fine and I won’t be – (pained groan)
NOOR
Drink your medicine, Captain.
[THEIR FOOTSTEPS RECEDE, AND THE DOOR ROLLS BACK SHUT]
[INT. NETAOANSOM – GALLEY – DAY]
NOOR
That’s Siva, he’s Baker.
INEZ
(friendly) Uncleeee! How was the fish?
[BAKER HISSES OUT A BREATH]
NOOR
That’s a bit of a raw subject.
INEZ
(audible smirk) Listen, I’m not the kind of person who says “I told you so”…
BAKER
Did you need something?
SIVA
You two know one another?
INEZ
We met at the market!
BAKER
Ah, the concerned traveller was giving unsolicited advice.
INEZ
Make a nice kinilaw, did we? Squeeze of kalamansi to cut through the smell? If you have any left I’d love to study it –
NOOR
You said you had a proposition?
INEZ
(beat) Yes! Let me be frank. I’ve been watching your crew come and go.
BAKER
You’ve been watching us? For how long?
INEZ
Enough time to assume we’re all family here.
SIVA
Oh, no, we’re not related.
INEZ
Ay, no, the other kind of family.
SIVA
(still has no idea) Riiiigghhht.
Yes. Of course.
…I completely understand!
NOOR
Let’s say we are.
INEZ
Perfect! I thought about asking one of these other fishing boats, you know, but it gets exhausting, explaining every time: “My name is Inez de Luna, I am sometimes a man, sometimes a woman, sometimes nothing, sometimes everything, and I come with a job offer.” So I say to myself: Inez, where else is a girl like you to go with a goldmine like this?
[A DOOR SLAMS OPEN IN THE BACKGROUND]
ALESTES
(still very strained) Did someone say gold?
INEZ
Jesus, where did you come from?
ALESTES
Where did you come from?
NOOR
You should be in bed, Captain.
ALESTES
Took the medicine. Feeling better. Tell me about the money.
INEZ
So there’s this fish –
[A CHORUS OF GROANS]
ALESTES
Nope.
INEZ
But –
ALESTES
Fish are forbidden from my vicinity until – (a wave of pain) (catches her breath) Until I say so.
INEZ
This is a boat. How can you forbid fish?
ALESTES
It’s a ship, and as Captain, my word is final.
INEZ
(sizing Alestes up) …All right.
ALESTES
All right.
INEZ
(long, gusty sigh) (melodramatically sad) I suppose the soldiers on the Exchange will appreciate an extra grand or two.
SIVA
The Exchange? That’s Mr. Blair’s ship!
ALESTES
Mr. Blair?
SIVA
He’s a naturalist. He works for the Queen’s Museum in London!
ALESTES
Did you get kidnapped again?
SIVA
No!
NOOR
His brain did.
SIVA
He was very nice, and he gave me a book!
INEZ
There are people from the Queen’s Museum on the Exchange?
SIVA
Mhm! He’s on a field expedition collecting samples.
INEZ
(laughs to himself) They won’t even want the money. Well, it was a pleasure meeting you all.
[FOOTSTEPS START OFF]
SIVA
Likewise!
BAKER
(darkly) Good riddance.
ALESTES
Wait.
[FOOTSTEPS STOP]
INEZ
“Wait”?
ALESTES
Exactly how much money did you say this fish was worth?
[CHEERFUL VIOLIN TRANSITION MUSIC]
[EXT. NETAOANSOM – DECK – DAY]
[THE NETAOANSOM IS SAILING – WIND IN THE SAILS, WOOD CREAKS, CHAINS RATTLE AND ROPE PULLS]
[SIVA SETS SOMETHING DOWN WITH A GRUNT]
SIVA
This was the last coil of rope I could find in the hold.
INEZ
Let us hope it’s enough.
NOOR
A fish is a fish, no? Why must we make such a device?
SIVA
Yeah! Noor taught me how to catch stingrays with my bare hands! I’m a dab hand at it!
NOOR
(amused) You certainly showed improvement.
INEZ
No, no, the real money is in the data. See these weights? (metallic clinking) They ensure that the trawl isn’t just trailing behind the ship but goes to a specific depth. Doing it this way, we mark the exact location.
NOOR
And this, ah…
SIVA
Coelacanth! (delighted with realisation) From the Greek! Koilos, “hollow,” and akantha, “spine”! Though – they’ve clearly gone with the modern Latin adaptation, Cœlacanthus, hence the “see” sound!
NOOR
They’d really pay that much money for a fish?
INEZ
If found alive, confirmed alive, it would be an unparalleled scientific discovery.
NOOR
But… it’s a fish.
[INEZ PULLS SOMETHING OUT, FLIPS THROUGH PAGES]
INEZ
Here, look.
SIVA
Did you paint these?
NOOR
(tone shift) Oh.
…
(awed) They’re beautiful.
Oh, this one – (flips a page) we catch them in Aden. The scale pattern – you have it perfectly.
INEZ
Thank you! It took many attempts – the angle, counting the blasted finrays… but it’s not right. I can’t make the paint shimmer the way the scales do in reality, you know?
SIVA
Can you not, er, varnish it? With some sort of lacquer?
INEZ
(sighs) The whole piece would be shiny and stiff, not just the scales.
SIVA
Ah. Right. Y-yes.
NOOR
…I have seen, long ago, a painter who would visit the silversmiths, asking for the dust and scrapings. He would grind it into his paint, and then he would finish the work with a glaze of honey.
He painted hummingbirds. Oh, the light would shine from their feathers, in a way I have seen no other artist’s work capture.
INEZ
Honey and silver? Huh. I’ll attempt that next time. Thank you, Noor.
NOOR
(a moment of budding friendship) My pleasure.
SIVA
Didn’t you have something you wanted to show us? About the coelacanth?
[A FEW MORE PAGES ARE FLIPPED]
INEZ
Ah. This is a reproduction of the fossil they discovered recently. With a hollow spine, as you observed, Siva. If the fossil evidence is correct, the coelacanth is the missing link between the fish and the four-legged land animal.
SIVA
The “missing link”? They believe it’s still alive?
INEZ
(laughs) They don’t! They think it as dead as the dinosaur – they haven’t even considered it might have living ancestors, let alone…
SIVA
So we’re on a wild goose chase!
INEZ
No, no, my friend. This is where naturalist-extraordinaire Inez de Luna comes in. Men like your buddies on the Exchange, they pick about in rockpools and markets, then they order their “local boys” to keep their eyes out for anything special while they go have their high teas in their lodgings. But me? I saw one.
SIVA
You did?
INEZ
I swear it. A flash, before my very eyes. (lost in memory) Large, two yards at least – and a beautiful, matte dark, covered in white specks… like stars in the clearest night sky. It was stunning.
NOOR
Why not catch it then?
INEZ
(back to reality; abrupt) I was not in a position to do so.
SIVA
Why not?
INEZ
Because I wasn’t.
[INEZ HAULS SOMETHING UP, WITH EFFORT]
Right. This should be tight enough. Let’s give this net a trial run, shall we?
[DRUMMING TRANSITIONAL MUSIC]
[EXT. NETAOANSOM – DECK – AFTERNOON]
INEZ
(yelling in time to the music) Heave! Heave! Heave!
[ON EACH “HEAVE,” EVERYONE PULLS, GRUNTING FROM THE EFFORT]
Last spurt, let’s go. And, heave! Heave! Heave!
[SOMETHING LARGE FLOPS OVER ONBOARD]
[EVERYONE PANTS, CATCHING THEIR BREATH]
ALESTES
(calling from further away) Anything?
INEZ
Give me a moment.
ALESTES
It’s a big bugger, isn’t it? Can’t you tell on sight?
BAKER
(still panting) The process would go faster, (pant) if we had the whole crew hauling.
ALESTES
I am, unfortunately, indisposed at the moment.
NOOR
Would you like me to prepare you another dose of stomach medicine, habibti?
ALESTES
Oh, no, no. I’ll just stand back here and let you all do the heavy lifting while I recover.
INEZ
If she’s injured, it’ll only slow us down.
SIVA
(frustrated exhale) What does she even do on this ship?
INEZ
No. Not here.
[SIVA MAKES A DISAPPOINTED NOISE]
BAKER
Right, let’s pick out the best-eating fish and throw the rest back.
NOOR
We have already filled two barrels. May we not free this load?
BAKER
Who knows when we’ll have a bounty like this again?
NOOR
And who do you expect to gut and salt a hold’s worth of fish?
[AWKWARD SILENCE]
Come on, Siva! Let’s throw them back while Baker and Inez prepare the next trawl.
SIVA
Could we, perhaps, take a tea break? My hands… they’re not used to this kind of work.
INEZ
We’ve only done three trawls. But if you need the break… Baker? Noor?
NOOR
I could keep going.
BAKER
It’s a bit early to start a fire, just for tea…
SIVA
R-r-right. Yes. Of course.
…A couple more rounds.
[DRUMMING TRANSITIONAL MUSIC]
[EXT. NETAOANSOM – DECK – EVENING]
BAKER
HEAVE! HEAVE!
[THE NET ONCE AGAIN FLOPS ABOARD; EVERYONE PANTS]
SIVA
My blisters are growing blisters!
BAKER
Another few days of this and you’ll have muscles like mine and Noor’s, Siva.
SIVA
Cartographers don’t need muscles, they need working fingers!
NOOR
I didn’t think I would miss this. But it’s nice. …Familiar.
BAKER
Your family would use nets in their fishing?
NOOR
Yes.
…In Aden, we would take out our four boats, and we would create a square between us. The net would go down and all of us would pull as one. You had to make sure you had the right balance – (laughs to themself) Amr akhi would never think and always pulled too hard, too soon. Half the time I thought he was doing it on purpose, trying to get us to fall in.
BAKER
I’ve been on many ships with the same type. So eager to prove his worth, he shows how inexperienced he is. Hell, as a young man, me and your brother would have got along very well.
INEZ
(sighs) It’s not here.
BAKER
We’re losing light, let’s go again in the morning.
INEZ
But –
BAKER
We’ll work better after food and rest.
INEZ
…Fine.
[SOFTER VERSION OF THE SAME TRANSITIONAL MUSIC]
[EXT. NETAOANSOM – DECK – DAY]
INEZ
Steady… steady…
NOOR
Baker? Why is the ship called the Netaoansom? Does it have a meaning?
BAKER
Mm.
In Mi’kma’ki, where I grew up, the Elders there tell us the Creation story. Upon the Earth, Ootsitgamoo, all life is given to us from our Mother Earth. Not too long after everything was created, the Life-Giver caused bolts of lightning to strike and hit the earth. It formed the shape of a person: Glooscap.
After thanking the creators, Glooscap now started to explore his world around him. Glooscap one day decided he would walk down to the water. As he was walking along the sweet-smelling grass, a young man stood up in front of him. He was tall and he had long hair and white sparkling eyes.
(in Glooscap’s voice) “Who are you, where did you come from?”
He said: “I am your sister’s son, Netaoansom. Far out in the ocean, Widjosin the whirlwind caused the water to foam up, and foam began to form on top of the water, and finally was blown along the sand, and it rested on this tall, sweet-smelling grass. And with the help of the Life-Giver and the Shadow-Giver and Mother Earth, they gave me a life of a young man. I have strength in my arms and my legs. I can run and help Grandmother and you. I-I have vision. With my eyes, I can see far into the future. You will be able to be guided by my strength, my vision. And I also am gifted with the spirit to guide you.”
So Glooscap was happy that his nephew came into the world. He called upon the fish from the waters to come ashore. And he told his nephew: “Gather the fish and bring them to Grandmother, because it’s the fish that will give us food and medicine and tools.” So, they had a feast of fish to celebrate Glooscap’s nephew’s arrival to the world.
(takes a breath) Our ship, the Netaoansom, has the speed, the strength and the vision of the young who follow us. He is a reminder: how one lives their life has its great effect on those who come seven generations after you.
[A RESPECTFUL BEAT OF SILENCE]
NOOR
You blessed the ship with a beautiful name.
BAKER
I didn’t name the ship. Alestes did.
SIVA
The Captain?!
BAKER
She has a good heart in her, as much as she likes to pretend that she doesn’t.
INEZ
Come, friends. On my mark…
[DRUMMING MUSIC IS BACK]
And, HEAVE. And –
[TRANSITIONAL MUSIC]
[EXT. NETAOANSOM – DECK – NIGHT]
ALESTES
(distant) HELP! HELP!
BAKER
Noor, Inez, you go! Siva, hold the line with me.
[RUNNING FOOTSTEPS]
ALESTES
(absolutely delighted) It’s the motherlode!
INEZ
You’ve been over here rod-fishing?!
ALESTES
Come on, help me!
INEZ
I can’t believe – I thought you were ill!
NOOR
Captain, lean into me, here, I’ll anchor you while you pull. Inez, you grab a net!
ALESTES
This is it! I can feel it! (audible grin) Oh, we’re feasting tonight, crew! It’s a tuna for sure!
NOOR
Reel!
[REELING NOISES]
And now some slack. Reel!
[MORE REELING, GRUNTS]
INEZ
I see it, I see it!
[A SUDDEN SPLASH AS THE PRIZE IS HAULED OUT OF THE WATER]
ALESTES
YES! YESSSS!
INEZ
Oh my God.
ALESTES
What an ugly bastard!
INEZ
(ignoring her) Cosmoid scales, three-lobed caudal fin –
NOOR
Baker, Siva! Drop the trawl! Come help!
[FRANTIC FOOTSTEPS]
[NOISES OF LIFTING]
ALESTES
What are you doing?!
NOOR
Come on, you too – lift!
ALESTES
My fish! M-my catch, my dinner – where are you taking it?!
SIVA
Matte dark, covered in white specks like stars…
NOOR
Let’s go down to the aquarium, quick!
[INT. NETAOANSOM – AQUARIUM – NIGHT]
[BUBBLING NOISES]
SIVA
It’s definitely not two yards.
INEZ
But the patterning – definitely the same, or similar.
BAKER
A child, perhaps?
ALESTES
(babytalking) Little baby’s gonna bring mummy the gold, yeah? Beautiful money baby!
INEZ
A shame it’s not an adult, but I’m sure the insides will be just as valuable.
SIVA
Insides?!
INEZ
Tomorrow we do a full anatomical dissection. Who’s to say, we might even find some amphibious quirks –
(realising) Did any of you notice whether it seemed to have lung capacity on deck? And the rod! We have to note the depth your line went – but, agh, without the weights, who’s to say the line was fully perpendicular –
SIVA
We can’t kill it!
INEZ
What? Why?
SIVA
Look how cute it is!
INEZ
“Cute”?
…Siva, you understand what this specimen will mean to the development of our understanding of human lineage. Yes?
NOOR
I think it would be a shame to kill such a creature.
INEZ
Oh, come on!
BAKER
If they are a child… we should return them.
INEZ
It’s not a baby we’ve orphaned! It’s an adolescent at least – perhaps – who knows, hundreds of years old.
BAKER
You know that? For certain?
INEZ
Baker, that Glooscap story. They had a feast of fish.
BAKER
That’s…
INEZ
Different? I’ll offer anything that’ll appease you. Tobacco, sweetgrass – and I’ll use every part of it, and I’ll give thanks to whichever Creator you want me to thank.
BAKER
You do not take the first you find, in case they are the last!
INEZ
Uh-huh. That ethos work out in your previous jobs?
BAKER
(uncharacteristically dark) What would you know about –
ALESTES
(changing the subject) It wasn’t that hard to catch. I caught it in an hour on the line.
SIVA
We were trawling for four days!
ALESTES
I go out there, catch another, make them breed, we raise the eggs! BAM. Money maker, guaranteed.
INEZ
If we don’t kill it, we can’t dissect it to count its bones, look at its organs, see what it has in its stomach, see what it’s eaten in the wild.
SIVA
What if it’s one of the last of its species? One of the last and we just… cut it up like it’s nothing.
(clearly projecting onto the fish) Maybe it has a family. That loves it more than anything in the world.
[THE CREW CONSIDER THE FISH, AND ONE ANOTHER, FOR A MOMENT]
ALESTES
Keep it alive.
INEZ
But –
ALESTES
I caught it. You didn’t. It’s mine to make do with as I see fit, and we’re keeping it until I know whether it’s worth more dead or alive.
INEZ
Do none of you understand what –
NOOR
Inez, your drawings. The scales, the colouration… that will take a while, no?
INEZ
…It will.
NOOR
Why not make a start with those?
[BEAT]
INEZ
Fine. But I’m not leaving this ship until I’m satisfied.
ALESTES
And here I thought, as Captain, I chose who stayed aboard.
INEZ
(matter-of-fact) I get a wage equivalent to Baker’s for any labour undertaken on the ship, I demand my own compartment, and I will have this documented in a written contract.
[NOOR HUMS, IMPRESSED]
SIVA
Should… er, should we have contracts like that?
NOOR
(thoughtful) We very much should.
INEZ
And Alestes?
(darkly) Unlike the rest of your associates, I won’t be gutted in an alleyway over a fight about prices.
ALESTES
(smiling threat) Welcome to the crew, Inez.
[PENSIVE TRANSITIONAL MUSIC]
[INT. NETAOANSOM – CAPTAIN’S CABIN – NIGHT]
[A FEW QUICK RAPS ON THE DOOR]
ALESTES
Enter.
[THE DOOR ROLLS OPEN]
BAKER
I’ve come to apologise.
ALESTES
For…?
BAKER
(huffs a sigh) I noticed you kept yourself distant, this week. More than usual.
ALESTES
You expect the Captain to be out there hauling nets and singing folk songs?
BAKER
And you’ve been eating badly –
ALESTES
Can you blame me?
BAKER
And your colour’s been off.
ALESTES
What’s your point, old man?
BAKER
I’m sorry. I acted with pride at the market, and made you ill, but – you don’t need to protect my feelings. You must punish me in front of the crew.
ALESTES
(genuinely surprised) Why would I do that?
BAKER
To uphold your image. You heard Inez, she doesn’t see you as a Captain.
ALESTES
No. She doesn’t.
BAKER
Because you’ve been lenient on me.
[BEAT]
ALESTES
I’m glad she’s choosing to join us.
BAKER
You are?
ALESTES
I am. She pisses me off, and I’m sure I’ll want to gut her by the end of the week, but… (inhale) it’s entertaining, isn’t it? The challenge? I think I understand that desire better. Him better.
BAKER
Hm.
That sounds like something someone building a permanent crew might say.
ALESTES
(thoughtful noise) Does it?
BAKER
…Is that something you want?
ALESTES
A real crew… (deliberately light) might not be so bad.
BAKER
A real crew, a real future… Not so bad at all.
But we’ve got plenty of time for conversations like that. Right now, you look tired. You get some rest, I’ll make you something warm, all right?
ALESTES
No slime this time, Baker.
BAKER
(laughs) I can’t promise you much, but I can assure you we’re never eating mystery slime fish again.
[ALESTES SNORTS LIGHTLY]
[THE DOOR ROLLS SHUT]
[BEAT]
[A DRAWER IS OPENED, THEN CLOSED. THE CLINKING OF A PLATE ON A TABLE.]
[ALESTES HUMS THE LAST FEW BARS OF ZHU ANRAN’S LULLABY.]
ALESTES
A real crew. (thoughtful) …Huh.
[SHOW THEME - OUTRO]
SIVA
Trice Forgotten is a podcast distributed by Rusty Quill and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Sharealike 4.0 International License. The series is created by Nemo Martin and directed by Rafaella Marcus. Today’s episode was written and directed by Rafaella Marcus and edited by Nico Vettese, Maddy Searle, Katharine Seaton, and Catherine Rinella.
Trice Forgotten features Rebecca Brough, Vic Zander, Shahan Hamza, Ashley Goh, and Gigi Zahir. Trice Forgotten is produced by Ian Geers, Lowri Ann Davies, and production manager Natasha Johnston, with executive producers Alexander J Newall and April Sumner.
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