Santa Benny at the Bottom of the Sea (audio story)

Santa Benny at the Bottom of the Sea was the seventh story of the audio anthology The Christmas Collection.

Publisher's summary
Deep under the sea, Nessa, Freng and Strong are trying very hard to be nice. Because if they are naughty, then Santa won't come and give them presents. And they do want presents very much. But what does Santa really want from them? And what does being nice really involve...?

Plot
Beneath the sea, siblings Nessa, Freng and Stront develop their spikes. The two girls scare Strong with theirs and, although they claim that they are teasing, Stront keeps his distance from them and notices that the two of them are no longer as inseparable as they were before. They feel several pulses and hide, initially believing that a shark is approaching. It is Benny, dressed as Santa Claus.

''Although it is November, the Braxiatel Collection celebrates Shrove Tuesday and the students are overenthusiastic, flipping pancakes all over the Mansionhouse. Braxiatel tasks Benny with going to a seabed to deal with potentially dangerous young creatures similar to jellyfish, not going himself in part because the Santa suit does not fit him. Lor Cyrical helps her get into it and gives her advice.''

Benny uses projected images to converse with the three children, who communicate through colour. She tells them to believe in Santa Claus in order to get presents, but Freng is suspicious of her and her unusually pure colours. When Benny asks if they have been nice, they tell her that they have been fighting a lot, which they believe is a good thing because it eliminates the weak, but Benny says that this is only helping themselves and is not proof of niceness.

The children say that they help their pets by giving them silvery thread, which Benny says could choke them. She asks to see them and disappears after the children open the hole that they keep them in, teleporting to the surface. Sling tells her that they have managed to save fifteen people from a crew of a hundred and nine; Benny explains to her that she had the Galactic Navy teleport tinsel to the bottom of the sea to remind the crew of Christmas and that the children would then absorb those memories, allowing Benny to manipulate them as Santa Claus into lowering the energy barrier imprisoning the crew.

Stront and Nessa decide to be nice for next Christmas, but Freng points out that Santa Claus has gone and says that there will not be another Christmas. There are more pulses and coal is teleported down to them. They eat it, finding it delicious.

Characters

 * Bernice Summerfield
 * Nessa
 * Freng
 * Stront
 * Irving Braxiatel
 * Lor Cyrical
 * Sling

Worldbuilding

 * Lor Cyrical is the Curator of Marine Costumes and Environments. She is hydrophobic.
 * Benny mentions her son.
 * The children eat sea termites.
 * The Galactic Navy teleported tinsel to the seabed.

Continuity
to be added