"Wonderful, Klaus," Dewey Denouement said. "Your research skills are going to be an immense help."
"Moi?" asked Sunny.
"Your cooking skills will too, Sunny," said Dewey. "I have a cache of food here for emergencies."
"Where to start?" said Klaus, looking around eagerly.
"I would suggest we get the most current information we can first," said Dewey. "There's a telegraph machine in Room 384, telecommunication."
"That sounds good," said Klaus. "We can work back over older files in the light of the latest information."
The underwater catalog was like the reflection the children had seen in the pond of the above-water LETOH TNEMEUONED. That is, it was the hotel turned sideways. Shuttered windows faced up to the pond's surface and down into the pond's bottom. The doors were underfoot and overhead. Instead of an elevator, they seated themselves in a people-mover which took them to the "third floor."
Room 384 was an upward-facing room. Dewey reached up, opened the door, and pulled down stairs for them to climb in.
"I see a new Volunteer Factual Dispatch has arrived," said Dewey, tearing it off the machine. "Received Vermiform Food Denunciation at breakfast this morning from a reliable Italian waiter. Stop. The letter was K. Stop. Be on guard. Stop. L.S. CC: J.S."
"Expound," said Sunny.
"Yes," said Klaus. "What in the world is a Vermiform Food Denunciation?"
"This is terrible," said Dewey. "I don't believe it. A Vermiform Food Denunciation is breakfast sausages arranged into an initial, and it's for denouncing volunteers who have been discovered as traitors. There's only one K. in the V.F.D. right now: Kit!"
"Do you think Kit could be a traitor?" Klaus asked.
"Absolutely not!" said Dewey. "I know her better than anyone; I love her. There must be some mistake."
"Kit didn't tell us much when she gave us the mission as flaneurs at the hotel," Klaus said. "But she seemed very distressed. She said our mission would fail and that all the hopes of the V.F.D. would go up in smoke."
"Where Kit now?" Sunny asked.
"She went to join Captain Widdershins on a mission," said Dewey. I have his dispatch right here. I haven't had time to file it."
Dewey handed the dispatch to Klaus, who read, "After I dropped off Baudelaires as planned, discovered desperate situation at sea. Aye! Stop. Deus Ex Machina being attacked by submarine as well as eagles. Aye! Stop. Need your inside knowledge of Octopus submarine design to fight it. Aye! Stop. Have left rubber raft with outboard motor and water skis for you at Mediocre Barrier Reef. Meet me at Sargasso Swatch Sea. Aye! Stop. CW CC: J.S."
"That's supposed to be from Captain Widdershins?" Klaus asked.
"Yes," said Dewey. "What's wrong with it?"
"No drop off," said Sunny.
"That's right," Klaus said. "Captain Widdershins didn't drop us off anywhere. He disappeared while we were in the Gorgonian Grotto looking for the sugar bowl."
"What?" said Dewey. "Kit and I thought he was going to drop you off at Briny Beach. She picked you up there in her taxi."
"We drove ourselves there in the Queequeg," said Klaus. "After we escaped from Count Olaf."
"Why didn't you tell Kit that?" asked Dewey.
"She never asked us," said Klaus. "She was in such a hurry and we had so many questions for her that it never occurred to us."
"Incomplete information!" cried Dewey. "Smoke and mirrors! An impostor must have written that dispatch. Maybe they also planted false rumors that Kit's a traitor. Kit's in trouble and we've got to help her."
"How get?" asked Sunny, meaning "How can we get to her?"
"We can use the Kit," said Dewey. "My bathyscaphe."