The man turned on the light. Sunny saw an elderly man she had never seen before, dressed exactly as Count Olaf had been in his "Captain Sham" disguise, right down to the fake peg-leg.
"Who?" she asked.
"I'm Captain Julio Sham. That's actually the V.F.D. nickname for this sailor disguise, but I've used it so long that it's what I go by. I'm the Captain and owner of this ship. I dedicated her to my favorite author."
"Shakespeare?" Sunny asked, thinking of the name "Prospero" and the figurehead she had seen.
"No, Herman Melville. I originally named her the Pequod from Moby Dick, but the V.F.D. made me change it since they already had a submarine named the Queequeg. I kept all the rooms and decks named after Melville novels, and all the decks named after people and things in his novel The Confidence Man, anyway,"
"Pirates. Need help," said Sunny, feeling that the conversation had strayed from urgent matters.
"They took over my ship a few days ago and locked me in here," said Sham. "There's not much I can do to help."
Just then, Sunny heard a familiar hissing sound from a large cage in a corner of the room. She ran to the cage, calling, "Bela!"
"I've been keeping the Incredibly Deadly Viper here safe since she escaped from Bruce and Olaf," Sham explained.
Sunny was deep in a hissing conversation with the snake.
"You can communicate with Bela?" Sham asked. "Then there's a chance. Bela is trained in communication with other V.F.D. creatures, like crickets. She's the best telepathic snake the V.F.D. has ever had. She might be able to call on our dolphins, any salmon that might still be around, or even the Question Mark, though that's a terrible risk."
"Question Mark?" asked Sunny.
"It's an experimental mutant sea monster that Anwhistle Aquatics developed," said Sham. "It escaped and went out of control. But if anything can call it to help us, Bela can."
Sunny shuddered as she thought of the shadowy shape of the monster she had once seen outside the portal of the Queequeg. It was huge, much bigger than the submarine or even this ship. It would be powerful enough to help, if it could be controlled. She formed the image firmly in her mind and tried to send it to Bela.
Bela seemed to understand, and hissed an agreement. The snake concentrated for several minutes. It seemed like it wasn't working, until suddenly there was a loud sound of splashing from outside. Sunny saw an enormous tentacle reach up from the water and move past the porthole.
"This may not be good," said Captain Sham. "The Question Mark likes to crush things. It could crack this ship like an egg."
The sides of the Prospero began to creak as the tentacles exerted crushing pressure.
"Sunny, there's not much time," said Captain Sham. "I'll boost you up to the lifeboat overhead. If the ship cracks you can save some of us. Tell Bela to keep trying to get through to the Question Mark, but come on now."
Sunny grabbed on to the side of the lifeboat, and with the help of her teeth she managed to scramble inside. The tentacles of the Question Mark were gripping all over the ship.
Sunny was horrified at what was happening. She had done what she thought she had to, but everything was going wrong. She paddled the lifeboat around to the part of the ship where her brother and friends were being held.
The metal hull of the Prospero was cracking and buckling now. The area around the porthole to the Black Guinea prison deck tore open; the Quagmires and Klaus looked out.
"Jump!" Sunny called. The young prisoners leaped out of the ship into the water near the lifeboat and pulled themselves into it.
"Others?" Sunny asked them,
"In other cells," said Klaus miserably.
The Question Mark pulled the ship down. It cracked more but nobody else got out. The Baudelaires and the Quagmires rowed back to prevent being sucked down with it. The Deus Ex Machina, along with the Carmelita, was tethered to the Prospero and went down with it.
"The Female Finnish Pirates are gone," said Quigley.
"Hector too," said Isadora.
"Captain Sham. Bela," said Sunny.
"Captain Widdershins and Kit," said Duncan,
"Fernald and Fiona," said Klaus.
"Saved you," said Sunny defensively.
"At such a high price," said Klaus.
The Baudelaires silently considered all those that had died in the course of their series of unfortunate events. Enemies had died: Dr. Orwell, the person of indeterminate gender, the bald-headed man who called himself Flacutono, Madame Lulu, Count Olaf, and now the Female Finnish Pirates. So had many on their side had died also: their parents, Uncle Monty, Aunt Josephine, Violet, Dewey Denouement, and now their friends and allies on the Prospero.
"I'm through being a nemesis," said Klaus. "It isn't worth it."
"Me too," said Sunny.
The lifeboat drifted in the ocean, and at this point I have lost track of the history of the Baudelaires. If anyone has seen them, please communicate with my publishers so that I can continue their story.
With all due respect,
Lemony Snicket