Ten
There is a question that many people have asked at one time or another in their lives, or perhaps several times considering the circumstances; especially if you're traveling.
I myself have to ask it quite frequently in the line of work that I do because it is hard for me to determine things unless I do so and I've asked it in the past before my supposed demise in order to ascertain facts relating to villains and volunteers and others who work with me have had to ask it on many occasions which can vary from day to night to out in the woods to the middle of the street to a field to a skyscraper to a bank to a submarine and
I'm sure during your lifetime you've probably asked it yourself perhaps last Thursday whenever you were there at the designated location to pick up my manuscript or when the waiter who gave you your meal asked if your mother knew where you were and by now you're also probably asking another question that being
"Mister Snicket, what is the question that everyone inevitably asks?" and I suppose it would be the proper thing for me to now explain what that question is because it is the very question that the mysterious stranger asked the Baudelaires had just met in the even more mysterious facility they'd come across and it was also the question Klaus, Violet, Sunny and Beatrice asked back to him, almost in the very same breath.
"Who are you?" everyone in the abandoned corridor asked all at once and then just as suddenly, the strange scraggily bearded man took a step back and added, "Don't come a step closer, or I will fire."
"Hold on just a second, there is no need to do that," Klaus said, taking a step forward and calmly explaining, "I think I recognize you. Were you in the Anxious Clown the other day?"
The man in the grimy lab coat hesitated and then nodded toward the middle Baudelaire and stated, "I was trying to find out if my information was correct and that the Baudelaires were there at the café, just as he said they would be."
Violet, Klaus, Sunny and Beatrice exchanged glances and then the former toddler declared, "We are the Baudelaires! Sunny, Klaus, Beatrice and Violet!"
The man with the large oval glasses looked at them and admitted, "You certainly look like you could be, although it has been many years since I saw you last and I don't believe you were born yet, Sunny."
"He was in the diner the other day?" Violet asked her brother, to which Klaus answered, "Yes, but I have no idea who he is." The stranger looked apologetic at this and replied, "I'm sorry; I wasn't certain who you were at first, my name is Gustav."
The children looked at each other in surprise and Violet asked, "Gustav Sebald?
" "Ah! So you have heard of me? Excellent," the scraggily bearded man said with a beaming smile to show how proud of himself he was. "Your sister mentions you quite often," Klaus pointed out.
"I wish I had gotten a chance to speak with Sally before I left the Anxious Clown, but I had gathered from the telegram I'd received that time was short and if I stayed that certain dangerous villains would be arriving and we would all be compromised," Gustav stated as he lowered the weapon to his side and added, "After my experience with Olaf, I'm a bit standoffish of confrontations."
"Well, you were correct about that; three dastardly individuals came to the Anxious Clown during the brunch hour. The man with a beard but no hair, the woman with hair but no beard… and Mister Dominic," Sunny stated, to which the older gentleman nodded and said, "Dominic, he has always been dangerous… they must've been there to obtain the sugar bowl."
"You knew it was there?" Klaus exclaimed.
"Absolutely, that's why I came here to the diner; to find it," Gustav answered as they walked down the corridor and he added, "But I didn't have the time to do so when I came to ask for help, Baudelaires. Which by the way; why didn't you respond to the coded message that I gave you, Klaus?"
The children didn't have the courage to tell this strange man the incident involving the sugar bowl just yet, so instead the middle Baudelaire answered the question directly by stating, "I wasn't aware you were speaking to me in code, at least not one I'm familiar with."
Gustav nodded solemnly as they approached a larger portion of the facility where most of the fire seemed to have spread and Mister Sebald stated, "It's just like my old friend, Montgomery Montgomery; I had failed to remember that I had failed to teach him the code." Violet looked at all of the broken tanks that had previously contained large amounts of water and the flora and fauna and commented, "This was an aquatic research station, wasn't it?"
Gustav Sebald nodded toward her and said, "I'm surprised you don't know where you are, children. This is Anwhistle Aquatics… or least it was before the incident."
"You knew Uncle Monty?" Sunny asked, returning to the subject that Gustav had touched on.
"That's right, I'd forgotten that you lived there on Lousy Lane for awhile near to the horseradish factory V.F.D. had procured. Monty never learned Sebald Code, you see; he became obsessed with training reptiles for our work in stopping our enemies," the adult explained.
"I remember," the former toddler said as she reflected on her fondness for the Incredibly Deadly Viper and Gustav Sebald said, "Well, now that you are here; I don't have to worry about anything anymore!"
Klaus, Sunny and Violet all thought that this was a rather bold statement for their new comrade to make and Sunny asked, "Why is that?"
"Because now that the sugar bowl is in our possession, we will surely triumph!" Gustav Sebald declared. Klaus shuffled his feet uncertainly and stated, "There is something you should know about that, Gustav.
" "Oh I'm sure you haven't found it yet, but now we can all look together… those wicked fiends are gone, aren't they?" the scraggily bearded man asked.
"Well, yes… but…" Sunny began, but already their new companion was smiling and stating, "Excellent, then Sally and I can scour the Anxious Clown for the sugar bowl and we can leave toward the rendezveus immediately."
"The sugar bowl was destroyed," Violet said, saying outright what her siblings were afraid to.
Gustav Sebald placed the handgun down on the table and then leaned against it and remarked, "Please tell me this isn't so."
"I'm sorry, but Mister Dominic confronted us and smashed it to pieces; stealing the map that was inside," Klaus explained.
"A map?" the adult asked in confusion and then stated, "I thought he had hidden the figurine inside it?"
"I'm not sure," Sunny admitted and then added, "But I guess a sugar bowl is a convenient way to hide things."
"But Mister Dominic destroyed the sugar bowl itself?" Gustav asked, repeating this fact as well; which led the children to conclude that apparently he had no idea why the villain had chosen to do this just as they didn't.
"He said those two dangerous judges of the High Court told him to smash it to pieces," Sunny explained.
"I wish I had gotten a chance to examine it to learn why they told him to do that," Gustav admitted and then added, "That information could've proven vital to our efforts, children."
"We're sorry," Klaus, Sunny and Violet all said at once; to which Gustav Sebald stated, "It's not your fault, but rather that dastardly Dominic is to blame. I wish I had known way back then how terrible he would turn out to be."
"You knew him when he was a noble individual?" Violet guessed, to which he replied, "That was before the schism and V.F.D. split apart. Things were so much simpler when all of our members used our codes for noble purposes."
The children then realized that they had come across a golden opportunity. A golden opportunity is something that usually only happens once in a lifetime, for example if you were to travel to China and you knew that you didn't understand the language whatsoever and then you happened across a device that automatically translated your voice into the local tongue then you could say that this was a golden opportunity; until of course someone had you arrested for dressing improperly.
But the golden opportunity that was presented to Klaus, Violet, Beatrice and Sunny had nothing to do with learning another language; but rather the fact that Gustav Sebald knew quite a bit of the history of V.F.D. and now was their chance to ask him about it. As they explored the aquatic station, the middle orphan asked, "What exactly happened here, Gustav?"
The man was still shaking his head in disbelief at what happened to the sugar bowl and muttered, "Oh, I'm sorry Klaus; I wasn't listening. Well, I suppose you must remember Fernald?"
The children looked at one another and Sunny replied, "The name sounds familiar; but I'm not sure where I've heard it before."
Gustav Sebald frowned and then walked toward a smaller room in the eastern portion of Anwhistle Aquatics. When he returned, he was holding a picture frame and passed it to the children and explained, "I think this should clear things up for you."
Klaus, Sunny, Violet and Beatrice looked at the photograph which had four people in it, although they only recognized three of them and Sunny exclaimed, "Why, it's Captain Widdershins and Fiona!" Klaus then remembered and said, "Fernald was Fiona's brother, but we knew him better as the hook-handed man who was part of Count Olaf's troupe."
"Yes, it was here in this very research station that he lost his two hands during the fire," Gustav explained.
"What happened?" Violet wondered as she tried not to focus on how worried she was for their friends, none of whom they'd seen in quite some time. "Olaf knew that there was something important here at the station, something the volunteers had been working on for quite some time which would combat the villains attempts to spread wickedness… and so Captain Widdershins' nephew came here and burned down the station," Gustav Sebald explained
. "I'm confused, why would he do that when he was working for Count Olaf?" Klaus asked.
"It was actually Isaac who claimed that Fernald had assisted V.F.D., but sadly there was a misunderstanding when Gregor and Ike arrived and Gregor died in the fire after confronting Fernald. When Ike discovered this, he presumed that Fernald was a traitor to the group," Gustav Sebald answered.
"So then the reason he joined Olaf's troupe is because V.F.D. turned their backs on him," Violet realized with a grim realization that the group had done the same thing to them during their stay at the Very Fine Dwelling.
"I suppose you could put it that way," Gustav Sebald conceded and then added, "But Fernald could've easily came and explained himself instead of assisting Olaf in his dangerous schemes."
"I hadn't thought of that," Sunny admitted as the man in the lab coat put the picture back up and explained, "But ever since then members of V.F.D. thought that Fernald murdered Gregor here at the aquatic research station to get what was here. However neither Fernald, nor Josephine's brother-in-law knew that Ike had taken precautions and sent it somewhere safer. I guess that is why Captain Widdershins was always resentful about his nephew's treatment in V.F.D. but all of that is in the past now and it can't be changed."
"I'm not sure I understand what was here at Anwhistle Aquatics that was so important to V.F.D.," Violet remarked.
Gustav sighed and said, "Ike did a lot of different research for the group during his lifetime, but his greatest achievement is here somewhere. I was searching for it when you arrived."
"Maybe we can help you if we know what we are looking for?" Klaus asked.
"Before we continue any further, I should teach all of you Sebald Code; so that if anyone uses it in the future you can know what they are actually saying," Gustav Sebald said, changing the subject entirely and adding, "I invented it; so I should know precisely how it is used."
"Does every member of V.F.D. know this code? Villains and volunteers?" Sunny wondered.
"If they don't, then they should," the scraggily bearded man answered as he opened a rickety door to an office where there was a movie projector and said, "I think you children may have seen some of my films, such as Zombies In The Snow; am I right?"
"I think Uncle Monty took us to see that," Violet recalled.
"He enjoyed my films immensely and I had tried to warn him in that play; using Sebald Code, that his assistant was a fraud, a fiend, namely Count Olaf," Gustav explained. "But he never learned the code," Sunny realized. "And Stephano… or rather, Count Olaf; killed him before we could warn him," Violet recalled sadly
. "It wasn't your fault, children; I should've realized you didn't know this code either," Gustav Sebald stated and then turned on the projector and explained, "The code is quite simple. It starts and ends with a bell ringing so you know that it is being used and then the volunteer will say a phrase and every eleventh word that they speak is actually a part of the coded message that they wish to impart to you. Do you understand?"
Beatrice, Sunny, Violet and Klaus looked at each other in complete confusion; because they realized that this code didn't sound so simple at all, but decided not to argue the point with their new friend who went on to explain,
"A perfect example would be what I did at the diner, Klaus. I rang the bell to get an order and then said 'I really came a rather long way trying to find need of assistance in the manner of obtaining food or sustenance. Help if you can, or maybe you can't, considering that many volunteers don't eat here anymore for one reason or another, now please' which was actually a coded message that said 'I need help volunteers, please'; do you see?" The four children felt even more in the dark with this explanation than they did before Gustav had explained it to them and Klaus remarked, "Aren't there easier ways to convey a secret message?"
"I suppose there probably are, but my Sebald Code is the most effective," Gustav said, beaming with joy over his supposedly foolproof code.
"So now that you know this code, you are more qualified as volunteers of V.F.D.," Gustav Sebald explained and then shut off the movie projector and stated, "I'm sorry; I did get us sidetracked, didn't I?"
"That's quite all right, the history of your organization is very important to us," Sunny stated honestly.
"We have so many questions for you," Violet replied.
"Do you know what caused the schism?" Klaus asked.
"Are you aware of what happened to the other members of V.F.D.?" Sunny wondered. "Do you know ERT might stand for?" Violet asked and this seemed to catch Gustav's attention.
His eyes widened just like his sister's had and the scraggily bearded man asked, echoing her words, "Where did you hear about that?"
Before the children got a chance to explain themselves, however; it is my sad duty to report that yet another person arrived at the abandoned research station and this one was neither friendly nor a stranger to the Baudelaires.
He was holding in his right hand the weapon that Gustav had set down moments earlier whenever the children had informed him about the catastrophe regarding the sugar bowl and his eyes were gleaming wickedly as he stared at all of them and Violet, Klaus, Sunny and Beatrice gasped; surprised to see that Mister Dominic had followed them to Anwhistle Aquatics.
"Thank you for helping me, children," the villain said as he pointed the weapon toward Gustav and asked, "Now tell me, my old friend; where have you hidden the Medusoid Mycelium?"
Uh oh trouble again! please someone review i need a review! pleaseeeeee