The walls, however, were quite unusual. Instead of being flat and forming nice right-angle joints at each of the intersections, the walls were made of large, curved surfaces, some concave and some convex, that were alternately colored red and blue. Without thinking, Carol began walking around, slowly of course because of the bulky diving gear, and taking photographs.
'Uh, just a moment, Miss Dawson,' Troy said with a hesitant smile. He pulled off his flippers and followed her. 'Before you take any more pictures, angel, would you kindly tell this unsophisticated black boy just where in the fuck he is? I mean, last I knew, I was going down under the boat to look for a hole. I think I found it, but I must say it's a trifle unnerving to be visiting someone and not know just who it is. So could you stop with the journalism bit for just a minute and tell me why you are so calm.'
Carol was right in front of one of the concave blue wall panels. There were two or three indentations in the wall structure, at about eye level, that formed circles or ellipses. 'Now what do you suppose this is?' Carol wondered aloud. Her voice sounded flat, as if she were far away.
'Carol,' Troy almost shouted. 'Stop it. Stop right now. We can't just blissfully walk around here as if this is a typical afternoon stroll through a model house. We have to talk. Where are we? How are we going; to get out and go home? Home, remember the place? I guarantee you it's not under the ocean two hours away from shore.' He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her.
She started to snap out of her daze. She looked slowly around the entire room and then back at Troy. 'Jesus,' she said. 'And shit.' He saw her tremble a little and stepped forward to hug her. She indicated for him to leave her alone. 'I'm all right. At least almost.' Carol took a couple of deep breaths and then smiled. 'Anyway, I've sure got one hell of a story here.' She looked around the room again. 'Uh Troy,' she said with her brow wrinkled, 'how did we get in here? I don't see a doorway or an opening or anything.'
'Good question,' Troy replied. 'A very good question, to which I might have the answer. I think these crazy colored walls move around. I believe I saw the walls rolling into place when I was under the water. So all we have to do is push them aside and find our way out.' He tried to wedge his hands into a crack that was a connection between a red and a blue piece of the wall structure. He was unsuccessful.
Carol left Troy and started to pace around the perimeter of the room in her ungainly diving apparatus. She quickly stopped and took off everything except her bathing suit. She seemed intent on both examining and photographing every single panel in the wall. Troy took off his own air tanks and buoyancy vest as well, dropping them on the light metal floor with a clank. He watched her for a minute.
'Carol, oh Carol,' he said from across the room, a big fake grin spreading across his face. 'Would you like to tell me what you're doing now? I mean, after all, angel, I may be able to help.'
'I'm looking for something that says Eat Me' or Drink Me,' ' she replied with a nervous laugh.
'Of course,' Troy mumbled to himself, 'that was absolutely obvious.'
'Do you remember Alice in Wonderland?' Carol asked from the opposite side of the room. She had found a long, thin protuberance that looked like a handle sticking out from the center of one of the red panels. She waved and he came over. The two of them tried to twist and turn the handle. Nothing happened. Carol became frustrated struggling with it.
Troy thought he saw a first sign of panic in Carol as her eyes frantically scanned the rest of the room. He pulled himself up and stood at attention, military style. 'Speak roughly to your little boy ... And beat him when he sneezes ... He only does it to annoy . . because he knows it teases.'
The deep furrows in Carol's face showed that she thought Troy had temporarily lost his mind. 'That was the Queen of Hearts, I think.' Troy laughed. 'I'm not sure exactly. But I had to learn it for a play