The first thing I noticed, as I stepped onto Aquaria, was the distinct odour of the submarine. It was an earthy smell, like that you would expect from a farm that recently experienced rain. It reminded me of the (one of many) orchids my father owned. Being hit with such a nostalgic feeling made me feel at home straight away. Unfortunately, Jett didn’t feel the same way.

‘What is that horrible smell?’ he moaned, picking himself up after I accidentally tripped him. (It wasn’t an accident, but I wanted to be first onboard). ‘Does the sub have air freshener?’

‘What’s wrong with how it is now?’

‘It’s so,’ he said, pausing to think of the right word, ‘wooden? That’s the right word, right?’

‘Not everyone is a tech-junkie like you,’ I snapped. It was no surprise. Of course my husband, who had lived his entire life surrounded by machinery, would prefer something that was more artificial.

‘Love you too,’ he teased. ‘But seriously, can we do something about it?’

‘Alright, alright. Aquaria, put on pheromone three, please.’

Aquaria creaked. Her walls and flooring shifted ever so slightly; not enough to unbalance us, but enough to notice it. Then, I could hear the sound of gas leaking from several pores, like pistons in a factory. It produced a more metallic odour. Though I didn’t like it, I didn’t hate it either. Seeing how pleased he looked was a satisfying feeling, so I let it be.

‘Better?’ I double checked.

‘Many better,’ he replied.

‘Much better,’ I corrected. His grammar was still as poor as ever.

‘Not my fault English is my second language. What’s the difference anyway?’

‘We use ‘much’ for something uncountable, while ‘many’ is used for countable things. Or at least that’s how I remember it. My grammar isn’t the best either.’

‘I think I understand. Will we go and move now?’

‘Shall, not will,’ I corrected once more.

‘Nerd,’ he retorted.

‘Hey!’

‘Just teasing. So? Shall we go?’

‘Sure. Right this way.’

I led Jett into a narrow room that contained two helmets, with intertwining vines that branched out of the top of them. They were connected to the submarine, like wires to a machine.

‘Put one on,’ I ordered, pointing to the one on the left, which he followed obediently.

‘I don’t see anything,’ he said.

‘Be patient, dear,’ I assured him.

I wanted to use the right. Being the user of that one had one special perk. There was a hole on that side of the wall, which I placed my hand into. There were some grooves on the inside, which I placed my fingers onto. It caused vines to grow out of the area, wrapping around my hand until you couldn’t see it anymore.

‘Now what do I do now?’ I muttered to myself.

‘What?’ Jett queried.

‘Nothing,’ I snapped.

Jett thought that I knew how to control everything on this submarine but, in reality, I only knew a few basic commands. I still had a lot to learn. However, I had a handbook that the Mutans breeders left me with. Inside contained all of the functions they made Aquaria grow up to be able to do and how to use them. I flicked through the pages, coming to a section on movement and control.

Now it all made sense. I put on my helmet as instructed. Like my husband said, there wasn’t anything to see. There was some liquid flowing inside of it, though it stood stagnant for the time being.

‘Aquaria,’ I called. ‘Activate piloting.’

Aquaria creaked and I can feel the floor shifting once more. I believed that was her way of saying she heard loud and clear. Even if the sub was a low intelligence lifeform, she still was capable of that.

All of a sudden, the liquid in the helmet glowed various colours. They sloshed together for a few moments before stopping. What was left behind was an image of the cave on the outside of Aquaria.

‘Woah,’ Jett said in awe.

‘I know, right?’ I agreed. ‘Now for the fun stuff.’

I tilted my vine-covered hand forwards. The image inside the liquid changed as Aquaria began to move forwards. I saw the cave walls move closer and closer. I could see the pools of water Aquaria floated in. The various rock formations were detailed, as if I was standing right beside them. It was amazing how I was able to see what was going on the outside through these helmets.

‘Uh, honey? We’re going to crash.’

We lurched forwards as Aquaria hit the rocks in front of us. I was careless. I was too distracted by the sights that I had forgot that I was the one controlling Aquaria! I corrected myself by tilting my hand backwards. Aquaria reversed herself back to her original position. I then aimed to submerge her, so I tilted my hand to the side.

But that was the wrong command. Aquaria turned instead of submerging, causing her to crash into the land on the side. I tried tilting my hand to the other side, but that didn’t work either as it only caused the sub to crash once more.

The helmet became dark. I felt the vines on my helmet leave. I took off my helmet to see what was going on. But I was only met by the concerned look of my husband, who had already taken off his helmet.

‘You do know how to drive this thing?’ he asked, sceptical.

‘Um, yeah. I just need to consult the handbook.’

‘You said you found the sub lying around. Where did a handbook come from?’ he questioned, an eyebrow raised.

‘I found it inside of Aquaria,’ I responded.

‘That’s really convenient.’

‘Quite. I just got lucky,’ I said as I flicked through the handbook. ‘Oh.’

The handbook said, to submerge the submarine, I needed to lower my hand.

Ah. I had completely forgotten that the controls used three-dimensional instead of two-dimensional space. I made sure to read up on all of the controls for movement this time, so that I didn’t make any more mistakes.

Confident in my new-found knowledge, I placed my hand into the hole and placed my fingers onto the grooves again. But something was wrong. Jett picked up on my worried expression.

‘What’s the matter?’

‘Aquaria isn’t responding. It’s not creating the glove that I used to drive the sub.’

‘Let me try.’

‘What? A big oaf like you?’

‘I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I want someone to drive me if they crashed me into rocks three times.’

Not giving him the satisfaction of telling him that he might be right, I tried to put him down. ‘I’m sure Aquaria, a being more intelligent than you, knows not to trust you either.’

‘Are you going to let me try or not?’

‘Humph. Fine. You’re not getting the handbook though.’

We switched places as Jett put his hand through the hole. To my surprise, he emerged with his hand covered with the vines. I kept my feelings to myself and put on the helmet. What if Aquaria let him be in control? She still needed to see him drive. For all we knew, she might realise that I am, of course, the superior driver!

‘Aquaria,’ he called out. ‘Activate piloting.’

The liquid in the helmet lit up once more, showing us the cave in front of us. I was shocked as that changed to the turquoise of the ocean. I saw fish and other living creatures swimming around us. The likes that I only saw in textbooks. But my pride overcame my sense of wonder. I just couldn’t accept that my husband managed to submerge the submarine on his first go. So, I decided to leave and do something else.

‘I’m going to make lunch.’

But Jett was enjoying himself too much to hear me.

‘Haha! This is just like driving a MHC,’ he remarked.

‘An MHC,’ I corrected.

I settled with this small victory in the end.