"Who needs a ship?" asked X, stroking the hairy tentacles of his favourite plant.
     "We do," said Dracula. "That is, anyone who doesn't want to get their toes wet when the flood comes." X started towards his house and Dracula followed him. "Tush, tush," muttered the mad scientist. "You don't believe all that nonsense about a deluge do you? Why, there's not a cloud in the sky!"
     "That's because God's saving them all up for the rain," explained Dracula. "It's going to start the day after tomorrow."
     "Who says?" demanded X, changing out of his gardening clothes. Dracula drew himself up to look as tall and important as he could. "The Archangel Lucifer," he said. "That's who!"
     X was suitably impressed. "Lucifer, eh? Well that's different," he said. "That one always knows what's going on. I'll start on a design for the ship at once. Where's my designing book?" X continued talking as he led the way up to his attic to look for his book. "We'll need builders," he said. "And provisions. Lots of porridge and you'll want blood…"
     "Yes, yes," agreed Dracula impatiently. "I've already thought of all that. Now I must go and ask the vampires to bring wood up from the forest."
     "Wood?!" exclaimed X, blowing dust off a huge, old drawing book. "We don't want wood. We want metal."
     "Metal?" repeated Dracula in surprise and tried to imagine what a metal ship would look like. It was impossible, he thought. You might as well try to make a metal flying machine!
     "Yes, metal… metal!" snapped X crossly. "Is there something wrong with your hearing?" X stared at a blank page of his designing book and chewed on a pencil thoughtfully.
     "But Noah's using wood," Dracula pointed out. "And the plans for his ship came straight from God."
     "Tush," said the mad scientist again. "What does God know? Made a mess of the world, didn't he? And there's Noah building a ship that floats. The idiot!"
     "Mmm…" hummed Dracula, who wasn't sure that he had quite understood X's point.
     "First wave comes along and he's had it," explained X. "Just a lot of little floating bits on top the water. Heh, heh…" he paused to chuckle while Dracula waited puzzled. "We," said the mad scientist dramatically, "are going to build a ship that swims."
     "Um…" began Dracula doubtfully but was interrupted before he could say anything more.
     "I'll call it a 'submarine'," said X happily and wrote 'SUBMARINE' in his drawing book and underlined it three times. "Now don't just stand there," he said, waving Dracula away. "The wicked dwarves of Stolen Mountain will give you all the metal you need. Get lots. We'll have to build big. My plants have to come and you'll want to bring the vampires and the wicked dwarves won't be left behind… Hurry, we must get to work." X had put on his designing hat and was now deep in thought so Dracula left him to get on with the plans while he went off to organise all the other things that needed doing.