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Nine

“Welcome to the Undercity!” Lukas’s voice was loud and booming as he raised his arms in pride. Hugh was impressed but not astounded by the sight that was presented to him. They had travelled through dark tunnels to more dark tunnels and eventually they have came to this. It was barely even impressive.

Tents and large tables stood around the tunnel, every single one of the tables was overflowing with technological items. Strange was the fact that this was new technology, it was made recently by good craftsman, however the technology itself was outdated.

“Beautiful isn't it?” Lukas continued. “Old technology. Nothing compares to what they have out there. But that's it: we have something that they don't. Our minds.”

They paused in the darkness until Hugh spoke up once more.

“Why will you not show me the city? Why will you not show me Barbeth?” Hugh asked.

“Because it's rotten,” Came a voice. A well built man came out of the shadows, dressed in dark blue scrubs and with arms so hairy that you would have thought that he was a gorilla. “Hello. Hugh.” The man paused, unsure that Hugh was his name. Hugh stared fiercely at this man, taking in everything about him. “My name is Omen. Doctor Omen.” Hugh's eyes widened and panic crossed his face.

“You're the doctor. You’re the one who came after me,” Hugh's face quickly became red with anger. “You did this to me!” Just as the thought of punching doctor Omen in the face became more of a reality for Hugh and he raised his fist, the man before him raised his hands.

“Now Hugh. If I wanted to catch you I would have helped the surgeon not worked against her don't you think?” doctor Omen said calmly, watching as Hugh paused and began to lower his fist. “I am part of the Undercity. We are here for people like you. Why do you think I forced you to run into the dockyard? I wasn't letting you escape, I was leading you here.” Hugh's fist lowered but not all the way.

“If you led me here how do I know that you're not still using me?”

“Hugh, you have strong instincts. Are we lying to you?” Lukas said calmly from the side. Hugh paused and turned to look at Lukas and at the Undercity.

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“No.” Hugh said after a moment lowering his fist. “No, I don't think that you're lying.”

“Good. Do you trust me? Do you trust us?” Lukas asked Hugh as he stared at him. There was a long silence.

“No.”

“Good, because I wouldn’t trust us either.” Lukas’s comment caused murmurs to ripple through the Undercity, who were all paying attention to the scene. “Hugh you have to trust what I've told you. You have to trust your own instincts. We’re not lying to you.”

Long minutes passed before Hugh lowered his fist and turned to doctor Omen, “Something within me still wants to punch you very hard in the face.”

“I could say the same,” doctor Omen replied. Lukas watched them both before whispering something to Hugh, then proceeding to lead Hugh out of the tunnel and into the daylight.

The sunlight was bright on Hugh's face and he allowed his body to bathe in it's warmth.

“Look at them. Lukas has a new pet and this one I think he's planning to sleep with,” Arfus said standing in the entrance of the tunnel.

“Arfus,” Doctor Omen snapped at him.

“What?” Arfus snapped back. “Am I not allowed to have an opinion? Without me there wouldn't be a husk programme.” Doctor Omen looked at him. Argus sniffed and straightened his posture. “I know Lukas is the leader of this programme, but I can’t stand it when he gets too close. Besides how does he expect them to do our will when he doesn't show them the real world? If the husk was to see Barbeth and the immortals, maybe then it would agree with us and see it from our perspective, no matter what happens next.”

“You know we can't do that. The Sarora would see him.”

“Him? Why do you have to call it him? You said it yourself, if the Sarora's can tell that it's not human why do we pretend that it is. It doesn't have consciousness.”

“We've been through this Arfus.”

“I know, I know. The innocent always perish. He's going to end up in the dock's like the rest of them.”

“I don't know.” Doctor Omen said, looking out at Hugh and Lukas.

“You don't know? You're saying that like it's something special. Like it's got a brain and mind of its own.” Sympathy crossed Arfus' face for a brief moment. “We're going to hell for this,” Arfus muttered.

“We're all going to hell anyway.” Doctor Omen continued. “At least this way we can go out with a bang.”

“And with any luck it'll come with us. Yeah for us!” Arfus threw his arms up in the air sarcastically as he turned and went back inside the tunnel.