"IDENTIFICATION"

The voice boomed like thunder down the corridor in which the hooded man was hurriedly walking. At the same time, the white lights which lit up the metal panes surrounding the corridor dimmed and turned a shade of red. The door at the end stayed closed.

"IDENTIFICATION"

The voice repeated, sounding more and more like a strict school headmistress. The man started fumbling around with the sleeve of his long trenchcoat as he continued making his way towards the door. He was aware he would only be given one more warning.

"IDENTIFICATION"

The voice came again. The red lights immediately started to flash slowly. The man quickly pulled up the sleeve of his jacket to reveal a panel of buttons wrapped tightly around his forearm. He pushed a couple of buttons and held his arm upwards.

The flashing red lights immediately stopped and returned to white.

"ACCESS GRANTED - WELCOME BACK PROFESSOR MALONE"

The door at the head of the corridor slid sideways automatically and the man entered. He looked around quickly and smiled. It was perfect - a true sight to behold. In front of him was a large floor, stretching back as far as his eye could see. Beams of white light were gradually starting to fill the warehouse as the solar panels lining the roof turned themselves on. The whizz and buzzing of computers surrounded the edge of the great hall, but they were not what was interesting to the man who had just walked in.

The centre of the floor was filled with a crowd of people. Standing neatly in lines of 10 like soldiers ready for war, they looked forwards without blinking. In fact, they didn't even look like they were breathing. In the distance, a giant mechanical arm appeared from an opening in the ceiling. Robotic sounds emitted from its oversized joints as it reached down and used its metallic claw to pick up one of the lifeless humans - a middle aged lady with blonde hair - and disappeared back into the opening. All was quiet again.

The man edged closer towards the crowd and approached a teenage boy, no older than eighteen years old, and took his wrist. The feeling of real human flesh pleased the man as he turned the wrist to reveal the boy's palm. He pushed firmly at the joint where the index finger met the hand and immediately the boy's eyes opened and his mouth started moving. "PRP number 64722954, name ordos234, age 18" the voice sounded just like an ordinary human's. His eyes closed again.

PRP stood for the Population Replacement Programme, a worldwide government initiative to repopulate the Earth. It had started in the year 2085 when climate changed has reached its peak which resulted in a freak year long electric storm, wiping out the majority of the global population. 10 years later and the remaining world's scientists, headed by Professor Jane Malone, had developed humanoids which were almost a 100% accurate interpretation of a human. They took human DNA and used it to enable these machines to walk, talk and breath like real human beings. Soon, PRP plants were being established across the empty globe with the aim of generating the man power to rebuild the Earth as it once was.

The man dropped the wrist and continued walking down the line of PRP humanoids. He stopped when he reached a particular machine. He bent over to look at it in closer detail and then manouveured himself so he was directly behind it. He took his forefinger and pushed the nape of its neck, which broke away to reveal a panel which resembled a circuit board and an insertion slit holding a thin metal card. During this time, the humanoid's eyes had opened to show its dark brown pupils. He pushed a button on the control panel and removed the metal control card. As he did so, the pupils of the humanoid's eyes had turned a greyish/white colour as it if had lost all life. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out plastic bag containing a number of cards identical to the one he had just removed. Taking one, he pushed it into the insertion slot until it had clicked into place. The humanoid's eyes flicked a deadly shade of red before turning back to their original brown colour. The man replaced the skin which had hidden the opening and his job was done. However, he held 4 more cards and got to work finding other machines to hack into.

30 minutes had passed and he found himself walking swiftly back towards the sliding door of the entrance. In his left hand, he held the 5 original humanoid control cards he had removed minutes earlier. He rolled back the sleeve of his jacket once more and pushed another series of buttons.

"YOUR OFFICE IS NOW OPEN PROFESSOR MALONE - ROOM TEMPERATURE 24 DEGREES CELSIUS"

A door in the corner of the warehouse slid sideways to reveal the office. He stepped towards it and met the disgusting stench of something decomposing. Walking inside, he saw the oak desk in the centre of the room, surrounded by a number of futuristic looking computers. Hanging in the centre of the room was the lone figure of a woman, swaying slowly from side to side, attached to the ceiling by some sort of cord or wire. Her face appeared gaunt and almost blue as if she had been dead for a number of days. The man looked into the woman's bloodshot eyes as he moved past and towards her desk. He took the control cards and placed them in her unlocked top drawer.

As he was turning to leave, the glare from the LCD screen built into the oak panelling of the desk caught his attention. He looked at it and saw the smiling face of a well-recognised man. Beside the man read the text:

"To all human and humanoid inhabitants of Earth 2.0, the Almighty President arsbury has an important announcement at 00:00 forum time (GMT) on Sunday night. You are all required to attend."

The mad scientist smiled to himself, touched a button on his control panel and made his way out of the room, taking one last glance at the Professor.

"GOODBYE DR MALONE" said the computer.

The man disappeared down the white corridor as the lights in the warehouse gradually switched themselves off under the hypnotic sound of the computers buzzing.