"Line up, everyone!" a voice shouted as he climbed the high podium at the front of the room. The children moved quickly, their motions sharp and efficient.
"This will mark your first week here," he continued, eyes scanning the rows. "From now on you will be given new names and new identities. Any attachment you have to your old world is gone for good. Anyone who does not meet the criteria will be eliminated." He leaned forward, his voice cold. "Am I clear?"
"Yes, sir," the children answered in chorus.
"From today you are all machines," he added, watching their faces closely. He stopped on a particular boy whose eyes seemed empty and lifeless. "You," he pointed, "come forward."
The boy walked to the front while the others watched with curiosity.
Zero—whose IQ was higher than the rest—studied him for a long moment. "From today your name will be Twenty-Two." He pressed a button on his watch.
A white robot glided into the room carrying a stack of items. Zero took a transparent identity card from the robot and held it out to the boy. "Give me your hand."
The boy obeyed. Zero picked up a small device that looked like a stamp and pressed it to the boy's upper arm. The pinch of a needle made the boy's face tighten; letters began to appear on the ID card alongside his photograph.
"Keep that with you at all times," Zero instructed the boy, then moved down the line. "Twenty-Three, Twenty-Four, Twenty-Five, Twenty-Six, Twenty-Seven, Twenty-Eight, Twenty-Nine, Thirty, Thirty-One…" He named them one after another, repeating the process until every child had been renamed and marked.
When he finished he nodded once. "Go to your first classes." The children left the room in a straight file, their new identities heavy on their small shoulders.