Life had never been easy for Melinda. It seemed like there was always something bad happening just when things were starting to go right. That was how it was now. She and Jim were about to start a new life together, with a new baby on the way, when everything changed.

It all began with an SOS. One day, earlier that year, some Japanese official sent a transmission to Australia that said, simply, 'They're coming'.

After that, nothing came out of Japan. No exports, no calls or emails. Nothing. A plane had been sent to scout the country, to find out what happened. But that plane never returned. The only message its pilot could send was a single picture. A photo of several hundred large, white buildings, connected to each other via a series of gray tubes. This network was stretched out across the entire island of Japan.

Within a week, the rest of Asia had gone silent as well, and panic started to grip the rest of the world. But that panic would not last long. It only took another week for Europe and Africa to fall. By this time, satellites were able to see hundreds of thousands of white buildings speckled across the globe, It was clear that the Americas were the only two continents left.

Until a gray tube appeared in Argentina.

Of course, America was not sitting idly by as this happened. Legions of soldiers had been sent all over to try and stop whatever was happening, but the armies disappeared. Soon enough, people lost hope. Depending on who you were, you either went crazy in your panic, or stopped caring at all. Jim freaked. He couldn't handle the fear of the end drawing closer every second. For Melinda, however, all her anxiety dissolved. She went numb. The two of them tried to be strong, for one another and for their unborn baby, but all the strength in the world could not fight off the inevitable. One morning, when Melinda woke up, she saw the white dome outside her window. She knew the end had come.

Around five months later, Melinda found herself sitting inside one of those ominous white buildings with no idea where she was. No one was allowed outside, so she could be anywhere. Hawaii, Siberia. They were all connected by the gray tubes. She had no idea where Jim was, and she needed him. She must have been at least 25 weeks into her pregnancy, and she didn't want her baby to grow up without a father.

If it wasn't so sad, it would have been silly, all this worrying. Melinda had always feared that her child would inherit her ability, and her curse. But seeing ghosts and living without a father were cake compared to what was happening now. A life in the compound was a life where your every word and action were scrutinized by hidden cameras, a life where your friends could disappear without warning. In short, a life run by androids.

'Facilitators' Melinda reminded herself. It was rude to call the Facilitators 'androids', 'robots' or anything else like that. If you said an unkind word to the Facilitators, it just might be the last word you ever spoke.

A bell rang, and Melinda knew it was time for her to stop thinking and start her day. She stepped into her shower and shivered as cold water hit her face. The Facilitators believed that a cold shower was more 'stimulating', and the was no changing their minds.

After she had dried herself off with a gray towel, Melinda pulled open her closet. 'What to wear?' She thought bitterly to herself as she looked over her identical tunics. Her face betrayed no emotion, and she thanked God that the Facilitators couldn't read her mind... yet.

She pulled on a tunic and sighed as she caught sight of the large, black serial number stamped across it. The dark numeral served as a constant reminder that she was no longer Melinda Gordon, but GR1056.

Stepping into her gray slippers, GR1056 stepped out of her room, and almost walked straight into a facilitator standing outside her door.

A few hallways down, Barney was experiencing something similar. Unusually, there was a fembot standing directly outside his room.

"Good Morning Facilitator." Barney greeted habitually, though what he really meant was; 'burn in hell, steely bitch'.

It gave him an artificial smile, and with perfect human inflection said, "Good Morning DZ2607." It really creeped him out how human the fembots could act. From their appearance to their voice patterns, these things mimicked his species perfectly.

Even so, you could always tell a bot from a human instantly. For starters, they had hair, fake though it was, and wore white jumpsuits as opposed to the humans' gray tunics. Possibly the most obvious was the fact that each and every robot looked exactly the same, as though someone had copied and pasted thousands of copies of the same, beautiful woman.

"We have an assignment for you." The fembot stated bluntly.

"Really, for me?" Barney chirped with mock enthusiasm. Luckily for him, the robots didn't understand sarcasm.

"Yes. Please follow." It ordered, and Barney did as he was told. The fembot began to explain his assignment to him, "For a human child to develop into a healthy, emotionally functioning adult, it is integral for them to have a functional family. This should always include a father."

Barney had to stop himself from saying 'not necessarily'. After all, hadn't he himself grown up without a dad? As far as Barney was concerned, he was a very functional individual.

"Wow, gee whiz!" Barney exclaimed mockingly, then he dropped the act and got to the point, "Do you mind telling me where you're going with this?"

"I have orders to take you to apartment D2002C679." It replied, obviously misunderstanding the question.

Barney gaped for a few seconds before hissing, 'Thanks' with disrespectful insincerity. Barney considered himself to be bolder than most around the fembots. Maybe, subconsciously, he was trying to get himself killed, or perhaps he was simply too stupid to keep his mouth shut. In any case, he was never punished, the facilitators mistaking his cheekiness for innocent curiosity.

However, Barney suddenly realized something, "Wait a second, did you say 'D'2002?" He asked, this time genuinely curious.

"Yes."

Now That was odd. You see, the room Barney lived in had a single bed, a small bathroom and a closet for his dozen identical tunics. It was designed for one person, and had an 'R' in front of it's number. Apartments that had 'D' before their number had two rooms, one for children, and another for mom and dad. Why would the fembots send Barney Stinson to a room designed for a family?

The fembot led him around a corner, and Barney found himself face to face with a very shocked, very pregnant woman. He noticed that she was standing in front of D2002, but Barney was still at a loss as to why.

the fembot, with a typical lack of delicateness, made introductions, "This is GR1056. She is pregnant." As usual, the bot liked to point out the obvious, "The biological father of the child has been relocated to a different compound. A replacement parent is needed. Our breeding charts have determined that the two of you are suitable to become Life Breeding Partners."

"Life... Breeding Partners?" Barney moaned, shaking a little. The fembot had basically just pronounced them husband and wife, and he got to play daddy to the little poop-machine she would soon produce.

"You are confused, do you wish for me to repeat any instructions?" The fembot offered. Barney tried to reply, but the words stuck in his throat, and he just stuttered. Were his eyes twitching?

"No thank you," GR1056 refused politely.

"Good." The fembot said, "You have been given the first cycle off of work in order to adjust to your new situation. Your clothes will be delivered to your new residence." It flashed them a very fake and unappreciated smile, "We hope you two will be very happy together.

Barney forced himself not to faint as the fembot walked away. Happy together? Monogamy did not make anybody happy, unless you were lame like Marshal and Lily.

Pushing thoughts of his old friends out of his head, Barney waited for his new... 'wife', to open the door to... 'their' new room. She slid her thumb over the scanner and the door opened up with a hiss.

GR1056 looked over to him, an apologetic and remorseful look on her face. Their eyes met for one second, silently sharing the common idea that this sucked, before she walked through the doorway. Barney followed, knowing that he had to.