My Name Is Schedule

Lying Proves Extremely Difficult

I swallowed uncomfortably, not making eye contact. That probably wasn't helping my case.

"How are you today?" the king asked, interrupting my internal screaming, and still keeping that unnerving smile on.

I made the mistake of making eye contact. His huge, bulging eyes seemed to go right through me. Every second I was around him made me want to scream. I'd rather be anywhere else than here.

"Uh..." I ran multiple scenarios through my mind. The truth was something like, "Frankly, I don't think I'd be any worse off dead." However, I wasn't sure if I should say that. However, saying I was great didn't sound that convincing either.

He waited expectantly, his smile widening.

"Not too well," I decided.

The king reached under his desk and was pulling out something. My heartbeat sped up twice the speed it had been going. It was probably a weapon. He was going to kill me. Right then and there.

"I assumed so. I heard about your brother," he responded, making an exaggerated frown.

My face felt like it was on fire. I didn't want to talk about this any more. I couldn't stand this. I didn't know how to respond, or even if I should.

"Tragic, isn't it?" he continued, shaking his head. He pulled out a small machine that beeped periodically. I counted the intervals out of habit. 20 seconds. Attached to it was a loop of metal, a bit like a bracelet, but looked too confining to be anything nice. He looked up, his frown gone. "Do you know what this is?"

I shook my head, but had plenty of thoughts. I felt a bead of sweat roll down my neck. Was it a torture device? What had I gotten myself into? I had said something wrong.

"Any guesses?"

"No," I lied, putting on a confused look.

He looked quite pleased with himself. "This," he announced, rubbing his hand over the surface of it, "is a lie detector."

"Oh," I said simply, but dread was filling me. I was in trouble now. I wanted to glance back, to see if the official was still there. Could I make a run for it? But I couldn't risk a look back, I was already taking my chances.

"May I see your wrist, please?"

The king said it as a question, but his tone was more like a command.

I extended my hand reluctantly, and he snapped the metal "bracelet" on. I could barely think. There was absolutely no way out of this situation.

"I'm sure you wouldn't lie to me," said the king, smiling again. "But it's standard procedure. Everyone has to do it. To keep things all the same, of course."

I nodded blankly. I was willing to bet he said that to everyone. But I wasn't paying attention to him. I was trying to fathom how a lie detector could possibly work. Of course, in Schedule, no one really knew much about science. Everyone figured out the basics, but nearly everything was a guarded secret. But a lie detector didn't seem very much like science...or did it?

"So, I'm going to ask you some questions." The king declared. "Nervous, are you?"

I froze. How did he know? I mean, I guess anyone would be under pressure. It was an educated guess. He could probably see it on my face.

I nodded. "Just a bit."

He threw back his head and laughed, startling me. "Well, there's no need to be! Shall we get on with it, then?"

I shut my eyes for just a second. I knew I needed to keep myself calm. I knew I needed to figure out how the lie detector worked. I didn't know if I could do do either of those things. I slowed my breathing. The lie detector couldn't possibly be completely accurate, could it? What was it depending on? That stupid bracelet, I was sure. What about it? What could possibly tell anything?