She ran away from the scene.
She kept running, not daring to look back. She didn’t know why the guy behind her was so upset. All she knew was that there was someone who smelled awful coming after her. She didn’t know who this guy was, but instinctively knew she had to get to the City to escape him.
All she had to rely on was a singular note that she’d kept taped on her arm, saying “The Cure for the Smell is in the City.” Once she got there, she could allow herself to feel safe.
She ran following the faint tracks left by the food truck. She ran until her legs were burning. She ran until she was out of breath, which wasn’t easy, considering the awful smell. She ran until fatigue overtook her, and then fought through the pain to keep running, desperate to escape whatever terrible menace was behind her.
When she couldn’t run, she staggered forward, propelled only by the force of gravity threatening to take her down, and propping a foot up before she could fall down. Then when she recovered enough, she started running again.
She kept running, certain that her pursuer was practically on top of her, until she finally made her way to the third and last obstacle - the City Gates.
Normally, any other way through would require a hefty procedure involving checking identity forms, reasons for comings and goings, and all kinds of invasive questions bordering on harassment. Since so few people managed to make their way through this path, security was rather lax.
At this outer rim, she was stopped from entering the minuscule entrance to the City by two towering figures guarding twin doors before them. With a shuddering breath bereft of exhaustion and clenching her nose, she blearily wailed, “HELP!! He’s after me!”
“Who? There’s no one there.”
“Of course there is! There’s - ” but she stopped, finally giving herself the luxury of looking back, only to see that these Guards were telling the truth - there was no one behind her. Then, slowly she remembered where she was, where that awful smell was coming from, and why she’d come here in the first place.
“Oh, I’ve - I’ve finally made it.” she said in relieved halting gasps, trying to get air in her lungs while not breathing in too much of the uncomfortable fishy smell emanating from her, barely supporting herself on her knees. “Can - can you guys let me in?”
“There’s proper procedure to follow first.”
“That - that’s how it is? Just a - just a sec.” she said, straightening up, regaining her composure, dusted herself off, and politely asked, “I’d like to gain passage to your City.”
“Not so fast. Before you gain passage to our fine City, you need to answer a series of questions first.”
She stared in perplexion. “I never heard anything about having to answer questions before.”
“Well, we can’t let in just anybody in. We need to gauge if they’re worthy of coming in.”
“What happens if I answer incorrectly?”
“Nothing too serious. You’ll have to go back out into Memory Bane for another day before getting another chance.”
She looked around for any sign of a lineup of these elusive visitors. There wasn’t anybody she could see across the horizon, let alone in the vicinity. “Do you get a lot of repeat customers?”
“We’re still waiting.”
She got the gist. If she needed any hope here, she needed to get past this rigorous questionnaire on her first try without any studying beforehand. Everything else had been an uphill climb. What was one more hurdle?
“Now, are you ready?”
“Fire away.”
“Before you can get past these gates, you need to answer these questions three.”
“You already said that.”
“Yes, but it’s mandatory. If we don’t say it beforehand, we’re in a lot of trouble.”
“What trouble could you - ”
Before she could get another word edgewise, the Guards started singing off-key:
Since the moment you were born,
There’s this thing that has sworn,
That you don’t notice, is always there,
Following you all around, unaware.
Always matching your every move,
Leaving nothing that can be proved.
Completely unknown are its intentions,
Always watching in another dimension.
Can’t be hurt, and can’t be deterred,
Hides in darkness, in light, blurred.
It’s there when you take your first breath,
And remains beyond your dying death.
“What is it?”
The Girl stared in perpetuity at the Guards, trying to wrangle sense out of what they’d said. But rather than display any sense of vulnerability, she decided to vent some of her frustrations their way.
“That’s rather cruel, giving such a sensitive question to someone who’s spent the better part of the day running away from a stalker!”
“There WAS no stalker - ”
“Sure, you know that, but *I* didn’t know that! I was more scared than I’d ever been in my life, not knowing if I was going to dodge someone shadowing my every - wait - that’s it! Shadow! It’s my shadow.”
The two guards looked at each other. “That works too, I guess.”
“Wait, what was the other answer?”
“Moving on,” the guard said, ignoring her query, “here’s the second question.”
“What day is today??”
She pondered over the question. In that Labyrinth of Memory Bane, she’d lost track of all sense of time. A look at her still flat belly was no helpful answer. Even though her memories were gradually coming back, she couldn’t recall how long she’d spent wandering and doggedly pursuing her destination. There were various people she’d met along the way, all with their idiosyncrasies. Then a single figure came to mind, and she came up with the appropriate response, “Any day after yesterday.”
“That’s... accurate.”
“We also would’ve accepted, ‘The day before Tomorrow’ as well.”
“Two for two. I’m feeling pretty good about the last one.” she said, wiping and slapping her hands together in a playful manner.
“Well, don’t be, because this time, it’s you who’s going to ask the question.”
“Can you please let me in the City now?”
“That’s not - ”
“What was the correct answer to Question #1?”
“We’re not required to - ”
“What number am I thinking of?”
“Wait until you hear the conditions first!”
She blinked. “Okay.”
“Now, we’re going to tell you three things about ourselves.”
“Out of the three things, one of them is a lie.”
“You need to figure out which is the lie.”
“You only have one question.”
“Sounds like fun. Go ahead!”
Then both Guards said simultaneously:
“One of us always tells a lie.”
“The other always tells the truth.”
Then they both fell silent. The Girl waited for more from either of them, but apparently none was forthcoming. Apparently the statement of saying three things about themselves was a lie. Also, there wasn’t anything in the rules that said they needed to say all three things about themselves all at once. Obviously, she couldn’t point out the unfairness of this without wasting her turn. She needed to choose her question carefully.
She thought back to what each Guard said. There was nothing either of them had said that beyond their surface meaning, could be taken the opposite way. Furthermore, they both sounded familiar. They both looked familiar. It was difficult to tell the two of them apart, and maddeningly enough, neither response they gave gave enough clue as to whether they were being truthful or not.
Finally, after wracking her mind long enough, she decided to take a stab in the dark.
“Is the guy next to you a Bian?”
They looked at each other. Then one Guard responded, “That’s not the right question.”
“I wasn’t aware there was supposed to be a right question. Give me the answer.”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“That’s what I’m asking you.”
“...he could be a Bian, and he might not.”
The Girl stared at the two of them. “You have no idea what a Bian is, do you?”
“Yes.” Guard One said confidently.
“No.” Guard Two said grudgingly.
“NO!” Guard One said horrifiedly.
“Yes?” Guard Two said unsurely.
“Hah! Guard Two there said he didn’t know what a Bian was, so by process of elimination...” the Girl said, trying to figure out her train of logic. “...that means he’s telling the truth, and you’re not!”
“That doesn’t count! You asked three questions!! One of them passively!”
“Only because you wouldn’t answer the first one. Besides, I figured if you were lying about the number of facts about yourselves, you were probably lying about the number of questions. I wonder if management would be as forgiving to hear that you violated procedure and weren’t willing to hear me out.”
Guard One stared in perpetuity at Guard Two who regarded his companion with bemusement. “Looks like you’ve got us there. You’re free to come in.”
Guard One was grimacing with undignified annoyance. “But she - ”
“She fits the requirements.” Guard Two calmly said. “You can be the truthteller next time.”
The Girl confidentially strode forward the open door in front of Guard Two, and made her way inside the City. When the door closed behind her, she saw that both doors led to the City anyways.
After much struggle, she finally managed to make her way to her destination. She looked around, taking in the grand splendor of the fabled City of Lies that was at once both dazzling, illuminating and underwhelming.
“Now, how do I do this?”
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