by Neil Gaiman
NARRATOR -- LIVE
The Universe?
/SFX/ LA NOISE ENDS. HALL OF BEING NOISES GET LOUDER...
RAGUEL NARRATION
Phanuel was the senior designer; working under him were a multitude of angels labouring on the details of The Creation. I watched him from the floor of the hall. He hung in the air below the Plan, and angels flew down to him, waiting politely in turn as they asked him questions, checked things with him, invited comment on their work. Eventually he left them, and came down to my level.
PHANUEL
(fussy)
You are Raguel, are you not? What need have you of me?
RAGUEL THEN
I hear you found the body.
PHANUEL
Poor Carasel? Indeed I did. I was leaving the hall -- there are a number of concepts we are currently constructing, and I wished to ponder one of them, Regret by name. I was planning to get a little distance from the City -- to fly above it, I mean, not to go into the Dark outside, I wouldn't do that, although there has been a some loose talk amongst... but, yes. I was going to rise, and contemplate. I left the Hall, and...
(his voice cracks)
Poor foolish Carasel. How could he do that to himself? How?
RAGUEL THEN
You think his destruction was self-inflicted?
PHANUEL
(surprised at the question)
But of course. Carasel was working under me, developing a number of concepts that shall be intrinsic to the Universe, when its Name shall be spoken. His group did a remarkable job on some of the real basics -- Dimension was one, and Sleep another. There were others.
(beat)
Wonderful work. Some of his suggestions regarding the use of individual viewpoints to define dimensions were truly ingenious. Anyway. He had begun work on a new project. It's one of the really major ones -- the ones that I would usually handle, or possibly even Zephkiel. But Carasel had done such sterling work. And his last project was so remarkable. Something apparently quite trivial, that he and Saraquael elevated into... But that is unimportant. It was this project that forced him into non-being. But none of us could ever have foreseen...
RAGUEL THEN
What was his current project?
PHANUEL
I'm not sure that I can tell you. All the new concepts are considered sensitive and confidential, until we get them into the final form in which they will be Spoken.
RAGUEL NARRATION
I felt myself transforming. I am not sure how I can explain it to you, but suddenly I wasn't me -- I was something larger. I was transfigured: I was my function.
RAGUEL THEN
(treatment -- transfigured)
I am Raguel, who is the Vengeance of the Lord. I serve the Name directly. It is my mission to discover the nature of this deed, and to take the Name's vengeance on those responsible. My questions are to be answered.
PHANUEL
(Shaken)
Yes. Yes of course. Carasel and his partner were researching Death. Cessation of life. An end to physical, animated existence. They were putting it all together. But Carasel always went too far into his work -- we had a terrible time with him when he was designing Agitation. That was when he was working on Emotions...
RAGUEL THEN
You think Carasel died to -- to research the phenomenon?
PHANUEL
Or because it intrigued him. Or because he followed his research just too far. Yes.
(beat)
I trust that you will repeat none of this to any unauthorised persons, Raguel.
RAGUEL THEN
What did you do when you found the body?
PHANUEL
I came out of the Hall, as I said, and there was Carasel on the sidewalk, staring up. I asked him what he was doing and he did not reply. Then I noticed the inner fluid, and that Carasel seemed unable, rather than unwilling to talk to me.
(beat)
I was scared. I did not know what to do.
The Angel Lucifer came up behind me. He asked me if there was some kind of problem.
/SFX/ SLIGHT ECHO OVER THIS: A TINY FLASHBACK TO ADD SPICE TO THE NARRATIVE...
LUCIFER
...kind of problem, Phanuel?
PHANUEL
Indeed. Yes. This angel. Carasel. A bad thing has happened. A very bad thing.
PHANUEL (CONT’D)
(present narration)
I showed him the body. And then... then his Aspect came upon him, and he communed with The Name. He burned so bright. He said...
LUCIFER
(voice treatment -- transfigured)
I shall fetch the one whose function embraces events such as this.
PHANUEL
--and he left -- to seek you, I imagine.
As Carasel's death was now being dealt with, and his fate was no real concern of mine, I returned to work, having gained a new -- and I suspect, quite valuable -- perspective on the mechanics of Regret. I am considering taking Death away from the Carasel and Saraquael partnership. I may reassign it to Zephkiel, my senior partner, if he is willing to take it on. He excels on contemplative projects. Look, can we hurry this up -- there are dozens of angels waiting to talk to me. I’m extremely busy.
RAGUEL THEN
Mm. Who did Carasel work with? Who would have been the last to see him alive?
PHANUEL
You could talk to Saraquael, I suppose -- he was his partner, after all. Now, if you'll excuse me...
(to angels, under...)
Hmm -- I rather like those, photons are they? but we’re going to have to make them a lot smaller. Now, who has the giraffe patterns...?
RAGUEL NARRATION
He returned to his swarm of aides: advising, correcting, suggesting, forbidding.
/SFX/ LA STREET SOUNDS. CRICKETS.
RAGUEL NOW
Hey, did you see that?
NARRATOR -- LIVE
What?
RAGUEL NOW
Over there. By that car. A jackal. Coyote. Damned if I know what they come into the city for.
(beat)
Good story, huh?
NARRATOR -- LIVE
I’ve never heard anything like it.
/SFX/ GHOSTLY CITY OF ANGELS NOISES UNDER, BUT THE LA NOISES REMAIN...
RAGUEL NOW
Yeah? Okay. So I went to talk to the Dead angel’s partner. Saraquael was in the highest of the mezzanine galleries that ringed the Hall of Being. As I said, the Universe was in the middle of the Hall, and it glinted and sparkled and shone. Went up quite a way, too...
NARRATOR -- LIVE
The Universe you mention, it was, what, a diagram? I don’t quite understand...
RAGUEL NOW
Not really. Kind of. Sorta. It was a blueprint: but it was full-sized, and it hung in the Hall, and all these angels went around and fiddled with it all the time. Doing stuff with Gravity, and Music and Klar and whatever. It wasn't really the universe, not yet. It would be, when it was finished, and it was time for it to be properly Named.
NARRATOR -- LIVE
I’m sorry. I really don’t see...
RAGUEL NOW
Don't worry about it. Think of it as a model, if that makes it easier for you. Or a map. Or a -- what's the word? Prototype. Yeah. A Model T Ford universe.
(satisfied chuckle)
You got to understand, a lot of the stuff I'm telling you, I'm translating already; putting it in a form you can understand. Otherwise I couldn't tell the story at all. Look, you want to hear it or you want to keep asking questions?
NARRATOR -- LIVE
(keeping the peace) I want to hear it.
RAGUEL THEN
Good. So shut up and listen.
/SFX/THE TOP GALLERY OF THE HALL OF BEING -- SLIGHT ECHO...
RAGUEL NARRATION
So I met Saraquael, in the topmost gallery. There was no-one else about -- just him, and some papers, and some small, glowing models.
RAGUEL THEN
I've come about Caras
el.
SARAQUAEL
Carasel isn't here at this time, I’m afraid. I expect him to return shortly.
RAGUEL THEN
Carasel won't be coming back. He's stopped existing as a spiritual entity.
SARAQUAEL
He's dead?
RAGUEL THEN
That's what I said. Do you have any ideas about how it happened?
SARAQUAEL
I... this is so sudden. I mean, he'd been talking about... but I had no idea that he would... well, take it on to the next step...
RAGUEL THEN
Take it slowly.
RAGUEL NARRATION
He stood up and walked to the window. There was no view of the Silver City from his window -- just a reflected glow from the City and the sky behind us, hanging in the air, and beyond that, the Dark. The wind from the Dark gently caressed Saraquael's hair as he spoke. I stared at his back, and listened.
SARAQUAEL
Carasel is... no, was. That's right, isn't it? Was. He was always so involved. And so creative. But it was never enough for him. He always wanted to understand everything -- to experience what he was working on. He was never content to just create it -- to understand it intellectually. He wanted all of it.
RAGUEL THEN
All of it?
SARAQUAEL
Yes. That wasn't a problem before, when we were working on properties of matter. But when we began to design some of the Named Emotions... he got too involved with his work. And our latest project was Death. It's one of the hard ones -- one of the big ones, too, I suspect. Possibly it may even become the attribute that's going to define the Creation for the Created: if not for Death, they'd be content to simply exist, but with Death, well, their lives will have meaning -- a boundary beyond which the living cannot cross...
RAGUEL THEN
So you’re saying you think he killed himself?
SARAQUAEL
I know he did.
(beat)
That’s him, isn’t it?
RAGUEL THEN
Excuse me?
SARAQUAEL
The white and red dot on the sidewalk, down there. Is that Carasel?
RAGUEL THEN
I believe so.
SARAQUAEL
How can they just leave him there like that?
RAGUEL THEN
Someone will clean up the mess.
SARAQUAEL
Who?
RAGUEL THEN
I don’t know who. But there will be an angel whose function it is to remove things that are unwanted. My function is discovery and vengeance. So how do you know that Carasel killed himself?
SARAQUAEL
How? There’s no other possible explanation. Look, recently he'd begun asking questions -- questions about Death. How could we know whether or not it was right to make this thing, to set the rules, if we were not going to experience it ourselves. He kept talking about it.
RAGUEL THEN
Didn't you wonder about this? Weren’t you concerned?
SARAQUAEL
Not in the slightest. That is our function -- to discuss, to improvise, to aid the Creation and the Created. We sort it out now, so that when it all Begins, it'll run like clockwork. Right now we're working on Death. So obviously that's what we look at. The physical aspect; the emotional aspect; the philosophical aspect...
RAGUEL THEN
So that was what Carasel was working on?
SARAQUAEL
That and the patterns. Carasel had the notion that what we do here in the Hall of Being creates patterns. That there are structures and shapes appropriate to beings and events that, once begun, must continue until they reach their end. For us, perhaps, as well as for them. Conceivably he felt this was one of his patterns.
RAGUEL THEN
I see. I think. Did you know Carasel well?
SARAQUAEL
As well as any of us know each other. We saw each other here; we worked side by side. At certain times I would retire to my cell, across the city. Sometimes he would do the same.
RAGUEL THEN
Mm. Tell me about Phanuel.
SARAQUAEL
(confidentially -- gossiping)
The boss? Honestly? He's officious. Doesn't do much -- farms everything out, and takes all the credit.
(intimately)
To hear him talk, you'd think that Love was all his own work. But to his credit he does make sure the work gets done. Zephkiel's the real thinker of the two senior designers, but he doesn't come here. He stays back in his cell in the City, and contemplates; resolves problems from a distance. If you need to speak to Zephkiel, you go to Phanuel, and Phanuel relays your questions to Zephkiel...
RAGUEL THEN
(interrupting)
How about Lucifer? Tell me about him.
SARAQUAEL
Lucifer? The Captain of the Host? He doesn't work here... He has visited the Hall a couple of times, though -- inspecting the Creation. They say he reports directly to the Name. I have never spoken to him.
RAGUEL THEN
Did he know Carasel?
SARAQUAEL
I doubt it. As I said, he has only been here twice. I have seen him on other occasions, though. Through the window over there. In flight. On his way somewhere.
RAGUEL THEN
Where was he going?
SARAQUAEL
I.... I don't know.
RAGUEL THEN
It’s beautiful, isn’t it? The city, from this height. And the darkness, beyond the city...
SARAQUAEL
Yes. It’s beautiful. It’s all there is.
RAGUEL THEN
I may want to talk with you some more, later.
SARAQUAEL
Very good... Sir? Do you know if they will be assigning me another partner? For Death?
RAGUEL THEN
No. I’m afraid I don't.
/SFX/MUSIC UNDER. RUNNING WATER -- A RIVER...
RAGUEL NARRATION
In the centre of the Silver City was a park -- a place of recreation and rest. I found the Angel Lucifer there, beside a river. He was just standing, watching the water flow.
RAGUEL THEN
Lucifer?
LUCIFER
Raguel. Are you making progress?
RAGUEL THEN
I don't know. Maybe. I need to ask you a few questions. Do you mind?
LUCIFER
Not at all.
RAGUEL THEN
How did you come upon the body?
LUCIFER
I didn't. Not exactly. I saw Phanuel, standing in the street. He looked distressed. I enquired whether there was something wrong, and he showed me the dead angel. And I fetched you.
RAGUEL THEN
I see.
/SFX/ THE SOUND OF WATER.
LUCIFER
The water’s so cold... Is that all?
RAGUEL THEN
Not quite. What were you doing in that part of the City?
LUCIFER
I don't see what business that is of yours.
RAGUEL THEN
It is my business, Lucifer. What were you doing there?
LUCIFER
I was... walking. I do that sometimes. Just walk, and think. And try to understand.
RAGUEL THEN
You walk on the edge of the City?
LUCIFER
(a beat)
Yes.
RAGUEL THEN
That's all I want to know. For now.
LUCIFER
Who else have you talked to?
RAGUEL THEN
Carasel's boss, and his partner. They both feel that he killed himself -- ended his own life.
