In which the Last Trump is sounded, Judgment Day arrives, and humanity finds the result less than satisfactory.
This is another strong and fun story from Earth is Room Enough which deserves more anthologization than it gets. In his non-fiction, Asimov has little good to say about the uses of immortality, and so it’s not surprising that his idea of Hell is the Old Testament’s Sheol—a grey nothingness without desire, without fulfillment, without death. None of the characters are much more than stereotypes, but it’s interesting nonetheless to see how they interact with one another and the situation in which they find themselves.
One note: When Etheriel, the junior seraph responsible for the Earth, complains that his planet is being wound up out from under him, the Archangel Gabriel replies patiently that people should have known it was coming: "There are hints…in the Confucian Analects", he says. Well, I'm pretty sure Asimov never read the Analects, but I have, and I defy anybody to find anything in the Analects which gives any kind of hint about the End of the World. Not only is musing on the subject very much contrary to Chinese thought generally, it’s almost diametrically opposed to Confucius’ actual teachings. I’m not blaming Asimov, mind you. It’s just one of those little things that don’t bother most people at all but do bother some people an awful lot.
