The Last Trump
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The Last Trump is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov, first published in 1955. It was later collected in Earth Is Room Enough. Although humorous, it deals inter alia with a serious subject; calendar reform.
By order of the Council of Ascendants and approved of by The Chief (God), it is ordered that the Day of Resurrection is due on Earth, despite the protestations of Etheriel, a junior Seraph with responsibility for the world. Whilst he seeks an audience with the Chief to plead for a stay of execution for 'his' planet, the Last Trump is sounded, and as of January 1 1957, time comes to a stop on Earth.
A mysterious figure known only as R E Mann (a pun on Ahriman, the Persian name for Satan) makes his way across the world, seeing what has happened in the Hereafter and pleased with it. All the dead are coming back to life, naked and uncaring. He meets a former professor of history who observes that the people have indeed been judged and are not in heaven but hell.
Etheriel has his meeting with the Chief and argues that the date January 1 1957, unqualified, is meaningless and that therefore the Day of Resurrection is meaningless, The Chief agrees and declares that it will come only when all the peoples of the Earth agree on a common date. The world is instantly restored to 'normality'.
R E Mann, frustrated in his endeavours, plans to promote the adoption of a new calendar system, based on the Atomic Era, to begin on December 1 1944.
| Earth Is Room Enough |
| The Dead Past | The Foundation of S.F. Success | Franchise | Gimmicks Three | Kid Stuff | The Watery Place | Living Space | The Message | Satisfaction Guaranteed | Hell-Fire | The Last Trump | The Fun They Had | Jokester | The Immortal Bard | Someday | The Author's Ordeal | Dreaming Is a Private Thing |
