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R. E. Man wakes up to see that the world has ended at exactly the appointed time. Therefore, he gets up and starts wandering around town to see how everyone is dealing [[OnlyOneAfterlife their afterlife]]. Several SliceOfLife-style stories are told about the fate of humanity, interspersed with Etheriel's progress in navigating the CelestialBureaucracy to [[ReasoningWithGod convince the Chief (God)]] to [[ResetButton undo the end of the world]].
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R. E. Man wakes up to see that the world has ended at exactly the appointed time. Therefore, he gets up and starts wandering around town to see how everyone is dealing with [[OnlyOneAfterlife their afterlife]]. Several SliceOfLife-style stories are told about the fate of humanity, interspersed with Etheriel's progress in navigating the CelestialBureaucracy to [[ReasoningWithGod convince the Chief (God)]] to [[ResetButton undo the end of the world]].
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* EnergyBeings: In this story, angels are without physical substance, formed by energy and leaving energy in their wake. ArchangelGabriel finds it quaint that Earth has matter-to-energy equivalence.
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* EnergyBeings: In this story, angels are without physical substance, formed by energy and leaving energy in their wake. ArchangelGabriel finds it quaint that Earth has matter-to-energy equivalence.equivalence, because it allows for the NuclearOption.
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* NoPlotNoPRoblem: The [[TwolinesNoWaiting b-plot]] of R. E. Man walking around town after TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt has no narrative arc, just a [[SliceOfLife collection of scenes]] where people are dealing with the changes since Judgement Day occured.
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* NoPlotNoPRoblem: NoPlotNoProblem: The [[TwolinesNoWaiting b-plot]] of R. E. Man walking around town after TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt has no narrative arc, just a [[SliceOfLife collection of scenes]] where people are dealing with the changes since Judgement Day occured.
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This story has been reprinted several times; ''Literature/EarthIsRoomEnough'' (1957), ''Literature/TheFarEndsOfTimeAndEarth'' (1979), ''Literature/AngelsAndAwakenings'' (1980), ''{{Literature/Catastrophes}}!'' (1981), ''Literature/FaszinationDerScienceFiction (1985), ''Literature/TheCompleteStoriesVolume1'' (1990), and ''Literature/AnAnthologyOfAngels'' (1996).
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This story has been reprinted several times; ''Literature/EarthIsRoomEnough'' (1957), ''Literature/TheFarEndsOfTimeAndEarth'' (1979), ''Literature/AngelsAndAwakenings'' (1980), ''{{Literature/Catastrophes}}!'' (1981), ''Literature/FaszinationDerScienceFiction ''Literature/FaszinationDerScienceFiction'' (1985), ''Literature/TheCompleteStoriesVolume1'' (1990), and ''Literature/AnAnthologyOfAngels'' (1996).
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First published in ''Magazine/FantasticUniverse'' (June 1955 issue) by Creator/IsaacAsimov, this ShortStory is about [[MassResurrection Resurrection Day]]. It follows [[TwoLinesNoWaiting two characters]]; Etheriel and R. E. Man.
Etheriel, a very low-ranking angel, is trying to find a flaw in ArchangelGabriel's presence, but cannot. Smiling, Gabriel blows his trumpet, and with that sound, everything in the universe aside from Earth is [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt swept away, becoming the nothing it was before the Word was spoken]]. Earth itself is now [[EndlessDaytime suffused in a soft warm light]].
R. E. Man wakes up to see that the world has ended at exactly the appointed time. Therefore, he gets up and starts wandering around town to see how everyone is dealing [[OnlyOneAfterlife their afterlife]]. Several SliceOfLife-style stories are told about the fate of humanity, interspersed with Etheriel's progress in navigating the CelestialBureaucracy to [[ReasoningWithGod convince the Chief (God)]] to [[ResetButton undo the end of the world]].
This story has been reprinted several times; ''Literature/EarthIsRoomEnough'' (1957), ''Literature/TheFarEndsOfTimeAndEarth'' (1979), ''Literature/AngelsAndAwakenings'' (1980), ''{{Literature/Catastrophes}}!'' (1981), ''Literature/FaszinationDerScienceFiction (1985), ''Literature/TheCompleteStoriesVolume1'' (1990), and ''Literature/AnAnthologyOfAngels'' (1996).
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!!Examples of tropes within this work:
* AlternativeCalendar: TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt is scheduled to take place the first minute of 1957, but Etheriel uses the existence of alternative dating methods to [[ReasoningWithGod argue with God]] into allowing Earth to continue until everyone agrees the year is 1957. {{Satan}} immediately gets to work on supporting proposals for years to be measured from the Atomic Era.
* AlwaysLawfulGood: The angels are product of Divine Will, and follow every Commandment they are given. This provides a bit of GoodVersusGood conflict as Etheriel tries to get through the CelestialBureaucracy and convince [[{{God}} the Chief]] to not destroy the Earth.
* ArchangelGabriel: Gabriel's arrival kicks off the start of the story, blowing the last trumpet to signal [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the end of the universe]].
* CelestialBureaucracy: ArchangelGabriel must show junior seraph Etheriel the paperwork for the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Act of Ascendancy]] they're here to announce/enact. Acts countersigned by [[{{God}} the Chief]] cannot be revoked. Meeting the Chief is to be done by appointment, and there's a six-winged cherub who acts as his secretary.
* EndlessDaytime: After TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt and [[MassResurrection everyone starts waking from death]], there is no sunlight, just a pervasive light and warmth. One of the characters believes it to be the light of the First Day; before the sun, moon, and stars were created.
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: The world is scheduled to end at the very first minute of the year 1957. Once that occurs, ArchangelGabriel will blow his horn, and everyone [[MassResurrection will wake from the dead]]. The universe itself will go away and Earth will transform into a [[FeaturelessPlaneOfDisembodiedDialogue featureless plane]] with [[EndlessDaytime warm light suffusing everywhere]]. There will be OnlyOneAfterlife; everyone is left to talk and think.
* EnergyBeings: In this story, angels are without physical substance, formed by energy and leaving energy in their wake. ArchangelGabriel finds it quaint that Earth has matter-to-energy equivalence.
* EurekaMoment: Etheriel realizes that the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Act of Ascendancy]] is scheduled to take place in 1957, but it doesn't specify Anno Domini; [[ReasoningWithGod arguing with God]] that the Act should be postponed until ''everyone'' on Earth agrees that the current year is 1957.
* FeaturelessPlaneOfDisembodiedDialogue: After TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt and [[MassResurrection everyone starts waking from death]], the buildings disintegrate, nobody pays much attention to people's bodies, and even the landscape itself starts to level out.
* FunWithHomophones: The angel (who is made of PureEnergy) Etheriel's name sounds like ethereal, which means "extremely delicate and light in a way that seems too perfect for this world".
* {{God}}: In this story, he lives in the Primum Mobile, and is called Chief of the CelestialBureaucracy. No order given by the Chief can be revoked, because that would mean he wasn't [[TheOmnipotent omnipotent]].
* GoodNeedsEvil: [[{{God}} The Chief]] explains that [[{{Satan}} the Adversary]] is still a servant of his, because Good is defined by the eternal struggle against Evil.
* GoodVersusGood: Etheriel is trying to navigate the bureaucracy of heaven to [[ReasoningWithGod convince the Chief]] to prevent TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.
* InMysteriousWays: Once Etheriel figures out how to [[ReasoningWithGod convince the Chief]] to postpone [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Judgement Day]], the Chief says he knew the arguments the whole time, and was waiting for the angel Etheriel to figure it out himself.
* LouisCypher: The name of R. E. Mann is a reference to the Persian word Ahriman, which means "adversary", like the Hebrew word {{Satan}}.
* MassResurrection: Resurrection Day has been announced, so people are waking up from death and climbing out of their graves. The most recently dead wake up first, but everyone in the world will be resurrected.
* NakedOnRevival: The humans who were alive when the trumpet announced [[MassResurrection Resurrection Day]] are clothed, while the humans who were dead are crawling out of their graves completely naked. This distinction will be lost, as the clothes people were wearing dissolve away, [[FeaturelessPlaneOfDisembodiedDialogue just like the landscape is fading]].
* TheNamesake: The word 'trump' is short for trumpet, and the title refers to ArchangelGabriel's horn being used to announce Judgement Day and the resurrection of everyone who has ever died.
* NoPlotNoPRoblem: The [[TwolinesNoWaiting b-plot]] of R. E. Man walking around town after TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt has no narrative arc, just a [[SliceOfLife collection of scenes]] where people are dealing with the changes since Judgement Day occured.
* OnlyOneAfterlife: Since everyone had different ideas for what the afterlife should be, {{Satan}} suggested that the common elements of all afterlives be used, so {{God}} resurrects everyone to live in a [[FeaturelessPlaneOfDisembodiedDialogue featureless plane]].
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: These angels are [[EnergyBeings made of energy]] and working for a CelestialBureaucracy of multiple worlds/universes.
* ReasoningWithGod: ArchangelGabriel announces that it's time for Judgement Day, but Etheriel, a junior angel, points out a loophole in the declaration, plucks up his courage, and successfully argues for the whole thing to be postponed. (God's reaction to the argument turns out to be, more or less, "Oh good, I was hoping somebody would bring that up".)
* ResetButton: Once {{God}} has been convinced to postpone the Day of Judgement, he resets the world/universe to the minute where the world ended.
* ThisIsntHeaven: Two different characters realise the afterlife wasn't what they expected:
** One of the resurrected souls claims this is {{Heaven}}, but R. E. Man is quick to point out that he's never repented, never been to church, and [[TheHeretic believes a lot of things about God that would bother them]].
** One of the resurrected souls points out to R. E. Man that there is nothing beyond Earth, buildings are crumbling, hills are flattening, desires are gone... Soon, there will be nothing but a [[FeaturelessPlaneOfDisembodiedDialogue featureless plain and people]]. They believed that FireAndBrimstoneHell undersells divine imagination; an eternity of nothingness is a torture of a divinely inspired everlasting hell.
* TitleDrop: Unusual for this trope, the title is used quite early in the story because it announces TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, and most of the story itself is about Etheriel trying to [[ResetButton prevent the end, after it ended]].
* TwoLinesNoWaiting: Two stories are told at the same time; the A-plot is about angel Etheriel and his quest to prevent TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt (because then {{Satan}} would win), and the B-plot is about R. E. Man checking out how humanity is handling TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.
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Etheriel, a very low-ranking angel, is trying to find a flaw in ArchangelGabriel's presence, but cannot. Smiling, Gabriel blows his trumpet, and with that sound, everything in the universe aside from Earth is [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt swept away, becoming the nothing it was before the Word was spoken]]. Earth itself is now [[EndlessDaytime suffused in a soft warm light]].
R. E. Man wakes up to see that the world has ended at exactly the appointed time. Therefore, he gets up and starts wandering around town to see how everyone is dealing [[OnlyOneAfterlife their afterlife]]. Several SliceOfLife-style stories are told about the fate of humanity, interspersed with Etheriel's progress in navigating the CelestialBureaucracy to [[ReasoningWithGod convince the Chief (God)]] to [[ResetButton undo the end of the world]].
This story has been reprinted several times; ''Literature/EarthIsRoomEnough'' (1957), ''Literature/TheFarEndsOfTimeAndEarth'' (1979), ''Literature/AngelsAndAwakenings'' (1980), ''{{Literature/Catastrophes}}!'' (1981), ''Literature/FaszinationDerScienceFiction (1985), ''Literature/TheCompleteStoriesVolume1'' (1990), and ''Literature/AnAnthologyOfAngels'' (1996).
----
!!Examples of tropes within this work:
* AlternativeCalendar: TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt is scheduled to take place the first minute of 1957, but Etheriel uses the existence of alternative dating methods to [[ReasoningWithGod argue with God]] into allowing Earth to continue until everyone agrees the year is 1957. {{Satan}} immediately gets to work on supporting proposals for years to be measured from the Atomic Era.
* AlwaysLawfulGood: The angels are product of Divine Will, and follow every Commandment they are given. This provides a bit of GoodVersusGood conflict as Etheriel tries to get through the CelestialBureaucracy and convince [[{{God}} the Chief]] to not destroy the Earth.
* ArchangelGabriel: Gabriel's arrival kicks off the start of the story, blowing the last trumpet to signal [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the end of the universe]].
* CelestialBureaucracy: ArchangelGabriel must show junior seraph Etheriel the paperwork for the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Act of Ascendancy]] they're here to announce/enact. Acts countersigned by [[{{God}} the Chief]] cannot be revoked. Meeting the Chief is to be done by appointment, and there's a six-winged cherub who acts as his secretary.
* EndlessDaytime: After TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt and [[MassResurrection everyone starts waking from death]], there is no sunlight, just a pervasive light and warmth. One of the characters believes it to be the light of the First Day; before the sun, moon, and stars were created.
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: The world is scheduled to end at the very first minute of the year 1957. Once that occurs, ArchangelGabriel will blow his horn, and everyone [[MassResurrection will wake from the dead]]. The universe itself will go away and Earth will transform into a [[FeaturelessPlaneOfDisembodiedDialogue featureless plane]] with [[EndlessDaytime warm light suffusing everywhere]]. There will be OnlyOneAfterlife; everyone is left to talk and think.
* EnergyBeings: In this story, angels are without physical substance, formed by energy and leaving energy in their wake. ArchangelGabriel finds it quaint that Earth has matter-to-energy equivalence.
* EurekaMoment: Etheriel realizes that the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Act of Ascendancy]] is scheduled to take place in 1957, but it doesn't specify Anno Domini; [[ReasoningWithGod arguing with God]] that the Act should be postponed until ''everyone'' on Earth agrees that the current year is 1957.
* FeaturelessPlaneOfDisembodiedDialogue: After TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt and [[MassResurrection everyone starts waking from death]], the buildings disintegrate, nobody pays much attention to people's bodies, and even the landscape itself starts to level out.
* FunWithHomophones: The angel (who is made of PureEnergy) Etheriel's name sounds like ethereal, which means "extremely delicate and light in a way that seems too perfect for this world".
* {{God}}: In this story, he lives in the Primum Mobile, and is called Chief of the CelestialBureaucracy. No order given by the Chief can be revoked, because that would mean he wasn't [[TheOmnipotent omnipotent]].
* GoodNeedsEvil: [[{{God}} The Chief]] explains that [[{{Satan}} the Adversary]] is still a servant of his, because Good is defined by the eternal struggle against Evil.
* GoodVersusGood: Etheriel is trying to navigate the bureaucracy of heaven to [[ReasoningWithGod convince the Chief]] to prevent TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.
* InMysteriousWays: Once Etheriel figures out how to [[ReasoningWithGod convince the Chief]] to postpone [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Judgement Day]], the Chief says he knew the arguments the whole time, and was waiting for the angel Etheriel to figure it out himself.
* LouisCypher: The name of R. E. Mann is a reference to the Persian word Ahriman, which means "adversary", like the Hebrew word {{Satan}}.
* MassResurrection: Resurrection Day has been announced, so people are waking up from death and climbing out of their graves. The most recently dead wake up first, but everyone in the world will be resurrected.
* NakedOnRevival: The humans who were alive when the trumpet announced [[MassResurrection Resurrection Day]] are clothed, while the humans who were dead are crawling out of their graves completely naked. This distinction will be lost, as the clothes people were wearing dissolve away, [[FeaturelessPlaneOfDisembodiedDialogue just like the landscape is fading]].
* TheNamesake: The word 'trump' is short for trumpet, and the title refers to ArchangelGabriel's horn being used to announce Judgement Day and the resurrection of everyone who has ever died.
* NoPlotNoPRoblem: The [[TwolinesNoWaiting b-plot]] of R. E. Man walking around town after TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt has no narrative arc, just a [[SliceOfLife collection of scenes]] where people are dealing with the changes since Judgement Day occured.
* OnlyOneAfterlife: Since everyone had different ideas for what the afterlife should be, {{Satan}} suggested that the common elements of all afterlives be used, so {{God}} resurrects everyone to live in a [[FeaturelessPlaneOfDisembodiedDialogue featureless plane]].
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: These angels are [[EnergyBeings made of energy]] and working for a CelestialBureaucracy of multiple worlds/universes.
* ReasoningWithGod: ArchangelGabriel announces that it's time for Judgement Day, but Etheriel, a junior angel, points out a loophole in the declaration, plucks up his courage, and successfully argues for the whole thing to be postponed. (God's reaction to the argument turns out to be, more or less, "Oh good, I was hoping somebody would bring that up".)
* ResetButton: Once {{God}} has been convinced to postpone the Day of Judgement, he resets the world/universe to the minute where the world ended.
* ThisIsntHeaven: Two different characters realise the afterlife wasn't what they expected:
** One of the resurrected souls claims this is {{Heaven}}, but R. E. Man is quick to point out that he's never repented, never been to church, and [[TheHeretic believes a lot of things about God that would bother them]].
** One of the resurrected souls points out to R. E. Man that there is nothing beyond Earth, buildings are crumbling, hills are flattening, desires are gone... Soon, there will be nothing but a [[FeaturelessPlaneOfDisembodiedDialogue featureless plain and people]]. They believed that FireAndBrimstoneHell undersells divine imagination; an eternity of nothingness is a torture of a divinely inspired everlasting hell.
* TitleDrop: Unusual for this trope, the title is used quite early in the story because it announces TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, and most of the story itself is about Etheriel trying to [[ResetButton prevent the end, after it ended]].
* TwoLinesNoWaiting: Two stories are told at the same time; the A-plot is about angel Etheriel and his quest to prevent TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt (because then {{Satan}} would win), and the B-plot is about R. E. Man checking out how humanity is handling TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.
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