Murder Mysteries a Play for Voices (9781466109827) Read Online Free

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