Fall; or, Dodge in Hell - Neal Stephenson Page 0,267

came into the place, it became considerably more crowded as each of the souls following in their wake spread out across the floor seeking its own vantage point. “These new ones will create forms as is proper, some sooner and some later, for El ordained that not all develop at the same pace. But one day they will each attain this perfection.” Beaming, Lookseast extended one arm toward the effigies.

Neither of them looked especially perfect to Adam or Eve; they were lumpish, with indistinct features. “I regret to say,” said Lookseast, “that it is too late for the both of you.”

“What mean you by that?” Adam asked.

Lookseast changed his look and his tone in a manner that reminded them of El when he had needed to disabuse them of some especially childish misconception. “El has so ordained it that once a soul has adopted a particular form, that form does not change very much. Oh, slight adjustments are possible if one strives long and hard. But what I am trying to tell you is that, formed as you were in the wild lands beyond the river, with no models such as these to shape and guide you, your mistakes and deformities are, I am sorry to say, permanent. You will never achieve the perfection of these.” Once again he drew their attention to the effigies. Adam and Eve perceived in Lookseast’s manner a kind of reverence, such as the angels were wont to direct toward El. And when he turned the other way to gaze upon Adam and Eve, he got a look akin to how they had reacted to the smell of their first shit.

This turn of events left them speechless for some moments. Adam sensed that Eve was becoming quite wrathful, and rested a gentle hand on her shoulder before saying, “I deem it unlikely that forms such as these are really the ones preordained by El for all future souls to emulate. Their imperfections are easily seen. The woman’s left breast is disfigured by what appears to be a chisel mark. Her arm has broken off and been reattached by someone apparently working in poor light. The man’s face is asymmetrical, with the right eye hanging—” But here Adam stopped, for Eve had reached out and grabbed his forearm and given it a hard squeeze. Her gaze was fixed upon the face of Lookseast. Adam looked and perceived, too late, that the right eye of the First Priest of El was mounted in his head somewhat lower than the left—just like that of the male effigy.

“What El has ordained,” said Lookseast, “is not to be questioned by misshapen yokels from the back of beyond.” He cast his lopsided gaze over the crop of nascent souls that had followed Adam and Eve into the kirk. “It is fortunate for these new ones that they came upon this place before being too much influenced by the sight of you two.”

“We could simply ask him,” suggested Eve. Adam knew what she meant: We could simply ask El. But now it was his turn to give her a warning. Something in the way this man spoke about El suggested that he had never actually seen, much less spoken to, El or any of his host.

“Forgive my presumption,” Adam said. “I was confused by the fact that I do not see, in this room, any souls that have advanced very far toward having definite forms.”

“Those move up to the next level,” explained Lookseast, and beckoned for them to follow him up a stairway.

The second story contained no statues, but its walls were decorated with paintings that depicted persons—all more or less resembling the effigies below—engaged in various activities such as quarrying stone, tending plants, spearing wolves, cooking, and copulating. Perhaps a dozen souls occupied this space, all of them well advanced toward having complete forms. It seemed that they were all paying keen attention to the pictures and rehearsing the actions depicted. “This is where they learn the ways of the world El has made, so that when they go down into Eltown they may be of some use. Others, larger and better formed than these, go out into the hills or down into the town, accompanied by the other priests of El, to practice and perfect their skills.”

“And the third story above us?” Eve asked.

“That is for me and the other priests of El,” said Lookseast, “and it is off-limits.”

“What then becomes of the new souls?”

“When they are fully formed,” said