The Last Word (Knight short story)
Encyclopedia
"The Last Word" is a science fiction
short story written by Damon Knight
. It first appeared in the February 1957 issue of Satellite Science Fiction
and has been reprinted twice, in Far Out
(1961) and The Best of Damon Knight (1976).
, by a narrator who, it soon becomes clear, is Satan
. He briefly recounts his history on Earth and tells how he directed people toward destructive activity, for instance by teaching them how to make gunpowder. Now the final war is over, and almost everyone has been killed. Satan comes across a man and a woman, the last survivors, who are inside a transparent dome that keeps out the contaminated air. The two people recognize Satan for who he is; Satan is troubled by their calm certitude, and asks about the elaborate machine that he sees inside their dome. He is told that it is a time machine
, and that they are about to go "back to the beginning" to start over, this time without him:
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
short story written by Damon Knight
Damon Knight
Damon Francis Knight was an American science fiction author, editor, critic and fan. His forte was short stories and he is widely acknowledged as having been a master of the genre.-Biography:...
. It first appeared in the February 1957 issue of Satellite Science Fiction
Satellite Science Fiction
Satellite Science Fiction was a science fiction digest-sized magazine that was published in the United States in the late 1950s.The first edition of Satellite Science Fiction was published in October 1956. It published a total of 18 editions and ceased publication after the May 1959 edition.The...
and has been reprinted twice, in Far Out
Far Out (book)
Far Out is a collection of 13 science fiction short stories by Damon Knight. The stories were originally published between 1949 and 1960 in Galaxy Magazine, If Science Fiction and other science fiction magazines...
(1961) and The Best of Damon Knight (1976).
Synopsis
The story is told in first personFirst-person narrative
First-person point of view is a narrative mode where a story is narrated by one character at a time, speaking for and about themselves. First-person narrative may be singular, plural or multiple as well as being an authoritative, reliable or deceptive "voice" and represents point of view in the...
, by a narrator who, it soon becomes clear, is Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
. He briefly recounts his history on Earth and tells how he directed people toward destructive activity, for instance by teaching them how to make gunpowder. Now the final war is over, and almost everyone has been killed. Satan comes across a man and a woman, the last survivors, who are inside a transparent dome that keeps out the contaminated air. The two people recognize Satan for who he is; Satan is troubled by their calm certitude, and asks about the elaborate machine that he sees inside their dome. He is told that it is a time machine
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
, and that they are about to go "back to the beginning" to start over, this time without him:
The woman said, "You've won Armageddon, but you've lost Earth."
I knew the answer to that, of course, but she was a woman and had the last word.
I gestured toward the purple darkness outside. "Lost Earth? What do you call this?"
She poised her hand on the switch.
"Hell," she said.
And I have remembered her voice, through ten thousand lonely years.
Background
About this story, Knight wrote
"The Last Word" is one of three stories I have written using orthodox Christian materials - God, the devil, etc. - which proves that my childhood training had some use after all.