14
The reference to the Archangel Gabriel’s golden lyre is the most tantalizing and frustrating passage to be found in the Venerable Clematis’ account of his journey to Hades. According to a communication written by Father Deopus, the Venerable Father had a small metal disk in his possession upon escaping the cavern which, after Clematis’ death, was sent to Paris for examination. Under the scrutiny of ethereal musicologists, it was discovered that Clematis had discovered a plectrum—a metal pick used to play stringed instruments, most commonly the lyre. As a plectrum is traditionally fastened to the instrument by a silk cord, one can infer that Clematis did, in fact, have contact with the lyre, or an instrument that employs a similar plectrum. This leaves the whereabouts of the lyre itself open to speculation. If Clematis had brought the instrument from the gorge, he might have dropped it at the mouth of the pit or perhaps lost hold of it as he fled the mountain. The plectrum rules out the possibility that the lyre was a figment of Clematis’ delusional state, a mythological creation of his beleaguered mind.
15
It is generally believed that Deopus, at the bequest of the Venerable Clematis, transcribed the melody of the angels’ heavenly chorus. Although the score has never been located, there is great hope a full score of this harmonic progression exists.
16
After careful examination of Clematis’ account of Brother Francis’ death, and the wounds that led to Clematis’ own death, the general conclusion of angelological scholars has been that Brother Francis died from the effects of extreme exposure to radiation. Studies on the radioactive properties of angels were initiated after a generous donation from the family of Marie Curie and are currently being undertaken by a group of angelological scholars in Hungary.
17
The physical properties of angelic wing structure have been shown most definitively in the influential 1907 study
Physiology of Angelic Flight,
a work whose superiority in mapping the skeletal and pulmonary properties of wings has become a touchstone in all discussions of the Watchers. Whereas it was once believed that wing appendages were exterior attachments to the body, held in place entirely via musculature, it is now believed that the wings of angels are themselves an outgrowth of the lungs, each wing serving a dual purpose as a means of flight and an external organ of great delicacy. From further modeling, it has been determined that the wing appendages originate in the capillaries of the lung tissue, gaining mass and strength as they blossom forth from the muscles of the back. A mature wing acts as an anatomically complex system of external aspiration in which oxygen is absorbed and carbon dioxide is released through minuscule alveoli-like sacs on the wing shafts. It is estimated that only 10 percent of all respiratory function occurs via the mouth and windpipe, making the wing essential for respiratory function. This is perhaps the single physical flaw in the angelic structure, an Achilles’ heel in an otherwise perfect organism, a weakness Clematis hit upon to great effect.
18
According to notes left by Deopus, Clematis died before finishing his tale, cutting his narrative to an abrupt end.