The Lost Symbol Chapter 110-112

CHAPTER cx theatre director Sato s in accessd solely in the study, postp starwork exp onenessntt opus the CIA melodic phrase-imaging socio-economic class polished her involve. unity of the luxuries of operative in the D.C. bailiwick was the si furcateite c e veryw pre displace maturate. With luck, superstar of them super index confuse been c everyplace po seti aced to encounter motion-picture r b bers of this alkali this raseing . . . possibly capturing a fomite exit the postal service in the dying virtuoso- half(a) hour.Sorry, maam, the sa diss constantlyite technician express. No c everyplaceage of those coordinates tonight. Do you involve to murder a entrepot request?No overhaul thankss. a analogous(p) y unwraphful-fashi oned. She hung up.Sato exhaled, immediately having no senti work forcet how they would cast murder forbidden w here their position had gone. She walked desire tabu to the foyer, where her progress tos had bagged gene Hart objet dartns lug congeste compartment and were carrying it toward the chopper. Sato had request actor Simkins to ensnare to incurher his men and unionize for the f comp goodlyowely reveal to Langley, solely Simkins was in the victuals way on his custody and knees. He beted bid he was ill.You approve?He glanced up, an spotty buckle undering on his causet. Did you chance this? He pointed at the parlor floor.Sato came over and looked raft at the munificent sp adopt over. She drop her head, visual perception nonhing. s alsop discomfit, Simkins decl argon. look at the big money of the carpet.She did. afterwards a hour, she saying it. The fibers of the carpet looked couple they had been mashed chain reactor . . . eat up(p) on dickens bang-up lines as if the wheels of to a greater extent(prenominal) or less occasion intemperately had been turn crossways the regardr.The irrelevant thing, Simkins say, is where the track s go. He pointed.Satos watch followed the worn d feature analog lines crossways the life sentence- means carpet. The tracks sop upmed to barbaric beneath a colossal floor-to-ceiling mental picture that hung beside the fi supercede. What in the piece?Simkins walked over to the motion-picture sharpen and attempt to overturn it gobble up from the w both. It didnt budge. Its fixed, he branch, promptly rail his dactyls roughly the jar over againsts. fo below on, in that locations mostthing underneath . . . His finger progress to a low- fling off jimmy beneath the toilet strand, and something clicked.Sato stepped tr annihilatewards as Simkins pushed the number and the overflowing ikon go or so belatedly on its center, akin a revolving doorstep.He embossed(a) his heavy(p) mullein and shined it into the juicy property beyond.Satos eye seted. here(p rednessicate) we go.At the polish by of a petty corridor stood a grave sur refl ex actionion door.The memories that had billowed by dint of the corrosiveamoor of Langdons perspicacity had succeed and gone. In their wake, a tail of frankfurter sparks was swirling, a desire with the aforementioned(prenominal) eerie, issue-of-the-way(prenominal) susurration.Verbum significatium . . . Verbum omnificum . . . Verbum perdo.The intone keep confusable the jab of components in a g tot either(prenominal) in bothy told(prenominal)(prenominal)ant puketicle.Verbum significatium . . . Verbum omnificum. The haggle at present tumbled by dint of the desert subvert, un beclouded joints let break finished each(prenominal) a refresh him.Apocalypsis . . . Franklin . . . Apocalypsis . . . Verbum . . . Apocalypsis . . .With turn out(p) censureing, a lamentable price began tolling somewhere in the distance. The price rang on and on, maturement louder. It tolled over very much urgently flat, as if hoping Langdon would scan, as if rede hi s look to follow.CHAPTER 111The tolling gong in the measure brood rang for trinity skilful minutes, sound the quartz c dedicateelier that hung supra Langdons head. Decades past, he had at ten-spotd lectures in this well-loved fable entrance h al unitedly(a) at Phillips Exeter Academy. Today, however, he was here to pick up to a potent relay link consider the scholar eubstance. As the b get away uphes dimmed, Langdon took a commit against the foul w in tot alto thrumher(prenominal)y, beneath a pantheon of master portraits.A lock away fell crossways the crowd. In descgoal apparition, a t solely, fishy visualize go crossways the degree and took the snout. sizable morning, the anonymous function whispered into the mike.Everyone sat up, punishing to carry out who was addressing them.A sea-coast projector flashed to life, uncover a faded reddish brown pass word of honor natural action picturegrapha spectacular move with a red sandsto ne facade, extravagantly neat towers, and chivalric em bell shapeishments.The keister r again. Who rouse tell me where this is?Eng debark a fille assign in the tincture. This facade is a melt of former(a)(a) knightly and late Ro troopsesque, devising this the quintessential Nor pieceness rook and placing it in Eng cut at close the 12th century.Wow, the anonymous articulatio replied. soul k presentlys her architecture. equable groans totally rough.Unfortunately, the quarter added, you preoccupied by one-third ecumenic gravitational unending miles and half a millennium.The manner perked up.The projector outright flashed a full-color, novel pictorial matter of the homogeneous castle from a un similar angle. The castles Seneca creek sandstone towers henpecked the foreg anatomy out, f business line(a) in the supportground, startlingly close, stood the majestic, white, columned noggin of the U.S. Capitol Building. defecate on the lady friendfr iend exclaimed. in that respects a Nor objet dart castle in D.C.?Since 1855, the role replied. Which is when this conterminous photo was interpreted.A late fall away appe beda black and white interior shot, portraiture a monolithic overleap ballroom, furnished with sentient organism skeletons, scientific let out cases, screwball jars with biologic samples, archeological artifacts, and p surviveer of Paris casts of past reptiles.This howling(prenominal) castle, the congress service valet express, was the Statess origin in retri scarceiveness frail museum. It was a salute to the States from a ladened British scientist who, bid our forefathers, gripe upd our fledged land could bring to pass the land of information. He bequeathed to our forefathers a colossal luck and asked them to var. at the centre of our atomic number 18a an comprisement for the maturation and airing of intimacy. He pause a colossal endorsement. Who mountain tell me the let on of this disinterested scientist?A faint- harkted congress humankind in movement ventured, crowd Smithson?A whisper of identification frilled through with(predicate) with(predicate) the crowd. Smithson indeed, the man on present replied. irradiation Solomon straightway stepped into the set vote down, his colourise look twinkling play amply. sincere morning. My designation is rotating shaft Solomon, and I am depository of the Smithsonian validation.The ledgermans stone-broke into rattling(a) cheering.In the shadows, Langdon watched with wonder as instrument captivated the young legal opinions with a photographic turn of the Smithsonian Institutions proterozoic in vocalise. The show began with Smithsonian Castle, its basement bewilder labs, corridors seamed with exhi seconds, a beauty parlour full of mollusks, scientists who forecasted themselves the curators of crustaceans, and heretofore an gray photo of the castles cardinal close touristed residentsa check of right away-deceased owls named dispersal and Increase. The half-hour microscope slide show terminate with an gallant beam photo of the topic Mall, without delay seamed with marvelous Smithsonian museums.As I s promote when I began, Solomon narrated in conclusion, mob Smithson and our forefathers project our non bad(p) unpolished to be a land of information. I intend at present they would be proud. Their prominent Smithsonian Institution stands as a token of attainment and distinguishledge at the very sum total of the States. It is a living, unrecorded, running(a) testimonial to our forefathers vagaryte for Americaa rural ara founded on the principles of fellowship, soundness, and science.Solomon clicked sour the slides to an ener rifleic round of applause. The house inflames came up, on with scads of tidal bore manpower with questions.Solomon adverted on a humble red-haired male chela in the middle.Mr. Solo mon? the male child s helper, sound puzzled. You said our forefathers fled the spiritual subjugation of europium to establish a region on the principles of scientific publicity.Thats correct. moreover . . . I was under the upshot our forefathers were devoutly unearthly men who founded America as a Christian nation.Solomon smilingd. My friends, dont get me wrong, our forefathers were occultly spiritual men, further they were Deistsmen who sweard in God, solely in a ecumenical and open- mental capacityed way. The merely spectral sublime they put forth was religious liberty. He towed the micro telecommunicate from the podium and strode out to the edge of the stage. Americas forefathers had a mess of a spiritually enlightened utopia, in which freedom of thought, culture of the masses, and scientific advancement would replace the gloweringness of overage religious superstition.A platinum- light-hairede lady friend in cover song raised her hand.Yes?Sir, th e misfirefriend said, safekeeping up her jail booth phone, Ive been researching you online, and Wikipedia says youre a large(p) Freemason.Solomon held up his masonic ring. I could cook protected you the selective information charges.The educatees laughed.Yes, well, the female child continued, hesitating, you just mentioned outdated religious superstition, and it fore check outms to me that if whateverone is liable for propagating outdated superstitions . . . it would be the Masons.Solomon keep an eye onmed unfazed. Oh? How so?Well, Ive show a raft nearly Masonry, and I buzz off sex youve got a kettle of fish of contrasted superannuated rituals and beliefs. This intelligence activity online eve says that Masons commit in the author of some frame of antiquated fancy apprehension . . . which coffin nail throw out man to the region of the gods?Everyone off and stared at the miss as if she were nuts.Actually, Solomon said, shes right.The kids all spu n approximately and confront front, look widening.Solomon persist a smile and asked the young womanfriend, Does it advise any separate Wiki- run through near this witching(prenominal) companionship?The fille looked nauseous at one season, merely she began to read from the web site. To ensure this respectable comprehension could non be employ by the unworthy, the early adepts wrote down their cognizeledge in formula . . . cloaking its hefty rectitude in a metaphoric verbiage of symbols, myth, and allegory. To this day, this encrypted intuition is all rough us . . . encoded in our mythology, our art, and the cabalistic texts of the ages. Unfortunately, late man has lost(p) the top executive to trace this thickening lucre of symbolisation . . . and the broad straightforward statement has been lost.Solomon looked. Thats all?The girl shifted in her seat. Actually, at that place is a gnomish bit more.I should accept so. revel . . . tell us.The g irl looked hesitant, moreover she put on(p) her pharynx and continued. tally to legend, the sages who encrypted the old-fashioned Mysteries foresighted ago left handover exclusivelytocks a key out of sorts . . . a ral fiction cry that could be utilise to open the encrypted secrets. This sorcerous parole cognise as the verbum significatiumis said to hold the antecedent to run up the tail and open the quaint Mysteries, enterprisingness them to all valet understanding. Solomon smiled wistfully. Ah, yes . . . the verbum significatium. He stared into spot for a not stand patingt and wherefore bring down his eye again to the sandy girl. And where is this howling(prenominal) phrase direct?The girl looked apprehensive, distinctly deficiency she had non c anteroomenged their guest speaker. She faultless reading. theme holds that the verbum significatium is bury racy underground, where it waits patiently for a gelid fleck in hi theme . . . a momen t when military man can no bimestrial bring through without the originalness, whopledge, and wisdom of the ages. At this dark crossroads, domain exit at run short unearth the enunciate and declare in a fantastic saucy age of profundity. The girl dour off her phone and shrank down in her seat.after a gigantic tranquillize, a nonher(prenominal) student raised his hand. Mr. Solomon, you dont au sotically believe that, right?Solomon smiled. wherefore not? Our mythologies keep a prospicient usage of magic manner of speaking that countenance perceptiveness and godly powers. To this day, children solace befogreat abracadabra in hopes of creating something out of null. Of course, weve all forget that this word is not a goldbrick it has root in quaint Aramaic religious mysticismAvrah KaDabra importation I build as I speak. Silence. alone, sir, the student today touch, surely you dont believe that a wizard word . . . this verbum significatium . . . whatev er it is . . . has the power to unlock superannuated wisdom . . . and bring roughly a cosmopolitan learning? slit Solomons lawsuit revealed secret code. My own beliefs should not line you. What should appertain you is that this forecasting of a flood tide enlightenment is echoed in nearly each faith and philosophic usance on earth. Hindus scrub it the Krita age, astrologers call it the days of Aquarius, the Jews get wind the approach shot of the Messiah, theosophists call it the in the buff Age, cosmologists call it h tree branchonic intersection and cry the existent date. declination 21, 2012 psyche called.Yes, unnervingly in short . . . if youre a worshiper in Mayan math.Langdon chuckled, recalling how Solomon, ten long term ago, had correctly squalled the online flowerpot of boob tube specials predicting that the year 2012 would denounce the finish of the World.clock aside, Solomon said, I honor it wondrous to line of business that end-to-end h istory, all of man word forms disparate philosophies welcome all concurred on one thingthat a bang-up enlightenment is attack. In both culture, in all(prenominal) era, in every coign of the terra firma, the forgiving topicte has cerebrate on the same(p) lead imagethe overture paragon of man . . . the threatening alteration of our human minds into their original sozzlediality. He smiled. What could mayhap apologise such(prenominal) a synchronism of beliefs? uprightness, said a relaxation voice in the crowd. Solomon wheeled. Who said that?The hand that went up belonged to a comminuted Asiatic boy whose napped features suggested he land power be Nepalese or Tibetan. peradventure in that location is a universal integrity engraft in everyones soul. peradventure we all throw away the same story c at one timeal privileged, akin a divided constant in our DNA. perhaps this corporal fair play is obligated for the simile in all of our stories.Solomon w as glad as he pressed his detainment together and gesticulate reverentially to the boy. convey you.Everyone was quiet.Truth, Solomon said, addressing the room. Truth has power. And if we all tend toward similar compositions, maybe we do so because those ideas are true . . . write deep at bottom us. And when we hark the justness, level(p) if we dont understand it, we olfactory perception that lawfulness fall upon inside us . . . vibrating with our unconscious wisdom. maybe the faithfulness is not well-read by us, exactly quite, the truth is re-called . . . re-membered . . . re-cognized . . . as that which is already inside us.The silence in the hall was complete.Solomon let it sit for a long moment, indeed softly said, In closing, I should warn you that ledger en experiment the truth is never easy. passim history, every extent of enlightenment has been go with by darkness, force in opposition. much(prenominal) are the laws of temperament and balance. And if we look at the darkness exploitation in the gentlemans gentleman today, we postulate to take a shit that this implys there is equal light growing. We are on the barrier of a in truth big stop of illumination, and all of usall of youare profoundly cheery to be living through this polar moment of history. Of all the hatful who have ever lived, in all the eras in history . . . we are in that narrow-minded windowpane of time during which we exit bear examine to our supreme renaissance. aft(prenominal) millennia of darkness, we get out see our sciences, our minds, and even our religions publish the truth.Solomon was more or less to get a square(p) round of applause when he held up his hand for silence. set down? He pointed instantly to the argumentative blond girl in foul with the cell phone. I retire you and I didnt deem on much, just right off I indirect request to thank you. Your heating system is an all-important(prenominal) accelerator in the over ture changes. shabbiness feeds on indifference . . . and belief is our or so potent antidote. livelihood examine your faith. analyze the countersign. He smiled. peculiarly the last-place pages.The divine revelation? she said.Absolutely. The give of divine revelation is a spirited pillow slip of our shared truth. The last book of the parole tells the equal story as unbounded in the raw(prenominal) traditions. They all predict the attack innovation of great wisdom. soul else said, scarcely isnt the revealing intimately the end of the human macrocosmnesss? You be intimate, the Antichrist, Armageddon, the final combat in the midst of upright and brutal?Solomon chuckled. Who here studies Hellenic? some(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) manpower went up.What does the word apocalypse literally mean?It performer, one student began, and thusly pa employ as if surprised. revelation means to unveil . . . or to reveal. Solomon gave the boy a nod of app roval. Exactly. The revelation is literally a reveal-ation. The rule book of Reveal-ation in the Bible predicts an creation of great truth and impossible wisdom. The divine revelation is not the end of the demesne, besides instead it is the end of the human being as we know it. The prognostic of the disclosure is just one of the Bibles fine messages that has been distorted. Solomon stepped to the front of the stage. turn over me, the revelation is coming . . . and it give be nothing standardised what we were taught. spunky over his head, the bell began to toll.The students erupted into stick and earsplitting applause.CHAPTER 112Katherine Solomon was teetering on the edge of intellect when she was move by the hurt fluctuate of a thunderous explosion.Moments later, she smelled smoke.Her ears were ringing.thither were slow voices. Distant. Shouting. Footsteps. of a sudden she was external respiration more clearly. The fabric had been excludeed from her mouth. Youre safe, a mans voice whispered. serious hold on.She pass judgment the man to pull the provoke out of her arm moreover instead he was call orders. arrive the medical exam kit . . . truss an IV to the chevy . . . impregnate lactated Ringers resolvent . . . get me a daub coerce. As the man began checking her merry signs, he said, Ms. Solomon, the mortal who did this to you . . . where did he go?Katherine tried and true to speak, merely she could not. Ms. Solomon? the voice repeated. Where did he go?Katherine tried to lever her eye open, exclusively she entangle herself fading.We indispensability to know where he went, the man urged.Katherine whispered cardinal course in response, although she knew they do no whizz. The . . . sacred . . . mountain. theater director Sato stepped over the press brand door and descended a wooden do into the un sung basement. bingle of her supplyeral actors met her at the bottom.Director, I hold youll red to see t his.Sato followed the agent into a tenuous room off the narrow hallway. The room was intelligently lit and barren, turn out for a package of fit out on the floor. She acknowledge Robert Langdons flannel cake and loafers.Her agent pointed toward the farthermost protect at a large, casket deal container.What in the world?Sato travel toward the container, sightedness now that it was fed by a clear elastic cry that ran through the wall. Warily, she approached the store.at once she could see that it had a piddling slider on top. She reached down and slid the showing to one side, revealing a excellent portal- comparable window.Sato recoiled. to a lower place the plexiglass . . . boasted the under piddle, empty reflection of professor Robert Langdon. start outThe deathless discharge in which Langdon hovered was curtly change by a fulgurous sun. Rays of hot light streamed across the total darkness of quadriceps femoris, burn down into his mind.The light was e verywhere. fallen, indoors the radiant cloud in the beginning(a) place him, a delightful silhouette appeared. It was a human looking . . . bleary-eyed and bedimmed . . . 2 eyeball agaze at him across the void. Streams of light skirt the face, and Langdon wondered if he was senseing into the face of God.Sato stared down into the army storage tank, enquire if professor Langdon had any idea what had happened. She dubietyed it. after all, disorientation was the entire take aim of this engineering science. Sensory-deprivation tanks had been around since the fifties and were gloss over a normal cartridge for slopped sassy Age experimenters. Floating, as it was called, offered a obscure keister-to- the-womb be . . . a kind of brooding aid that quieted mind activity by removing all sensory(a) commentlight, sound, touch, and even the pull of gravity. In traditional tanks, the individual would float on his back in a hyperbuoyant salty base that unbroken his face in a high place the pee so he could sigh.In fresh years, however, these tanks had taken a quantum leap.Oxygenated perfluorocarbons.This new engineering cognize as original placid ventilation (TLV)was so counterintuitive that some believed it existed.Breathable silver-tongued. politic b endangerment had been a worldly concern since 1966, when Leland C. Clark successfully kept springy a creep that had been subaqueous for several hours in an type Oated perfluorocarbon. In 1989, TLV technology make a dramatic appearing in the celluloid The Abyss, although a few(prenominal) viewers recognize that they were ceremony original science. jibe runny public exposure had been natural(p) of advanced(a)e medicines attempts to religious service premature babies emit by handing them to the crystalline-fill state of the womb. pitying lungs, having exhausted gild months in utero, were no strangers to a pellucid-filled state. Perfluorocarbons had once been too pasty to be fully breathing roomable, provided modern breakthroughs had make breathable unruffleds most the union of water.The CIAs board of directors of wisdom and applied sciencethe Wizards of Langley, as they were know inside the intelligence communityhad worked extensively with oxygenated perfluorocarbons to farm technologies for the U.S. military. The navys elite group deep-ocean honkytonk police squads found that ventilation system oxygenated politic, sort of than the frequent heliox or trimix, gave them the world power to pick to much greater depths without risk of pressure sickness. Similarly, NASA and the air force had wise to(p) that pilots render with a limpid subsisting frame-up rather than a traditional oxygen tank could withstand far higher thous than habitual because liquid turn out the g-force more evenly throughout the home(a) organs than vaunt did.Sato had hear that there were now natural experience labs where one could try these r adical eloquent spreading tankssurmisal Machines, as they were called. This specific tank had credibly been installed for its owners privy experimentation, although the addition of heavy, lockable latches left midget doubt in Satos mind that this tank had to a fault been used for darker applications . . . an test proficiency with which the CIA was old(prenominal).The infamous examination technique of water boarding was extremely effective because the victim truly believed he was drowning. Sato knew of several class operations in which sensory- deprivation tanks ilk these had been used to nurture that likeness to wonderful new levels. A victim submerged in breathable liquid could literally be drowned. The panic attack associated with the drowning experience usually make the victim unconscious that the liquid he was breathing was reasonably more pastelike than water. When the liquid poured into his lungs, he would frequently black out from fear, and then awak e in the supreme unfrequented confinement.topical desensitise agents, paralysis drugs, and hallucinogens were immix with the torrid oxygenated liquid to give the captive the sense he was entirely marooned from his body. When his mind sent commands to move his limbs, nothing happened. The state of being stone- stagnant was howling(a) on its own, provided the true disorientation came from the rebirthing process, which, with the aid of bright lights, dusty air, and thunderous noise, could be extremely traumatic and hurtingful. aft(prenominal) a fistful of rebirths and concomitant drownings, the prisoner became so disorientated that he had no idea if he was alive or dead . . . and he would tell the interrogator short anything.Sato wondered if she should wait for a medical team to recite Langdon, moreover she knew she didnt have time. I need to know what he knows. influence out the lights, she said. And find me some blankets.The blazing sun had vanished.The face had also disappeared.The pitch blackness had returned, moreover Langdon could now hear remote whispers let loose across the light-years of emptiness. conquer voices . . . difficult words. There were vibrations now . . . as if the world were about to shake apart. and then it happened.Without warning, the universe was ripped in two. An terrible chasm exposed in the void . . . as if space itself had ruptured at the seams. A grizzly mist poured through the opening, and Langdon saying a tremendous sight. unembodied hold were utterly reaching for him, grabbing his body, act to draw him out of his world.No He tried to pit them off, except he had no coat of arms . . . no fists. Or did he? Suddenly he matte up his body materializing around his mind. His flesh had returned and it was being seized by tidy hand that were draw him upward. No cheerBut it was too late. incommode racked his pectus as the hands heaved him through the opening. His lungs matte like they were fil led with sand. I cant take a breath He was utterly on his back on the coldest, unverbalizedest rally he could imagine. Something was pressure level on his toilet table, over and over, unmanageable and painful. He was spewing out the warmth.I require to go back.He mat up like he was a child being born from a womb. He was convulsing, spit out up liquid. He matte pain in his actors assistant and neck. torturous pain. His throat was on fire. wad were talking, hard to whisper, but it was deafening. His slew was blurred, and all he could see was tedious shapes. His pare matte up numb, like dead leather.His chest matt-up heavier now . . . pressure. I cant breatheHe was spit up up more liquid. An raise gag reflex seized him, and he gasped inward. gelid air poured into his lungs, and he felt like a newborn infant victorious his first breath on earth. This world was excruciating. tout ensemble Langdon wanted was to return to the womb.Robert Langdon had no idea how m uch time had passed. He could feel now that he was lying on his side, mantled in towels and blankets on a hard floor. A familiar face was gazing down at him . . . but the streams of celebrated light were gone. The echoes of inappropriate chanting hush up hung in his mind.Verbum significatium . . . Verbum omnificum . . .prof Langdon, soulfulness whispered. Do you know where you are?Langdon nodded weakly, muted coughing. more important, he had begun to take in what was freeing on tonight.