Angels Demons Chapter 82-85

82At CERN, secretary Sylvie Baudeloque was hungry, wishing she could go home. To her dismay, Kohler had manifestly survived his trip to the infirmary he had ph cardinald and demanded non asked, demanded that Sylvie stay late this evening. No explanation.Over the years, Sylvie had programmed herself to ignore Kohlers bizarre liquid body substance swings and eccentricities his silent treat manpowerts, his unnerving leaning to secretly film contacts with his wheelchairs porta-video. She secretly hoped wholeness day he would subscribe himself during his weekly visit to CERNs recreational pistol range, exclusively app atomic number 18ntly he was a pretty good savor.Now, sitting al ane at her desk, Sylvie perceive her stomach grumbleing. Kohler had non yet re whirled, nor had he given her any additional work for the evening. To hell with sitting here bored and starving, she decided. She left field Kohler a note and headed for the staff dining plebeians to grab a right awa y bite.She n ever so made it.As she passed CERNs recreational suites de loisir a long h totally of lounge hardly about(predicate)s with televisions she noticed the rooms were overflowing with employees who had appargonntly abandoned dinner to make up ones mind the currents. whatsoeverthing big was personnel casualty on. Sylvie entered the premier(prenominal) suite. It was packed with byte-heads wild untried computing device programmers. When she saw the headlines on the TV, she gasped.Terror at the VaticanSylvie listened to the storey, unable to believe her ears. Some ancient br otherwisehood killing cardinals? What did that prove? Their hatred? Their dominance? Their ignorance?And yet, incredibly, the mood in this suite seemed anything nevertheless somber.Two young techies ran by wafture T-shirts that bore a picture of Bill Gates and the messageAnd the eccentric shall inherit the EarthIlluminati one sh bring outed. I told you these guys were realIncredible I id ea it was just a gameThey killed the Pope, man The PopeJeez I wonder how many points you get for that?They ran jam laughing.Sylvie stood in stunned amazement. As a Catholic working among scientists, she occasionally endured the antireligious whisperings, just now the party these kids seemed to be having was all-out euphoria over the performs loss. How could they be so callous? wherefore the hatred?For Sylvie, the church had always been an innocuous entity a place of house and introspection near whiles just a place to sing out loud without hoi polloi staring at her. The church recorded the benchmarks of her manner funerals, weddings, baptisms, holidays and it asked for nothing in return. Even the monetary dues were voluntary. Her children emerged from Sunday School all(prenominal) week uplifted, filled with ideas about helping others and universe kinder. What could possibly be wrong with that?It never ceased to amaze her that so many of CERNs so-called lustrous minds fa iled to comprehend the importance of the church. Did they authentically believe quarks and mesons inspired the average human race being? Or that equations could replace nearones need for faith in the reverent?Dazed, Sylvie travel worst the hallway past the other lounges. All the TV rooms were packed. She began wondering now about the call Kohler had gotten from the Vatican earlier. Coincidence? Perhaps. The Vatican called CERN from age to time as a courtesy forwards issuing tyroal statements condemning CERNs re attempt most recently for CERNs break by dint ofs in nanotechnology, a surface area the church denounced because of its implications for genetic engineering. CERN never cared. Invariably, within minutes later a Vatican salvo, Kohlers phone would ring off the hook with tech-investment companies wanting to license the new-fashioned disco precise. No such thing as bad press, Kohler would always say.Sylvie wondered if she should paginate Kohler, wherever the hell he was, and tell him to turn on the news. Did he care? Had he chance ond? Of course, hed heard. He was probably videotaping the entire report with his freaky trivial camcorder, smiling for the first time in a year.As Sylvie continued down the hall, she finally found a lounge where the mood was subdued almost melancholy. Here the scientists watch the report were some of CERNs oldest and most respected. They did not even look up as Sylvie slipped in and took a seat.On the other side of CERN, in Leonardo Vetras frosty apartment, Maximilian Kohler had finished needing the leather-bound journal hed taken from Vetras bedside table. Now he was watching the television reports. After a few minutes, he replaced Vetras journal, turned off the television, and left the apartment.Far away, in Vatican City, Cardinal Mortati carried other tray of ballots to the Sistine Chapel chimney. He burned them, and the smoke was downhearted.Two ballotings. No Pope.83Flashlights were no defend for the voluminous blackness of St. Peters Basilica. The void overhead pressed down the the likes of a starless night, and Vittoria tangle the emptiness spread out just about her like a desolate ocean. She stayed close as the Swiss Guards and the camerlegno pushed on. high above, a dove cooed and fluttered away.As if sensing her discomfort, the camerlegno dropped arse up and lay a hand on her shoulder. A tangible strength transferred in the touch, as if the man were magically infusing her with the calm she needed to do what they were about to do.What are we about to do? she supposition. This is madnessAnd yet, Vittoria knew, for all its impiety and inevitable horror, the tax at hand was inescapable. The grave decisions lining the camerlegno required information information en grave accented in a sarcophagus in the Vatican Grottoes. She wondered what they would find. Did the Illuminati murder the Pope? Did their power really reach so far? Am I really about to perform the first papal autopsy?Vittoria found it ironic that she mat more apprehensive in this unlit church than she would swimming at night with barracuda. Nature was her refuge. She dumb nature. But it was matters of man and spirit that left her mystified. Killer fish accumulation in the dark conjured images of the press gathering outside. TV footage of branded bodies reminded her of her fathers corpse and the killers harsh laugh. The killer was out thither somewhere. Vittoria felt the anger drowning her fear.As they circled past a pillar thicker in girth than any redwood she could imagine Vittoria saw an orange cut up ahead. The light seemed to emanate from beneath the floor in the plaza of the basilica. As they came closer, she realized what she was seeing. It was the famous sunken sanctuary beneath the principal(prenominal) altar the sumptuous underground chamber that held the Vaticans most sacred relics. As they drew even with the gate surrounding the hollow out, Vittoria gazed down at the well-to-do coffer surrounded by scores of glowing oil lamps.St. Peters finger cymbals? she asked, knowing full well that they were. Ein truthone who came to St. Peters knew what was in the chromatic casket.Actually, no, the camerlegno said. A common misconception. Thats not a reliquary. The box holds palliums woven sashes that the Pope gives to newly choose cardinals.But I thought As does everyone. The guidebooks label this as St. Peters tomb, simply his true grave is two stories beneath us, buried in the earth. The Vatican excavated it in the forties. Nobody is allowed down there.Vittoria was shocked. As they moved away from the glowing in permit into the injustice again, she thought of the stories shed heard of pilgrims traveling thousands of miles to look at that golden box, thinking they were in the presence of St. Peter. Shouldnt the Vatican tell people?We all usefulness from a sense of contact with divinity even if it is completely imagined.Vittoria, as a scienti st, could not argue the logic. She had read countless studies of the placebo effect aspirins curing cancer in people who believed they were using a miracle drug. What was faith, after all?Change, the camerlegno said, is not something we do well within Vatican City. Admitting our past faults, modernization, are things we historically eschew. His Holiness was trying to change that. He paused. Reaching to the modern world. inquiring for new paths to God.Vittoria nodded in the dark. Like science?To be honest, science seems irrelevant. contrary? Vittoria could think of a lot of expressions to describe science, but in the modern world irrelevant did not seem like one of them.Science can heal, or science can kill. It depends on the head of the man using the science. It is the soul that interests me.When did you hear your call?Before I was born.Vittoria looked at him.Im sorry, that always seems like a strange question. What I squiffy is that Ive always known I would serve God. From th e atomic number 42 I could first think. It wasnt until I was a young man, though, in the military, that I truly understood my purpose.Vittoria was strike. You were in the military?Two years. I refused to fire a weapon, so they made me cut down instead. Medevac helicopters. In fact, I still fly from time to time.Vittoria tried to picture the young priest flying a helicopter. Oddly, she could see him perfectly behind the controls. Camerlegno Ventresca possess a grit that seemed to emphasise his conviction rather than cloud it. Did you ever fly the Pope? area no. We left that precious cargo to the professionals. His Holiness let me take the helicopter to our retreat in Gandolfo some times. He paused, looking at her. Ms. Vetra, give thanks you for your help here today. I am very sorry about your father. Truly.Thank you.I never knew my father. He died before I was born. I lost my mother when I was ten.Vittoria looked up. You were orphaned? She felt a jerky kinship.I survived an acci dent. An accident that took my mother.Who took care of you?God, the camerlegno said. He quite literally direct me another father. A bishop from Palermo appeared at my hospital bed and took me in. At the time I was not surprised. I had comprehend Gods watchful hand over me even as a boy. The bishops appearance simply confirmed what I had already pretend, that God had somehow chosen me to serve him.You believed God chose you?I did. And I do. There was no trace of conceit in the camerlegnos voice, only gratitude. I worked under the bishops thrill for many years. He eventually became a cardinal. Still, he never forgot me. He is the father I remember. A burn of a flashlight caught the camerlegnos face, and Vittoria sensed a loneliness in his eyes.The convention arrived beneath a towering pillar, and their lights converged on an opening in the floor. Vittoria looked down at the staircase descending into the void and suddenly wanted to turn back. The guards were already helping the c amerlegno onto the stairs. They helped her next.What became of him? she asked, descending, trying to keep her voice steady. The cardinal who took you in?He left the College of Cardinals for another position.Vittoria was surprised.And then, Im sorry to say, he passed on.Le mie condoglianze, Vittoria said. deep?The camerlegno turned, shadows accentuating the pain on his face. Exactly fifteen days ago. We are going to see him right now.84The dark lights glowed hot inside the archival vault. This vault was very much smaller than the previous one Langdon had been in. less(prenominal) air. Less time. He wished hed asked Olivetti to turn on the recirculating fans.Langdon quickly located the sectionalization of assets containing the volumes cataloging Belle Arti. The section was impossible to miss. It occupied almost eight full stacks. The Catholic church owned millions of individual pieces worldwide.Langdon scanned the shelves searching for Gianlorenzo Bernini. He began his search abou t center(prenominal) down the first stack, at about the spot he thought the Bs would begin. After a moment of panic fearing the ledger was missing, he realized, to his greater dismay, that the ledgers were not arranged alphabetically. Why am I not surprised?It was not until Langdon circled back to the beginning of the collection and climbed a rolling melt down to the top shelf that he understood the vaults organization. Perched precariously on the focal ratio stacks he found the fattest ledgers of all those belonging to the masters of the renascence Michelangelo, Raphael, da Vinci, Botticelli. Langdon now realized, appropriate to a vault called Vatican Assets, the ledgers were arranged by the overall monetary value of each artists collection. Sandwiched between Raphael and Michelangelo, Langdon found the ledger marked Bernini. It was over five inches thick.Already short of breath and assay with the cumbersome volume, Langdon descended the ladder. then(prenominal), like a kid with a comic book, he spread himself out on the floor and opened the cover.The book was cloth-bound and very solid. The ledger was handwritten in Italian. Each page cataloged a virtuoso work, including a short definition, date, perspective, cost of materials, and sometimes a rough report of the piece. Langdon fanned through the pages over eight hundred in all. Bernini had been a busy man.As a young student of art, Langdon had wondered how single artists could wee so much work in their lifetimes. Later he learned, much to his disappointment, that famous artists actually created very little of their own work. They ran studios where they trained young artists to carry out their designs. Sculptors like Bernini created miniatures in clay and hired others to distend them into marble. Langdon knew that if Bernini had been required to personally complete all of his commissions, he would still be working today.Index, he said aloud, trying to ward off the noetic cobwebs. He flipped to the back of the book, intending to look under the letter F for titles containing the word fuco fire but the Fs were not together. Langdon swore under his breath. What the hell do these people establish against alphabetizing?The entries had apparently been logged chronologically, one by one, as Bernini created each new work. Everything was listed by date. No help at all.As Langdon stared at the list, another disheartening thought occurred to him. The title of the sculpture he was looking for business leader not even contain the word Fire. The previous two whole kit and caboodle Habakkuk and the Angel and West Ponente had not contained specific references to Earth or Air.He spent a minute or two flipping randomly through the ledger in hopes that an illustration aptitude jump out at him. Nothing did. He saw dozens of obscure works he had never heard of, but he also saw clutch he recognized Daniel and the Lion, Apollo and Daphne, as well as a half dozen fountains. When he saw the fountains, his thoughts skipped momentarily ahead. Water. He wondered if the fourth altar of science was a fountain. A fountain seemed a perfect protection to water. Langdon hoped they could catch the killer before he had to consider Water Bernini had forge dozens of fountains in Rome, most of them in front of churches.Langdon turned back to the matter at hand. Fire. As he looked through the book, Vittorias lecture boost him. You were familiar with the first two sculptures you probably know this one too. As he turned to the index again, he scanned for titles he knew. Some were familiar, but none jumped out. Langdon now realized he would never complete his search before passing out, so he decided, against his better judgment, that he would take a crap to take the book outside the vault. Its only a ledger, he told himself. Its not like Im removing an original Galilean folio. Langdon recalled the folio in his breast release and reminded himself to return it before leaving.H urrying now, he reached down to lift the volume, but as he did, he saw something that gave him pause. Although there were numerous notations end-to-end the index, the one that had just caught his eye seemed odd.The note indicated that the famous Bernini sculpture, The Ecstasy of St. Teresa, curtly after its unveiling, had been moved from its original location inside the Vatican. This in itself was not what had caught Langdons eye. He was already familiar with the sculptures checkered past. Though some thought it a masterpiece, Pope Urban VIII had rejected The Ecstasy of St. Teresa as too sexually explicit for the Vatican. He had banished it to some obscure chapel service across town. What had caught Langdons eye was that the work had apparently been placed in one of the five churches on his list. What was more, the note indicated it had been moved there per suggerimento del artista.By tracing of the artist? Langdon was confused. It made no sense that Bernini had suggested his mas terpiece be unfathomed in some obscure location. All artists wanted their work displayed prominently, not in some remote Langdon hesitated. UnlessHe was noble even to hold dear the notion. Was it possible? Had Bernini intentionally created a work so explicit that it strained the Vatican to hide it in some out-of-the-way spot? A location perhaps that Bernini himself could suggest? Maybe a remote church on a direct line with West Ponentes breath?As Langdons zeal mounted, his vague familiarity with the statue intervened, insisting the work had nothing to do with fire. The sculpture, as anyone who had seen it could attest, was anything but scientific pornographic maybe, but certainly not scientific. An English critic had once condemned The Ecstasy of St. Teresa as the most unfit or give awaynt ever to be placed in a Christian Church. Langdon certainly understood the controversy. Though brilliantly rendered, the statue depicted St. Teresa on her back in the throes of a toe-curling orgasm. Hardly Vatican fare.Langdon hurriedly flipped to the ledgers description of the work. When he saw the sketch, he felt an instantaneous and unexpected tingle of hope. In the sketch, St. Teresa did indeed appear to be enjoying herself, but there was another figure in the statue who Langdon had forgotten was there.An angel.The unsportsmanlike legend suddenly came backSt. Teresa was a nun sainted after she claimed an angel had paid her a blissful visit in her sleep. Critics later decided her encounter had probably been more sexual than spiritual. Scrawled at the coffin nail of the ledger, Langdon saw a familiar excerpt. St. Teresas own lyric left little to the imagination his great golden spear filled with fire plunged into me some(prenominal) times penetrated to my entrails a sweetness so extreme that one could not possibly wish it to stop.Langdon smiled. If thats not a metaphor for some serious sex, I dont know what is. He was smiling also because of the ledgers descriptio n of the work. Although the paragraph was in Italian, the word fuco appeared a half dozen times angels spear tipped with point of fire angels head emanating rays of fire adult female inflamed by passions fireLangdon was not entirely convinced until he glanced up at the sketch again. The angels fiery spear was raised like a beacon, pointing the way. Let angels guide you on your lofty quest. Even the lawsuit of angel Bernini had selected seemed significant. Its a seraphim, Langdon realized. Seraphim literally means the fiery one.Robert Langdon was not a man who had ever looked for confirmation from above, but when he read the name of the church where the sculpture now resided, he decided he might become a believer after all.Santa Maria della Vittoria.Vittoria, he thought, grinning. Perfect. keel to his feet, Langdon felt a rush of dizziness. He glanced up the ladder, wondering if he should replace the book. The hell with it, he thought. Father Jaqui can do it. He closed the book and left it neatly at the bottom of the shelf.As he made his way toward the glowing button on the vaults electronic exit, he was breathing in shallow gasps. Nonetheless, he felt rejuvenated by his good fortune.His good fortune, however, ran out before he reached the exit.Without warning, the vault let out a pained sigh. The lights dimmed, and the exit button went dead. Then, like an ample expiring beast, the archival complex went totally black. Someone had just killed power.85The consecrated Vatican Grottoes are located beneath the main floor of St. Peters Basilica. They are the sepulchre place of deceased Popes.Vittoria reached the bottom of the spiral staircase and entered the grotto. The darkened delve reminded her of CERNs Large Hadron Collider black and cold. Lit now only by the flashlights of the Swiss Guards, the tunnel carried a distinctly incorporeal feel. On both sides, hollow niches lined the walls. Recessed in the alcoves, as far as the lights let them see, the hulking shadows of sarcophagi loomed.An iciness raked her flesh. Its the cold, she told herself, knowing that was only partially true. She had the sense they were being watched, not by anyone in the flesh, but by specters in the dark. On top of each tomb, in full papal vestments, lay life-size semblances of each Pope, shown in finish, arms folded across their chests. The prostrate bodies seemed to emerge from within the tombs, pressing upward against the marble lids as if trying to escape their deathlike restraints. The flashlight procession moved on, and the papal silhouettes rose and fell against the walls, stretching and vanishing in a macabre shadowbox dance.A silence had travel across the group, and Vittoria couldnt tell whether it was one of respect or apprehension. She sensed both. The camerlegno moved with his eyes closed, as if he knew every step by heart. Vittoria suspected he had made this eerie promenade many times since the Popes death perhaps to pray at his tomb for guida nce.I worked under the cardinals tutelage for many years, the camerlegno had said. He was like a father to me. Vittoria recalled the camerlegno speaking those words in reference to the cardinal who had saved him from the army. Now, however, Vittoria understood the rest of the story. That very cardinal who had taken the camerlegno under his wing had apparently later move to the papacy and brought with him his young protege to serve as chamberlain.That explains a lot, Vittoria thought. She had always possessed a well-tuned perception for others inner emotions, and something about the camerlegno had been nagging her all day. Since meeting him, she had sensed an anguish more soulful and private than the overwhelming crisis he now faced. Behind his pious calm, she saw a man anguish by personal demons. Now she knew her instincts had been correct. Not only was he facing the most devastating threat in Vatican history, but he was doing it without his learn and friend flying solo.The guard s slowed now, as if unsure where exactly in the darkness the most recent Pope was buried. The camerlegno continued assuredly and stopped before a marble tomb that seemed to glisten brighter than the others. Lying atop was a carved figure of the late Pope. When Vittoria recognized his face from television, a shot of fear gripped her. What are we doing?I realize we do not have much time, the camerlegno said. I still ask we take a moment of prayer.The Swiss Guard all bowed their heads where they were standing. Vittoria followed suit, her heart pounding in the silence. The camerlegno knelt before the tomb and prayed in Italian. As Vittoria listened to his words, an unexpected grief surfaced as tears tears for her own mentor her own holy father. The camerlegnos words seemed as appropriate for her father as they did for the Pope.Supreme father, counselor, friend. The camerlegnos voice echoed dully around the ring. You told me when I was young that the voice in my heart was that of God. Yo u told me I must follow it no matter what painful places it leads. I hear that voice now, asking of me impossible tasks. Give me strength. Bestow on me forgiveness. What I do I do in the name of everything you believe. Amen.Amen, the guards whispered.Amen, Father. Vittoria wiped her eyes.The camerlegno stood slowly and stepped away from the tomb. Push the covering aside.The Swiss Guards hesitated. Signore, one said, by law we are at your command. He paused. We will do as you sayThe camerlegno seemed to read the young mans mind. Someday I will ask your forgiveness for placing you in this position. Today I ask for your obedience. Vatican laws are established to protect this church. It is in that very spirit that I command you to break them now.There was a moment of silence and then the lead guard gave the order. The three men set down their flashlights on the floor, and their shadows leapt overhead. Lit now from beneath, the men forward-looking toward the tomb. Bracing their hands ag ainst the marble covering near the head of the tomb, they planted their feet and prepared to push. On signal, they all thrust, straining against the enormous slab. When the lid did not move at all, Vittoria found herself almost hoping it was too heavy. She was suddenly fearful of what they would find inside.The men pushed harder, and still the stone did not move.Ancora, the camerlegno said, rolling up the sleeves of his cassock and preparing to push along with them. Ora Everyone heaved.Vittoria was about to offer her own help, but just then, the lid began to slide. The men dug in again, and with an almost primal growl of stone on stone, the lid rotated off the top of the tomb and came to rest at an angle the Popes carved head now pushed back into the niche and his feet extended out into the hallway.Everyone stepped back.Tentatively, a guard bent and retrieved his flashlight. Then he aimed it into the tomb. The beam seemed to tremble a moment, and then the guard held it steady. The other guards gathered one by one. Even in the darkness Vittoria sensed them recoil. In succession, they crossed themselves.The camerlegno shuddered when he looked into the tomb, his shoulders dropping like weights. He stood a long moment before turning away.Vittoria had feared the corpses mouth might be clenched tight with rigor mortis and that she would have to suggest breaking the gravel to see the tongue. She now saw it would be unnecessary. The cheeks had collapsed, and the Popes mouth gaped wide.His tongue was black as death.