Angels Demons Chapter 13-15

13Langdon stared in bewilderment at the analyse sooner him. What is this place? disdain the welcome blast of warm air on his face, he stepped through the door with trepidation.Kohler said nothing as he followed Langdon inside.Langdon scanned the room, not having the slightest idea what to incur of it. It contained the most peculiar mix of artifacts he had ever seen. On the far wall, dominating the decor, was an enormous wooden crucifix, which Langdon placed as quadrupletteenth-century Spanish. Above the cruciform, suspended from the ceiling, was a metallic mobile of the orbiting planets. To the left(a) was an oil painting of the Virgin Mary, and beside that was a laminated periodic table of elements. On the side wall, two additional brass cruciforms flanked a poster of Albert Einstein, his famous quote readingGod Does Not Play Dice With the UniverseLangdon moved into the room, looking around in astonishment. A leather-bound rule book sat on Vetras desk beside a plastic Bohr mo del of an atom and a miniature replica of Michelangelos Moses.Talk almost eclectic, Langdon thought. The warmth tangle good, tho something about the decor sent a new set of chills through his body. He felt like he was witnessing the clash of two philosophical titans an unsettling blur of debate forces. He scanned the titles on the bookshelfThe God instalmentThe Tao of PhysicsGod The EvidenceOne of the bookends was etched with a quoteTrue science discovers God postponement behind every door.Pope Pius XIIda Vinci was a Catholic priest, Kohler said.Langdon turned. A priest? I thought you said he was a physicist.He was both. Men of science and religion are not unprecedented in history. Leonardo was one of them. He considered physics Gods natural law. He claimed Gods occurwriting was patent in the natural order all around us. Through science he hoped to prove Gods existence to the doubting masses. He considered himself a theo-physicist.Theo-physicist? Langdon thought it sounded i mpossibly oxymoronic.The field of particle physics, Kohler said, has made some shocking discoveries lately discoveries quite spiritual in implication. Leonardo was obligated for many of them.Langdon studied CERNs director, electrostatic exhausting to process the bizarre surroundings. Spirituality and physics? Langdon had spent his career studying religious history, and if thither was one recurring theme, it was that science and religion had been oil and water system since day one archenemies unmixable.Vetra was on the cutting edge of particle physics, Kohler said. He was starting to fuse science and religion showing that they complement each other in most unanticipated ways. He called the field New Physics. Kohler pulled a book from the shelf and handed it to Langdon.Langdon studied the cover. God, Miracles, and the New Physics by Leonardo Vetra.The field is small, Kohler said, but its bringing fresh answers to some old questions questions about the origin of the universe and the forces that bind us all. Leonardo believed his research had the potential to qualify millions to a much spiritual action. Last year he categorically proved the existence of an energy force that unites us all. He actually present that we are all physically connected that the molecules in your body are intertwined with the molecules in mine that there is a single force moving inwardly all of us.Langdon felt disconcerted. And the power of God shall unite us all. Mr. Vetra actually free-base a way to demonstrate that particles are connected?Conclusive evidence. A recent Scientific American article hailed New Physics as a surer path to God than religion itself.The comment hit home. Langdon suddenly found himself thinking of the antireligious Illuminati. Reluctantly, he forced himself to permit a momentary intellectual foray into the impossible. If the Illuminati were indeed still active, would they tolerate killed Leonardo to stop him from bringing his religious message to th e masses? Langdon shook off the thought. Absurd The Illuminati are ancient history All academics know thatVetra had plenty of enemies in the scientific world, Kohler went on. Many scientific purists despised him. Even here at CERN. They felt that using analytical physics to support religious principles was a treason against science. further arent scientists today a bit less defensive about the church?Kohler grunted in disgust. Why should we be? The church may not be burning scientists at the risk anymore, but if you think theyve released their reign over science, ask yourself why half the schools in your country are not allowed to teach evolution. Ask yourself why the U.S. Christian Coalition is the most influential lobby against scientific progress in the world. The battle between science and religion is still raging, Mr. Langdon. It has moved from the battlefields to the boardrooms, but it is still raging.Langdon realized Kohler was right. Just last week the Harvard School of Div inity had marched on the Biology Building, protesting the genetic engineering taking place in the graduate program. The chairman of the Bio Department, famed ornithologist Richard Aaronian, defended his curriculum by hanging a huge banner from his office window. The banner depicted the Christian fish modified with four little feet a tribute, Aaronian claimed, to the African lungfishes evolution onto dry land. Beneath the fish, instead of the word Jesus, was the proclamation DarwinA sharp beeping sound cut the air, and Langdon looked up. Kohler reached down into the straddle of electronics on his wheelchair. He slipped a beeper out of its holder and read the incoming message.Good. That is Leonardos daughter. Ms. Vetra is arriving at the helipad right now. We will meet her there. I think it beat she not come up here and see her father this way.Langdon agreed. It would be a shock no child deserved.I will ask Ms. Vetra to rationalize the project she and her father have been working on perhaps shedding light on why he was murdered.You think Vetras work is why he was killed?Quite possibly. Leonardo told me he was working on something groundbreaking. That is all he said. He had become very secretive about the project. He had a closed-door lab and demanded seclusion, which I gladly afforded him on account of his brilliance. His work had been consuming huge amounts of electric power lately, but I refrained from questioning him. Kohler rotated toward the study door. There is, however, one more thing you need to know before we leave this flat.Langdon was not sure he wanted to hear it.An item was stolen from Vetra by his murderer.An item?Follow me.The director propelled his wheelchair back into the fog-filled living room. Langdon followed, not knowing what to expect. Kohler maneuvered to within inches of Vetras body and stopped. He ushered Langdon to join him. Reluctantly, Langdon came close, bile rising in his throat at the smell of the victims frozen urine.Look at his face, Kohler said.Look at his face? Langdon frowned. I thought you said something was stolen.Hesitantly, Langdon knelt down. He tried to see Vetras face, but the head was twisted 180 degrees backward, his face pressed into the carpet.Struggling against his handicap Kohler reached down and carefully twisted Vetras frozen head. Cracking loudly, the corpses face rotated into view, wring in agony. Kohler held it there a moment.Sweet Jesus Langdon cried, stumbling back in horror. Vetras face was covered in blood. A single hazel eye stared deadly back at him. The other socket was tattered and empty. They stole his eye?14Langdon stepped out of Building C into the open air, grateful to be outside Vetras flat. The temperateness helped dissolve the image of the empty eye socket emblazoned into his mind.This way, please, Kohler said, veering up a steep path. The electric wheelchair seemed to accelerate effortlessly. Ms. Vetra will be arriving any moment.Langdon hurried to handgrip up.S o, Kohler asked. Do you still doubt the Illuminatis involvement?Langdon had no idea what to think anymore. Vetras religious affiliations were definitely troubling, and yet Langdon could not bring himself to abandon every element of academic evidence he had ever researched. Besides, there was the eyeI still maintain, Langdon said, more forcefully than he intended. that the Illuminati are not responsible for this murder. The deficient eye is proof.What?Random mutilation, Langdon explained, is very un Illuminati. Cult specialists see desultory defacement from inexperienced fringe sects zealots who commit random acts of terrorism but the Illuminati have eternally been more deliberate.Deliberate? Surgically removing someones eyeball is not deliberate?It sends no clear message. It serves no higher purpose.Kohlers wheelchair stopped short at the top of the hill. He turned. Mr. Langdon, believe me, that missing eye does indeed serve a higher purpose a much higher purpose.As the two me n get across the grassy rise, the beating of helicopter blades became audible to the west. A chopper appeared, arching across the open valley toward them. It banked sharply, then slowed to a hover over a helipad painted on the grass.Langdon watched, detached, his mind churning circles like the blades, wondering if a full nights sleep would make his current disorientation any clearer. Somehow, he doubted it.As the skids touched down, a pilot jumped out and started unloading flip. There was a lot of it duffels, vinyl wet bags, scuba tanks, and crates of what appeared to be high-tech diving equipment.Langdon was confused. Is that Ms. Vetras gear? he yelled to Kohler over the roar of the engines.Kohler nodded and yelled back, She was doing biological research in the Balearic Sea.I thought you said she was a physicistShe is. Shes a Bio Entanglement Physicist. She studies the interconnectivity of life systems. Her work ties closely with her fathers work in particle physics. Recently sh e disproved one of Einsteins fundamental theories by using atomically synchronized cameras to observe a school of tuna fish fish.Langdon searched his hosts face for any glint of humor. Einstein and tuna fish? He was starting to wonder if the X-33 space plane had mistakenly dropped him off on the unlawful planet.A moment later, Vittoria Vetra emerged from the fuselage. Robert Langdon realized today was going to be a day of endless surprises. Descending from the chopper in her khaki shorts and exsanguine sleeveless top, Vittoria Vetra looked nothing like the bookish physicist he had expected. Lithe and graceful, she was tall with chestnut skin and long black hair that swirled in the backwind of the rotors. Her face was unco Italian not overly beautiful, but possessing full, earthy features that even at twenty yards seemed to exude a raw sensuality. As the air currents buffeted her body, her garment clung, accentuating her slender torso and small breasts.Ms. Vetra is a woman of t remendous personal strength, Kohler said, seeming to sand Langdons captivation. She spends months at a time working in heartbreaking ecological systems. She is a strict vegetarian and CERNs resident guru of Hatha yoga.Hatha yoga? Langdon mused. The ancient Buddhist art of meditative stretching seemed an odd proficiency for the physicist daughter of a Catholic priest.Langdon watched Vittoria approach. She had plainly been crying, her deep sable eyes filled with emotions Langdon could not place. Still, she moved toward them with fire and command. Her limbs were strong and toned, radiating the healthy luminescence of Mediterranean flesh that had enjoyed long hours in the sun.Vittoria, Kohler said as she approached. My deepest condolences. Its a terrible loss for science for all of us here at CERN.Vittoria nodded gratefully. When she spoke, her voice was smooth a throaty, accented English. Do you know who is responsible yet?Were still working on it.She turned to Langdon, holding out a slender hand. My name is Vittoria Vetra. Youre from Interpol, I assume?Langdon took her hand, momentarily spellbound by the depth of her watery gaze. Robert Langdon. He was unsure what else to say.Mr. Langdon is not with the authorities, Kohler explained. He is a specialist from the U.S. Hes here to help us locate who is responsible for this situation.Vittoria looked uncertain. And the police?Kohler exhaled but said nothing.Where is his body? she demanded.Being attended to.The white lie surprised Langdon.I want to see him, Vittoria said.Vittoria, Kohler urged, your father was brutally murdered. You would be better to remember him as he was.Vittoria began to speak but was interrupted.Hey, Vittoria voices called from the distance. Welcome homeShe turned. A group of scientists passing near the helipad waved happily.Disprove any more of Einsteins theories? one shouted.Another added, Your dad must be proudVittoria gave the men an awkward wave as they passed. Then she turned to Kohler, her face now sunless with confusion. Nobody knows yet?I decided discretion was paramount.You havent told the staff my father was murdered? Her mystified tone was now laced with anger.Kohlers tone hardened instantly. perhaps you forget, Ms. Vetra, as soon as I report your fathers murder, there will be an investigation of CERN. Including a thorough examination of his lab. I have eternally tried to respect your fathers privacy. Your father has told me only two things about your current project. One, that it has the potential to bring CERN millions of francs in licensing contracts in the next decade. And two, that it is not ready for unexclusive disclosure because it is still hazardous technology. Considering these two facts, I would prefer strangers not poke around inside his lab and either steal his work or kill themselves in the process and hold CERN liable. Do I make myself clear?Vittoria stared, saying nothing. Langdon sensed in her a reluctant respect and credenza of Kohlers logic.Before we report anything to the authorities, Kohler said, I need to know what you two were working on. I need you to take us to your lab.The lab is irrelevant, Vittoria said. Nobody knew what my father and I were doing. The experiment could not possibly have anything to do with my fathers murder.Kohler exhaled a raspy, ailing breath. Evidence suggests otherwise.Evidence? What evidence?Langdon was wondering the same thing.Kohler was dabbing his mouth again. Youll just have to trust me.It was clear, from Vittorias smoldering gaze, that she did not.15Langdon strode silently behind Vittoria and Kohler as they moved back into the main atrium where Langdons bizarre visit had begun. Vittorias legs drove in fluid skill like an Olympic diver a potency, Langdon figured, no doubt born from the flexibility and control of yoga. He could hear her breathing slowly and deliberately, as if someways trying to filter her grief.Langdon wanted to say something to her, offer his sympathy. He t oo had once felt the abrupt hollowness of unexpectedly losing a parent. He remembered the funeral mostly, wet and gray. Two days after his twelfth birthday. The house was filled with gray-suited men from the office, men who squeezed his hand too hard when they shook it. They were all mumbling lecture like cardiac and stress. His mother joked through teary eyes that shed always been able to follow the stock market simply by holding her husbands hand his pulse her own private ticker tape.Once, when his father was alive, Langdon had heard his mom begging his father to stop and smell the rose wines. That year, Langdon bought his father a tiny blown-glass rose for Christmas. It was the most beautiful thing Langdon had ever seen the way the sun caught it, throwing a rainbow of colors on the wall. Its lovely, his father had said when he opened it, kissing Robert on the forehead. Lets discern a safe spot for it. Then his father had carefully placed the rose on a high dusty shelf in the darkest corner of the living room. A few days later, Langdon got a stool, retrieved the rose, and took it back to the store. His father never noticed it was gone.The ping of an rhytidectomy pulled Langdon back to the present. Vittoria and Kohler were in see of him, boarding the lift. Langdon hesitated outside the open doors.Is something wrong? Kohler asked, sounding more impatient than concerned.Not at all, Langdon said, forcing himself toward the cramped carriage. He only used elevators when absolutely necessary. He preferred the more open spaces of stairwells.Dr. Vetras lab is subterranean, Kohler said.Wonderful, Langdon thought as he stepped across the cleft, feeling an icy wind churn up from the depths of the shaft. The doors closed, and the car began to descend. half-dozen stories, Kohler said blankly, like an analytical engine.Langdon pictured the darkness of the empty shaft below them. He tried to block it out by staring at the numbered display of changing floors. Oddly, th e elevator showed only two stops. Ground Level and LHC.Whats LHC stand for? Langdon asked, trying not to sound nervous.Large Hadron Collider, Kohler said. A particle catalyst.Particle accelerator? Langdon was vaguely familiar with the term. He had first heard it over dinner with some colleagues at Dunster House in Cambridge. A physicist friend of theirs, chase Brownell, had arrived for dinner one night in a rage.The bastards canceled it Brownell cursed.Canceled what? they all asked.The SSCThe what?The Superconducting Super ColliderSomeone shrugged. I didnt know Harvard was building one.Not Harvard he exclaimed. The U.S. It was going to be the worlds most powerful particle accelerator One of the most important scientific projects of the century Two billion dollars into it and the Senate sacks the project satanic Bible-Belt lobbyistsWhen Brownell finally calmed down, he explained that a particle accelerator was a large, circular tube through which subatomic particles were accelerat ed. Magnets in the tube turned on and off in speedy succession to push particles around and around until they reached tremendous velocities. Fully accelerated particles circled the tube at over 180,000 miles per second.But thats almost the speed of light, one of the professors exclaimed.Damn right, Brownell said. He went on to say that by accelerating two particles in opposite directions around the tube and then colliding them, scientists could shatter the particles into their constituent parts and get a glimpse of natures most fundamental components. Particle accelerators, Brownell declared, are critical to the future of science. Colliding particles is the key to understanding the building blocks of the universe.Harvards Poet in Residence, a quiet man named Charles Pratt, did not look impressed. It sounds to me, he said, like a rather Neanderthal approach to science akin to smashing clocks together to discern their internal workings.Brownell dropped his come apart and stormed out of the room.So CERN has a particle accelerator? Langdon thought, as the elevator dropped. A circular tube for smashing particles. He wondered why they had buried it underground.When the elevator thumped to a stop, Langdon was relieved to feel terra firma beneath his feet. But when the doors slid open, his relief evaporated. Robert Langdon found himself standing once again in a totally alien world.The enactment stretched out indefinitely in both directions, left and right. It was a smooth cement tunnel, wide enough to allow passage of an eighteen wheeler. Brightly lit where they stood, the corridor turned pitch black farther down. A damp wind rustled out of the darkness an unsettling reminder that they were now deep in the earth. Langdon could almost sense the weight of the dirt and stone now hanging above his head. For an instant he was nine years old the darkness forcing him back back to the vanadium hours of crushing blackness that haunted him still. Clenching his fists, he fou ght it off.Vittoria remained hushed as she exited the elevator and strode off without hesitation into the darkness without them. Overhead the flourescents flickered on to light her path. The effect was unsettling, Langdon thought, as if the tunnel were alive anticipating her every move. Langdon and Kohler followed, trailing a distance behind. The lights extinguished automatically behind them.This particle accelerator, Langdon said quietly. Its down this tunnel someplace?Thats it there. Kohler motioned to his left where a polished, chrome tube ran along the tunnels inner wall.Langdon eyed the tube, confused. Thats the accelerator? The device looked nothing like he had imagined. It was perfectly straight, about three feet in diameter, and extended horizontally the visible length of the tunnel before disappearing into the darkness. Looks more like a high-tech sewer, Langdon thought. I thought particle accelerators were circular.This accelerator is a circle, Kohler said. It appears stra ight, but that is an optical illusion. The circumference of this tunnel is so large that the curve is imperceptible like that of the earth.Langdon was flabbergasted. This is a circle? But it must be enormousThe LHC is the largest machine in the world.Langdon did a double take. He remembered the CERN driver saying something about a huge machine buried in the earth. But It is over eight kilometers in diameter and twenty-seven kilometers long.Langdons head whipped around. Twenty-seven kilometers? He stared at the director and then turned and looked into the darkened tunnel before him. This tunnel is twenty-seven kilometers long? Thats thats over sixteen milesKohler nodded. Bored in a perfect circle. It extends all the way into France before curving back here to this spot. Fully accelerated particles will circle the tube more than ten thousand times in a single second before they collide.Langdons legs felt rubbery as he stared down the gaping tunnel. Youre telling me that CERN dug out millions of tons of earth just to smash tiny particles?Kohler shrugged. Sometimes to find truth, one must move mountains.