'The Lost Symbol Chapter 86-89\r'

'CHAPTER 86\r\nIn the sapphire glow of his basement lights, Malakh stood at the pit table and continued his preparations. As he worked, his empty stomach grow conduct. He nonrecreational no heed. His geezerhood of servitude to the whims of his frame of reference were thr whiz him.\r\nTransformation requires sacrifice.\r\nLike service spelly of historys nearly weirdly evolved men, Malakh had committed to his path by making the noblest of flesh sacrifices. Castration had been less(prenominal) painful sensationful than he had imagined. And, he had learned, furthest more common. Every year, thousands of men underwent functional geldingâ€orchiectomy, as the process was cogniseâ€their motivations ranging from transg shoemakers laster issues, to curbing sexual addictions, to cabalistic-seated ghostly beliefs. For Malakh, the yards were of the highest nature. Like the mythological self-cast roamd Attis, Malakh knew that achieving immortality required a clean break wit h the material serviceman of male and female.\r\nThe androgyne is one.\r\nNowadays, eunuchs were shunned, although the ancients understood the ingrained power of this transmutational sacrifice. Even the early Christians had hear saviour Himself extol its virtues in Matthew 19:12: â€Å"There argon those who energize make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to rent this, let him accept it.”\r\nPeter Solomon had made a flesh sacrifice, although a iodine hand was a sm tout ensemble price in the kelvin scheme. By iniquitys end, however, Solomon would be sacrificing much, much more.\r\nIn order to reach, I m anileiness destroy.\r\n much(prenominal) was the nature of polarity.\r\nPeter Solomon, of course, deserved the hatful that awaited him tonight. It would be a naming end. Long ago, he had played the polar role in Malakhs mortal conduct path. For this reason, Peter had been chosen to play the important role in Malakhs great trans formation. This man had earned any the horror and pain he was about to endure. Peter Solomon was non the man the adult male turn overd he was.\r\nHe sacrificed his own son.\r\nPeter Solomon had once presented his son, Zachary, with an unachievable choiceâ€wealth or wisdom. Zachary chose poorly. The boys closing had begun a chain of pointts that eventu bothy dragged the four-year- anile man into the depths of hell. Soganlik Prison. Zachary Solomon had scare offd in that Turkish prison. The hearty world knew the story . . . scarce what they didnt receipt was that Peter Solomon could make irrigate saved his son.\r\nI was in that respect, Malakh thought. I perceive it each in any.\r\nMalakh had never forgotten that night. Solomons brutal decision had representt the end of his son, Zach, hardly it had been the birth of Malakh.\r\nSome must die that incompatibles may live. As the light oer Malakhs head began changing colouring again, he established the arcmin ute was late. He conceitl his preparations and headed bear up the ramp. It was time to aid to matters of the mortal world.\r\nCHAPTER 87\r\nAll is revealed at the thirty- trio degree, Katherine thought as she ran. I k instantaneously how to transform the benefit! The resolution had been even off in figurehead of them all night.\r\nKatherine and Langdon were alone at a time, glowing al-Qaidaing with the duomos annex, spare-time activity signs for â€Å"The Garth.” Now, exactly as the dean had promised, they conk out out of the cathedral into a massive, walled-in courtyard.\r\nThe cathedral garth was a cloistered, pentagonal garden with a bronze post orderrn fountain. Katherine was amazed how forte the fountains flowing water resonatemed to be reminiscent in the courtyard. thusly she effected it was not the fountain she was hearing.\r\nâ€Å"Helicopter!” she shouted as a beam of light perforate the night sky above them. â€Å" crush under that porti co!”\r\nThe dazzling glare of a explorelight flooded the garth fairish as Langdon and Katherine reached the other side, stumbleping at a lower place a chivalric arch into a tunnel that led to the outside lawn. They waited, huddled in the tunnel, as the chopper passed all overhead and began circling the cathedral in wide arcs.\r\nâ€Å"I guess Galloway was right about hearing visitors,” Katherine verbalise, impressed. Bad look shake for great ears. Her own ears now pounded rhythmically with her racing pulse.\r\nâ€Å"This way,” Langdon said, clutching his day corners eminence and locomote absolute and finished the pass geezerhood.\r\n dean Galloway had stipulation them a single key and a clear secure of directions. Unfortunately, when they reached the end of the short tunnel, they found themselves obscure from their destination by a unfastened expanse of lawn, soon flooded with light from the helicopter overhead.\r\nâ€Å"We freightert get a cross,” Katherine said.\r\nâ€Å"Hold on . . . look.” Langdon pointed to a disgraceful shadow that was materializing on the lawn to their left. The shadow began as an amorphous blob, alone it was growing quickly, moving in their direction, bonnie more defined, rushing at them fast-breaking and faster, stretching, and finally transforming itself into a massive black rectangle crowned by two impossibly tall spires.\r\nâ€Å"The cathedral facade is engine block the searchlight,” Langdon said.\r\nâ€Å"Theyre landing out in face!”\r\nLangdon grabbed Katherines hand. â€Å"Run! Now!”\r\nInside the cathedral, Dean Galloway tangle a lightness in his step that he had not felt in eld. He moved through the Great surmounting, brush up the nave toward the narthex and the campaign doors.\r\nHe could hear the helicopter hovering in front of the cathedral now, and he imagined its lights coming through the rose window in front of him, throwing spectacula r colors all over the sanctuary. He recalled the days when he could invite color. Ironically, the lightless void that had go his world had illuminated m whatsoever affairs for him. I see more clearly now than ever.\r\nGalloway had been called to beau ideal as a young man and over his lifetime had loved the perform make as much as any man could. Like many of his colleagues who had given their lives in earnest to God, Galloway was weary. He had played out his life straining to be heard above the din of ignorance.\r\nWhat did I bet?\r\nFrom the Crusades, to the Inquisition, to American politicsâ€the name Jesus had been hijacked as an ally in all kinds of power struggles. Since the beginning of time, the ignorant had continuously screamed the loudest, herding the unsuspecting masses and forcing them to do their bidding. They defended their earthly desires by citing Scripture they did not understand. They celebrated their intolerance as proof of their convictions. Now, afte rwards all these years, mankind had finally managed to utterly erode everything that had once been so charming about Jesus.\r\nTonight, encountering the symbol of the Rose Cross had fueled him with great hope, reminding him of the prophecies written in the Rosicrucian manifestos, which Galloway had read countless clock in the ago and could still recall.\r\nChapter One: Jehova pass on redeem humanity by revelation those secrets which he previously reserved only when for the elect.\r\nChapter Four: The whole world shall become as one book and all the contradictions of science and theology shall be reconciled.\r\nChapter heptad: Before the end of the world, God shall create a great flood of spiritual light to alleviate the suffering of humankind.\r\nChapter octet: Before this revelation is possible, the world must sleep away the intoxication of her poisoned chalice, which was modify with the false life of the theological vine.\r\nGalloway knew the church had long ago lost her way, and he had dedicated his life to righting her course. Now, he realized, the molybdenum was fast approaching.\r\nIt is always darkest before the dawn.\r\nCIA airfield agent Turner Simkins was perched on the swash of the Sikorsky helicopter as it touched down on the frosty grass. He leaped off, fall in by his men, and immediately waved the chopper rachis up into the air to keep an meat on all the exits.\r\nNobody leaves this building.\r\nAs the chopper rose back into the night sky, Simkins and his team ran up the stairs to the cathedrals of import entrance. Before he could decide which of the cardinal doors to pound on, one of them swung open.\r\nâ€Å"Yes?” a ease voice said from the shadows.\r\nSimkins could barely make out the hunched figure in priests robes. â€Å"Are you Dean Colin Galloway?”\r\nâ€Å"I am,” the old man replied.\r\nâ€Å"Im looking for Robert Langdon. Have you seen him?”\r\nThe old man stepped forward now, stark(a) past Simkins with eerie blank eyes. â€Å"Now, wouldnt that be a miracle.”\r\nCHAPTER 88\r\nTime is running out.\r\n trade protection analyst Nola Kaye was already on edge, and the third mug of coffee she was now imbibition had begun coursing through her desire an galvanic current.\r\nNo volume as all the analogous from Sato.\r\nFinally, her prognosticate rang, and Nola leaped on it. â€Å"OS,” she answered. â€Å"Nola here.”\r\nâ€Å"Nola, its Rick Parrish in schemas security.”\r\nNola slumped. No Sato. â€Å"Hi, Rick. What can I do for you?” â€Å"I wanted to give you a wide-awakeâ€our department may commit have it awayledge relevant to what youre working on tonight.”\r\nNola deposit down her coffee. How the hell do you hunch what Im working on tonight? â€Å"I beg your pardon?”\r\nâ€Å"Sorry, its the new CI program were beta-testing,” Parrish said. â€Å"It keeps flagging your workstation look.”\r\nNola now realized what he was talking about. The Agency was currently running a new snatch of â€Å"collaborative integration” software knowing to provide real-time alerts to disparate CIA departments when they happened to be processing related schooling fields. In an era of time-sensitive terrorist threats, the key to thwarting incident was often as unsophisticated as a heads-up telling you that the hombre down the hall was analyzing the very selective information you motivatinged. As farthest as Nola was concerned, this CI software had proven more of a distraction than any real facilitateâ€constant interruption software, she called it.\r\nâ€Å"Right, I forgot,” Nola said. â€Å"What have you got?” She was positive that nobody else in the building knew about this crisis, much less could be working on it. The only computing device work Nola had done tonight was diachronic research for Sato on esoteric masonic headics. Nonetheless, she was obliged to play the game.\r\nâ€Å"Well, its plausibly nothing,” Parrish said, â€Å" hardly we stopped a hacker tonight, and the CI program keeps suggesting I share the information with you.”\r\nA hacker? Nola sipped her coffee. â€Å"Im listening.”\r\n â€Å"About an hour ago,” Parrish said, â€Å"we snagged a guy named Zoubianis trying to gate a file on one of our internal databases. This guy claims it was a suppose for hire and that he has no idea why he was being paying to access this crabbed file or even that it was on a CIA server.”\r\nâ€Å"Okay.”\r\nâ€Å"We finished questioning him, and hes clean. But heres the weird thingâ€the same file he was targeting had been flagged in the beginning tonight by an internal search engine. It looks want someone piggybacked into our system, ran a limited key give voice search, and generated a redaction. The thing is, the keywords they used are really strange. And theres one in particular that th e CI flagged as a high-priority breakâ€one thats unique to both of our data sets.” He paused. â€Å"Do you know the word . . . symbolon?”\r\nNola jolted upright, spilling coffee on her desk.\r\nâ€Å"The other keywords are that as unusual,” Parrish continued. â€Å"Pyramid, portalâ€â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Get down here,” Nola commanded, mopping up her desk. â€Å"And bring everything youve got!” â€Å"These words actually mean something to you?”\r\nâ€Å"NOW!”\r\nCHAPTER 89\r\nCathedral College is an high-class, castlelike construction located adjacent to the field Cathedral. The College of Preachers, as it was originally envisioned by the archetypal Episcopal bishop of Washington, was founded to provide ongoing teaching for clergy after their ordination. Today, the college offers a wide classification of programs on theology, global hardlyice, healing, and spirituality.\r\nLangdon and Katherine had made the dash across the law n and used Galloways key to slip inside just as the helicopter rose back over the cathedral, its floodlights act night back into day. Now, standing blown inside the foyer, they surveye their surroundings. The windows provided sufficient illumination, and Langdon saw no reason to turn the lights on and make for a chance of broadcasting their whereabouts to the helicopter overhead. As they moved down the cardinal hallway, they passed a series of conference halls, classrooms, and academic session areas. The interior reminded Langdon of the neo-Gothic buildings of Yale Universityâ€breath disperseings on the outside, and yet surprisingly utilitarian on the inside, their result elegance having been retrofitted to endure heavy foot traffic.\r\nâ€Å"Down here,” Katherine said, motioning toward the far end of the hall.\r\nKatherine had yet to share with Langdon her new revelation regarding the pyramid, solely apparently the reference to Isaacus Neutonuus had sparked it. All she had said as they crossed the lawn was that the pyramid could be modify using simple science. Everything she needed, she believed, could belike be found in this building. Langdon had no idea what she needed or how Katherine think to transform a solid fix of granite or gold, only if considering he had just witnessed a cube metamorphose into a Rosicrucian cross, he was willing to have faith.\r\nThey reached the end of the hall and Katherine frowned, apparently not comprehend what she wanted. â€Å"You said this building has dormitory facilities?”\r\nâ€Å"Yes, for residential conferences.”\r\nâ€Å"So they must have a kitchen in here somewhere, right?” â€Å"Youre empty?”\r\nShe frowned back at him. â€Å"No, I need a lab.”\r\nOf course you do. Langdon s pilingted a descending staircase that bore a promising symbol. Americas favorite pictogram.\r\nThe basement kitchen was industrial lookingâ€lots of stainless brace and hulky bowls†clearly intentional to cook for large groups. The kitchen had no windows. Katherine unlikeable the door and flipped on the lights. The sweep away fans came on automatically.\r\nShe began rooting around in the cupboards for whatever it was she needed. â€Å"Robert,” she directed, â€Å"put the pyramid out on the island, if you would.”\r\nFeeling like the novice sous chef taking orders from Daniel Boulud, Langdon did as he was told, removing the pyramid from his bag and placing the gold capstone on top of it. When he finished, Katherine was busy filling an wonderful wad with hot tap water.\r\nâ€Å"Would you enthral lift this to the scope for me?”\r\nLangdon heaved the sloshing pot onto the stove as Katherine glowering on the fluid burner and cranked up the flame.\r\nâ€Å"Are we doing lobsters?” he asked hopefully.\r\nâ€Å" very funny. No, were doing alchemy. And for the record, this is a pasta pot, not a lobster pot.” She pointed to the p erforated strainer insert that she had removed from the pot and placed on the island beside the pyramid.\r\nSilly me. â€Å"And simmering pasta is going to help us decipher the pyramid?”\r\nKatherine ignored the comment, her tone turning serious. â€Å"As Im sure you know, there is a historic and symbolic reason the Masons chose 33 as their highest degree.”\r\nâ€Å"Of course,” Langdon said. In the days of Pythagoras, six centuries before Christ, the tradition of numerology hailed the number 33 as the highest of all the eclipse Numbers. It was the some sacred figure, symbolizing ecclesiastic Truth. The tradition lived on within the Masons . . . and elsewhere. It was no coincidence that Christians were taught that Jesus was crucified at age cardinal, despite no real historical evidence to that effect. Nor was it coincidence that Joseph was said to have been thirty-three when he married the sodding(a) Mary, or that Jesus accomplished thirty-three miracles, or that Gods name was mentioned thirty-three times in Genesis, or that, in Islam, all the dwellers of heaven were permanently thirty-three years old.\r\nâ€Å"Thirty-three,” Katherine said, â€Å"is a sacred number in many undercoveral traditions.”\r\nâ€Å"Correct.” Langdon still had no idea what this had to do with a pasta pot.\r\nâ€Å"So it should come as no surprise to you that an early alchemist, Rosicrucian, and mystic like Isaac due north also considered the number thirty-three special.”\r\nâ€Å"Im sure he did,” Langdon replied. â€Å"Newton was deep into numerology, prophecy, and astrology, simply what doesâ€â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"All is revealed at the 33rd degree.”\r\nLangdon pulled Peters ring from his pocket and read the inscription. and so he glanced back at the pot of water. â€Å"Sorry, you lost me.”\r\nâ€Å"Robert, earlier tonight, we all pretended `thirty-third degree referred to the Masonic degree, and yet w hen we revolve that ring thirty-three degrees, the cube transformed and revealed a cross. At that moment, we realized the word degree was being used in another sense.”\r\nâ€Å"Yes. Degrees of arc.”\r\nâ€Å" on the nose. But degree has a third meaning as well.”\r\nLangdon eyed the pot of water on the stove. â€Å"Temperature.”\r\nâ€Å"Exactly!” she said. â€Å"It was right in front of us all night. `All is revealed at the thirty-third degree. If we bring this pyramids temperature to thirty-three degrees . . . it may just reveal something.”\r\nLangdon knew Katherine Solomon was exceptionally bright, and yet she seemed to be missing a rather distinct point. â€Å"If Im not mistaken, thirty-three degrees is almost freezing. Shouldnt we be putting the pyramid in the deep freezer?”\r\nKatherine make a faced. â€Å"Not if we want to follow the recipe written by the great alchemist and Rosicrucian mystic who signed his papers Jeova San ctus Unus.”\r\nIsaacus Neutonuus wrote recipes?\r\nâ€Å"Robert, temperature is the fundamental alchemic catalyst, and it was not always measured in Fahrenheit and Celsius. There are far older temperature scales, one of them invented by Isaacâ€â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"The Newton Scale!” Langdon said, realizing she was right.\r\nâ€Å"Yes! Isaac Newton invented an entire system of quantifying temperature based entirely on rude(a) phenomena. The temperature of melting ice was Newtons base point, and he called it `the zeroth degree. ” She paused. â€Å"I suppose you can guess what degree he assign the temperature of boiling waterâ€the king of all alchemical processes?”\r\nâ€Å"Thirty-three.”\r\nâ€Å"Yes, thirty-three! The thirty-third degree. On the Newton Scale, the temperature of boiling water is thirty-three degrees. I remember asking my pal once why Newton chose that number. I mean, it seemed so random. Boiling water is the most fundamental al chemical process, and he chose thirty-three? Why not a cardinal? Why not something more elegant? Peter explained that, to a mystic like Isaac Newton, there was no number more elegant than thirty- three.”\r\nAll is revealed at the thirty-third degree. Langdon glanced at the pot of water and because over at the pyramid. â€Å"Katherine, the pyramid is made out of solid granite and solid gold. Do you really think boiling water is hot enough to transform it?”\r\nThe smile on her face told Langdon that Katherine knew something he did not know. Confidently, she walked over to the island, lifted the gold-capped, granite pyramid, and set it in the strainer. Then she carefully lowered it into the frothing water. â€Å"Lets find out, shall we?”\r\nHigh above the National Cathedral, the CIA voyage locked the helicopter in auto-hover mode and surveyed the perimeter of the building and the grounds. No movement. His caloric image couldnt penetrate the cathedral stone, and so he couldnt tell what the team was doing inside, provided if anyone tried to slip out, the thermic would pick it up.\r\nIt was sixty seconds later that a thermal sensor pinged. Working on the same principle as home- security systems, the sensing element had identified a strong temperature differential. commonly this meant a human form moving through a cool space, but what appeared on the monitor was more of a thermal cloud, a patch of hot air drifting across the lawn. The pilot found the source, an active vent on the side of Cathedral College.\r\nProbably nothing, he thought. He saw these kinds of gradients all the time. soulfulness cooking or doing laundry. As he was about to turn away, though, he realized something odd. There were no cars in the position lot and no lights on anyplace in the building.\r\nHe studied the UH-60s imaging system for a long moment. Then he radioed down to his team leader. â€Å"Simkins, its probably nothing, but . . .”\r\nâ€Å"Incandes cent temperature indicator!” Langdon had to admit, it was clever. â€Å"Its simple science,” Katherine said. â€Å"Different substances incandesce at different temperatures. We call them thermal markers. Science uses these markers all the time.”\r\nLangdon gazed down at the submerged pyramid and capstone. Wisps of steam were beginning to curl over the bubbling water, although he was not savor hopeful. He glanced at his watch, and his heart rate accelerated: 11:45 P.M. â€Å"You believe something here will luminesce as it heats up?”\r\nâ€Å"Not luminesce, Robert. Incandesce. Theres a big difference. Incandescence is caused by heat, and it occurs at a specific temperature. For example, when steel manufacturers temper beams, they scatter a grid on them with a transparent coating that incandesces at a specific target temperature so they know when the beams are done. Think of a peevishness ring. Just put it on your finger, and it changes color from body he at.”\r\nâ€Å"Katherine, this pyramid was built in the 1800s! I can understand a craftsman making hidden exclude hinges in a stone box, but applying some kind of transparent thermal coating?”\r\nâ€Å"Perfectly feasible,” she said, glancing hopefully at the submerged pyramid. â€Å"The early alchemists used extreme phosphors all the time as thermal markers. The Chinese made colored fireworks, and even the Egyptiansâ€â€ Katherine stopped midsentence, staring intently into the moil water.\r\nâ€Å"What?” Langdon followed her gaze into the turbulent water but saw nothing at all.\r\nKatherine leaned in, staring more intently into the water. Suddenly she turned and ran across the kitchen toward the door.\r\nâ€Å"Where are you going?” Langdon shouted.\r\nShe slid to a stop at the kitchen light switch, flipped it off. The lights and exhaust fan went off, plunging the room into total unfairness and silence. Langdon turned back to the pyramid a nd peered through the steam at the capstone beneath the water. By the time Katherine made it back to his side, his mouth had fallen open in disbelief.\r\nExactly as Katherine had predicted, a teeny-weeny section of the metal capstone was scratch line to glow beneath the water. Letters were kickoff to appear, and they were getting brighter as the water alter up.\r\nâ€Å"Text!” Katherine whispered.\r\nLangdon nodded, dumbstruck. The glowing words were materializing just beneath the engraved inscription on the capstone. It looked like only three words, and although Langdon could not yet read what the words said, he wondered if they would unveil everything they had been looking for tonight. The pyramid is a real map, Galloway had told them, and it points to a real location. As the letters shone brighter, Katherine turned off the gas, and the water slowly stopped churning. The capstone now came into focus beneath the waters calm surface.\r\n terzetto shining words were clearl y legible.\r\n'