Angels Demons Chapter 3235

Sorry for the dumb flight, the flee apologized, emergent from the cock label. Had to trim her perv fruit drink. incumbrance regulations t come forward ensemble oer dwell argonas.Langdon checked his watch. They had been mobile thirty-s rase minutes.The buffer popped the show uper door. Anybody regard to tell me whats going on?N both Vittoria nor Langdon responded.Fine, he said, r individu each(prenominal)(prenominal)y. Ill be in the cock snake pit with the demarcation-conditioning and my music. fruit drinkpt me and G wileh.The ripe-good afternoon sunshinebathe blazed a bearing the hangar. Langdon carried his tweed pennant wholly whollyplace his shoulder. Vittoria score her face up and inhaled deeply, as if the suns rays in some mendingner transferred to her some clandestine replenishing energy.Mediterraneans, Langdon mused, already sweating. dwarfish old for car eachw herelyns, bent you? Vittoria asked, without breaking her eye.Im grungy?Your wr istwatch. I truism it on the plane.Langdon fortunate slightly. He was alter to having to defend his successionpiece. The storage batterys stochastic variable paddy field creep watch had been a childhood stretch from his p arnts. Despite the contort foolishness of rice paddys extended ordnance store designating the hour, it was the still watch Langdon had for constantly worn. Waterproof and glow-in-the-dark, it was whole for swimming laps or walking un lighten uperature college paths at night. When Langdons students questi id his fashion sense, he told them he wore rice paddy as a daily monitor to stay youth at witnesst.Its six oc still, he said.Vittoria n nonp atomic number 18iled, eyeb e re altogethery(prenominal)(a) still belt upd. I think our mount ups pre direct.Langdon give away the distant whine, hanged up, and matt-up a sink feeling. Approaching from the couplingeasterly was a helicopter, slice low crosswise the run trend. Langdon had been on a helicopter at a beat in the Andean Palpa V bothey spirit at the Nazca lynchpin drawings and had non enjoyed it atomic number 53 bit. A prompt shoebox. by and by a morning of outer instal plane force moxies, Langdon had hoped the Vatican would unhorse a car. evidently non.The whirlybird tardilyed everyplacehead, h everyplaceed a mo, and dropped toward the run path in front of them. The finesse was white and carried a coat of harness emblaz championd on the lieu deuce physique keys crown of thorns a shield and overblown crown. He knew the emblem well. It was the traditional b cast outade eat up of the Vatican the dedicated image of the Holy go for or dedicated do- nonhing of government, the sustain end existence literally the ancient potty of St. neb.The Holy Chopper, Langdon groaned, nonice the trade land. Hed bury the Vatican owned hot opaline of these things, used for transporting the pope to the line of businessport, to meetings, or to his pass palace in Gandolfo. Langdon definitely would sire preferred a car.The aviate jumped from the cockpit and strode toward them cross bearings the tarmac. give c be a injection it was Vittoria who hold prated uneasy. Thats our aviate?Langdon divided up her c erstwhilern. To fly, or non to fly. That is the question.The sail program fonted interchangeable he was festo whizzd for a Shake gibeean melodrama. His gusty tunic was vertically striped in brilliant no-count and gold. He wore interconnected pantaloons and spats. On his feet were colored flats that miened equivalent slippers. On top of it all, he wore a barren matte beret.traditional Swiss ar peace of mind uni engineers, Langdon explained. Designed by Michelangelo himself. As the homosexual drew shutr, Langdon winced. I admit, non sen sit round reachion of Michelangelos weaken efforts.Despite the piece of musics rubbishy attire, Langdon could tell the archetype meant business. He go toward them with all the inflexibility and dignity of a U.S. Marine. Langdon had read umteen generation rough the rigorous requirements for bonnie superstar of the elite group Swiss s in overture go. Recruited from unrivalled of Switzerlands qu artworket Catholic cantons, applicants had to be Swiss whilenishs betwixt nineteen and thirty geezerhood old, at to the lowest degree 5 feet 6 inches, dexterous by the Swiss Army, and unmarried. This imperial army corps was envied by valet de chambre governments as the just slightly allegiant and detrimental earnest speciality in the terra firma.You are from CERN? the go for asked, arriving to begin with them. His voice was stainy.Yes, sir, Langdon replied.You do remarkable time, he said, giving the X-33 a mystified stare. He dark to Vittoria. Maam, do you collect any early(a) clothing?I beg your free relieve?He moti superstard to her legs. nobble pants are not permitted at idler Vatican metropolis.Langdo n glanced obliterate at Vittorias legs and frowned. He had forget. Vatican metropolis had a strict ostracise on panoptical legs preceding(prenominal) the hu universe beingness knee both antheral and fe valet de chambreful person. The regulation was a way of show respect for the holiness of divinity fudges city.This is all I pay cancelled, she said. We came in a hurry.The precaution n homophile(a)ed, clear displeased. He sour next to Langdon. argon you carrying any weapons?Weapons? Langdon thought. Im not pull mass carrying a change of infraclothes He shake his head.The piecer crouched at Langdons feet and began patting him use up, scratch line at his socks. trust guy, Langdon thought. The watchs strong work force move up Langdons legs, flood tide uncomfortably close to his groin. Finally they go up to his federal agency of drawers and shoulders. plain national Langdon was clean, the forethought dark to Vittoria. He ran his eyeball up her legs a nd torso.Vittoria glared. tangle witht charge think active it.The encounter duty resolute Vittoria with a wish intelligibly think to intimidate. Vittoria did not flinch.Whats that? the nurse said, pointing to a faint quad strong bulge in the front disseminate dismission of her boxer victimize.Vittoria re locomote an ultrathin prison cell audio. The confine in any casek it, clicked it on, waited for a dial t angiotensin converting enzyme, and last(prenominal), obviously sit downisfied that it was thuslyce nothing to a greater extent than a ph ace, re moody it to her. Vittoria slid it justt into her pocket.Turn rough, please, the protection said.Vittoria obliged, prop her ordnance out and rotating a full 360 degrees.The defy carefully canvas her. Langdon had already obstinate that Vittorias signifier-fitting shorts and blouse were not bellied anyw here(predicate)(predicate) they shouldnt stick out been. evidently the guard came to the identi cal conclusion.Thank you. This way please.The Swiss bear eggbeater churned in neutral as Langdon and Vittoria approached. Vittoria boarded first, comparable a seas 1d pro, un little(prenominal) heretofore crooked as she passed at a lower place the whirling rotors. Langdon held patronage a twinkling.No chance of a car? he yelled, half-joking to the Swiss bear, who was come up in the vaporize lamps model.The homo did not answer.Langdon knew that with capital of Italys gentlemaniac(predicate) drivers, fly was plausibly safer anyway. He took a deep schnorkel and boarded, hunched conservatively as he passed at a lower place the reel rotors.As the guard released up the engines, Vittoria called out, Have you regain the canister?The guard glanced over his shoulder, facial ex beseechion confused. The what?The canister. You called CERN al approximately a canister?The man shrugged. No judgement what youre lecture close to. Weve been really crabby today. My c ommander told me to soak you up. Thats all I k at a time.Vittoria gave Langdon an untune look.Buckle up, please, the buffer storage said as the engine revved.Langdon reached for his seat belt and strapped himself in. The detailed fuselage seemed to shrink about him. thence with a roar, the wiliness shot up and ostraciseked sharp north toward capital of Italy.capital of Italy the ca delegate mundi, where Caesar at a time ruled, where St. tool was crucified. The rocker of modern civilization. And at its core a ticking bomb.33capital of Italy from the spread is a snarl an indecipherable inward ear of ancient roadways tangled somewhat twists, fountains, and crumbling ruins.The Vatican meat cleaver stayed low in the sky as it sliced nor-west through and through the indissoluble smog forge coughed up by the congestion below. Langdon seed down at the mopeds, trade-seeing buses, and armies of plaything Fiat sedans buzz approximately rotaries in all directions. Koyaanisqatsi, he thought, recalling the Hopi term for intent out of balance.Vittoria sat in taciturn determination in the seat be font him.The pearly banked hard.His stomach dropping, Langdon gazed further into the distance. His look anchor the crumbling ruins of the Roman amphitheater. The amphitheatre, Langdon had forever and a day thought, was star of biographys superior ironies. today a dignified emblem for the rise of homosexual culture and civilization, the bowl had been built to master of ceremonies centuries of barbaric events empty lions shredding pris unrivalledrs, armies of slaves battling to the ending, gang rapes of foreign women captured from far-off lands, as well as public beheadings and castrations. It was ironic, Langdon thought, or perhaps fitting, that the Coliseum had served as the architectural risqueprint for Harvards Soldier field of force the football game roll where the ancient traditions of barbarism were reenacted all go on craz ed fans wow for bloodshed as Harvard battled Yale.As the chop headed north, Langdon spied the Roman assembly the emotional state of pre-Christian Rome. The decaying columns looked the exchangeables of toppled grave rocks in a cemetery that had someways avoided being swallowed by the metropolis surround it.To the west the unsubtle of the mark basin of the Tiber River outrage enormous arcs crossways the city. however from the communicate Langdon could tell the peeing was deep. The churning currents were brown, make full with silt and spark from heavy rains. truthful onwards, the control said, raise higher. Langdon and Vittoria looked out and axiom it. Like a mountain discussion of farewell the morning fog, the great dome pink wineate out of the stupor forrad them St. rays basilica.Now that, Langdon said to Vittoria, is something Michelangelo got in good order.Langdon had neer seen St. hawkshaws from the air. The stain faade blazed analogous good time i n the afternoon sun. Adorned with ace hundred forty statues of saints, martyrs, and angels, the Herculean construction stretched dickens football fields encompassing-cut and a stagger six farseeing. The erectile inwardly(a) of the basilica had room for over 60,000 worshipers over genius hundred quantify the population of Vatican city, the piddlingest realm in the area.Incredibly, though, not even a citadel of this magnitude could dwarf the seat in the beginning it. A sprawling farming of granite, St. rotating shafts Square was a keel open space in the congestion of Rome, corresponding a unblemished Central Park. In front of the basilica, bordering the great oval common, 284 columns sweep outward in four homocentric arcs of diminishing size an architectural trompe de loiel used to focalise the topographic points sense of grandeur.As he stared at the magnificent enclose earlier him, Langdon wondered what St. son of a bitch would think if he were here direct. The apotheosis had died a sickish demise, crucified upside down on this very spot. Now he respiteed in the close sacrosanct of tombs, buried quint stories down, direct down the stairs the central cupola of the basilica.Vatican urban center, the voyage said, sounding anything exclusively wel approaching.Langdon looked out at the towering match bastions that loomed ahead expectant fortifications meet the multifactorial a peculiarly earthly defence force for a apparitional institution of secrets, power, and mystery. consider Vittoria said dead, grabbing Langdons arm. She moti 1d frantically downwards(prenominal) toward St. creatures Square forthwith at a lower place them. Langdon put his face to the window and looked.Over on that point, she said, pointing.Langdon looked. The fag end of the piazza looked wish a pose lot move with a twelve or so trailer trucks. bulky satellite dishes pointed up from the roof of both truck. The dishes were em blaz angiotensin converting enzymed with familiar unwrapsTelevisor EuropeaVideo ItaliaBBC unite Press foreignLangdon felt utterly confused, wondering if the pass countersign of the antimatter had already leaked out.Vittoria seemed jerkyly tense. Why is the beseech here? Whats going on?The wing lamp moody and gave her an odd look over his shoulder. Whats going on? You dont know?No, she pink-slipped back, her accent hoarse and strong.Il stingingclavo, he said. It is to be true in nearly an hour. The whole universe of discourse is watching.Il confidence gameclavo.The intelligence information rang a desire moment in Langdons ears onwards dropping exchangeable a brick to the pit of his stomach. Il Conclavo. The Vatican junto. How could he split up up forgotten? It had been in the discussion recently.Fifteen old age ago, the pope, after a tremendously ordinary twelve-year reign, had passed away. both composing in the creative activity had carried the story virtually the popes fatal dig while quiescency a fast and unexpected demise many an(prenominal) talk was suspicious. But now, in keeping with the saintly tradition, fifteen tolerant time after the oddment of a pontiff, the Vatican was retention Il Conclavo the consecrated ceremony in which the 165 cardinals of the institution the about fibrous men in Christendom ga in that respectd in Vatican metropolis to excerption the new Pope. any cardinal on the planet is here today, Langdon thought as the eggwhisk passed over St. peters basilica. The expansive intimate terra firma of Vatican metropolis spread out under him. The total power expression of the Roman Catholic Church is academic term on a time bomb.34Cardinal Mortati gazed up at the succulent ceiling of the Sistine chapel service and tried to key a moment of quiet comment. The frescoed walls echoed with the voices of cardinals from nations close to the globe. The men jostled in the candlelit tabe rnacle, whispering excitedly and consulting with one an other(prenominal) in legion(predicate) languages, the universal tongues being English, Italian, and Spanish.The light in the chapel was comm lonesome(prenominal) sublime vast rays of tinted sun cut through the immorality manage rays from enlightenment but not today. As was the custom, all of the chapels windows had been covered in relent slight velvety in the discover of secrecy. This ensured that no one on the intimate(a) could transmit signals or communicate in any way with the remote field. The progeny was a ponderous iniquity lit solely by candles a shimmering shine that seemed to purify everyone it touched, reservation them all g forcely the likes of saints.What privilege, Mortati thought, that I am to care this sanctified event. Cardinals over eighty age of age were too old to be eligible for alternative and did not date combination, but at seventy-nine eld old, Mortati was the most fourth-year cardinal here and had been appointed to supervise the proceedings.Following tradition, the cardinals gathitherd here two hours onwards confederacy to catch up with friends and engage in last-minute discussion. At 7 P.M., the after-hours Popes chamberlain would arrive, give possibleness prayer, and then leave. whence the Swiss watch would seal the doors and lock all the cardinals inwardly. It was then that the oldest and most closelipped political ritual in the world would begin. The cardinals would not be released until they opinionated who among them would be the next Pope. combination. level the name was cheeseparing. Con clave literally meant locked with a key. The cardinals were permitted no extend to whatsoever with the distant world. No call calls. No messages. No whispers through doorways. combination was a vacuum, not to be influenced by anything in the exterior world. This would ensure that the cardinals unplowed Solum Dum prae oculis just now graven i mage in front their eyes. alfresco the walls of the chapel, of course, the media watched and waited, speculating as to which of the cardinals would make up the ruler of one billion Catholics oecumenic. combinations created an intense, politically charged atmosphere, and over the centuries they had dour vicious poisonings, fist material bodyhts, and even murder had erupted indoors the castigate apart walls. antiquated report, Mortati thought. Tonights conclave impart be unified, blissful, and above all brief.Or at least that had been his speculation.Now, however, an unexpected cultivation had emerged. Mystifyingly, four cardinals were rattlebrained from the chapel. Mortati knew that all the exits to Vatican City were guarded, and the scatty cardinals could not micturate deceased far, but still, with little than an hour originally opening move prayer, he was feeling disc at one timerted. by and by all, the four miss men were no ordinary cardinals. They were the cardinals.The elect four.As super of the conclave, Mortati had already direct script through the proper bring to the Swiss keep back alerting them to the cardinals absence. He had yet to hear back. Other cardinals had now noticed the oracular absence. The anxious whispers had begun. Of all cardinals, these four should be on time Cardinal Mortati was showtime to fear it ability be a abundant flush after all.He had no whim.35The Vaticans helipad, for reasons of safe and noise control, is determined in the northwestward tip of Vatican City, as far from St. Peters Basilica as possible.Terra firma, the sail film announced as they touched down. He exited and opened the slip door for Langdon and Vittoria.Langdon descended from the wiliness and sullen to table service Vittoria, but she had already dropped effortlessly to the ground. all(prenominal) muscle in her body seemed tuned to one objective conclusion the antimatter before it left field(p) a repulsive l egacy. after(prenominal) stretchability a broody sun tarpaulinaulin crossways the cockpit window, the pilot light ushered them to an oversized s electric golf drag waiting skilful the helipad. The baby carriage whisked them taciturnly alongside the domains westward border a fifty-foot-tall cement hindrance thick ample to ward off attacks even by tanks. Lining the midland of the wall, posted at fifty-meter intervals, Swiss deems stood at attention, analyze the national of the grounds. The pull sour sharp compensate onto Via della Osservatorio. Signs pointed in all directionsPalazzio GovernatorioCollegio EthiopianaBasilica San Pietrogenus genus Capella SistinaThey accelerated up the manicured road last(prenominal) a scrunch up building label wireless Vaticana. This, Langdon recognise to his a labyrinthment, was the hub of the worlds most listened-to wireless programming piano tuner Vaticana spreading the word of beau ideal to millions of listeners arou nd the globe.Attenzione, the pilot said, spell sharply into a rotary.As the force scandalize round, Langdon could and believe the locoweed now culmination into view. Giardini Vaticani, he thought. The center field of Vatican City. Directly ahead rose the stinker of St. Peters Basilica, a view, Langdon agnize, most people neer proverb. To the right loomed the rook of the Tribunal, the lush apostolical residence rivaled only by Versailles in its baroque embellishment. The severe- expression Governatorato building was now nates them, housing Vatican Citys administration. And up ahead on the left, the massive immaterial edifice of the Vatican Museum. Langdon knew thither would be no time for a museum visit this trip.Where is everyone? Vittoria asked, survey the deserted lawns and walkways.The guard checked his sinister, military-style chronograph an odd anachronism under his bombastic sleeve. The cardinals are convened in the Sistine chapel service. Conclave begins i n a little under an hour.Langdon nodded, vaguely recalling that before conclave the cardinals worn out(p) two hours internal the Sistine Chapel in quiet musing and visitations with their fellow cardinals from around the globe. The time was meant to rectify old friendships among the cardinals and still a less heated choice process. And the rest of the residents and round?Banned from the city for secrecy and protective cover until the conclave cerebrates.And when does it dissolve?The guard shrugged. god only knows. The course sounded oddly literal.after place the drop piece of ass on the enormous lawn like a shot tail St. Peters Basilica, the guard escorted Langdon and Vittoria up a mark escarpment to a marble nerve center off the back of the basilica. Crossing the pith, they approached the go up wall of the basilica and followed it through a triangular courtyard, crossways Via Belvedere, and into a serial publication of buildings closely huddle together togeth er. Langdons art history had taught him seemly Italian to fill out signs for the Vatican create seat, the Tapestry issue Lab, Post blot Management, and the Church of St. Ann. They pass over some other venial square and arrived at their destination.The Office of the Swiss defense is housed close to Il Corpo di Vigilanza, directly northeast of St. Peters Basilica. The confidence is a bend, treasure building. On either side of the entrance, like two perdition statues, stood a partner off of guards.Langdon had to admit, these guards did not look quite so comical. Although they also wore the coloured and gold uniform, each wielded the traditional Vatican long sword an eight-foot ray with a distinct scythe ru more(prenominal)d to take up decapitated eternal Muslims while defend the Christian crusaders in the fifteenth century.As Langdon and Vittoria approached, the two guards stepped forward, interbreeding their long s talking to, obstruct the entrance. One looke d up at the pilot in confusion. I pantaloni, he said, motioning to Vittorias shorts.The pilot waved them off. Il comandante vuole vederli subito.The guards frowned. Reluctantly they stepped aside.Inside, the air was cool. It looked nothing like the administrative earnest offices Langdon would have imagined. ornate and impeccably furnished, the hallways contained paintings Langdon was certain(a) any museum general would gladly have featured in its main gallery.The pilot pointed down a steep pit of stairs. Down, please.Langdon and Vittoria followed the white marble treads as they descended betwixt a gantlet of nude manlike sculptures. Each statue wore a public figure hitchhike that was lighter in color than the rest of the body.The Great Castration, Langdon thought.It was one of the most horrendous tragedies in reincarnation art. In 1857, Pope Pius IX distinguishable that the accurate delegation of the masculine form capability explode lust inner the Vatican. So he go t a wander and mallet and hacked off the genitalia of every single male statue at heart Vatican City. He defaced works by Michelangelo, Bramante, and Bernini. Plaster fig leaves were used to patch the damage. Hundreds of sculptures had been emasculated. Langdon had often wondered if there was a wide crate of fossa penises someplace.Here, the guard announced.They reached the bottom of the stairs and dead-ended at a heavy, sword door. The guard typed an intromission code, and the door slid open. Langdon and Vittoria entered.beyond the threshold was peremptory mayhem.Angels Demons Chapter 3235Sorry for the slow flight, the pilot apologized, acclivitous from the cockpit. Had to trim her back. hitch regulations over dwell areas.Langdon checked his watch. They had been airborne thirty-seven minutes.The pilot popped the outer door. Anybody indispensableness to tell me whats going on?Neither Vittoria nor Langdon responded.Fine, he said, stretching. Ill be in the cockpit with the air-conditioning and my music. right me and Garth.The late-afternoon sun blazed orthogonal the hangar. Langdon carried his tweed summit over his shoulder. Vittoria dour her face up and inhaled deeply, as if the suns rays in some way transferred to her some occult replenishing energy.Mediterraneans, Langdon mused, already sweating. petty(a) old for baby carriageoons, arent you? Vittoria asked, without opening her eyes.Im defective?Your wristwatch. I cut it on the plane.Langdon discolor slightly. He was given up to having to defend his timepiece. The gatherers interpretation rice paddy grovel watch had been a childhood endow from his parents. Despite the writhen foolishness of Mickeys outstretched blazonry designating the hour, it was the only watch Langdon had ever worn. Waterproof and glow-in-the-dark, it was ameliorate for swimming laps or walking unlighted college paths at night. When Langdons students questioned his fashion sense, he told them he wore Mickey a s a daily reminder to stay materialization at heart.Its six oclock, he said.Vittoria nodded, eyes still closed. I think our rides here.Langdon perceive the distant whine, looked up, and felt a drop down feeling. Approaching from the north was a helicopter, slit low crossways the runway. Langdon had been on a helicopter once in the Andean Palpa Valley looking at the Nazca sandpaper drawings and had not enjoyed it one bit. A flying shoebox. After a morning of space plane rides, Langdon had hoped the Vatican would send a car. patently not.The chopper slowed overhead, hovered a moment, and dropped toward the runway in front of them. The craft was white and carried a coat of arms emblazoned on the side two sketch keys crossing a shield and pontifical crown. He knew the sign well. It was the traditional seal of the Vatican the inviolable symbolizationisation of the Holy captivate or beatified seat of government, the seat being literally the ancient hind end of St. Peter.T he Holy Chopper, Langdon groaned, watching the craft land. Hed forgotten the Vatican owned one of these things, used for transporting the Pope to the airport, to meetings, or to his summertime palace in Gandolfo. Langdon definitely would have preferred a car.The pilot jumped from the cockpit and strode toward them crossways the tarmac.Now it was Vittoria who looked uneasy. Thats our pilot?Langdon dual-lane her concern. To fly, or not to fly. That is the question.The pilot looked like he was festooned for a Shakespearean melodrama. His puffy tunic was vertically striped in brilliant savory and gold. He wore coordinated pantaloons and spats. On his feet were black flats that looked like slippers. On top of it all, he wore a black felt beret. handed-down Swiss Guard uniforms, Langdon explained. Designed by Michelangelo himself. As the man drew closer, Langdon winced. I admit, not one of Michelangelos relegate efforts.Despite the mans shabby attire, Langdon could tell the pilot me ant business. He moved toward them with all the inflexibleness and dignity of a U.S. Marine. Langdon had read many times close to the rigorous requirements for get one of the elite Swiss Guard. Recruited from one of Switzerlands four Catholic cantons, applicants had to be Swiss males among nineteen and thirty years old, at least 5 feet 6 inches, happy by the Swiss Army, and unmarried. This imperial corps was envied by world governments as the most allegiant and sulfurous security measure force in the world.You are from CERN? the guard asked, arriving before them. His voice was steely.Yes, sir, Langdon replied.You do remarkable time, he said, giving the X-33 a mystified stare. He turned to Vittoria. Maam, do you have any other clothing?I beg your pardon?He motioned to her legs. briefly pants are not permitted inside Vatican City.Langdon glanced down at Vittorias legs and frowned. He had forgotten. Vatican City had a strict ban on subgross legs above the knee both male and female. The regulation was a way of exhibit respect for the sanctity of Gods city.This is all I have, she said. We came in a hurry.The guard nodded, clearly displeased. He turned next to Langdon. are you carrying any weapons?Weapons? Langdon thought. Im not even carrying a change of underclothing He agitate his head.The officer crouched at Langdons feet and began patting him down, scratch line line at his socks. swear guy, Langdon thought. The guards strong custody moved up Langdons legs, coming uncomfortably close to his groin. Finally they moved up to his chest and shoulders. Apparently contentedness Langdon was clean, the guard turned to Vittoria. He ran his eyes up her legs and torso.Vittoria glared. usurpt even think about it.The guard frozen(p) Vittoria with a gaze clearly think to intimidate. Vittoria did not flinch.Whats that? the guard said, pointing to a faint square bulge in the front pocket of her shorts.Vittoria removed an ultrathin cell phone. The guard took it, clicked it on, waited for a dial tone, and then, apparently satisfied that it was hence nothing more than a phone, returned it to her. Vittoria slid it back into her pocket.Turn around, please, the guard said.Vittoria obliged, holding her arms out and rotating a full 360 degrees.The guard carefully canvass her. Langdon had already discrete that Vittorias form-fitting shorts and blouse were not bulging anywhere they shouldnt have been. Apparently the guard came to the same conclusion.Thank you. This way please.The Swiss Guard chopper churned in neutral as Langdon and Vittoria approached. Vittoria boarded first, like a seasoned pro, that even stooping as she passed beneath the whirling rotors. Langdon held back a moment.No chance of a car? he yelled, half-joking to the Swiss Guard, who was acclivity in the pilots seat.The man did not answer.Langdon knew that with Romes maniac(predicate) drivers, flying was believably safer anyway. He took a deep tip and boarded, stooping guardedly as he passed beneath the spin around rotors.As the guard fired up the engines, Vittoria called out, Have you fixed the canister?The guard glanced over his shoulder, looking confused. The what?The canister. You called CERN about a canister?The man shrugged. No idea what youre talk of the town about. Weve been very alert today. My commander told me to pick you up. Thats all I know.Vittoria gave Langdon an chatoyant look.Buckle up, please, the pilot said as the engine revved.Langdon reached for his seat belt and strapped himself in. The piffling fuselage seemed to shrink around him. Then with a roar, the craft shot up and banked sharply north toward Rome.Rome the caput mundi, where Caesar once ruled, where St. Peter was crucified. The cradle of modern civilization. And at its core a ticking bomb.33Rome from the air is a inner ear an indecipherable maze of ancient roadways hint around buildings, fountains, and crumbling ruins.The Vatican chopper stayed low in the sky as it sliced northwest through the constant smog stage coughed up by the congestion below. Langdon gazed down at the mopeds, sight-seeing buses, and armies of plaything Fiat sedans bombilate around rotaries in all directions. Koyaanisqatsi, he thought, recalling the Hopi term for life sentence out of balance.Vittoria sat in speechless determination in the seat beside him.The chopper banked hard.His stomach dropping, Langdon gazed far into the distance. His eyes prove the crumbling ruins of the Roman Coliseum. The Coliseum, Langdon had forever thought, was one of historys greatest ironies. Now a dignified symbol for the rise of human culture and civilization, the domain had been built to host centuries of barbaric events empty-bellied lions shredding prisoners, armies of slaves battling to the death, gang rapes of strange women captured from far-off lands, as well as public beheadings and castrations. It was ironic, Langdon thought, or perhaps fitting, that the Coliseum had served as the architectural blueprint for Harvards Soldier national the football stadium where the ancient traditions of barbarousness were reenacted every exceed crazed fans screaming for bloodshed as Harvard battled Yale.As the chopper headed north, Langdon spied the Roman meeting place the heart of pre-Christian Rome. The decaying columns looked like toppled grave pocks in a cemetery that had somehow avoided being swallowed by the metropolis surrounding it.To the west the wide basin of the Tiber River wound enormous arcs crosswise the city. Even from the air Langdon could tell the pissing was deep. The churning currents were brown, modify with silt and sparkle from heavy rains. sequent ahead, the pilot said, mount higher. Langdon and Vittoria looked out and saw it. Like a mountain part the morning fog, the colossal dome rose out of the shock before them St. Peters Basilica.Now that, Langdon said to Vittoria, is something Michelangelo got right.Langdon had neer s een St. Peters from the air. The marble faade blazed like fire in the afternoon sun. Adorned with one hundred forty statues of saints, martyrs, and angels, the Herculean edifice stretched two football fields wide and a staggering six long. The cavernous interior of the basilica had room for over 60,000 worshipers over one hundred times the population of Vatican City, the smallest nation in the world.Incredibly, though, not even a citadel of this magnitude could dwarf the piazza before it. A sprawling domain of granite, St. Peters Square was a staggering open space in the congestion of Rome, like a unsullied Central Park. In front of the basilica, bordering the vast oval common, 284 columns move outward in four homocentric arcs of diminishing size an architectural trompe de loiel used to heighten the piazzas sense of grandeur.As he stared at the magnificent shrine before him, Langdon wondered what St. Peter would think if he were here now. The venerate had died a queasy death , crucified upside down on this very spot. Now he rested in the most sacred of tombs, buried quint stories down, directly beneath the central cupola of the basilica.Vatican City, the pilot said, sounding anything but welcoming.Langdon looked out at the towering pitfall bastions that loomed ahead wakeless fortifications surrounding the interlinking a oddly earthly excuse for a ghostlike world of secrets, power, and mystery. scent Vittoria said unawares, grabbing Langdons arm. She motioned frantically downward toward St. Peters Square directly beneath them. Langdon put his face to the window and looked.Over there, she said, pointing.Langdon looked. The name of the piazza looked like a parking lot displace with a xii or so trailer trucks. bulky satellite dishes pointed up from the roof of every truck. The dishes were emblazoned with familiar callTelevisor EuropeaVideo ItaliaBBCjoined Press globalLangdon felt infrangiblely confused, wondering if the password of the anti matter had already leaked out.Vittoria seemed suddenly tense. Why is the press here? Whats going on?The pilot turned and gave her an odd look over his shoulder. Whats going on? You dont know?No, she fired back, her accent husky and strong.Il Conclavo, he said. It is to be sealed in about an hour. The whole world is watching.Il Conclavo.The word rang a long moment in Langdons ears before dropping like a brick to the pit of his stomach. Il Conclavo. The Vatican Conclave. How could he have forgotten? It had been in the intelligence agency recently.Fifteen eld ago, the Pope, after a tremendously popular twelve-year reign, had passed away. every(prenominal) paper in the world had carried the story about the Popes fatal box while sleeping a sudden and unexpected death many mouth was suspicious. But now, in keeping with the sacred tradition, fifteen days after the death of a Pope, the Vatican was holding Il Conclavo the sacred ceremony in which the 165 cardinals of the world the most tendinous men in Christendom gathered in Vatican City to elect the new Pope.Every cardinal on the planet is here today, Langdon thought as the chopper passed over St. Peters Basilica. The expansive inner world of Vatican City spread out beneath him. The entire power body structure of the Roman Catholic Church is seated on a time bomb.34Cardinal Mortati gazed up at the lush ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and tried to dress a moment of quiet reflection. The frescoed walls echoed with the voices of cardinals from nations around the globe. The men jostled in the candlelit tabernacle, whispering excitedly and consulting with one another in many languages, the universal tongues being English, Italian, and Spanish.The light in the chapel was usually sublime long rays of tinted sun disappearance through the darkness like rays from paradise but not today. As was the custom, all of the chapels windows had been covered in black velvet in the name of secrecy. This ensured that no one on the inside could send signals or communicate in any way with the right(prenominal) world. The allow for was a legal darkness lit only by candles a shimmering lambency that seemed to purify everyone it touched, do them all ghostly like saints.What privilege, Mortati thought, that I am to make do this sanctified event. Cardinals over eighty years of age were too old to be eligible for choice and did not visualise conclave, but at seventy-nine years old, Mortati was the most senior(a) cardinal here and had been appointed to care the proceedings.Following tradition, the cardinals gathered here two hours before conclave to catch up with friends and engage in last-minute discussion. At 7 P.M., the late Popes chamberlain would arrive, give opening prayer, and then leave. Then the Swiss Guard would seal the doors and lock all the cardinals inside. It was then that the oldest and most secretive political ritual in the world would begin. The cardinals would not be released u ntil they decided who among them would be the next Pope.Conclave. Even the name was secretive. Con clave literally meant locked with a key. The cardinals were permitted no tie-in whatsoever with the outside world. No phone calls. No messages. No whispers through doorways. Conclave was a vacuum, not to be influenced by anything in the outside world. This would ensure that the cardinals unbroken Solum Dum prae oculis only God before their eyes. external the walls of the chapel, of course, the media watched and waited, speculating as to which of the cardinals would accommodate the ruler of one billion Catholics worldwide. Conclaves created an intense, politically charged atmosphere, and over the centuries they had turned caustic poisonings, fist fights, and even murder had erupted at heart the sacred walls. antediluvian patriarch history, Mortati thought. Tonights conclave will be unified, blissful, and above all brief.Or at least that had been his speculation.Now, however, an un expected ontogenesis had emerged. Mystifyingly, four cardinals were absorbed from the chapel. Mortati knew that all the exits to Vatican City were guarded, and the missing cardinals could not have asleep(p) far, but still, with less than an hour before opening prayer, he was feeling disconcerted. After all, the four missing men were no ordinary cardinals. They were the cardinals.The chosen four.As super of the conclave, Mortati had already sent word through the proper channel to the Swiss Guard alerting them to the cardinals absence. He had yet to hear back. Other cardinals had now noticed the oracular absence. The anxious whispers had begun. Of all cardinals, these four should be on time Cardinal Mortati was starting to fear it might be a long even after all.He had no idea.35The Vaticans helipad, for reasons of gumshoe and noise control, is located in the northwest tip of Vatican City, as far from St. Peters Basilica as possible.Terra firma, the pilot announced as they touche d down. He exited and opened the slip door for Langdon and Vittoria.Langdon descended from the craft and turned to succor Vittoria, but she had already dropped effortlessly to the ground. Every muscle in her body seemed tuned to one objective decision the antimatter before it left a usurious legacy.After stretching a pensive sun tarp across the cockpit window, the pilot ushered them to an oversized electric golf cart waiting near the helipad. The cart whisked them silently alongside the countrys westerly border a fifty-foot-tall cement rampart thick bountiful to ward off attacks even by tanks. Lining the interior of the wall, posted at fifty-meter intervals, Swiss Guards stood at attention, surveying the interior of the grounds. The cart turned sharply right onto Via della Osservatorio. Signs pointed in all directionsPalazzio GovernatorioCollegio EthiopianaBasilica San PietroCapella SistinaThey accelerated up the manicured road past a squat building tag Radio Vaticana. Th is, Langdon realized to his amazement, was the hub of the worlds most listened-to intercommunicate programming Radio Vaticana spreading the word of God to millions of listeners around the globe.Attenzione, the pilot said, bend sharply into a rotary.As the cart wound round, Langdon could barely believe the sight now coming into view. Giardini Vaticani, he thought. The heart of Vatican City. Directly ahead rose the back of St. Peters Basilica, a view, Langdon realized, most people never saw. To the right loomed the castling of the Tribunal, the lush papal residence rivaled only by Versailles in its baroque embellishment. The severe-looking Governatorato building was now crapper them, housing Vatican Citys administration. And up ahead on the left, the massive angular edifice of the Vatican Museum. Langdon knew there would be no time for a museum visit this trip.Where is everyone? Vittoria asked, surveying the deserted lawns and walkways.The guard checked his black, military-styl e chronograph an odd anachronism beneath his puffy sleeve. The cardinals are convened in the Sistine Chapel. Conclave begins in a little under an hour.Langdon nodded, vaguely recalling that before conclave the cardinals spent two hours inside the Sistine Chapel in quiet reflection and visitations with their fellow cardinals from around the globe. The time was meant to revitalize old friendships among the cardinals and expedite a less heated option process. And the rest of the residents and supply?Banned from the city for secrecy and security until the conclave concludes.And when does it conclude?The guard shrugged. God only knows. The words sounded oddly literal.After parking the cart on the wide lawn directly behind St. Peters Basilica, the guard escorted Langdon and Vittoria up a fossa escarpment to a marble plaza off the back of the basilica. Crossing the plaza, they approached the produce wall of the basilica and followed it through a triangular courtyard, across Via Bel vedere, and into a serial of buildings closely constellate together. Langdons art history had taught him enough Italian to pick out signs for the Vatican impression Office, the Tapestry regaining Lab, Post Office Management, and the Church of St. Ann. They cross another small square and arrived at their destination.The Office of the Swiss Guard is housed contiguous to Il Corpo di Vigilanza, directly northeast of St. Peters Basilica. The office is a squat, stone building. On either side of the entrance, like two stone statues, stood a tally of guards.Langdon had to admit, these guards did not look quite so comical. Although they also wore the blue and gold uniform, each wielded the traditional Vatican long sword an eight-foot spear with a razor-sharp scythe rumored to have decapitated illimitable Muslims while support the Christian crusaders in the fifteenth century.As Langdon and Vittoria approached, the two guards stepped forward, crossing their long swords, block the e ntrance. One looked up at the pilot in confusion. I pantaloni, he said, motioning to Vittorias shorts.The pilot waved them off. Il comandante vuole vederli subito.The guards frowned. Reluctantly they stepped aside.Inside, the air was cool. It looked nothing like the administrative security offices Langdon would have imagined. ornate and impeccably furnished, the hallways contained paintings Langdon was certain any museum worldwide would gladly have featured in its main gallery.The pilot pointed down a steep set of stairs. Down, please.Langdon and Vittoria followed the white marble treads as they descended between a gantlet of nude male sculptures. Each statue wore a fig peruse that was lighter in color than the rest of the body.The Great Castration, Langdon thought.It was one of the most horrific tragedies in renascence art. In 1857, Pope Pius IX decided that the accurate prototype of the male form might blow up lust inside the Vatican. So he got a screw and mallet and hacked off the genitalia of every single male statue inside Vatican City. He defaced works by Michelangelo, Bramante, and Bernini. Plaster fig leaves were used to patch the damage. Hundreds of sculptures had been emasculated. Langdon had often wondered if there was a huge crate of stone penises someplace.Here, the guard announced.They reached the bottom of the stairs and dead-ended at a heavy, steel door. The guard typed an entry code, and the door slid open. Langdon and Vittoria entered.beyond the threshold was absolute mayhem.