Angels and Demons Page #2

---

- So jurisdictionally, this is...

- A goddamn nightmare.

Oh, yes,

Pope Pius IX's great castration.

I beg your pardon?

1857, Pope Pius IX

felt the male form would inspire lust.

So he took a hammer and chisel

and unmanned hundreds of these statues.

The plaster fig leaves were added later.

Are you anti-Catholic, Professor Langdon?

No. I'm anti-vandalism.

I urge you to guard your tone here.

The Swiss Guard is a calling,

not a profession,

and it encourages a certain zealotry.

Commander Richter, the head of the Guard

is a deeply spiritual man,

and he was close to the late pope.

Understood?

Look, I don't study symbols

because I consider them unimportant.

Ceremony, traditions,

it's how we mark our lives.

I just hope I can help.

So do l.

You were my idea.

Wait here. Please.

Commander?

Commander Richter?

Professor Langdon is here.

Well,

we have bigger problems than that now.

Dr. Vetra?

I'm Commander Richter,

comandante principale of the Swiss Guard.

Thank you for coming.

Hello.

Ah...

- Professor Langdon.

- Yes.

What a relief, the symbologist is here.

This way, please, Miss Vetra.

The situation has changed.

We received another threat

from the kidnapper.

The canister was stolen

from our lab around noon yesterday.

The intruder killed my research partner,

Silvano Bentivoglio,

and mutilated him

in order to bypass security.

We use retinal scanners.

They cut out his eye.

Is that your stolen canister,

Miss Vetra?

Where is that camera, number 86?

It's wireless. It, too, was stolen.

It could be anywhere

inside the Vatican walls.

That canister contains an extremely

combustible substance called antimatter.

We need to locate it immediately

or evacuate Vatican City.

I'm quite familiar

with incendiaries, Miss Vetra.

I've never heard of antimatter

being used as such.

Well, it's never been generated

in significant quantities before.

It's a way of studying the origins

of the universe,

to try to isolate what some people

call the "God particle."

But there are implications

for energy research...

"The God particle"?

Yeah,

what we call it isn't important.

It's what gives all matter mass.

The thing without which we could not exist.

You're talking about the moment of creation.

Yes. In a way, I am.

The antimatter is suspended there

in an airtight nanocomposite shell

with electromagnets in each end.

But if it were to fall out of suspension

and come in contact with matter,

say, the bottom of the canister,

the two opposing forces

would annihilate one another violently.

And what might cause it

to fall out of suspension?

The battery going dead.

- Which it will, just before midnight.

- What kind of annihilation?

- How violent?

- A cataclysmic event.

A blinding explosion equivalent

to about five kilotons.

Vatican City will be consumed by light.

Those are the exact words

the kidnapper used.

We will destroy your four pillars.

We will brand your preferiti

and sacrifice them on the altars of science,

then bring your church down upon you.

Vatican City will be consumed by light.

A shining star at the end

of the Path of Illumination.

It's the ancient Illuminati threat.

Destruction of Vatican City through light.

Four pillars,

there's your kidnapped cardinals.

You didn't tell me they were the preferiti,

the favorites to be named the next pope.

Play it again.

We will destroy your four pillars.

- We will brand your preferiti...

- Wait, stop it. Stop it.

"Brand" them.

That's another Illuminati legend.

This one says

that there are a set of five brands,

each one an ambigram.

The first four are the fundamental

elements of science.

Earth, air, fire and water.

The fifth, it's a mystery.

Maybe it's this.

He said they'd be killed publicly.

Yes.

Revenge for Ia purga.

"La purge"?

Oh, jeez, you guys don't even read

your own history, do you'?

1668, the Church kidnapped

four Illuminati scientists

and branded each one of them

on the chest with the symbol of the cross

to purge them of their sins,

and they executed them.

Threw their bodies out into the street

as a warning to others

to stop questioning

Church rulings on scientific matters.

They radicalized them.

The purga created a darker,

more violent Illuminati,

one bent on retribution.

And look how they intend to finally get it.

Using antimatter, technology,

to destroy the Church.

Science obliterates religion.

Is there any more?

...and sacrifice them on the altars of science,

then bring your church down upon you.

Vatican City will be consumed by light.

A shining star at the end

of the Path of Illumination.

"Path of illumination."

I need access to the Vatican archives.

Professor, I don't think

this is the appropriate...

Your petition has been denied seven times.

No, no. This has nothing to do with my work.

The Path of Illumination

is a hidden trail through Rome itself

that leads to the Church of the Illumination,

the place where the Illuminati

would meet in secret.

If I can find the segno, the sign,

that marks the beginning of that path,

the four churches along it may be where

he intends to murder your cardinals.

One every hour at 8:00, 9:00, 10:00 and 11:00.

Then the device explodes at midnight.

f we can figure out the first church

and get there before he does,

maybe we can stop it.

But I can't find the start of the path

until I get into the archives.

Even if I wanted to help you,

access to the archives

is only by written decree

by the curator

and the Board of Vatican Librarians.

Or by papal mandate.

Yes, but as you no doubt have heard,

the Holy Father is dead.

What about il camerlengo?

The camerlengo is just a priest here,

the former pope's chamberlain.

Doesn't the power of the Holy See rest

in him during tempo sede vacante?

Fellas, you called me.

His Holiness once told me

a pope was a man torn between

the real world and the divine.

It seems the real world is upon us tonight.

I'm familiar with Illuminati lore

and the legend of the brandings.

La purga is a dark stain

on this Church's history.

I'm not surprised

this ghost has returned to haunt us.

Comandante, have you begun

the search for this explosive device?

Of course, but it could be anywhere.

My primary concern at the moment

is the safety of the cardinals.

The Sistine Chapel is a fortress.

As long as the cardinals are in conclave,

your security concerns are at a minimum.

Devote as many of your resources...

Signore, if you're about to suggest

a naked-eye search of the entire Vatican City,

- I will tell you that...

- Comandante.

We do not have the people.

Though I am not His Holiness,

when you are addressing me,

you are addressing this office.

Do you understand?

Yes, Father.

GOOd.

Now you said the image on the screen

was illuminated by artificial light.

Might I suggest methodically cutting power

to various sections of the city.

When the image on the screen goes dark,

you'll have a more specific idea

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes