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Polish capitol police officers were sealing the Rotunda whilst attempting to herd distraught visitors away from the hand\. ‘
CHAPTER doze
Capitol law enforcement chief Trent Anderson had overseen security in the U. S. Capitol Complex for more than a decade.
A burly, square-chested man which has a chiseled face and reddish colored hair, this individual kept his hair popped in a news cut, providing him an air of military expert. He dressed in a visible sidearm as a warning to anyone foolish enough to question the extent of his authority.
Anderson spent nearly all his time coordinating his small military services of law enforcement officers from a high-tech surveillance center inside the basement with the Capitol. Here he oversaw a staff of technicians who also watched image monitors, pc readouts, and a telephone switchboard that kept him in contact with the many security personnel he told.
This evening had been unusually quiet, and Anderson was satisfied. He had been hoping to get a bit of the Redskins video game on the flat-panel television in the office. The sport had merely kicked away when his intercom buzzed.
“Chief? inch
Anderson groaned and retained his eye on the tv as he hard pressed the key. “Yeah. inches
“We’ve got some kind of disturbance in the Rotunda. I’ve acquired officers coming now, but I think you’ll want to have a seem. “
“Right. ” Anderson walked into the security nerve center, a tight, neomodern center packed with pc monitors. “What have you got? inch The technician was cueing a digital video on his monitor. “Rotunda east balcony camera. Twenty mere seconds ago. inches He played the show.
Anderson watched over the technician’s shoulder.
The Rotunda was almost deserted today, speckled with just a couple tourists. Anderson’s trained eye went instantly to the a single person who was only and going faster than all the others. Shaved head. Green army-surplus jacket. Hurt arm in a sling. Moderate limp. Slouched posture. Chatting on a cell phone.
The balding man’s footfalls echoed sharpened and sleek on the music feed till, suddenly, coming to the exact middle of the Rotunda, he halted short, ended his call, and then knelt down as though to link his boot. But instead of tying a shoe, he pulled some thing out of his sling and set it on the floor. Then simply he stood up and limped briskly toward the east exit.
Anderson eyed the oddly shaped object the man had left behind. What in the world? It absolutely was about eight inches taller and standing up vertically. Anderson crouched nearer to the screen and squinted. That cannot be what it seems like!
As the bald person hurried away, disappearing through the east porticato, a little young man nearby could possibly be heard declaring, “Mommy, that man dropped something. ” The boy drifted toward the object yet suddenly stopped short. After having a long, motionless beat, this individual pointed and let out a deafening scream.
Instantly, the authorities chief unique and leaped for the doorway, barking requests as he proceeded to go. “Radio all points! Find the bald man with the tricing and detain him! NOW! “
Dashing out of the security center, this individual bounded the treads with the well-worn staircase three at any given time. The security supply had demonstrated the balding man with all the sling leave the Rotunda via the east portico. The shortest route out of the building would for that reason take him through the east-west corridor, which was just ahead.
I can head him off.
As he come to the top from the stairs and rounded around the corner, Anderson surveyed the quiet hallway ahead of him. An elderly couple strolled with the far end, hand in hand. Nearby, a blond holiday wearing a blue blazer was reading a guidebook and studying the mosaic threshold outside the Home chamber.
“Excuse me, sir! ” Anderson barked, running toward him. “Have you seen a bald gentleman with a sling on his equip? “
The person looked up by his publication with a puzzled expression.
“A bald person with a sling! ” Anderson repeated even more firmly. “Have you noticed him? inch The holiday hesitated and glanced nervously toward the far eastern end of the hall. “Uh… yes, ” this individual said. “I think he just leaped past myself… to that staircase over presently there. ” This individual pointed down the hall.
Anderson pulled out his radio and yelled with it. “All points! The think is went for the southeast get out of. Converge! inches He stowed the radio and yanked his sidearm from the holster, operating toward the exit.
25 seconds after, at a quiet quit on the east side from the Capitol, the powerfully created blond gentleman in the blue blazer stepped into the moist night air flow. He smiled, savoring the coolness with the evening.
Transformation.
It had been very easy.
Only a moment ago he had limped quickly out of the Rotunda in an army-surplus coat. Going into a darkened alcove, he shed his coat, uncovering the blue blazer he wore beneath. Before abandoning his extra jacket, he pulled a blond wig from the pocket sized and in shape it comfortably on his head. Then this individual stood up straight, pulled a slim Buenos aires guidebook via his blazer, and moved calmly through the niche with an elegant gait.
Transformation. This really is my gift.
As Mal’akh’s mortal legs carried him toward his waiting limousine, he curved his backside, standing to his complete six-foot-three elevation and throwing back his shoulders. This individual inhaled deeply, letting the air fill his lungs. This individual could feel the wings from the tattooed phoenix on his chest opening extensive.
If they will only understood my electrical power, he thought, gazing away at the city. Tonight my transformation will probably be complete.
Mal’akh had played his credit cards artfully in the Capitol Building, showing obeisance to all the ancient etiquettes. The ancient invitation has become delivered. If Langdon had not yet grasped his part here this evening, soon he would.
CHAPTER 13
For Robert Langdon, the Capitol Rotunda, like St . Peter’s Basilica, always had a way of currently taking him by surprise. Intellectually, he knew the space was and so large the Statue of Liberty can stand pleasantly inside it, yet somehow the Rotunda usually felt much larger and more hallowed than this individual anticipated, as though there were mood in the air. Tonight, however , there were only chaos.
Capitol law enforcement officers were securing the Rotunda while seeking to herd distraught tourists away from hand. The small boy was still being crying. A bright light flashed, a tourist taking a photography of the hand, and several protects immediately detained the man, acquiring his camera and escorting him away. In the dilemma, Langdon felt himself moving forward in a trance, slipping through the crowd, inching closer to the hand.
Philip Solomon’s cut right hand was standing upright, the flat plane of the separate wrist skewered down on the increase of a small wooden stand. Three from the fingers were closed in a fist, while the thumb and index ring finger were fully extended, aiming up toward the rising dome.
“Everyone back! inch an official called.
Langdon was close enough now that he could see dried out blood, which will had run-down from the arm and coagulated on the wooden base. Postmortem wounds avoid bleed… which means Peter is usually alive. Langdon didn’t know whether to get relieved or nauseated. Peter’s hand was removed when he was alive? Bile increased in his can range f. He thought of all the times his dear good friend had extended this same palm to tremble Langdon’s or offer a nice embrace.
For a number of seconds, Langdon felt his mind go blank, like an untuned television set broadcasting just static. The first clear image that broke through was utterly unexpected.
A crown… and a star.
Langdon crouched down, eyeing the tips of Peter’s thumb and index finger. Tattoos? Incredibly, the monster who done this appeared to include tattooed very small symbols on Peter’s disposal.
On the thumb, a overhead. On the index finger, a star.
This can’t be. The 2 symbols registered instantly in Langdon’s mind, amplifying this kind of already horrific scene into something practically otherworldly. These symbols had appeared jointly many times in history, and always in the same place, on the fingertips of a side. It was among the ancient world’s most desired and secretive icons.
The Hand with the Mysteries.
The icon was rarely viewed anymore, yet throughout record it had symbolized a powerful proactive approach. Langdon drained to comprehend the grotesque creature now before him. Someone built the Hands of the Tricks out of Peter’s side? It was impossible. Traditionally, the icon was sculpted in stone or wood or perhaps rendered as a drawing. Langdon had by no means heard of the Hand from the Mysteries staying fashioned via actual skin. The concept was abhorrent.
“Sir? ” a security guard said at the rear of Langdon. “Please step back. inch Langdon hardly heard him. There are additional tattoos. Even though he wasn’t able to see the fingertips of the 3 clenched fingertips, Langdon understood these convenience would bear their own unique marks. That was your tradition. Five symbols altogether. Through the millennia, the symbols on the disposal of the Side of the Tricks had by no means changed… nor had the hand’s well-known purpose.
The hand presents… an invite.
Langdon believed a sudden chill as he were recalled the words with the man who had brought him here. Professor, tonight you are obtaining the invitation of your lifetime. In ancient instances, the Palm of the Mysteries actually served as the most sought after invitation that is known. To receive this kind of icon was obviously a sacred summons to join an elite group, individuals who were thought to guard the trick wisdom of all of the ages. The invitation not merely was a superb honor, nonetheless it signified a master believed you had been worthy to obtain this concealed wisdom. The hand in the master expanded to the trigger.
“Sir, inch the protect said, locating a firm side on Langdon’s shoulder. “I need you to back up right now. inches
“I really know what this means, inch Langdon been able. “I can assist you. “
“Now! ” the guard stated.
“My friend is in difficulties. We have to, “
Langdon felt powerful arms tugging him up and leading him away from hand. This individual simply allow it happen… sense too off balance to protest.
An official invitation had just been delivered. Someone was summoning Langdon to unlock a mystical website that would unveil a world of ancient mysteries and invisible knowledge.
But it really was almost all madness.
Delusions of a lunatic.
CHAPTER 18
Mal’akh’s extend limousine reduced away from the U. S. Capitol, moving eastward down Freedom Avenue. A new couple on the sidewalk drained to see through the tinted backside windows, looking to glimpse a VIP. I’m in front, Mal’akh thought, smiling to him self.
Mal’akh liked the feeling of power he got by driving this massive car all alone. non-e of his other five cars offered him what he required tonight, the guarantee of privacy. Total privacy. Limousines in this metropolis enjoyed a type of unspoken immunity. Embassies found on vehicles. Police officers whom worked close to Capitol Mountain were by no means certain what power broker they might incorrectly pull over within a limousine, and thus most simply select not to take those chance.
Since Mal’akh crossed the Anacostia River in Maryland, this individual could truly feel himself going closer to Katherine, pulled forward by destiny’s gravity. We am becoming called to a second process tonight… one particular I had certainly not imagined. You get, when Philip Solomon informed the last of his secrets, Mal’akh experienced learned in the existence of any secret lab in which Katherine Solomon acquired performed miracles, staggering advancements that Mal’akh realized could change the universe if they were ever made noted.
Her function will unveil the true mother nature of all items.
For centuries the “brightest minds” on earth experienced ignored the ancient sciences, mocking all of them as ignorant superstitions, arming themselves rather with smug skepticism and dazzling new technologies, tools that led them just further from the fact. Every generation’s breakthroughs happen to be proven fake by the up coming generation’s technology. And so completely gone through time. The more person learned, a lot more he understood he did not know.
To get millennia, the human race had wandered in the darkness… but now, since had been prophesied, there was a big change coming. Following hurtling blindly through history, mankind acquired reached a crossroads. This kind of moment have been predicted sometime ago, prophesied by ancient text messaging, by the primeval calendars, as well as by the celebrities themselves. The date was specific, its arrival impending. It would be preceded by a amazing explosion of knowledge… a expensive of clarity to illuminate the darkness and offer mankind a final chance to veer away from the abyss and take the course of knowledge.
I have arrive to imprecise the light, Mal’akh thought. This can be my function.
Fate experienced linked him to Peter and Katherine Solomon. The breakthroughs Katherine Solomon acquired made within the SMSC would risk starting floodgates of new thinking, beginning a new Renaissance. Katherine’s revelations, if made public, would turn into a catalyst that would inspire mankind to rediscover the knowledge he had lost, leaving you him beyond all creativity.
Katherine’s destiny is to light this torch.
Mine is usually to extinguish that.
CHAPTER 12-15
In total darkness, Katherine Solomon groped for the outer door of her lab. Locating it, the girl heaved wide open the lead-lined door and hurried in the small entry room. The journey over the void had taken only ninety just a few seconds, and yet her heart was pounding wildly. After 36 months, you’d think I’d be applied to that. Katherine always sensed relieved to flee the blackness of Pod 5 and step into this clean, well-lit space.
The “Cube” was obviously a massive windowless box. Just about every inch in the interior surfaces and roof was covered with a stiff mesh of titanium-coated business lead fiber, supplying the impression of a big cage constructed inside a bare cement enclosure. Partitioning of frosted Plexiglas separated the space in to different compartments, a laboratory, a control room, a mechanical area, a bathroom, and a small study library.
Katherine strode quickly into the primary lab. The bright and sterile work area glistened with advanced quantitative equipment: combined electro encephalographs, a femtosecond comb, a magneto-optical capture, and quantum-indeterminate electronic noise REGs, basically known as Random Event Generator.
Despite Noetic Science’s usage of cutting-edge technologies, the discoveries themselves had been far more magical than the frosty, high-tech machines that were generating them. The stuff of magic and myth was fast becoming actuality as the shocking fresh data added in, everything supporting the fundamental ideology of Noetic Science, the untapped potential with the human mind.
The overall thesis was straightforward: We have barely scratched the surface of your mental and spiritual features.
Experiments in facilities just like the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) in California plus the Princeton Architectural Anomalies Analysis Lab (PEAR) had flatly proven that human believed, if correctly focused, had the ability to affect and change physical mass. Their very own experiments were no “spoon-bending” parlor methods, but rather extremely controlled questions that all made the same amazing result: the thoughts actually interacted with the physical universe, whether or not we all knew it, effecting alter all the way right down to the subatomic realm.
Brain over matter.
In 2001, in the several hours following the horrifying events of September eleven, the field of Noetic Science made a segment leap forward. 4 scientists discovered that as the frightened universe came together and focused in shared grief on this single tragedy, the outputs of thirty-seven distinct Random Event Generators around the world suddenly became significantly less randomly. Somehow, the oneness of this shared knowledge, the coalescing of an incredible number of minds, acquired affected the randomizing function of these devices, organizing all their outputs and bringing purchase from turmoil.
The surprising discovery, it seemed, paralleled the ancient spiritual belief in a “cosmic consciousness”, a vast coalescing of human goal that was actually capable of interacting with physical matter. Just lately, studies in mass meditation and plea had created similar results in Random Function Generators, fueling the claim that human awareness, as Noetic author Lynne McTaggart described it, was obviously a substance outside of the confines from the body… a highly ordered strength capable of changing the physical world. Katherine had been interested in McTaggart’s publication The Purpose Experiment, and her global, Web-based study, theintentionexperiment. com, aimed at finding how man intention can affect the globe. A handful of additional progressive texts had as well piqued Katherine’s interest.
Out of this foundation, Katherine Solomon’s analysis had high forward, demonstrating that “focused thought” may affect virtually anything, the expansion rate of plants, the direction that fish swam in a dish, the manner through which cells divided in a petri dish, the synchronization of separately computerized systems, plus the chemical reactions in one’s very own body. However, crystalline framework of a recently forming sound was rendered mutable by one’s head, Katherine got created attractively symmetrical ice cubes crystals by simply sending caring thoughts to a glass of water as it froze. Amazingly, the converse was likewise true: when she sent negative, wrecking thoughts for the water, ice crystals stopped in disorderly, fractured varieties.
Human believed can literally transform the physical community.
As Katherine’s experiments grew bolder, her results started to be more incredible. Her work in this lab had confirmed beyond the shadow of a doubt that “mind above matter” was not just some New Age self-help mantra. The mind acquired the ability to get a new state of matter alone, and, more important, the mind acquired the power to encourage the physical universe to move in a specific direction.
We are the masters of the own whole world.
At the subatomic level, Katherine had displayed that particles themselves arrived and out of presence based exclusively on her goal to observe these people. In a sense, her desire to see a particle… manifested that compound. Heisenberg experienced hinted with this reality years ago, and now it had always be come a fundamental principle of Noetic Research. In the words and phrases of Lynne McTaggart: “Living consciousness in some way is the influence that transforms the possibility of something into some thing real. One of the most essential component in creating our whole world is the intelligence that observes it. “
The most astonishing aspect of Katherine’s work, however , had been the realization that the mind’s capacity to affect the physical world could possibly be augmented through practice. Intention was a discovered skill. Like meditation, taking the true power of “thought” essential practice. Essential… some people were born more skilled by it than others. And throughout record, there had been those handful of who had become true professionals.
This is the absent link among modern science and old mysticism.
Katherine had learned this by her close friend, Peter, and today, as her thoughts switched back to him, she felt a deepening concern. The girl walked for the lab’s study library and peered in. Empty.
The library was obviously a small studying room, two Morris chair, a solid wood table, two floor lamps, and a wall structure of mahogany bookshelves that held some five hundred books. Katherine and Peter experienced pooled their exclusive texts below, writings on everything from compound physics to ancient mysticism. Their collection had grown into a great eclectic fusion of new and old… of cutting-edge and historical. Most of Katherine’s ebooks bore headings like Quantum Consciousness, The brand new Physics, and Principles of Neural Technology. Her brother’s bore older, more esoteric titles just like the Kybalion, the Zohar, The Dancing Wu Li Professionals, and a translation in the Sumerian tablets from the Uk Museum.
“The key to the scientific foreseeable future, ” her brother frequently said, “is hidden in our past. inch A lifelong scholar of the past, science, and mysticism, Peter had been the first to encourage Katherine to boost her university research education with an understanding of early Hermetic philosophy. She had been simply nineteen years of age when Peter sparked her interest in the hyperlink between modern day science and ancient mysticism.
“So show me, Kate, inch her close friend had asked while the girl was residence on vacation during her sophomore year for Yale. “What are Elis reading today in theoretical physics? inches
Katherine acquired stood in her family’s book-filled selection and recited her demanding reading list.
“Impressive, inches her brother replied. “Einstein, Bohr, and Hawking happen to be modern geniuses. But are you reading anything at all older? inch
Katherine scraped her head. “You indicate like… Newton? “
He smiled. “Keep going. inches At twenty-seven, Peter experienced already made a term for him self in the academics world, and he and Katherine experienced grown to have this kind of playful intellectual sparring.
Older than Newton? Katherine’s head now stuffed with distant labels like Ptolemy, Pythagoras, and Hermes Trismegistus. Nobody scans that stuff anymore.
Her brother happened to run a finger down the very long shelf of cracked household leather bindings and old dirty tomes. “The scientific perception of the ancients was unbelievable… modern physics is only at this point beginning to comprehend it all. “
“Peter, ” she stated, “you already told me that the Egyptians recognized levers and pulleys a long time before Newton, and the early alchemists did work on a par with modern hormone balance, but what exactly? Today’s physics deals with ideas that would had been unimaginable to the ancients. “
“Like what? “
“Well… like entanglement theory, for one! ” Subatomic research got now proven categorically that most matter was interconnected… entangled in a single specific mesh… a type of universal oneness. “You’re sharing with me the ancients sitting around speaking about entanglement theory? “
“Absolutely! ” Peter said, driving his long, dark bangs out of his eye. “Entanglement just visited the main of primeval beliefs. The names happen to be as aged as history itself… Dharmakaya, Tao, Brahman. In fact , man’s oldest spiritual quest was going to perceive his own entanglement, to feeling his own interconnection with all things. This individual has always wanted to become `one’ with the world… to achieve the express of `at-one-ment. ‘ inches Her sibling raised his eyebrows. “To this day, Jews and Christian believers still target `atonement’… though most of us have forgotten it is actually `at- one-ment’ we are going to seeking. inch
Katherine sighed, having ignored how hard it absolutely was to argue with a man so well versed of all time. “Okay, nevertheless you’re discussing in generalities. I’m chatting specific physics. “
“Then be specific. ” His keen eyes challenged her now.
“Okay, how about something as simple while polarity, the positive/negative equilibrium of the subatomic realm. Certainly, the ancients didn’t underst, “
“Hold on! inches Her buddy pulled straight down a large messy text, which he fallen loudly for the library stand. “Modern polarity is simply the `dual world’ referred to by Krishna here in the Bhagavad Gita over two thousand years back. A dozen various other books in here, such as Kybalion, discuss binary devices and the opposition forces in nature. “
Katherine was skeptical. “Okay, but since we speak about modern discoveries in subatomics, the Heisenberg uncertainty theory, for example, “
“Then we must seem here, inch Peter explained, striding down his very long bookshelf and pulling out one other text. “The sacred Indio Vendantic scriptures known as the Upanishads. ” This individual dropped the tome heavily on the first. “Heisenberg and Schrodinger studied this text and acknowledged it with helping these people formulate a selection of their theories. inch
The showdown continued for several minutes, and the collection of dusty books for the desk grew taller and taller. Finally Katherine plonked up her hands in frustration. “Okay! You produced your stage, but I would like to study cutting-edge theoretical physics. The future of scientific research! I really doubt Krishna or Vyasa acquired much to say about superstring theory and multidimensional cosmological types. “
“You’re right. They didn’t. inch Her brother paused, a smile crossing his lips. “If you’re discussing superstring theory… ” He wandered over to the bookshelf yet again. “Then you’re speaking this book below. ” This individual heaved away a huge leather-bound publication and dropped it having a crash on the office. “Thirteenth-century translation of the first medieval Aramaic. “
“Superstring theory inside the thirteenth hundred years?! ” Katherine wasn’t obtaining it. “Come on! inches
Superstring theory was a brand-new cosmological unit. Based on the latest scientific observations, it advised the multidimensional universe was made up not really of three… but rather of ten sizes, which every interacted just like vibrating strings, similar to resonating violin strings.
Katherine continued to wait as her brother heaved open the book, ran through the ornately printed table of contents, and then flipped to a spot near the start of the book. “Read this. ” He indicated to a pale page of text and diagrams.
Dutifully, Katherine studied the webpage. The translation was old-fashioned and very hard to read, but to her ful amazement, the written text and sketches clearly discussed the exact same galaxy heralded by modern superstring theory, a ten-dimensional world of resonating strings. Because she continuing reading, your woman suddenly gasped and recoiled. “My God, it even describes just how six of the dimensions will be entangled and act as one?! ” The lady took a frightened step backward. “What is this book?! “
Her brother grinned. “Something I’m hoping you’ll read eventually. ” This individual flipped to the title webpage, where a great ornately printed plate lose interest three words.
The Complete Zohar.
Although Katherine had under no circumstances read the Zohar, she realized it was the basic text of early Legislation mysticism, when believed therefore potent it turned out reserved simply for the most erudite rabbis.
Katherine eyed the book. “You’re saying the early mystics knew their whole world had eight dimensions? inch
“Absolutely. inch He motioned to the page’s illustration of ten connected circles known as Sephiroth. “Obviously, the nombre is clever, but the physics is very advanced. “
Katherine didn’t know how to respond. “But… then why don’t more persons study this? “
Her brother smiled. “They will certainly. “
“I don’t understand. “
“Katherine, we have been born in to wonderful occasions. A change is coming. Individuals are poised on the tolerance of a modern age when they will begin turning all their eyes returning to nature and to the old ways… back to the ideas in books just like the Zohar and also other ancient text messaging from around the globe. Powerful real truth has its own gravity and eventually draws people returning to it. There will be a day when ever modern technology begins in earnest to examine the knowledge of the ancients… that will be the afternoon that mankind begins to find answers for the big concerns that even now elude him. “
That night, Katherine desperately began reading her brother’s ancient text messages and quickly came to understand that he was proper. The ancients possessed deep scientific wisdom. Today’s technology was not a great deal making “discoveries” as it was making “rediscoveries. inch Mankind, this seemed, got once grasped the true mother nature of the whole world… but got let go… and forgotten.
Modern day physics will help us bear in mind! This pursuit had become Katherine’s mission in life, to work with advanced science to rediscover the lost wisdom from the ancients. It was more than academic thrill that resulted in her determined. Beneath all this was her conviction the world needed this understanding… now these days. At the rear of the lab, Katherine found her brother’s white lab coat hanging on its catch along with her personal. Reflexively, your woman pulled out her phone to check on for communications. Nothing. A voice echoed again in her recollection. That which your brother feels is concealed D. C…. it can be located. Sometimes a legend that endures for hundreds of years… endures for the reason.
“No, ” Katherine said aloud. “It won’t be able to possibly be true. “
Sometimes a legend was just that, a legend.