Angels & Demons

The Ring of the Fisherman,

which bears the official papal seal,

must be destroyed immediately following the pope's death.

The papal apartment is then sealed

for nine days of mourning,

a period known as sede vacante:

The time of the empty throne.

Over the last several days

Catholic leaders from every corner of the world

have flocked to Rome, shocked by the sudden death

of this progressive and beloved pope.

Today, in St. Peter's Square,

the faithful pray that there is among them

another leader who can unite their Church,

which has been so riven by change and dissent

in recent years.

As the body of the pontiff passes by,

we see prayers are being offered by the preferiti,

favorites among those being considered

to succeed him as the Vicar of Christ.

At the end of the mourning period,

the College of Cardinals will lock itself

behind the doors of the Sistine Chapel for conclave,

the process by which they will choose a new leader

for the world's one billion Catholics

who now find their Church at a crossroads,

its ancient traditions threatened by a modern world.

Attention, control group going online

for LHC beam event.

We are powering up.

Attention, Category One personnel:

Interlock areas are now restricted.

ATLAS underground is now in restricted mode.

Vittoria, Vittoria.

Protons are being loaded.

:

: Please.

Powering on LHC magnets.

Ion source stage in four, three, two....

We are powering up. Here we go.

Start the collision sequence.

:

:

: Beam-on-beam stability is good. Take your places, people.

ATLAS at CMS, check.

:

We have got 10 to the 13th protons per bunch.

Let's hope the heavy ion guys didn't mess up.

Beams at relativistic velocities.

Luminosity monitors operational.

Beamline has no restrictions.

Enable beam capture.

Accelerating the beam.

Stage one, line up.

Magnets to full field.

Load functions to magnets.

Last P is still too high.

Yeah, we got luminosity

of 10 to 34.

Inject particle beams.

Filling the LHC.

:

Particles in transition.

Collisions are fixed and running.

LHC injecting protons, beam one.

Lock the feedback systems.

Particles at 99 percent the speed of light.

Colliding stable beams.

Enact injection kicker.

We have a signal on the luminosity monitors.

We have events.

Protons are moving.

That's a crate of beer on the way.

Silvano.

Silvano.

Oh, God.

Help!

A swim might help your jet lag.

I beg your pardon?

You got bags under your eyes.

It's 5 in the morning.

And you're from the Vatican.

Crossed keys under the triregnum.

It's a papal symbol.

Claudio Vincenzi, Corpo della Gendarmeria Vaticano.

Vatican police?

I was expecting another letter.

My request for access to your archives.

Shouldn't you be in Rome?

A kind of busy time for you guys, isn't it?

In fact, I was in New York, detailed to the U.N.

I receive a phone call in the middle of the night:

"Find Professor Robert Langdon.

A matter of great urgency."

They said to show you this.

The Illuminati? They disappeared hundreds of years ago.

Did they? Look at that again.

It's an ambigram.

It's the same image forward and backward.

Now, that's common for a symbol,

like a yin and yang or a swastika,

but that's a word.

That Illuminati ambigramatic symbol

has been considered a myth for 400 years.

Supposedly, in the 16th century,

some artist created it as a tribute

to Galileo's love of symmetry.

It was only gonna be revealed

when the Illuminati had amassed enough power

to resurface and carry out their final goal.

I wrote a book about it.

Which is why you're here.

The Art of the Illuminati by Robert Langdon.

Part One.

Haven't been able to finish Part Two

because I'm not allowed access to your archives.

It's remarkable. Singular.

Someone is trying to make you believe

the Illuminati themselves have returned to Rome.

Right after the death of a pope.

Four cardinals were kidnapped from their quarters

inside the Vatican

sometime between 3 and 5 a.m. this morning.

Shortly afterward,

that document was sent to the Office of the Swiss Guard,

along with the threat

the cardinals will be publicly executed

one per hour, beginning at 8 p.m. tonight in Rome.

Conclave.

Was to begin today.

We've postponed its start for a few hours,

a story of illness.

There are no suspicions, yet.

What do you want from me?

These criminals who sent this ambigram,

meant it as a taunt, a provocation.

But Captain Olivetti think

if you can use it to learn their identity,

perhaps we can stop this abomination.

Why me?

Your expertise.

Your erudition.

Your recent involvement

with certain Church, shall we say...

mysteries.

I wasn't under the impression

that episode had endeared me to the Vatican.

Oh, it didn't.

But it did make you--

What's the word? Forma-- Formidabile.

Formidable.

A Vatican jet is standing by 20 minutes from here.

Will you come with me?

Professore Langdon, you've spent your life

searching for symbols like the one you now hold in your hand.

How much longer are we going to pretend

you have not already decided to come?

If the Illuminati have returned

and are in Rome, we will hunt them down

and kill them.

The Illuminati did not become violent

until the 17th century.

Their name means "the enlightened ones."

They were physicists and mathematicians, astronomers.

They were concerned with the Church's inaccurate teaching,

and they were dedicated to scientific truth.

But the Vatican didn't like that.

So the Church began to-- How did you say it?

Oh, "hunt them down and kill them."

Drove them underground.

Into a secret society.

Professor Langdon.

Yes.

Welcome to Vatican City.

Ernesto Olivetti,

inspector general of the Vatican police force.

My pleasure.

This way, please.

We'll meet in the headquarters of the Swiss Guard.

I thought you were Swiss Guard.

No, la Gendarmeria.