As he ran his arthritic hands across the pyramid's smooth surfaces, he could scarcely believe what he was feeling. I never imagined I would live to witness this moment. For generations, the pieces of the symbolon map had been kept safely apart from one another. Now they were united at last. Galloway wondered if this was the foretold time.
Strangely, fate had selected two non-Masons to assemble the pyramid. Somehow, this seemed fitting. The Mysteries are moving out of the inner circles . . . out of darkness . . . into the light.
"Professor," he said, turning his head in the direction of Langdon's breathing. "Did Peter tell you why he wanted you to watch over the little package?"
"He said powerful people wanted to steal it from him," Langdon replied.
The dean nodded. "Yes, Peter told me the same thing."
"He did?" Katherine said suddenly on his left. "You and my brother spoke about this pyramid?"
"Of course," Galloway said. "Your brother and I have spoken on many things. I was once the Worshipful Master at the House of the Temple, and he comes to me for guidance at times. It was about a year ago that he came to me, deeply troubled. He sat exactly where you are now, and he asked me if I believed in supernatural premonitions."
"Premonitions?" Katherine sounded concerned. "You mean like . . . visions?"
"Not exactly. It was more visceral. Peter said he was feeling the growing presence of a dark force in his life. He sensed something was watching him . . . waiting . . . intending to do him great harm."
"Obviously he was right," Katherine said, "considering that the same man who killed our mother and Peter's son had come to Washington and become one of Peter's own Masonic brothers."
"True," Langdon said, "but it doesn't explain the involvement of the CIA."
Galloway was not so sure. "Men in power are always interested in greater power."
"But . . . the CIA?" Langdon challenged. "And mystical secrets? Something doesn't add up."
"Sure it does," Katherine said. "The CIA thrives on technological advancement and has always experimented with the mystical sciences--ESP, remote viewing, sensory deprivation, pharmacologically induced highly mentalized states. It's all the same thing--tapping the unseen potential of the human mind. If there's one thing I've learned from Peter, it's this: Science and mysticism are very closely related, distinguishable only by their approaches. They have identical goals . . . but different methods."
"Peter tells me," Galloway said, "that your field of study is a kind of modern mystical science?"
"Noetics," Katherine said, nodding. "And it's proving man has powers unlike anything we can imagine." She motioned to a stained-glass window depicting the familiar image of the "Luminous Jesus," that of Christ with rays of light flowing from his head and hands. "In fact, I just used a supercooled charge-coupled device to photograph the hands of a faith healer at work. The photos looked a lot like the image of Jesus in your stained-glass window . . . streams of energy pouring through the healer's fingertips."
The well-trained mind, Galloway thought, hiding a smile. How do you think Jesus healed the sick?
"I realize," Katherine said, "that modern medicine ridicules healers and shamans, but I saw this with my own eyes. My CCD cameras clearly photographed this man transmitting a massive energy field from his fingertips . . . and literally changing the cellular makeup of his patient. If that's not godlike power, then I don't know what is."
Dean Galloway let himself smile. Katherine had the same fiery passion as her brother. "Peter once compared Noetic Scientists to the early explorers who were mocked for embracing the heretical notion of a spherical earth. Almost overnight, these explorers went from fools to heroes, discovering uncharted worlds and expanding the horizons of everyone on the planet. Peter thinks you will do this as well. He has very high hopes for your work. After all, every great philosophical shift in history began with a single bold idea."
Galloway knew, of course, that one needn't go to a lab to witness proof of this bold new idea, this proposal of man's untapped potential. This very cathedral held healing prayer circles for the sick, and repeatedly had witnessed truly miraculous results, medically documented physical transformations. The question was not whether God had imbued man with great powers . . . but rather how we liberate those powers.
The old dean placed his hands reverently around the sides of the Masonic Pyramid and spoke very quietly. "My friends, I do not know exactly where this pyramid points . . . but I do know this. There is a great spiritual treasure buried out there somewhere . . . a treasure that has waited patiently in darkness for generations. I believe it is a catalyst that has the power to transform this world." He now touched the golden tip of the capstone. "And now that this pyramid is assembled . . . the time is fast approaching. And why shouldn't it? The promise of a great transformational enlightenment has been prophesied forever."
"Father," Langdon said, his tone challenging, "we're all familiar with the Revelation of Saint John and the literal meaning of the Apocalypse, but biblical prophecy hardly seems--"
"Oh, heavens, the Book of Revelation is a mess!" the dean said. "Nobody knows how to read that. I'm talking about clear minds writing in clear language--the predictions of Saint Augustine, Sir Francis Bacon, Newton, Einstein, the list goes on and on, all anticipating a transformative moment of enlightenment. Even Jesus himself said, `Nothing is hidden that will not be made known, nor secret that will not come to light.'"
"It's a safe prediction to make," Langdon said. "Knowledge grows exponentially. The more we know, the greater our ability to learn, and the faster we expand our knowledge base."
"Yes," Katherine added. "We see this in science all the time. Each new technology we invent becomes a tool with which to invent new technologies . . . and it snowballs. That's why science has advanced more in the last five years than in the previous five thousand. Exponential growth. Mathematically, as time passes, the exponential curve of progress becomes almost vertical, and new development occurs incredibly fast."
Silence fell in the dean's office, and Galloway sensed that his two guests still had no idea how this pyramid could possibly help them reveal anything further. That is why fate brought you to me, he thought. I have a role to play.
For many years, the Reverend Colin Galloway, along with his Masonic brothers, had played the role of gatekeeper. Now it was all changing.
I am no longer a gatekeeper . . . I am a guide.
"Professor Langdon?" Galloway said, reaching out across his desk. "Take my hand if you will." Robert Langdon felt uncertain as he stared across at Dean Galloway's outstretched palm.
Are we going to pray?
Politely, Langdon reached out and placed his right hand in the dean's withered hand. The old man grasped it firmly but did not begin to pray. Instead, he found Langdon's index finger and guided it downward into the stone box that had once housed the golden capstone.
"Your eyes have blinded you," the dean said. "If you saw with your fingertips as I do, you would realize this box has something left to teach you."
Dutifully, Langdon worked his fingertip around the inside of the box, but he felt nothing. The inside was perfectly smooth.
"Keep looking," Galloway prompted.
Finally, Langdon's fingertip felt something--a tiny raised circle--a minuscule dot in the center of the base of the box. He removed his hand and peered inside. The little circle was virtually invisible to the naked eye. What is that?