"Brown, Dan - Angels and Demons" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brown Dan)

particularly large plaque dominated the entry. Langdon slowed to read the engraved bronze as they passed.

ARS ELECTRONICA AWARD
For Cultural Innovation in the Digital Age
Awarded to Tim Berners Lee and CERN
for the invention of the
WORLDWIDE WEB

Well I'll be damned, Langdon thought, reading the text. This guy wasn't kidding. Langdon had always
thought of the Web as an American invention. Then again, his knowledge was limited to the site for his
own book and the occasional on-line exploration of the Louvre or El Prado on his old Macintosh.
"The Web," Kohler said, coughing again and wiping his mouth, "began here as a network of in-house
computer sites. It enabled scientists from different departments to share daily findings with one another. Of
course, the entire world is under the impression the Web is U.S. technology."
Langdon followed down the hall. "Why not set the record straight?"
Kohler shrugged, apparently disinterested. "A petty misconception over a petty technology. CERN is far
greater than a global connection of computers. Our scientists produce miracles almost daily."
Langdon gave Kohler a questioning look. "Miracles?" The word "miracle" was certainly not part of the
vocabulary around Harvard's Fairchild Science Building. Miracles were left for the School of Divinity.
"You sound skeptical," Kohler said. "I thought you were a religious symbologist. Do you not believe in
miracles?"
"I'm undecided on miracles," Langdon said. Particularly those that take place in science labs.
"Perhaps miracle is the wrong word. I was simply trying to speak your language."
"My language?" Langdon was suddenly uncomfortable. "Not to disappoint you, sir, but I study religious
symbology-I'm an academic, not a priest."
Kohler slowed suddenly and turned, his gaze softening a bit. "Of course. How simple of me. One does not
need to have cancer to analyze its symptoms."
Langdon had never heard it put quite that way.
As they moved down the hallway, Kohler gave an accepting nod. "I suspect you and I will understand each
other perfectly, Mr. Langdon."
Somehow Langdon doubted it.

As the pair hurried on, Langdon began to sense a deep rumbling up ahead. The noise got more and more
pronounced with every step, reverberating through the walls. It seemed to be coming from the end of the
hallway in front of them.
"What's that?" Langdon finally asked, having to yell. He felt like they were approaching an active volcano.
"Free Fall Tube," Kohler replied, his hollow voice cutting the air effortlessly. He offered no other
explanation.
Langdon didn't ask. He was exhausted, and Maximilian Kohler seemed disinterested in winning any
hospitality awards. Langdon reminded himself why he was here. Illuminati. He assumed somewhere in this
colossal facility was a body . . . a body branded with a symbol he had just flown 3,000 miles to see.
As they approached the end of the hall, the rumble became almost deafening, vibrating up through
Langdon's soles. They rounded the bend, and a viewing gallery appeared on the right. Four thick-paned
portals were embedded in a curved wall, like windows in a submarine. Langdon stopped and looked
through one of the holes.
Professor Robert Langdon had seen some strange things in his life, but this was the strangest. He blinked a
few times, wondering if he was hallucinating. He was staring into an enormous circular chamber. Inside the
chamber, floating as though weightless, were people. Three of them. One waved and did a somersault in
midair.
My God, he thought. I'm in the land of Oz.