The Lost Symbol

EMPLOYEE DISCUSSION BOARD: KRYPTOS

COMPRESSED STORAGE: THREAD #2456282.5

Nola found herself looking at a series of postings that had been compressed into a single page for more efficient storage.

«Your keyword document,» Rick said, «is some cipher-punks rambling about Kryptos.»

Nola scanned down the document until she spotted a sentence containing a familiar set of keywords.

Jim, the sculpture says it was transmitted to a secret location UNDERGROUND where theinfo was hidden.

«This text is from the director’s online Kryptos forum,» Rick explained. «The forum’s been going for years. There are literally thousands of postings. I’m not surprised one of them happened to contain all the keywords.»

Nola kept scanning down until she spotted another posting containing keywords.

Even though Mark said the code’s lat/long headings point somewhere in WASHINGTON, D.C., the coordinates he used were off by one degree-Kryptos basically points back to itself.

Parrish walked over to the statue and ran his palm across the cryptic sea of letters. «A lot of this code has yet to be deciphered, and there are plenty of people who think the message might actually relate to ancient Masonic secrets.»

Nola now recalled murmurs of a Masonic/Kryptos link, but she tended to ignore the lunatic fringe. Then again, looking around at the various pieces of the sculpture arranged around the plaza, she realized that it was a code in pieces — a symbolon — just like the Masonic Pyramid.

Odd.

For a moment, Nola could almost see Kryptos as a modern Masonic Pyramid — a code in many pieces, made of different materials, each playing a role. «Do you think there’s any way Kryptos and the Masonic Pyramid might be hiding the same secret?»

«Who knows?» Parrish shot Kryptos a frustrated look. «I doubt we’ll ever know the whole message. That is, unless someone can convince the director to unlock his safe and sneak a peek at the solution.» nola nodded. it was all coming back to her now. when Kryptos was installed, it arrived with a sealed envelope containing a complete decryption of the sculpture’s codes. The sealed solution was entrusted to then — CIA director William Webster, who locked it in his office safe. The document was allegedly still there, having been transferred from director to director over the years.

Strangely, Nola’s thoughts of William Webster sparked her memory, bringing back yet another portion of Kryptos ’s deciphered text:

IT’S BURIED OUT THERE SOMEWHERE.

WHO KNOWS THE EXACT LOCATION?

ONLY WW.

Although nobody knew exactly what was buried out there, most people believed the WW was a reference to William Webster. Nola had heard whispers once that it referred in fact to a man named William Whiston — a Royal Society theologian — although she had never bothered to give it much thought.

Rick was talking again. «I’ve got to admit, I’m not really into artists, but I think this guy Sanborn’s a serious genius. I was just looking online at his Cyrillic Projector project? It shines giant Russian letters from a KGB document on mind control. Freaky.»

Nola was no longer listening. She was examining the paper, where she had found the third key phrase in another posting.

Right, that whole section is verbatim from some famous archaeologist’s diary, telling about the moment he dug down and uncovered an ANCIENT PORTAL that led to the tomb of Tutankhamen.

The archaeologist who was quoted on Kryptos, Nola knew, was in fact famed Egyptologist Howard Carter. The next posting referenced him by name.

I just skimmed the rest of Carter’s field notes online, and it sounds like he found a clay tablet warning the PYRAMID holds dangerous consequences for anyone who disturbs the peace of the pharaoh. A curse! Should we be worried?:) nola scowled. «rick, for god’s sake, this idiot’s pyramid reference isn’t even right. tutankhamen wasn’t buried in a pyramid. He was buried in the Valley of the Kings. Don’t cryptologists watch the Discovery Channel?»

Parrish shrugged. «Techies.»

Nola now saw the final key phrase.

Guys, you know I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but Jim and Dave had better decipher this ENGRAVED SYMBOLON to unveil its final secret before the world ends in 2012. . Ciao.

«Anyhow,» Parrish said, «I figured you’d want to know about the Kryptos forum before you accused the CIA director of harboring classified documentation about an ancient Masonic legend. Somehow, I doubt a man as powerful as the CIA director has time for that sort of thing.»

Nola pictured the Masonic video and its images of all the influential men participating in an ancient rite. If Rick had any idea. .

In the end, she knew, whatever Kryptos ultimately revealed, the message definitely had mystical undertones. She gazed up at the gleaming piece of art — a three-dimensional code standing silently at the heart of one of the nation’s premier intelligence agencies — and she wondered if it would ever give up its final secret.

As she and Rick headed back inside, Nola had to smile.

It’s buried out there somewhere.

CHAPTER 128

This is crazy.

Blindfolded, Robert Langdon could see nothing as the Escalade sped southward along the deserted streets. On the seat beside him, Peter Solomon remained silent.

Where is he taking me?

Langdon’s curiosity was a mix of intrigue and apprehension, his imagination in overdrive as it tried desperately to put the pieces together. Peter had not wavered from his claim. The Lost Word? Buried at the bottom of a staircase that’s covered by a massive, engraved stone? It all seemed impossible.

The stone’s alleged engraving was still lodged in Langdon’s memory. . and yet the seven symbols, as far as he could tell, made no sense together at all.

The Stonemason’s Square: the symbol of honesty and being «true.»

The letters Au: the scientific abbreviation for the element gold.

The Sigma: the Greek letter S, the mathematical symbol for the sum of all parts.

The Pyramid: the Egyptian symbol of man reaching heavenward.

The Delta: the Greek letter D, the mathematical symbol for change.

Mercury: as depicted by its most ancient alchemical symbol.

The Ouroboros: the symbol of wholeness and at-one-ment.

Solomon still insisted these seven symbols were a «message.» But if this was true, then it was a message Langdon had no idea how to read.

The Escalade slowed suddenly and turned sharply right, onto a different surface, as if into a driveway or access road. Langdon perked up, listening intently for clues as to their whereabouts. they’d been driving for less