Section Fifteen

The three individuals went on to talk about antimatter and what it was. Kohler wondered how they managed to store the antimatter, for if antimatter and matter were to come into contact with each other there would be a very large explosion for the amount of antimatter present. Vittoria explained that her father had built a mechanism from her design for storing the antimatter in which ensured that it did not come into contact with matter.

Langdon asked what it would look like if the antimatter came into contact with matter, if there would just be a tiny puff of light or what would happen. At this comment, Vittoria began to take off one of the canisters containing the antimatter from its charging podium. As a result of this, Kohler shouted at her thinking that she was completely insane, and that it was too dangerous. Vittoria told him to relax, that each canister had a back up battery that lasted for 24 hours, and that it was completely safe. After explaining this, Vittoria put a specimen of antimatter in a safe area and showed the two men what an antimatter explosion looked like. They were shocked at what a large explosion had occured from such a miniscule sample of antimatter, and what huge damage it had the potential to do if in a larger dose.

After showing Kohler and Langdon the antimatter, Vittoria demanded to see her father. She had shown them their experiment, and now in return she wanted to see her fathers body. Kohler tried to sway her from this thought and asked her questions about why she and her father kept their project a secret, and if she was sure neither her, nor her father had told anyone about it. She assured him that they were the only two who knew about it.

Kohler asked Vittoria if anything were to be missing, what would it be? Vittoria snapped back with "I have no idea. Nobody came in here, everything up here looks fine." At this Kohler said "Up here?" questioningly. Vittoria told him that they were using the lower lab to store a specimen of antimatter. Kohler was outraged to find this out, and to hear that it was a larger specimen that could be extremely hazardous, an amount so large that it could demolish anything within a half-mile radius of it.

Kohler demanded she take him and Langdon to go and see this specimen, and they immediately headed toward the elevator. When the three of them reached the lower lab, they walked over to the entrance, but something was wrong. The retina scan, like the one on the above floor, was spattered with blood. Vittoria followed the path of blood from the retina scan to the floor, then jumped back in horror before Kohler could stop her. There, staring up at them was a bloody eyeball which was unmistakably the missing eyeball of Leonardo Vetra.