Inferno

On the train to Venice, Langdon attempts to glean more information from the past few days out of Dr. Ferris, but he and Sienna both concur that dislodging too many forgotten memories at once could incapacitate him, and they need his Dante knowledge. Langdon puts his mind to work deciphering the riddle poem.

On the Mendacium, Knowlton is unexpectedly visited in his cubicle by the provost, who demands to see Zobrist’s tape.

Langdon, Sienna, and Dr. Ferris walk through as much of the riddle poem as they can, including that “mouseion” is likely an archaic translation of “museum,” but they are unable to solve the entire riddle. The trio decides to visit St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, as its prominence makes it appear most likely to offer real answers.

On the Mendacium, Knowlton and the provost view Zobrist’s video, and the provost decides to reach out to a former client, FS-2080, who referred Zobrist to the Consortium. Knowlton considers this a drastic step that is outside the provost’s usual protocols.

On the train, Dr. Ferris’s phone rings, implying that he is FS-2080.

Dr. Ferris finishes his call with the provost, realizing that “my friends are now my enemies” (285). He studies a black spot on his chest that he notices is growing, implying that he is not suffering from dermatitis. He remarks to himself that the next few hours will be critical, but also reassures himself that deceiving people is what he has done for years.

Upon Dr. Ferris’s return to the cabin, Sienna silently takes notice of his sickly condition and asks to use his phone, but he lies and claims the battery is dead.

Meanwhile, after viewing Zobrist’s video, the provost tells Knowlton to reach out to Dr. Sinskey and bring her aboard the Mendacium so she can view the video for herself. Knowlton realizes that this is an even more drastic step.

The whole of this chapter is written from the perspective of FS-2080, and it continues to imply that the character in question is Dr. Ferris. FS-2080 recalls the first night they met Bertrand Zobrist, late in the scientist’s career when most of the world had abandoned him as a lunatic.

FS-2080 first heard Zobrist speak in a Chicago bar, during which he spoke of his deep commitment to Transhumanist philosophy. FS-2080 ended up flirting with Zobrist and following him up to his room, where FS-2080 had his first sexual experience with a man with the famous doctor.

In the present, FS-2080 mourns Zobrist, to whom they were a disciple, and recalls the week prior on the Badia tower, where “mine were the last eyes he ever saw” (289).

Dr. Sinskey and Brüder wait for Langdon at the airfield outside Florence, but Langdon is a no-show. Dr. Sinskey is suddenly contacted by the provost, who admits to being responsible for hiding Zobrist from her for the past year and asks her to come meet him on his ship. Sinskey and Brüder commandeer Langdon’s unused private jet, and as they make their way to the provost, Sinskey recalls more of her first meeting with Langdon.

She spoke with the professor about Zobrist’s attachment to Transhumanism and its philosophies, which entail an evolutionary progression of the human species away from the confines of biology. She and Langdon each agree that this philosophy runs dangerously close to eugenics. Sinskey also gave Langdon the Faraday pointer with the Map of Hell projection in the biometrically sealed tube, setting it to open with his fingerprint and stitching it into his jacket herself.

Langdon, Sienna, and Dr. Ferris hire a boat in Venice to take them to St. Mark’s Square, and Langdon recalls the story of St. Lucia, one of three women (the other two being the Virgin Mary and Beatrice Portinari) who helped Dante escape Hell in Inferno. In life, St. Lucia had plucked her own legendarily beautiful eyes out and gave them to a lustful suitor as a way of freeing herself from his sin but was later burned at the stake. When her bones wouldn’t burn, they became holy relics that are now spread across the world.

Langdon also realizes the symbolic importance of Venice in Zobrist’s plot, as it has been widely considered an historical entry point for the Black Death to spread into Europe.

The trio are navigated through the overcrowded waterways of Venice by a skilled captain named Maurizio, and Langdon ruminates on Venice’s resplendent history and its current struggle with overpopulation, much of which is related to tourism. The boat finally pulls up to St. Mark’s Square, which is packed to the brim with sightseers.

Brüder, Sinskey, and the soldiers make their way to the Mendacium, currently parked offshore from Venice, and meet with the provost, who Sinskey scolds for keeping Zobrist from her. The provost refuses to take any moral responsibility for his actions but still shows Zobrist’s video to her.

In the city, Dr. Ferris climbs out of Maurizio’s boat and spots the gunmetal gray of the Mendacium out at sea.