Free The Distance Beacons by Richard Bowker Page A

don't think you're the type to enjoy our simple life of manual labor."
    "Perhaps you could convert me."
    "I'm sure I could. But right now I prefer to have you go away."
    "Why is that?"
    "Because it is better if the conversion comes from within."
    "How does that happen?"
    Dobler shrugged. "Stop riding in motor vehicles. Stop having friends with shotguns. And stop worrying about the Feds. Concentrate on what really matters. Then come back, and perhaps we can talk some more." He picked up his pen and started writing again. I hesitated for a moment, then left the balcony and went back inside the building.
    Marva was nowhere in sight. Time to do a little snooping, I decided. I started down the hallway, not sure what I should be looking for, and opened a door at random. I saw what appeared to be an empty classroom, with about a dozen small chairs and desks facing me. There were plants on the windowsill, and several child-like watercolors on the wall; a couple were dim likenesses of Flynn Dobler. I felt a pang of regret: my experiences of school had been few and unpleasant. On the wall next to me was a hand-lettered sign:
    Brother Flynn Says: Tomorrow Is Another Day!
    I guess you don't have to be original, if nobody is allowed to read books.
    I shut the door and continued down the hall. I heard some noise behind another door, and I opened it slowly. I couldn't be sure, but this room looked like some sort of chapel. Several people in the familiar robes and leather sandals sat on benches or knelt on the floor, their faces in their hands. At the front of the room was the same bent cross I had seen on top of the building; this one was surrounded by flowers. A couple of the people were muttering to themselves—praying for amnesia, perhaps?
    A hand pulled me back. "You can go anywhere else you like, Walter Sands, but you are not allowed in the meditation area unless you are one of us."
    It was Marva. She quietly shut the door. She didn't look distressed or angry at my snooping, but it was clear I wasn't going to see any more of the meditation area. "Sorry," I said. "Just curious."
    She nodded and led me back downstairs. I decided to find out if I could extract some information from her. I wasn't optimistic. "Been with the church long?" I asked.
    "All my life."
    That confused me. "But I thought Flynn Dobler said the church has only been going for seven years."
    She stopped and looked at me. "Before I came here, I wasn't alive," she replied simply.
    "Oh. Why does it mean that much to you?"
    "You've seen the world out there," she said. "By comparison, this is paradise. Don't you agree?"
    She had a point. "You may be right," I said. "Brother Flynn suggested I should purify myself before I can enter paradise."
    Marva nodded. "You'll be back," she said, with the certainty of the true believer.
    She stopped at the front door and watched as I walked over to the van, where Mickey was waiting nervously for me. "Can go?" he asked.
    "We can go."
    She was still watching as Mickey started the van and quickly headed down the dirt road toward the ruined highway.

 
     
     
    Chapter 7

     
    The sun was setting as we made our way slowly back down Route 2 toward Boston. It had been a long day.
    Mickey and I discussed the Church of the New Beginning as he drove. The very idea of the place appalled him. " Nothing from the old days?" he asked in disbelief. "No motors or anything?"
    For Mickey, a world without motors is a world without meaning. "I guess maybe if someone there invents a motor on his own, it'd be okay," I said. "If he could prove it wasn't something he remembered from before."
    "Weirdoes," Mickey muttered.
    I thought of Marva: By comparison, this is paradise . "They seem happy."
    "Well they shouldn't be."
    There didn't seem to be any response to that. I thought about Flynn Dobler. Henry was right: Dobler certainly seemed smart enough to pull off something against the president, and he certainly had the motivation. He hadn't taken the bait when I