Sneak (Swipe Series)

understanding.
    “Acheron,” he said. “Lamson needed the extra power for Acheron!”
    Peck nodded. “Bingo.”
    The two of them walked back from the control room into the main area filled with the Markless community.
    “There are many huddles in this space, Logan. Many people, each with fascinating stories of where they came from and how they got here.” Peck stopped and looked Logan in the eyes. “They all want to help you find your sister. We’re in this together. And check this out”—Peck pointed toward an area across the room— “That quadrant you see there? That’s a Markless school,” Peck said.
    “School?”
    “You bet. They’ve started their own.” Peck chuckled, looking down at his feet, hands resting behind his back. “I’ve insisted the Dust begin attending first thing. Rusty, Tyler, Eddie, Meg—they all begin tomorrow. Even Blake will be taking some classes here and there, part-time.”
    “I bet they were thrilled about that,” Logan said, shaking his head and feeling rather sorry for whoever would become Tyler and Eddie’s new teacher.
    And now Peck grinned. “When this thing with Lily is over . . . if we make it out alive . . . I’d like you to join that school too.”
    Logan laughed. “Really?” he said.
    “Really.
    “It’s a deal.” Logan nodded. And they shook on it.
    “I noticed the book you’re carrying in your pocket,” Peck said. “So I figure you’ll be interested in that area over there too.”
    “What is it?” Logan asked.
    “A church.”
    “A . . .”
    “Church.” Peck laughed. “Don’t look so surprised. You do realize there was a time when every community had one, right?”
    “I guess so . . . ,” Logan said.
    “I mean, not since the Inclusion, of course. ‘No god above Cylis’—that’s the whole point. But underground . . . underground is a different story.”
    “Isn’t that still kinda dangerous, though?” Logan asked, fingering the tattered old cover and the whisper-thin pages of the book in his pocket. “I mean, it’s one thing to have a Christian book lying around, but to actually get caught with a real, Christian church down here—”
    Peck’s laugher interrupted him. “ A Christian book? Logan, that’s not a Christian book you’re holding. That’s the Christian book. It’s the Bible —”
    “Well, I know it’s the—”
    “The entire religion is based on it! It’s all in there—the whole history of God and His promises to His followers.
    “There is a God, Logan—just one—and all of this is part of His plan. He loves us. He wants a lot better for us than this. And all of those promises are in the Bible. Promises you can depend on.” Peck’s face was growing animated now. “It seriously doesn’t get more Christian than that.”
    Logan laughed. “You’ve thought a lot about this.”
    “Oh, please—my life’s work is thinking about things DOME doesn’t want me thinking about. I’ve been reading that book for years! I’ll tell you all I know, and I bet there are Markless down here who know a lot more about it than me.”
    “So, what, then? Now that we’re here, we’re gonna start going to church? As if we’re not taking enough risks these days already?”
    Peck clapped Logan on the back. “Believe me, Logan. It’d be hard for you or me to be in more trouble with Lamson and Cylis than we already are. We might as well do what we want.”
    “I guess that’s true,” Logan said.
    “Just look around. It may not seem like it, but this space you’re seeing—it’s freedom . Concrete walls and all.” He nodded. “You can think, believe, and speak just as you choose.”
    “It’s a growing thing, then, isn’t it?” Logan said. “This Christian movement.”
    Peck frowned. “Look. Everyone has his own reason for going Markless. Plenty of people down here laugh at the Christians. But there’s a good bit of us who take this stuff very seriously. Just like they used to, pre-Unity.”
    Logan nodded. He was a little nervous, even now, just hearing these words—religion, church, God . . . he couldn’t remember a time when they weren’t taboo. But it was nice to see Peck so excited. And it was nice, finally, to feel part of a community again.
    “Then there’s the library, of course, along that wall,” Peck continued. “The barter market in the middle. Food, clothing— you name it, they got it.
    “There’s a jazz band, if you can believe it, over by the ventilation ducts.” Peck pointed.