Sullivan Saga 2: Sullivan's Wrath Read Online Free Page A

prayers.
    He quickly showered then dressed and made his way down to the dining room. His monastic brothers were gathering around the table as he entered.
    Those brothers who were on meal duty silently brought in the food and placed the dishes in the center of the table. After they had taken their seats, the leader of the community, Father Curtis, led them in the Lord’s Prayer of thanksgiving. “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.”
    “Amen,” repeated Peter with his brothers.
    As he silently took his meal, Peter glanced over the faces around him. He wanted to tell someone about his vision but was afraid they would dismiss it. He himself could not be sure that he had actually seen something, that it had not been the result of his imagination. He knew the brain could play such tricks.
    His eyes settled on Brother Mark. Mark was a relative newcomer to the monastery and had been there only six months, but already Peter felt close to him. They had both grown up in Milwaukee and shared a passion for chess. Peter decided that he would speak to Brother Mark over their evening game of chess and see what he thought of the vision.
    Peter realized that he had been eating slowly and that the other brothers were waiting for him to finish. He hurriedly finished his scrambled eggs then set his fork down on his plate.
    Father Curtis smiled. He led them in another prayer then those assigned to meal duty collected the plates and carried them to the kitchen.
    Peter glanced at the clock over the door to the dining room. Today was his once-monthly—aside from Sundays—day of rest. The intent was for him to spend the working hours in silent meditation or study.
    Peter left the dining room and went straight for the library. He always enjoyed the smell of the ancient books lining the shelves. There were a hundred Bibles, in different languages and translations, as well as row upon row of teachings from all of the major Christian denominations and histories of church movements and individuals who’d had a profound impact on Christianity. There was also a section containing the holy books of most of the other world religions.
    Peter walked past all these and made his way to the back of the library. He sat down in front of a screen; it was much easier to find what he was looking for on the computer rather than searching through those fragile and—in some cases—valuable volumes.
    The computers in the monastery library had access to the Stellar Assembly Database, that collection of files that contained nearly the entire accumulated knowledge of humanity, but Peter would need special permission to access it. The files he had free access to had been collected and approved of by the founders of the Cenobian community. Occasionally, Father Curtis would go through the most recent additions to the Stellar Assembly Database and add those files that he felt were acceptable and relevant. But Peter didn’t have any doubt that what he was looking for would be accessible.
    He typed the word “visions” into the search function—the computers in the library were not enabled with voice recognition so as to not disturb others who were engaged in study—and glanced over the results. Throughout the history of Christianity, visions had been common. The Bible itself was filled with such accounts.
    Peter read through discussions of Ezekiel’s visions, the apocalyptic visions of Daniel, Constantine’s vision of the Chi-Rho during the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. This was not what he was looking for.
    Peter put his hands back on the keyboard and typed in “visions of Christ.” Many of the early Catholic saints, he read, had reported