Reckoners 01 - Steelheart

toward the chunk of metal; it was the remnant of a section of pipe. Now, apparently, I needed to
push
the vibrations away from me. Whatever that meant. The technology hooked right into my nerves using sensors inside the glove, interpreting electrical impulses from my brain. So Abraham had explained.
    Cody had said it was magic, and had told me not to ask any questions lest I “anger the wee daemons inside who make the gloves work and our coffee taste good.”
    I still hadn’t managed to make the tensors do anything, though I felt I was getting close. I had to remain focused, keep my hands steady, and
push
the vibrations out. Like blowing a ring of smoke, Abraham had said. Or like using your body warmth in a hug—without the arms. That had been Tia’s explanation. Everyone thought of it their own way, I guess.
    My hand started to shake more vigorously.
    “Steady,” Cody said. “Don’t lose control, lad.”
    I stiffened my muscles.
    “Whoa. Not too stiff,” Cody said. “Secure, strong, but calm. Like you’re caressing a beautiful woman, remember?”
    That made me think of Megan.
    I lost control, and a green wave of smoky energy burst from my hand and flew out in front of me. It missed the pipe completely, but vaporized the metal leg of the chair it sat on. Dust showered down and the chair went lopsided, dumping the pipe to the floor with a
clang
.
    “Sparks,” Cody said. “Remind me to never let you caress me, lad.”
    “I thought you told him to think of a beautiful woman,” Tia said.
    “Yeah,” Cody replied. “And if that’s how he treats one of them, I don’t want to
know
what he’d do to an ugly Scotsman.”
    “I did it!” I exclaimed, pointing at the powdered metal that was the remains of the chair leg.
    “Yeah, but you missed.”
    “Doesn’t matter,” I said. “I finally made it work!” I hesitated. “It wasn’t like blowing smoke. It was like … like singing. From my hand.”
    “That’s a new one,” Cody said.
    “It’s different for everyone,” Tia said from her table, head still down. She opened a can of cola as she scribbled notes. Tia was useless without her cola. “Using the tensors isn’t natural to your mind, David. You’ve already built neural pathways, and so you have to kind of hotwire your brain to figure out what mental muscles to flex. I’ve always wondered if we gave a tensor to a child, if they’d be able to incorporate using it better, more naturally, as just another kind of ‘limb’ to practice with.”
    Cody looked at me. Then he whispered, “Wee daemons. Don’t let her fool you, lad. I think she works for them. I saw her leaving out pie for them the other night.”
    Trouble was, he was
just
serious enough to make me question whether he really believed that. The twinkle to his eye indicated he was being silly, but he had such a perfectly straight face.…
    I took off the tensor and handed it over. Cody slipped it on, then absently raised a hand—palm first—to the side and thrust it outward. The tensor began vibrating as his hand moved, and when it stopped a faint, smoky green wave continued on, hitting the fallen chair and the pipe. Both vaporized to dust, falling to the ground in a puff.
    Each time I saw the tensors work, I was amazed. The range was very limited, only a few feet at most, and they couldn’t affect flesh. They weren’t much good in a fight—sure, you could vaporize someone’s gun, but only if they were very close to you. In which case taking the time to concentrate and fight with the tensors would probably be less effective than just punching the guy.
    Still, the opportunities they afforded were incredible. Moving through the bowels of Newcago’s steel catacombs, getting in and out of rooms. If you managed to keep the tensor hidden, you could escape from any bond, any cell.
    “You keep training,” Cody said. “You show talent, so Prof will want you to get good with these. We need another member of the team who can use them.”
    “Not all of you can?” I asked, surprised.
    Cody shook his head. “Megan can’t make them work, and Tia’s rarely in a position to use them—we need her back giving support while on missions. So it usually comes down to Abraham and me using them.”
    “What about Prof?” I asked. “He invented them. He’s got to be pretty good with them, right?”
    Cody shook his head. “Don’t know. He refuses to use them. Something about a bad experience in the past. He won’t talk about it.