Steelheart

Cody trains David to use the tensor, and David is surprised to learn that only a few Reckoners use the device regularly; Megan can’t operate it, Tia doesn’t do field work, and Prof—even though he invented it—hates using it. As they work, Cody keeps cracking jokes and making ridiculous comments with such a straight face that David questions whether his insanity is genuine. For example, he tells David not to ask about the tensor’s technological functionality, otherwise he might “anger the wee daemons inside who make the gloves work and the coffee good” (119). David learns that Cody used to be a Nashville cop, and joining the Reckoners is his way of still serving and protecting. Cody then makes a helpful discovery from Tia’s notes: After the bank collapsed 10 years prior, the bank would have likely submitted an insurance claim, meaning another paper trail from the Day of Annexation should exist. Prof enters, sharing that Megan and Abraham are about to leave for an errand, and he wants David to join.