El — Elias when someone is being formal — has a strange talent for listening to machines.
Most people hear a rattle, a hiss or a knock. El hears something else: a gear arriving a little too late, a pipe making the wrong sound or a machine repeating one beat differently from the rest.
He spends a lot of time around Orwin Reed’s workshop, watching, listening and asking questions. “It is probably nothing” is not an answer El finds very convincing.
That curiosity sometimes gets him into trouble. It also helps him notice things other people miss.
El does not know everything about machines, and he does not pretend to. His real talent is paying attention. He listens first — and then asks the question that makes everyone else listen too.
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