Resumen:Escuadrón

This page contains a chapter by chapter summary of Skyward. We hope this summary will make it easier to find specific areas of the book, as well as providing a quick plot refresher for anyone who doesn't want to take the time to reread the entire book.

Prologue

Seven-year-old Spensa is surprised but happy when her father, a pilot, finally lets her follow him to the surface after constant begging. As she climbs, she imagines the features in her surroundings as crushed enemies. Her father helps her through the final parts of the climb, making use of a light-line, and Spensa beholds the sky for the first time, finding it beautiful. Spensa listens to her father talk about their the Krell, on how they come from beyond the debris field and come down to attack, and how they can sense large congregations of people, making it hard to rebuild civilization. He tells her that they have to keep Alta Base and Igneous Cavern hidden, since Igneous manufactures starships and Alta defends it. Suddenly, Spensa's father spots a hole in the debris, expressing awe. He tells her to keep reaching upwards and "claim the stars". Just then, his fellow pilots contact him on his radio announcing that the Krell have located Igneous and are coming to destroy it. They decide to fight, and Spensa's father tells her to immediately head back while promising his comrades that he is coming. He gives Spensa his pilot's pin before leaving. Spensa lingers for a while, watching the starfighters leave Alta before leaving. She gets lost in the caverns for a while, and by the time she finds her way back, the fighting is over and Spensa learns that her father was a coward in the battle.

Part One

Chapter 1

Nine and a half years later, Spensa hunt rats in a cavern, imagining her speargun to be a rifle, nearby rocks to be fortifications, and the rat to be an enemy. She checks the clock on her light-line, and decides it is getting late and she needs to head back to avoid missing too much of the school day. She comes to an intersection with old machinery, where she collects some water from a tube, before heading forward again and reaching Igneous, her home cavern. She stashes some of her supplies in a obscure maintenance locker. Spensa comes to a check-in point where two ground soldiers make her wait for verification and authorization to enter, even though they know each other. She resents having to go through this every day. Alukos, one of the soldiers, calls her a coward after he finishes searching her bag for contraband, and Spensa tells him that someday he will be grateful for having known her, which he dismisses contemptuously. Spensa heads towards her neighborhood, the Glorious Rises of Industry, passing by a statue of the First Citizens, before reaching her family's apartment. While Spensa's mother isn't home, her grandmother, Gran-Gran, is. Gran-Gran is making algae rolls to sell, which is done since Spensa's mother can't get a job due to them being the family of a coward. She greets Spensa as the latter delivers her rats. Spensa notes that Gran-Gran has forgotten about her needing to attend school, something she misses a lot of due to it currently being about job opportunities she doesn't care for since Spensa is set on becoming a pilot. As they prepare the rats, Gran-Gran starts telling a story about Beowulf. Afterwards, she talks about the history of their clan, the Motorskaps, and tells Spensa to do her exercises, which she has been neglecting. Following her grandmother's instructions, Spensa closes her eyes and tries to listen to the stars and imagine herself flying, even though she finds it boring. Gran-Gran talks about their people, who worked on the engine room of the fleet's flagship. They were considered strange by the other crews, but were able to make ship move, said to be because they could hear the stars. For a moment, Spensa thinks she can hear a "distant, pure sound". She asks Gran-Gran why the engine crews were important, rather than firing the weapons, which Gran-Gran dismisses, saying that ship movement is also important. She tells Spensa that she will tell her about Sun Tzu tomorrow, though Spensa wants to hear about Genghis Khan. Gran-Gran then mentions Queen Boudicca, who she claims is another of Spensa's ancestors. Spensa's mother interrupts, saying that all of those people being her ancestors is implausible and telling Spensa that she needs to go to school.

Chapter 2

Mrs. Vmeer, Spensa's Work Studies instructor, introduces Citizen Alfir, a man from Sanitation Corps, asking him to discuss his job. Spensa's classmate Dia taunts her, telling Spensa that cleaning waste would be a perfect job for the daughter of a coward, and Spensa has to restrain herself due to Dia being Mrs. Vmeer's daughter and already having gotten into trouble for fighting before. Alfir continues speaking, saying that even though his job doesn't seem significant, it is still vital to keep their society running. Spensa notes that several of the other speakers have said the same things about their roles, and finds those attitudes not passionate enough for Defiants. Citizen Alfir finishes his presentation, and the students stand up for a break. Spensa avoids to Dia to try to stay out of trouble, and instead approaches her friend Rodge. They discuss their wishes to become pilots, and review some material they need for the pilot test. Just then, Mrs. Vmeer approaches Spensa with Alfir, who tells Spensa that they need people like her in Sanitation, offering her a guaranteed spot there. Spensa turns him down, and Dia tells her that the authorities will definitely prevent her from passing the pilot's test, even though everyone is allowed to take it. Spensa notes that Dia doesn't seem to care if she believes her, unlike her usual taunts. She goes to confront Mrs. Vmeer on the topic. Mrs. Vmeer tries dance around on it, claiming that Spensa's father being a coward makes it a delicate situation, but is eventually forced to partly admit that she won't be allowed to get in, though she doesn't say that the admiral specifically ordered her to be kept out. Mrs. Vmeer then tries to coax her into taking another job. Enraged and humiliated at being lied to about being able to get in, Spensa storms out of the room.

Chapter 3

Still upset over being denied the chance to become a pilot, Spensa runs off to the caverns, seeking refuge there. She uses her light-line to make her way down a cliff and into another cavern with kurdi mushrooms, which attract rats. She turns off her light-line and settles down to hunt. She notes that while exploring usually helps take her mind off her worries, it's not working this time. The cavern shakes a bit, and Spensa realizes that she is quite close to the surface. She checks her clock, seeing that night has already passed, and it is near noon of the next day, almost the time for the pilot test, which takes place in the evening. She dismisses it, thinking that the test is pointless since she won't be able to get in anyway. Spensa climbs up to the surface, marvels at seeing the sky again, then realizes that she is quite close to Alta Base, though she only watches from a distance, since getting to close would make the guards mistake her for a scavenger. Suddenly, some debris starts falling towards her. Scrambling, Spensa takes cover in another small cavern. After the debris lands, she gets up checks around. While Spensa is fine, her speargun is broken, and she chastises herself for being impulsive. She hears a scrabbling sound, which causes her to check for more rats, or a water pipe. Instead, Spensa finds a ship in the corner of the cavern, surrounded by rubble.

Chapter 4

Spensa examines the ship, realizing that it is a starfighter, though she doesn't recognize the model, which surprises her since she has memorized every DDF, Krell, and nomadic trader ship model, as well as some older ones. The ship is buried in rubble, but appears mostly intact. Coming closer, Spensa finds the manual release panel with English written on it, leading her to conclude it is a human ship, as well as an incredibly old one. There is no skeleton in the cockpit, so the pilot either escaped, or the crashed ship is old enough that the bones turned to dust. After trying to pull the release lever manually and failing, Spensa separates her the rope of her light-line from its bracelet, attaching one end to the release lever and the other to a boulder. She shoves the boulder, causing the lever to be pulled. The door to the cockpit opens, and Spensa climbs in, noting that the controls are similar to others that she's seen. Sitting in the pilot's seat, she starts thinking about her father, and what he would be thinking. Spensa thinks that he might be disappointed with her for running from the test, then thinks about whether being told she would be rejected anyway was part of the test to see if she's a coward. Changing her mind, Spensa decides to head back and take the pilot's test anyway.

Chapter 5

Spensa rushes into the testing room, getting in just before time is up. A woman in an admiral's uniform frowns at her, and everyone in the testing room is staring as well. Spensa makes her way to the single available desk, which unfortunately happens to be right in front of the woman, who she recognizes as Judy "Ironsides" Ivans herself. Spensa tries not to show her pain and embarrassment as she walks. She hears Rig express relief at seeing her, and she winks at him before going back to suppressing her pain. Ironsides starts speaking about how everyone is worthy in different ways and that she is proud of them all for coming. Seeing how aloof she seems, Spensa hopes that she won't be discriminated against. Then, she sees a short man in glasses pointing her out to the admiral, who frowns at her, and Mrs. Vmeer in the corner shaking her head in seeming disappointment, and her hopes drop again. An aide gives her a test, but Spensa doesn't have a pencil in her pocket, only her father's pin. Rig tosses her a spare pencil, and she silently thanks him. Looking at her test, Spensa realizes that the questions are all about algae preparation, something she didn't study for due to having to miss class to go hunting, and her obsession with becoming a pilot making her only attend piloting-relevant classes in the time she has left. She peeks as fellow tester Darla's paper, and sees questions about piloting on it. An aide announces that everyone has different tests, so cheating is useless. Angry, Spensa realizes that they gave her a special test designed to make her fail. She continues working on her test, which asks questions relating to other fields the adults tried to put her in. She tries her best, but is unable to answer about two-thirds of them. The test ends, and Ironsides comes over and looks at her. Spensa shows her her father's pin, saying that she would like to petition to enter flight school due to being the daughter of a pilot who fought at the Battle of Alta. Ironsides says that she isn't accepting the pin of a traitor and grabs it, asking where she even got it. Spensa tells her he gave it to her before he left, and Ironsides tells her that letting her in would be a public relations nightmare, before turning to leave. Spensa tries to ask her to give the pin back, but Ironsides tells her that the families of cowards aren't allowed to keep the pin, and walks off. Rig comes over and asks her to go to the post-testing party with him, but Spensa tells him to leave her alone.

Chapter 6

Spensa sits alone for hours in the empty testing room, starting to feel empty and defeated instead of angry. An aide comes in and tells her to leave, but Spensa doesn't listen. She walks over to where Ironsides left the tests from the children of First Citizens. The tests are all empty other than the name, since they are guaranteed entrance into pilot school due to their parentage. Spensa picks up the first test, belonging to Jorgen Wright, and starts writing in it. It is full of detailed questions on piloting and related fields, though Spensa doesn't really think for the intent and preference questions, since she isn't getting in anyway. As she finishes, she hears janitors outside. She starts sketching a W-shaped ship, similar to the crash she found earlier. The janitors come in, and one asks Spensa why she is still here. She tells him she didn't feel like celebrating, since she never had an actual chance to pass, and asks if he ever felt like he was forced into his role. He asks her why she wants to be a pilot so much, since it's a dangerous job, and Spensa replies that not all of them die, citing a statistic she studied. The man tells her he knows, and she spots the glint of medals and a pilot's pin on the chest of his silhouette. Spensa then hears the two janitors joking in the hallway, which makes her realize that the man is not a janitor. He walks, limping, over to her in the emergency lighting, asking her again why she wants to be a pilot as he flips through her test. Spensa tries to say that because she wants to prove herself and clear her father's name, but instead tells him that it's because she'll get to see the sky. He comments that even though their people named themselves Defiants, Ironsides is still surprised at being defied. He puts the test down with something on top of it, then starts walking away. Spensa asks him who he is, and he turns around, revealing his face more clearly, and tells her he knew her father. Spensa suddenly recognizes him as Mongrel, her father's old wingmate. He tells her to show up the morning of the day after tomorrow at pilot class and gives her the location, telling her to use her pin to get in. Spensa realizes the object he put on her test is a cadet's pin, and grabs it while asking Mongrel about what Ironsides would do about it. He replies that he can handle it, since Ironsides is too highly ranked to manage cadets. Mongrel comments that Spensa got 17, a question on what to do in overwhelming odds, wrong, saying that she should fall back and await reinforcements, which she disagrees with. He stiffens a bit and Spensa quickly stops herself, trying to not anger the man who'll let her in. He tells her that even though he admitted her, it won't be easy on her.

Part Two

Chapter 7

Spensa stands in an elevator as the door opens to Alta Base, a bit hesitant as people around her start walking out. A girl behind her expresses similar sentiments, wondering if this is real, before telling her that they can handle it. As they leave the elevator, Spensa is surprised that the girl isn't shunning her like all the other people she's known. The girl introduces herself as Kimmalyn and they realize they are in the same class. Spensa wonders if Kimmalyn's friendly, laid-back demeanor will work for her as a Defiant, while Kimmalyn thinks Spensa's aggressive attitude is a bit too much. They pass a checkpoint and enter their classroom building. Spensa feels nervous at how open her surroundings are, but pushes it back and prepares to learn how to become a pilot.

Chapter 12

Spensa wakes up in the ship's cockpit, noting the time to be 0430. She notices an odd blue and yellow slug-like creature nearby in the cockpit. She considers eating it, but then decides against the notion, thinking that its bright colors might indicate poison. Spensa sets a snare for rates, then starts poking around at the ship, hoping to fix or at least properly examine it. She finds a large black box whose function she doesn't recognize. Spensa then hooks up her light-line's power matrix to the ship, but then realizes that it is too weak to make the ship's functions run. Looking back up, she sees that the slug has now gotten into the ship's open innards, making Spensa wonder how it got there so fast, since she doesn't see any other similar slugs around. The snare catches a rat, and Spensa skins, guts, and cooks it. She wonders if she is really going to live in a cave and scavenge for her food, but decides that since Ironsides expects her to commute back home each night, Spensa is going to be defiant and try to retain some control over her life.

Chapter 16

Spensa wakes up in the cockpit, and sees the power matrix from Jorgen's car she stole last night. She panics thinking that she might be caught and get kicked out of flight school for the act, but nobody seems to catch on and she goes through the day as normal. Spensa notices that nearly everyone seems to be dancing around her being the daughter of a coward, other than Kimmalyn, who simply notes that this might be what causes Spensa's attitude and comforts her. At the end of the day, Spensa heads back to the ship and installs the power matrix. The ship's systems start up and it greets Spensa, who realizes that it can talk.

Chapter 17

The ship introduces itself as MB-1021, or M-Bot, a long-distance stealth ship, and reveals that most of its data banks are corrupted, so it doesn't remember much of its past. The only record M-Bot has is the last order from his old pilot Commander Spears, which is "Lie low, M-Bot. Take stock, don't get into any fights, and wait for me here." M-Bot reveals that he doesn't recognize the term for the Krell. M-Bot determines from some isotopes that it has been 172 years since it crashed, to the 80 years since the Defiant crash that Spensa knows about. M-Bot then discusses its routines for emotion and the single intact memory bank it has other than for basic functions, a database for cataloging fungal organisms. Spensa is confused by M-Bot's desire to categorize mushrooms. She starts wondering if M-Bot holds the answers to questions about their history, despite the damaged memory banks. M-Bot notes that many of the ship systems, such as the weapons system and cytonic hyperdrive, are offline, though a few, like the communications system, still work. Spensa realizes that she can't fix the ship on her own, and decides to get help. Some time later, in the middle of the night, Spensa manages to reach Rig's apartment, and wakes him to show him the ship. He is a bit uncomfortable but follows along anyway. As they enter the tunnels, Rig tells Spensa that ever since he dropped out of pilot schools, he's had to decide between a dozen job offers in two months' time. He expresses worry at not finding something that suits him. They eventually reach M-Bot's chamber, and Rig is awed by the sight.

Chapter 19

Spensa runs for Alta Base, thinking Ironsides made it Skyward Flight's turn this time to participate in the battle. She returns to a single ship on a launchpad, meaning that she is late and everyone else in her flight has already taken off. In a hurry, Spensa skips putting on her pressure suit, and contacts Jorgen before taking off. Eventually, she reaches the site of the battle, and Jorgen tells her to help Morningtide, who has picked up a tail. Morningtide tries to dodge and throw them off, but the three Krell ships trailing her manage to shoot her down. Spensa tries to help by hitting one of the Krell ships with her light-lance for another pilot to shoot down, but Morningtide is already gone. Spensa flies back to Jorgen, containing her grief. The two use their light-lines to send a Krell ship into debris before Cobb tells them to remain in defensive positions. They then notices Kimmalyn, who has frozen up with Morningtide's death and doesn't have a wingmate. Jorgen goes to cover her, telling Spensa to go help Bim. Spensa gets a tail, which she gets rid of by making a good maneuver, feeling as though she is part of the ship. Cobb congratulates her, then tells her to get to Bim, who he says is too overeager. Just then, a Krell bomber with a lifeburster bomb is spotted. Cobb tells the cadets to stay back and let the full pilots handle the situation. Bim insists he can hit the bomber, and Cobb tries to check for orders instead of immediately rejecting the idea, which makes Bim think that he has permission to engage, and asks Spensa to follow him. Cobb warns them that the bomb looks bigger than usual, but Bim is already flying over. Four escort ships peel away from the bomber, and their destructor blasts overwhelm Bim's ship's shields, shooting him down. A chunk of the wreckage hits Spensa's ship and it starts blaring warnings, but she manages to stabilize herself. The Krell ships disengage, and Ironsides decides not to pursue, since there are too many of them. Jorgen orders everyone to confirm their status, and everyone other than Morningtide and Bim responds, before they fall into formation. Skyward Flight returns to base, short two members.

Part Four

Chapter 45

Spensa returns home for the first time since becoming a cadet. After speaking with her mother, she learns from her grandmother how humans first came to Detritus aboard the Defiant.

Interlude I-3 =

Chapter 53

Ironsides observes in the command center as Terrier, flightleader of Riptide Flight, announces that the lifeburster bomb has been dropped and orders all nearby ships to pull out. She braces herself and hopes that the Defiants can rebuild after Alta Base is destroyed. Suddenly, she notices Spensa diving towards the bomb instead of trying to escape.

Spensa attaches the bomb to her ship via light-lance and flies away at full speed, far faster than any normal DDF ship, as the bomb's timer counts down, hoping to get it out of the death zone before time runs out. M-Bot notes that even though they can get it out of range in time, they themselves will get caught in the blast. Spensa is calm and feels as though she is part of the ship's processors. As the countdown reaches its final seconds, M-Bot lists off his functions. Just before the bomb explodes, M-Bot's systems report the presence of a "biological component" and that the cytonic hyperdrive is now functional. He tells Spensa to engage that system, and she utilizes her cytonic abilities, sending the two away from the explosion.

Chapter 54

Spensa feels herself entering a place of nothingness, and sees a field of stars or eyes that suddenly focus on her. She feels as though they not only see her, but know her as well. Spensa jolts out of the place and back into M-Bot's cockpit, stressed. The diagnostics report that the cytonic hyperdrive is now offline, and M-Bot tells her that they are 100 kilometers away from the blast site, despite almost no time passing, commenting that they must have used FTL travel. They contact Alta Base, to cheering. Suddenly, Spensa sees a hole in the debris field, leading to the stars. Ironsides contacts her after she puts her helmet on, telling her to come back and saying that she'll pardon Chaser and needs to talk to her about the defect. Spensa tells her that she won't be coming back to the base yet, and flies upwards into the hole.

Chapter 55

Spensa thinks to herself that choosing to fly through the hole is an unwise decision, but she feels an intense need to see what is up there. As they continue going upwards, she realizes that the debris fields are really a series of organized platforms. They eventually see a space station and some boxy Krell ships, and Spensa realizes that she can hear their communication, sent through the nowhere-place she can sense, and wonders if they know about the dangers of using it. M-Bot tells her that they are also using normal communications that he can decipher. Suddenly, Spensa is hit by something, and realizes that the Krell are trying to overwrite her vision. M-Bot engages his stealth and jamming system, and the sensation goes away. She tells M-Bot about the defect that she has, and that she thinks her father turned traitor on his flight because the Krell made him think that they were dead and that he was shooting at Krell ships. They observe the Krell ships, which have brighter colors, and M-Bot translates the words on their sides as "Penitentiary maintainance and containment of Earthlings". Spensa tells M-Bot to lower the systems he was using to block cytonics, and she listens in on Krell chatter. One of the aliens expresses fear that Spensa is going to eat them, and outright panics and flees after she makes a face at it. M-Bot hacks their systems and downloads some data before getting caught. Some Krell interceptors come out from the space station, and they decide to leave. Strangely, the interceptors do not fire at them, and stop following after they pass through a few layers of debris. Spensa asks M-Bot what he got from the Krell computer, and he tells her that while he didn't retrieve too much data, what he did get is rather helpful.

Epilogue

Spensa shares the information M-Bot discovered about the Krell. It is revealed that, after humanity failed to conquer the galaxy, the other intelligent races deemed it too dangerous for mankind to possess FTL travel technology. The crew of the Defiant had remained neutral during the war and, after a mutiny, they crash-landed on Detritus. Since then, the race humanity knows as the Krell have worked as guards to maintain Detritus as a sort of prison/preservation for humanity. Only recently, there has been some internal disputes among the Krell over how much development they are to tolerate from mankind. The Epilogue ends with Spensa pondering the fact that the Krell know to target anyone who can use Cytonics and courageously choosing to 'Be Defiant'.

Notes

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