This page contains a chapter by chapter summary of Starsight. 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.
Part One
Chapter 1
Spensa flies around outside the atmosphere of Detritus in M-Bot, fighting Krell. She contemplates M-Bot's lost advantage in not having to worry about being ripped apart in Detritus's atmosphere, as she and the Krell are now fighting in the vacuum of space, independent of drag and air resistance. M-Bot reminds Spensa that she's supposed to be leading the Krell back to her flightmates for an ambush, as the Krell will seek out flashy and experienced pilots to hurt the humans' air force. Spensa deviates from this plan, however, and flies back toward Detritus, where Rodge McCaffrey and the engineers have succeeded in recapturing some of the ancient defense systems and platforms of the planet. Spensa, able to hear and react to the Krell's faster-than-light (FTL) communication faster than themselves, easily uses her IMP to disable the Krell shields and swing around with her light lance to destroy them. Spensa is presented with a chance to return to the main battle, but she peels off to confront two Krell drones, and she begins to sink into her subconscious, into the nowhere. She feels the eyes begin to burn her, full of hatred, as she recalls activating her cytonics at the Battle of Alta Second after slipping into the nowhere. Spensa starts slipping deeper into her trance, when M-Bot jolts her out of it by informing her that he has detected a new ship. She sees a smaller, sleek black Krell ship, not a drone, but a Krell-manned ship, an ace.
Chapter 2
Spensa performs maneuvers to evade the enemy ace, as her shields are down and theirs are not. Spensa blasts a drone out of the sky, but runs into its debris, as there is no gravity in space to bring it down to the ground. The drones help the ace corner Spensa, so she tells M-Bot to call Jorgen. While waiting, she flies closer to Detritus so that the planet's defense systems will begin targeting the Krell, thus negating their superiority in numbers. Spensa sinks into her subconscious and attempts to activate M-Bot's cytonic hyperdrive, but M-Bot informs her it is offline. Spensa performs a maneuver to get on the ace's tail, trails them for a bit, and eventually gets a shot off as the ace spins around and takes a shot at Spends. The ace misses, but both of Spensa's shots connect, destroying the sleek black ship. M-Bot reminds Spensa of the presence of the drones, and she begins to turn her ship around, only for Kimmalyn and FM to swoop in and finish off the drones. Spensa swings back around to inspect the ace's debris, and M-Bot informs her that the fight really could have ended either way. Spensa wonders why the Superiority doesn't just send dozens if not hundreds of aces like the one she'd just fought to wipe humanity out in one fell swoop. She also recognizes that humanity will eventually win, as they are slowly recapturing more and more defense platforms and acclivity stone, and M-Bot's technology is helping the entire fleet. Jorgen contacts Spensa, fuming, and gives her, FM, Kimmalyn, and Spensa's new wingmate, Sadie, instructions to hang out for a bit until they have orders to return to their new command post on the defense platforms, Platform Prime. Sadie informs the others of a warning light on her proximity monitor, and the four look up to see the arrival of two Superiority battleships docking near the Krell monitoring station. M-Bot informs Spensa they are capable of bombarding the planet, to which she responds that the defense platforms will hold. The group finally receives orders to return to Platform Prime, and they begin their descent.
Chapter 3
M-Bot calculates the flight's return to Platform Prime through the other abandoned platforms as Spensa contemplates how many people must have used to live on the platforms, with all the skyscrapers dotting them. Skyward Flight meets up with Xiwang Flight to dock at Platform Prime, a large, blue-glowing platform. M-Bot forces Spensa to take his mobile receptor with her to her meeting with Jorgen, and Spensa informs Dobsi, a ground crew member, of the damage M-Bot's fuselage sustained. Spensa returns to her bunk to see Doomslug and wash up, then meets up with the rest of her flight. She talks with Kimmalyn and Sadie, as well as T-Stall and Catnip, two new members of the flight. Jorgen arrives and dismisses the others, and lectures her on how her cytonic abilities are too important to risk fighting useless battles by herself against the Krell. She admits she's been taking needless risks to recreate the situation where she hyperjumped at the Battle of Alta Second. Kimmalyn returns to the room and informs them that the engineering team have uncovered a video recording in the ancient archives.
Chapter 4
Spensa and Kimmalyn enter the data bank room, colloquially called the library, and are greeted by Rodge, who informs them that the engineering crews have discovered the final video logs of the platforms before they were shut down. Admiral Cobb enters the room, and is greeted by Commander Ulan. Cobb tells Spensa to meet with him later, then gives the signal for the video to be played on a nearby computer screen. A technician turns on the volume, and a blonde engineer tells the monitor that the planet's defense platforms are insufficient and that the delver has tracked their communications and is fast approaching. He switches the screen to a camera on Platform Number 1132, as the sky begins to rapidly fill with stars, which Spensa quickly realizes are eyes, malevolent eyes, coming towards the planet. The shadow of the delver is cast over the platform, and Spensa sees a circular object at the center of the delver's dust cloud. The screen returns to the man in the library, where a woman reports the failure of the other platforms, and the imminent assault from the planet on the delver. The man continues typing, only to be consumed by the shadow of the delver, but not before the blackness gathers behind him, and forms a shape. Spensa.