Becca Nightshade

Becca Nightshade
Family Children Zeen Nightshade Parents Spensa's great-grandmother & Spensa's great-grandfather Descendants Spensa Nightshade
Abilities	Cytonics
Aliases	Gran-Gran
Homeworld	Detritus
Universe	Cytoverse
First Appeared	Skyward

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“We must not cower in the dark because we are afraid of the spark within us. ”

—Becca on cytonic abilities

Becca Nightshade, more commonly known as Gran-Gran, is Spensa Nightshade’s grandmother who was a member of the crew of the Defiant and is now a resident of Igneous Cavern. She has cytonic abilities.

Appearance and Personality

Becca is mostly blind and has milky white eyes, having lost her vision a few years ago. She has sticklike arms. Based on the amount of time since the crash of the Defiant, she is at least eighty years old, likely near or over ninety.

“Detritus is not our home… but these are my people. I won’t abandon them. ”

—Becca to Alanik on hiding her from the Superiority.

She is a fierce defender of cytonics and believes the DDF falsified the account of her son's betrayal during the Battle of Alta because they were afraid of his cytonic abilities. She is stubborn and it’s difficult to talk her out of something once she has made up her mind.

She has always wanted to return to the stars, and believes her mother brought the Defiant to Detritus because she felt something that the crew needed on that planet.

Attributes and Abilities

Cytonic Abilities

Becca has cytonic abilities, though her knowledge and training are limited. Prior to Jorgen's discovery of the taynix on Detritus, she says that she is not strong enough to use more advanced cytonic abilities, like travel through the nowhere; however, she later apparently hyperjumps with Cobb to escape the Superiority, though Alanik is unable to cytonically locate her afterwards. Despite her blindness, she has an unerring ability to focus on someone during a conversation, tell when someone has arrived before they speak, and notice even minute details like someone rolling or opening their eyes; this suggests she uses her cytonic abilities to Sense the world around her and overcome her blindness, much like Jason Write did.

She also claims to be able to "hear" Cobb, which surprises Alanik, who believes it is impossible to cytonically sense people who aren't cytonics. Becca is also able to engage in faster-than-light communication with Spensa, though she was not strong enough to maintain the connection for long. Nedd Strong appears to believe that she has the power to cytonically read minds, though that seems unlikely as it has long been considered impossible.

History

As a child, Becca lived on the battle cruiser Defiant, where she worked in the engine room alongside her mother. When doing so, she practiced "listening to the stars." During this time, she learned many ancient legends of Old Earth from her father.

Not much is known about what she did in the years following the crash of the Defiant, though she claims that those who worked in the engine room, Clan Motorskaps, stuck together. Since at least the time of her son's death, she has been living with her granddaughter, Spensa Nightshade, and Spensa's mother. Since Spensa's mother is forbidden a job, she assists in keeping the family financially stable by helping prepare algae wraps and the rats Spensa kills to be sold. While living with Spensa, she frequently tells her granddaughter the stories of Old Earth heroes that she heard from her father and says that all of Old Earth's great warriors are Spensa's ancestors.

After the Battle of Alta Second, she begins to develop a relationship with the new DDF Admiral of the Fleet, Cobb. When Jorgen Weight reveals to Cobb that he has cytonic abilities, he sends Jorgen to train with Becca. She insists the Jorgen call her "Gran-Gran" and trains him by teaching him to bake bread with his eyes closed and by trying to get him to reach out and sense the world cytonically. She also tells him the story of Stanislav and tells him that her mother's decision to bring the Defiant to Detritus taught her that a hero has to know "when to disobey orders." While she is training Jorgen, Spensa is able to contact her with her cytonic abilities and she encourages Spensa to face her trials, no matter how ill-suited to them she feels. By the time she is training Jorgen, her cytonic abilities appear to be known at least among Skyward Flight.

During Skyward flight´s battle in Redawn, when they can peek into Detritus communication with the Superiority, Alanik reached out to Becca letting her know her government was considering a deal to turn in their cytonics over to the Superiority and offered rescue or protection. Becca was very clear that he position was to stay with her people and fight back. This did not stop the National Assembly to trade her, Cuna and they taynix to the Superiority. Alanik and Jorgen were able to reach out to her, she was already on the ship with the National Assembly leaders. The trade was a trap, and the real intention was to kill them all, as the ship had a bomb. She tried to explain it to the politicians, but they wouldn’t listen. When she was being transported to a holding cell, Becca decided she was going to be able to reach out to Cobb and transport them both out. She was sensing some calls for help and believed she would be able to go there. When Alanik came in their aid, Becca was able to hyperjump her and Cobb out of the spaceship.

Becca followed the voices she had heard, and reached the Kitsen's planet; “Den of Everlasting Light Which Laps Gently upon the Shores of Time”. Unfortunately, she got “half-caught” into the nowhere and her body lost consciousness and cytonic abilities., so Alanik and Jorgen where unable to find them or sense them. The Kitsen who found them were Spensa’s former flight, leaded by Kauri, they broadcasted a cytonic message for her. This message was intercepted by Alanik so Skyward flight went for them.

The Kitsen had both her and Cobb in some tents covered with what it looked like kitsen blankets layered over each limb across their torsos. They were keeping them in a stable condition by being nourished and hydrated. When the medical team (Kel and Winnow, got to them, they confirmed their stable condition but, were unable to move them to the ship, where they had medical equipment, because their bodies started to deteriorate.

While Becca was unconscious at the Kitsen’s tent, part of her (including her cytonic abilities) was trapped in the nowhere. With effort, she was able to recognize Jorgen in Evershore and reached out to him. Jorgen understood the voices he heard could have something to do with what Gran-Gran heard before hyperjumping. When the battle started and both Becca and Cobb were exposed, Jorgen asked to move them to the library where they were found originally by the Kitsen.

The library had a portal to the nowhere, and Jorgen understood the need to open it to shift the battle to his side. So, he went to it and was able to communicate with the cytonics behind it which included Gran-Gran and the Kitsen cytonics. Cobb was also there, transported by Becca on that last hyperjump. Jorgen understood that long time ago, the Kitsen cytonics had accidentally closed the portal behind them and got stuck, they asked for help but time passed and they lost hope, until they heard Gran-Gran. Jorgen, with the help of Juno and his meditation, opened the portal and freed them all. With this, Becca and Cobb also recovered their consciousness.

Becca is present at militaristic meetings, providing her input after Jorgen's promotion to admiral. Becca helps Spensa, telling her to bring support when she goes to ask Peg to close the acclivity stone mining stations from the inside. Becca stoped Spensa from leaving by sitting in her cockpit, knitting a seat cover for the starships until Spensa realized her faults.

Relationships

Spensa

“A hero does not choose her trials, Spensa. She steps into the darkness [and] then she faces what comes next ”

—Becca to Spensa about being a hero

Spensa is very close to her grandmother. She enjoys all of Becca's stories about the warriors of Old Earth and frequently looks to them for inspiration and courage; Becca specifically told her those stories because she felt Spensa needed to hear them. Spensa also considers those stories to have been her shield when she was young and being called names. After Spensa began to find out the truth of her father's cytonic abilities and his actions during the Battle of Alta, she sought out Becca for answers, though they are not entirely to her liking. Ultimately, however, Spensa choose her grandmother's tales of heroism over the DDF's fears of the "defect" and both flies and travels to space during the Battle of Alta Second. When Spensa is feeling overwhelmed by her mission to Starsight, Becca is able to contact her cytonically and reassure her. She was also able to sense her and Jorgen from the nowhere. She was later able to remember the stories but forgot her voice. When she came back from the nowhere, they connected and Becca was happy to hear back from her.

Spensa's Mother

Despite the fact that they live together, Becca's relationship with Spensa's mother is quite strained. Spensa's mother feels that Becca focuses too intensely on heritage and tells Spensa that Becca makes it "a box instead of an inspiration." This disagreement runs deep enough that Spensa's mother forbade Becca from telling Spensa about her family's history of cytonic abilities. Despite their differences, however, both women are adamant that Spensa's father was not a coward.

Cobb

Becca seems to have taken a liking to the DDF's new Admiral of the Fleet after the Battle of Alta Second, Cobb. On at least one occasion, she bakes him pie, which he says is "excellent." In turn, he respects her enough to care for Spensa for her sake and to send Jorgen Weight to her instead of the DDF's Psychological Corps when he admits to having cytonic abilities.

Jorgen Weight

Becca teaches Jorgen to use his cytonic abilities to sense the world around him in strange ways, such as by teaching him to bake bread with his eyes closed. She expects him to resent this and try to cheat at it, like Spensa did, but Jorgen treats her as his new commanding officer and readily follows her orders; she has to instruct him to call her "Gran-Gran" instead of "sir." As she begins to understand him, she tells him the story of Stanislav to teach him that heroes have to know when to trust their instincts and disobey orders. He accepts her teachings enough to follow the sounds he cytonically hears coming from below the deep caverns for several days, without any direct orders, which eventually leads him to a cavern with hundreds of taynix. When Jorgen finds her behind the portal, Becca recognizes his difference with Spensa. Saying she was the warrior and he the defender.

Alanik

“A warrior fights. She does not yield, and she does not abandon her people. ”

—Becca to Alanik on hiding her from the Superiority.

When the alien Alanik crashed on Detritus, she entered a coma. During that time, Becca was able to listen to her. Because of this, when Alanik reached out letting her know her government was considering a deal to turn in their cytonics over to the Superiority, she was familiar with her and they were able to communicate with a certain level of trust. The more they know each other, the more they both like each other. Becca even tells her she has the heart of a warrior like Spensa and Alanik felt touched by the compliment.

Knowledge of Old Earth

“Even [when we had] computers and libraries and all kinds of reminders, we found it easy to forget where we came from ”

—Becca Nightshade on how easily the crew of the Defiant forgot about Old Earth

Even when the people of Detritus were still on the Defiant, most had little knowledge of Old Earth, and that knowledge has only diminished in the years since the Defiant crashed. Among them, Becca stands out as one of the few who still remember the stories humans used to tell. The following is a list of all the people from Old Earth that Becca has mentioned or who others have recalled her mentioning:

• Beowulf: A Germanic hero who defeats a series of three monsters.
• Leif Eriksson: The first European to find one of the American continents.
• Sun Tzu: A Chinese general famous for his military tactics.
• Genghis Khan: A Mongol who conquered a large region in Asia and Eastern Europe.
• Queen Boudicca: A Celtic warrior who led a rebellion against the Roman Empire.
• Gilgamesh: The first recorded hero; travels to the Underworld and tries to escape death.
• Joan of Arc: A French soldier who rallied the French armies to drive the English out of France in the Hundred Years' War.
• Tarzan of Greystroke: A fictional child raised by great apes.
• Junmi: An author born sometime after the present day who wrote the book The Conquest of Space.
• Tashenamani: A Sioux women, also known as Moving Robe Woman, who fought against Colonel George Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn. According to Spensa, she killed Custer, though the historical evidence of this is ambiguous.
• Conan the Cimmerian: A highly skilled fictional warrior whose story takes place before the rise of any known civilizations.
• Odysseus: An ancient Greek hero who fought in the Trojan War and then endured a long and difficult voyage home. After he flirts with her, Spensa tells Bim that Odysseus had blue hair like he does.
• Alexander the Great: A Macedonian king known for his conquest of Greece, the Achaemenid Persian Empire, Egypt, and part of India.
• Hervor: A shieldmaiden from Norse mythology who challenged her father's spirit for his sword, Tyrfing, which Becca refers to as "[stealing] the sword the dead."
• Hua Mulan: A Chinese woman who disguised herself as a man to fight in the army.
• Epipole of Carystus: An ancient Greek woman who disguised herself as a man to fight in the Trojan War.
• Pine Leaf: A Crow women, also known as Woman Chief, who was a chief and warrior of her people. Gran-Gran told Spensa that she once fought four men at once, though M-Bot says it is uncertain if that is true.
• The Shadow: Gran-Gran has told Spensa the story of a writer who lost his shadow, only for it to return and take control of his life, likely from the fairy tale The Shadow by Hans Christian Andersen.
• Stanislav Petrov: A Soviet air force officer who realized that an early-warning system was malfunctioning and disobeyed orders by not reporting what the system claimed was a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union.

Notes

This article is still missing information. Please help The Coppermind by expanding it.