Difference between revisions of "Summary:Skyward"

 

=== Chapter 34 ===

Spensa walks towards the crash site. M-Bot contacts her on her radio to ask if it is a good idea, but Spensa tells him to leave her alone. She has gone around two hours from Alta when a hovercar approaches and Jorgen stops to ask if she is really going to walk all the way there considering how dangerous it is outside. He offers to give her a ride, and she reluctantly accepts it since it will cut the trip down from days into hours. Jorgen tells Spensa that he wants to go with her to Hurl's funeral, and that he brought materials for a pyre. Jorgen tries to talk to her as they drive, but Spensa shuts him down and asks if he really cares. She then asks why he puts up with her, and Jorgen replies that even though she is insubordinate, she saved Nedd and helps save lives when she flies with the team. Spensa points out that Hurl and Kimmalyn are still gone from the flight, and Jorgen replies that it is his duty as flightleader to keep everyone together. Jorgen calls the AA-gun battery to keep them from being shot at as they pass, and they soon locate Hurl's wreck afterwards. They get out of the car and walk to the wreck, before heading to where the cockpit is. Spensa looks in and confirms to herself that Hurl really is dead. Examining the skid marks made by the crash, Spensa realizes that Hurl was nearly horizontal at the end, almost managing to safely land her ship. Jorgen takes a look in the cockpit, before turning away. Spensa sticks herself in and pulls Hurl's pin off her body. She thinks about the defiant expression on Hurl's face and wonders if it mattered whether someone was brave or cowardly in they died in the end, before chastising herself for being disrespectful. Jorgen gets the supplies out of the car and they set up a pyre around the cockpit, before Spensa ignites it. The two stand back and Jorgen recites part of an officer's elegy. The two stay and watch as the fire burns itself out. Jorgen tells Spensa that he isn't really defiant, since he is just going with what his family wants, and will be pulled out of the DDF after spending six months as a full pilot and gaining enough of a reputation in politics. He adds that he will miss flying, and that controlled joyrides won't be enough after he has experienced piloting a starfighter. Spensa comments that even though Jorgen's father isn't called a coward, he still is trapped in his shadow. As the fire dies down, Spensa comments that Hurl was more like her than she herself in some ways. The two start to go back to the car, when Spensa looks over the wreck again and sees how Hurl managed to keep some parts of the ship intact, the booster included. She thinks to herself for a moment before asking Jorgen for help moving the booster.

 

=== Chapter 35 ===

As they drive back, Jorgen tells Spensa that he is catching on to her intentions of building a starship. He says that if she found a crashed ship, she should turn it in to the DDF. Spensa replies that Ironsides has a grudge against her and won't let her fly, so she has to find her own way around things. Jorgen chastises her on the impracticality of her plan, and asks if Spensa is really just going to run away from the DDF. He provides that if he got the chance, he would hire her to fly his private ships instead, but admits that the slots are fiercely competed over and she would need a good reputation to take one. As they approach Alta, Spensa asks for Jorgen to drop her and the booster off near her cavern. As Jorgen drives back to base by himself, Spensa thinks to herself on how he somehow has even less freedom than herself. She greets M-Bot and tells him that she brought him the gift of freedom.

 

=== Chapter 36 ===

 

Spensa presents Rig with the booster, and Rig confirms that he will probably be able to fit the booster into M-Bot. Rig asks Spensa to mention him in her speech when she hits ace, as well as name her firstborn son after him, to which she responds that she has already planned to name him Executioner Destructorius. Spensa goes back into the cockpit while Rig tries to figure out how to put the booster into M-Bot, and M-Bot and Spensa strike up a conversation about the human fear of death and free will, among others. Rig tells Spensa that the shield design M-Bot had that he took to his superiors didn't go through because he simply couldn't explain it, they'd need professional engineers to take M-Bot apart and reverse engineer his best features. After Rig tells her he won't need her help for a few days, Spensa exits the cave and sets off at a brisk pace for Alta Base, in search of the true holorecording of the Battle of Alta.

 

=== Chapter 37 ===

Spensa gets back to Alta Base and heads to Cobb's office, where he is working at his desk. Cobb tells her that FM has been looking for her, and the radio frequency for contacting her flightmates. Spensa steels herself before telling Cobb about getting Hurl's pin and handing it over. Cobb is a bit irritated over her and Jorgen not getting permission with the salvage crews. Spensa adds that they gave Hurl a pilot's burial and asks that the pin be given to Hurl's family. Cobb tells her that she can get off lightly this time, but should try to avoid making trouble. Spensa comments that her medical leave is frustrating and she doesn't know what to do with the time, to which Cobb agrees. She then asks if she can go watch recordings of old battles, and Cobb quickly agrees and gives her his authorization code to enter, to her surprise. Cobb tells her that cadets aren't supposed to be allowed in the archives and that she can use the excuse of fetching things for him as an excuse. As she turns to leave, Cobb tells her that sometimes the answers one needs don't match the questions she's asking and that a coward can make fools of wiser men, before dismissing her. As Spensa heads to the archives, she realizes that Cobb spotted the fact that she wanted to watch the Battle of Alta, and is confused as to why he simply let her do it. She looks around for a while, before finding the right case. Spensa sees that there are no viewing devices nearby, and so just takes the case. She walks out, deep in thought about how much she owes Cobb and where she is going to watch the battle recording. Distracted, Spensa is startled by FM spotting her, and lets her flightmate lead her out of the base and towards some buildings she hasn't paid attention to before.

 

=== Chapter 38 ===

 

FM pulls Spensa into a dimly-lit restaurant mostly occupied by young pilots and cadets. FM leads Spensa to a table where Kimmalyn, Nedd and Arturo, along with his friend Bryn are sitting. FM gets Spensa a purple, bubbly drink and a basket of fries, both extremely delicious compared to the rats she's been eating for months. The group reminisces about Hurl, and Spensa tells them what she and Jorgen did. When Bryn gets up to use the restroom, only members of the original flight remain, and they begin talking about the hushed up true strategy of the Krell, and why the Defiants know so little about them. Spensa enjoys a third basket of fries, before leaving the restaurant to find out once and for all what really went down at the Battle of Alta.

 

=== Chapter 39 ===

Spensa plugs the recording into M-Bot's systems, and the ship's holoprojectors start playing the Battle of Alta. Spensa notes to herself that M-Bot has better projectors than the DDF, and can see the ships in clear detail. She watches the earlier parts of the battle and using her knowledge of flight tactics, sees how desperate the fight was. Spensa picks out a single ship that seems to fly better than the others, correctly guessing that it is Chaser. As she continues to watch, she gains a new respect for the First Citizens, thinking that while their government system is still flawed, they were brave. The recording progresses to the point where the Krell are repelled for the first time, where Chaser was said to break ranks. Spensa sees her father's ship pull away from his flight, but then head upwards to a hole in the debris instead of fleeing, presumably to track down where the Krell come from. She feels vindicated, now certain that the DDF were lying about her father's cowardice. She starts telling M-Bot about her thoughts, and M-Bot fast-forwards the recording a little. Chaser's ship returns from above, reaching the rest of his flight before IMPing them. Shocked, Spensa watches as her father attacks his own flightmates and other First Citizens, supported by the Krell. He shoots down four allied ships, including his flightmates Rally and Antique, before Cobb manages to shoot him down. Spensa spends the rest of the recording staring at the projected wreckage of Chaser's ship and ignoring the rest of the battle. She then asks M-Bot if the data could have been faked, and he tells her that it is authentic. Spensa wonders aloud what her father saw up there that made him turn against his allies, to which M-Bot replies that her father said something unusual when he saw the hole in the sky in the voice recordings. She asks him to play that section, and hears Chaser pleading with Ironsides to let him fly up there, claiming that he can hear the stars. She relents, and Chaser's ship leaves ranks. Spensa then asks if her father said anything after he came back down, and M-Bot gives her a single clip, in which he mournfully declares that he would kill everyone. Spensa asks why the DDF would hide what happened to her father when the truth was worse. M-Bot comments that he doesn't know enough to give a good answer. Numb, Spensa climbs into the cockpit and goes to sleep, ignoring M-Bot's attempts to talk to her.