Skyward

It is now nine and a half years after Zeen’s ignominious death. Spensa hunts rats in the caverns to find extra food for her family, as her mother was forbidden from holding a normal job after Zeen’s supposed betrayal. Now, Spensa finds rats for food and contributes with a variety of odd jobs. She and her family live in Igneous, the largest of the cities comprising the Defiant League of humans on Detritus. After the battle in which Zeen was killed, his dream came true as humans united to form one people rather than separate clans. The war with the Krell continues, but the base over the discovered manufactories has grown, as have the cities where the various clans have settled.

Spensa returns home to give the rats to her grandmother, whom she calls Gran-Gran. As they skin the rats and cut up the meat to sell, Gran-Gran tells stories of Earth. Spensa requests the story of Beowulf, and Gran-Gran asserts that Beowulf, Genghis Khan, and all of humankind are their ancestors. Spensa skips classes to listen to Gran-Gran’s stories, justifying it by claiming that the classes only teach about the various jobs available in the city. To Spensa, such lessons are useless because she plans to become a pilot. The test to get into pilot school is scheduled for the next day, but Spensa is confident that she will pass. Her mother, however, insists that Spensa get to school.

Spensa arrives halfway through a lecture from a sanitation worker who is describing his department to help the students learn about potential career options. A classmate named Dia derisively claims that sanitation work would be fitting for Spensa, the daughter of a traitor.

After the lecture, Spensa meets her friend, Rodge, with whom she has been studying for the pilot test. He is nervous, but Spensa is confident that they will both pass the test. Their teacher, Mrs. Vmeer, approaches with the sanitation worker, who offers Spensa a guaranteed job since the department always needs adventurous types to venture into the caverns. Spensa refuses but wonders why her teacher brought the man over, since she knows that Spensa intends to become a pilot. Dia informs Spensa that Admiral Ironsides will not allow Spensa to pass and states that the tests are rigged, despite the propaganda claiming that anyone in their society can pass the test. Dia overheard her parents (one of whom is Mrs. Vmeer) talking about how the admiral will never allow the daughter of a traitor to pass the test, even if she has passing scores.

Spensa confronts Mrs. Vmeer, who admits that Spensa will never be allowed to pass the test. She encourages Spensa to avoid the test entirely and offers to help her find another career. Spensa storms away under the laughing eyes of her classmates.

Distressed over this news, Spensa flees to the caverns and ruminates until noon on the next day. She knows that she should return before the time of the pilot’s exam so that her mother and grandmother will not worry about her, but instead, she continues climbing toward the surface of the planet. She hears a debris fall happening on the surface; pieces of debris from the atmosphere are crashing into the planet, and although she recognizes the dangers of surfacing, she continues to climb. On the surface, she observes the base, which is no longer hidden, and the fields and trees surrounding it. She turns toward a nearby cavern, finds it blocked, and then realizes that pieces of debris are falling straight toward her. She flings herself away and falls into more caverns, using her father’s lightline device to prevent herself from falling all the way down. She suddenly stumbles across an unfamiliar cavern that contains a ship.

Spensa investigates the ship; it is an unfamiliar model, and this shocks her because she believed that she knew about every model in existence. English text is printed near the door’s locking mechanism, so she knows that it is a human ship. There is no sign of a pilot having died in or around the ship, and the ship itself is remarkably well preserved. Sitting in the cockpit, she feels the drive to become a pilot and wonders if the admiral’s denial of her right to be a pilot was a test in and of itself—perhaps a test of her bravery or loyalty. Even if the authorities are still determined to prevent her from becoming a pilot, she decides that she has to try. She still has four hours until the test, so she starts back the way she came.

Spensa arrives at the testing room just as the clock marks the start time. Admiral Judy “Ironsides” Evans speaks to the 100 students testing to train as pilots, and someone points Spensa out to her. An aide deliberately pulls a test from the bottom of the stack and gives it to Spensa, who finds a test created specifically to make her fail. The test covers non-pilot topics like sanitation and other lessons that she was forced to miss while scavenging in the caverns to support her family.

She forces herself through the test and confronts the admiral afterward. Children of the First Citizens—those who fought at the Battle of Alta—can hand in empty tests along with their parents’ pins and earn a place simply by virtue of their parentage. Spensa tries to do the same even though she knows that her father’s betrayal ensured he would never be considered a First Citizen. The admiral angrily tells Spensa that she will never let her into flight school because of the public relations nightmare that would ensue if Spensa ever betrays humanity like her father once did. The admiral takes Spensa’s father’s pin and refuses to return it. Rodge restrains Spensa when she moves to attack the admiral. When they’re alone, Spensa tells Rodge to go to the celebratory party without her.

Spensa sits in the testing room for so long that one of the aides comes by to turn off the lights. Spensa ignores the aide and remains. Finally, she looks through the tests that the admiral had left in the room—the empty tests for the students whose parents’ status as First Citizens gave them automatic admission. She starts to answer every single question on every test. She hears janitors entering the building, and when a man enters the room, she assumes he is one of them. He asks her why she wants to be a pilot. She realizes he is a pilot himself, so she admits that she wants to see the stars. He leaves a flight pin on the desk for her and tells her to come to a specific building in two days. She finally recognizes the man as “Mongrel,” which is the callsign for Captain Cobb, her father’s old wingmate. She points out that the admiral will never let her into a cockpit, but he assures her that the admiral cannot control whom Cobb allows into his class.