Knitter

**Knitter** was the rank of an empathically enhanced woman in the Planetary Defense Coalition (PDC).

## Biography

Knitter was a born and raised FreeLife, a sect of people against the Galanthi. She described that the spores that had made her empathically enhanced didn't make her brilliant or brainwashed, they were a question, and nothing cracked their world harder than one gentle question. Although spores activated parts of the mind needed to comprehend Galanthi language and tech, Knitter never saw a Galanthi. The FreeLife had killed nineteen Galanthi, so there was a dispute between FreeLife and PDC to find the last Galanthi on Earth and its portal.

Knitter parachuted with her PDC pride down onto a Galanthi project station. FreeLife marauders attacked and outnumbered them. Stripe, who had been playing possum and was seemingly dead just moments before, opened her eyes and killed the attackers. The group infiltrated the empty science station with one of their captives, Major Greenbone of the FreeLife, who had been tracking the source of the spatial anomaly, the same as PDC.

Knitter took Stripe to the sickbay to get her regulated. Stripe kept asking for pheen, but Knitter refused. Knitter then lay on the table while Stripe removed the bullet from her leg with a device. Major Greenbone revealed that he had called for a full incursion the moment FreeLife met resistance, as did the PDC, meaning full engagement between the two sides would commence soon. The Major then suggested that killing the Galanthi and close the portal would tell the world the war was over, saving many lives, including theirs.

When Knitter noticed her team considering it, she bribed Stripe with pheen and asked for her help. She told her that Command thought the murdered team had been helping the Galanthi to build a stable portal so reinforcements would come through it. She believed that the twenty Galanthi had been scouts, and more would mean they'd turn the tide. Knitter believed that this would not win the war, but the world, making it livable again with the Galanthi's power to end floods, famine, and terra-storms. Stripe argued that change was too scary even for the people who fought for it, which was why FreeLife always won and owned history. Knitter then revealed that she was FreeLife, but she hoped for a better world, so she asked the same of Stripe.

Suddenly, Knitter and Stripe heard gunshots. They followed the noise and found one of the Boots laying on a poodle of blood. In the main room, Major had killed the second Boot, shot Byner, and had Crescent at gunpoint. He told them that the only way for them to live was to get rid of the Galanthi. Byner then revealed that the Galanthi was already leaving, not bringing reinforcements; the rift was stable because it went the other way. Major did not believe them. Stripe shot him, and Command held him at gunpoint. Knitter begged the Galanthi not to leave them, and Byner said that it got enough power to get up to the portal.

Knitter looked at Stripe and said that she was right, it was always going to end this way. The first Boot, who had been playing possum, then appeared and shot Knitter. Stripe shot him back and go to Knitter. Stripe attempted to console her and said that the Galanthi wasn't leaving them, it was going back for help. Knitter began to tell Stripe her name, which started with an "H," then passed away.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 *The Nevers* — "True". HBO, May 16, 2021.