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Quiz about Down To A Sunless Sea by David Graham
Quiz about Down To A Sunless Sea by David Graham

"Down To A Sunless Sea" by David Graham Quiz


The story of the last aeroplane out of New York, and the 600 souls aboard, caught halfway to London when a devastating nuclear war breaks out below.

A multiple-choice quiz by Rowena8482. Estimated time: 6 mins.
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Author
Rowena8482
Time
6 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
277,934
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Difficult
Avg Score
4 / 10
Plays
149
Question 1 of 10
1. What was the cause of the almost total collapse of American society in the years before the War begins? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. How does Captain Scott "pay off" the army guard at the airport to get transport to the gates, and get his illicit passengers back to the plane later? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. What name is given to the envelope with the emergency instructions in it, "to be opened in case of disaster"? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. When Scott eventually finds a place to land in the immediate aftermath of the bombing, where is it? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. Who or what is the only living thing left alive at the plane's first landing site? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. A Royal Navy Lieutenant called Redfern puts Scott and his party in contact with the few remaining people at the Antarctic Base via telex.
Where is Redfern when they contact him?
Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. Who leads the fifty women who jump out in order to lighten the Russian plane, and enable it to reach Antarctica safely? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. How does Elkins, the leader of the men at the Antarctic Base, turn out to be related to two of the children on board Scott's plane? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. Who becomes Scott's wife once they have found a refuge from the radiation? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. What name do the survivors decide to give to their new "country" once they have reached Antarctica safely? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. What was the cause of the almost total collapse of American society in the years before the War begins?

Answer: The oil ran out

As the story begins, America is a broken society. The oil has run out and the rest of the world rations and hoards their supplies and will not supply any to the US. The dollar is no longer accepted as valid currency for imports and the population of America is in dire straits.
2. How does Captain Scott "pay off" the army guard at the airport to get transport to the gates, and get his illicit passengers back to the plane later?

Answer: A piece of steak

Scott and his flight crew carry their own food and drink with them for stopovers in American airports. He uses a piece of steak to "sweeten" the guard up so they can get a lift to the gates of the airport compound.
When they return to the plane they bring two extra people with them, to sneak onto the flight and take them back to London.
The guard finds out but when Scott explains why he wants to take them, he lets them go with the words "it was a good steak Captain."
3. What name is given to the envelope with the emergency instructions in it, "to be opened in case of disaster"?

Answer: Armada Instructions

Every intercontinental airliner carries a black envelope containing instructions for the crew in the event of nuclear war beginning while they are airborne.
4. When Scott eventually finds a place to land in the immediate aftermath of the bombing, where is it?

Answer: Fales in the Azores

At first it looks like the plane will have to make an emergency landing in a tea plantation on San Miguel island in the Azores, as a local ham radio operator tells Scott that he witnessed an airburst directly over Fales military airfield.
This would have meant the end of the road for the plane and everyone on it, but when they overfly Fales they realise it was a neutron bomb and the airfield infrastructure is intact.
5. Who or what is the only living thing left alive at the plane's first landing site?

Answer: A soldier

One soldier is left alive at Fales, he had been down in the basement when the bomb struck and was protected from the blast and the radiation. He had sufficient air to stay under cover long enough for the radiation to dissipate enough to let him live when he emerged.
6. A Royal Navy Lieutenant called Redfern puts Scott and his party in contact with the few remaining people at the Antarctic Base via telex. Where is Redfern when they contact him?

Answer: The Falkland Islands

Redfern and a few other people were trapped in a basement of an army base, and survived the actual bombing, but are dying rapidly of radiation sickness.
Even though they are so ill and weak they manage to keep in contact with Scott and the men at the Antarctic Base and thus give Scott somewhere to take his people out of reach of the radiation.
This is their only chance to save the human race from almost certain extinction.
7. Who leads the fifty women who jump out in order to lighten the Russian plane, and enable it to reach Antarctica safely?

Answer: Elena

Elena is the co-pilot.
When they realise that in order to fly above the radioactive cloud, they must lighten the plane by 4000 kilos, they jettison everything they can but it is not enough.
The plane is full of Russian women, children, and female soldiers, and the Pilot, Valentina, calls for volunteers to jump out and save the rest.
In very moving scene, Elena leads the volunteers, mainly older women, and those without family on board, to link hands and jump together.
8. How does Elkins, the leader of the men at the Antarctic Base, turn out to be related to two of the children on board Scott's plane?

Answer: Father

Mark and Hayley Elkins are aboard the plane, as part of the group of 200 homeless children who were being taken to England by the Red Cross.
Miraculously their father has survived at the Antarctic Base, but had assumed his children were dead as no news had come from America for months before the war broke out.
They had been living rough for several months since their mother died, before being rescued by the Red Cross.
As one character says at the time "If you read it in a book you wouldn't believe it" but it makes for a touching scene.
9. Who becomes Scott's wife once they have found a refuge from the radiation?

Answer: Valentina

Scott and Valentina fall in love at first sight when she lands her plane load of Russian women and children at Fales.
They spend the night together, and assume they will die together when the radiation comes, but then are given a lifeline by Redfern.
Once the community is established in Antarctica they can live out their lives together.
10. What name do the survivors decide to give to their new "country" once they have reached Antarctica safely?

Answer: Alpha

They call their new home Alpha, and themselves Alphans, after Valentina quotes the lines from "Xanadu"
"Where Alph the sacred river ran,
Through caverns measureless to man,
Down to a sunless sea"
Source: Author Rowena8482

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