The Expanse 1: Leviathan Wakes [2] Quiz

Answer: They were irradiated.

Holden and Miller approached a sealed radiation shelter that had just one guard. They disarmed the guard, and had him reopen the shelter. The room was dark, and bodies were lying all over. They made the guard walk in first, who collapsed just four steps in. Miller also started coughing, and, realizing that the room was filled with gas, had Holden close the door. On top of all that, they both received alerts from their hand terminals. They had received a large dose of radiation, meaning they only had about six hours to get back to the Rocinante for medical attention. They would also need to take daily oncocidal ("cancer-killer") medication for the rest of their lives, and wouldn't be able to father any children.

The disease that had killed Julie Mao fed on radiation. The radiation alarms were falsely triggered to get everyone on Eros into the radiation shelters, which were being used as incubation chambers. The nefarious actors on Eros wanted to feed the disease as much biomass and radiation as they could to see what would happen.

Answer: It turned them into zombies.

The new disease was unlike anything that had been seen before. It took advantage of whatever biomass it could, and would repurpose it to spread the infection. Humans, mostly, were turned into zombies that would vomit brown liquid on everything. Sometimes only parts of a human would be used, such as an arm pulling a torso along the ground, with the rest being broken down.

Carne Por la Machina security forces had rounded up the population into the radiation shelters (zombie incubation chambers), but had no idea why. It wasn't until the doors opened back up and the horde spilled forth that the security forces realized that they too were part of the experiment.

Answer: No

At the beginning of the novel, when Holden went to investigate the Scopuli, Captain McDowell had said to Holden, "Don't be a hero." If Holden saw anything dangerous, or anything that made him uneasy, he was to immediately get back to safety.

On Eros Miller, Holden, the crew were hiding in an electrical room while security rounded everyone else into radiation shelters. Not long in, Holden and Miller got restless. They agreed that it would be a stupid idea to go out and investigate, but Miller didn't like a mystery and Holden was a busybody. Holden told Naomi to give him three hours before going back to the Rocinante without him. She agreed, also telling Holden, "Don't be a hero."

Holden and Miller got back to the hiding spot five minutes after the three hour mark. Holden was sure that his team would have waited for him, and was surprised when Naomi had done exactly what he had asked her to do. Miller and Holden had to get back to the Roci in their weakened state on their own.

Answer: He broadcast it to the solar system.

The Martian marine Lieutenant Kelly died making sure the data cube got off the Donnager, so when the OPA managed to finally crack the decryption, they were surprised to see just sensor data from the battle. Fred transmitted it to Holden to see if he could make sense of it.

There were no hidden messages in the data, but then Holden remembered that looking at a ship's drive signature was one of the best ways to identify it. He had the Rocinante analyze the drives of the attacking stealth ships, and it reported that they were likely light cruiser drives manufactured at the Bush Naval Shipyards (which were owned by the UN). Holden immediately broadcast his findings.

Miller was furious with Holden for acting before thinking about the consequences, and threw a coffee bulb at Holden's head. Miller said, "This is how these people work! They made the Canterbury look like Mars. It wasn't. They made the Donnager look like the Belt. It wasn't. Now it looks like the whole ... thing's Earth? Follow the pattern. It probably isn't."

Holden defended his actions by saying he hadn't actually accused anyone of anything, and justified them further by saying, "This kind of thing requires secrecy to function, so exposing all the secrets hurts them in the end."

***Earth attacked their Martian friends in the Earth-Mars Coalition Navy over Mars. Destroys Deimos. Blockades Mars

Answer: It was an extrasolar capture.

Mars had made the first manned landing on Saturn's moon Phoebe ten years before the events in "Leviathan Wakes". The explorers discovered that the moon was actually a carrier of an alien technology. It had meant to hit Earth more than two billion years ago and hijack early life for its own purposes, but accidentally got caught in Saturn's orbit.

The researchers first called it the Phoebe bug. The exact purpose or function of the Phoebe bug was unknown, so they set up the Eros experiment to feed it more biomass and radiation, and then watched.

Answer: Protogen

On the Anubis, Holden found a video file of a Protogen employee addressing Antony Dresden and the board of directors. He explained the origin of the Phoebe bug, and that his scientists had decided to call it the "protomolecule." Holden was amazed at their arrogance, saying, "They had no idea what it does, but they slapped their label on it like they'd made it. They found an alien weapon, and all they could think to do was brand it."

Mars had originally found anomalies on Phoebe, and hired Protogen to help them make sense of it. Protogen made the initial discoveries about the protomolecule's origins and purpose. Their first test on humans was when they betrayed their Martian counterparts.

Protogen had had the security contract for Eros, but pulled out and had it replaced by their puppet company, Carne Por la Machina, as they set up the Eros experiment.

Mao-Kwikowsky was a supplier for Protogen, which was how Jules-Pierre Mao knew that things in the Belt were about to become dangerous, and why he tried to recover his daughter.

Answer: Havelock, Miller's former partner, gave them the coordinates.

Naomi had tried to use triangulation, but the station was not keeping a predictable path, or was using repeaters. Miller was talking to her about Earthers, and remembered Havelock, his partner from Star Helix. Havelock had left Ceres to join Protogen.

Miller reached out to Havelock through a secure data drop server. Havelock told Miller that, off the record, there was a deep space research and development facility, and was able to pass along its location. He also said Protogen was more like a military force than a police force, and that they would probably kill him if they found out he passed along the coordinates of their secret station.

Miller thanked Havelock and told him that Protogen was responsible for what was happening on Eros. He recommended Havelock break his contract if he could, and to definitely avoid Thoth Station if Protogen tried to rotate him out there.

Answer: The defenders were using non-lethal ammunition.

About half of the defenders of Thoth Station were using non-lethal riot gear. The scientists working on Thoth had "their ethical restraints removed," becoming willing sociopaths who would not bat an eye at horrific human experiments. As long as they had a problem to focus on, they were fine, but if their attention was not maintained, they could become violent towards each other. On a secret space station, the scientists became their own biggest threat, so security was armed to deal with them. Security was not armed to repel an external assault team.

During the raid on Thoth, some of the scientists tried to attack the boarders with cutlery from the mess hall.

Answer: Josephus Miller, former Ceres detective

Antony Dresden was the executive VP of bio research at Protogen, and was running Thoth Station and the Eros project. Despite just having his station boarded, and his employees killed, Dresden had a confident demeanor. He knew that Fred couldn't hold the station for long before Protogen or Earth followed. He pointed out that Fred was in the best bargaining position he would have, and offered Fred anything he wanted: money, supplies, amnesty, anything to resolve things as fast as possible.

Holden asked Dresden why he had killed Eros, and the director was baffled. He said, "A million and a half people is small potatoes. What we're working with here is bigger than that." Holden knew that killing 1.5 million people for science was wrong, but he was having trouble articulating why. Miller, seeing the effect Dresden's words were having on Fred and Holden, knew he had to stop the man now, because a trial couldn't be trusted to lock him away. Miller stepped forward and shot Dresden dead, in cold blood. Holden told Miller to, "Find your own ride home."

Later, on Tycho Station, Fred confronted Miller about his decision.
Fred: "You killed Dresden. That's a problem."
Miller: "It needed to happen."
Fred: "I'm not sure it did."
Miller: "That's why it needed to happen."

Answer: Knock it into the sun

Miller's first recommendation was to lock down access to Eros, but Fred pointed out that both Earth and Mars had larger navies than the OPA. The only alternative was to get rid of Eros to prevent anyone from having it. Eros was too big to destroy with nuclear warheads.

It "would be like blowing dandelion fluff into the breeze." Instead, Miller recommended knocking it into the sun using Tycho Station's biggest asset: the Nauvoo. The Mormons, who had commissioned the generation ship, were not happy.

Answer: Holden asked Naomi to pass the pepper.

When he nearly died on Eros, something crystallized for Holden: he was in love with Naomi. He wasn't the sort of person who could have that knowledge and not act on it, so after more than a day of recovering on the Rocinante, he told Naomi how he felt. And she rejected him.

Naomi had shipped with Holden for five years on the Canterbury, and had seen him go through many relationships all with the same steps. She had also been ready to be in a relationship with Holden, but his sights had always been set somewhere else. When the crew of the Canterbury was reduced to five, and then four, she recognized the way Holden started looking at her. But Holden had only become interested once she was the only woman in the crew, and that was not good enough for her.

Naomi did not want to bed down with Holden until she knew he loved her, or just wanted to bed down, and that wouldn't happen until Holden knew which one it was.

Afterwards, Holden walked on eggshells around Naomi, trying to be friendly without sending romantic signals. After the Thoth Station attack, the whole solar system seemed to be falling apart, and Naomi got tired of waiting for Holden to figure himself out. Holden was again surprised, thinking that Naomi hadn't wanted a relationship, but that wasn't what she had said. They became a couple just before heading back to Eros for their final mission in the novel.

Naomi did not want to upset the crew dynamic right before a high-stakes mission, and asked to keep their new relationship a secret. On their trip out to Eros, with forced casualness, Holden asked Naomi to pass the pepper at dinner. Amos immediately noticed the lack of tension and called out their relationship. Alex hadn't noticed anything. Amos and Alex were both supportive and unconcerned by the new dynamic.

Answer: Eros moved out of the way.

Just as the Nauvoo was about to hit Eros, the entire asteroid changed course. The Nauvoo, still under full thrust, flew off away from the solar system. The creators of the Protomolecule had a much better understanding (and control) of physics than humans. Miller was on Eros when it dodged the Nauvoo, but did not notice the sudden acceleration.

When Eros started accelerating at speeds lethal to humans, Miller still didn't feel anything.

Answer: They turned on the transponders of the OPA ships on its surface.

The plan was to knock Eros into the sun using the Nauvoo, but it was going to take time to get the Nauvoo ready, so the OPA sent a force ahead to secure the asteroid. They landed on the surface of Eros, and set up nuclear devices to deter anyone else from getting too close. If they were still there when the Nauvoo arrived, they would be detonated to give Eros an extra boost when the Nauvoo hit.

After Eros started moving on its own, it stopped returning radar signals, so Holden tried to keep it within visual range. When Eros got to six g (six times the Earth's gravity), Holden could not keep up the chase without killing his crew, so he stopped. The UNN ship Ravi continued the chase, and enabled its transponder, which gave Holden an idea. Miller was still on Eros, along with the ship that had brought him. The ship's transponder had been disabled so no one else would see them approaching Eros, but when they needed to know where Eros was, the OPA was able to remotely turn the transponder back on.

Answer: Julie Mao was piloting it.

The protomolecule did not just absorb and repurpose the biomass it encountered. It also learned from it. After Eros had died, there were still strange sounds coming from it, mostly moans and fragments of speech. The protomolecule hadn't known human language until it had absorbed humans. Miller finally realized what was happening when he heard Eros say, "You can't take the Razorback. It's gone and gone and gone."

Growing up, Julie had had a personal racing pinnace called the Razorback. The protomolecule had a stored version of Julie Mao's mind (along with every other human on Eros). When Holden had tried to keep up with Eros, the part of the protomolecule that was Julie interpreted it as a race, so it pushed even harder. Julie had grown up on Earth and Luna, so she started piloting Eros "home."

Earth launched its entire surface-based arsenal of three thousand five hundred and seventy-three high yield thermonuclear interplanetary ballistic missiles at Eros. They would meet Eros in twenty-seven hours. Miller asked Holden for time to try his theory that Julie was piloting Eros; to see if he could change her mind. Holden talked to Fred, trading his protomolecule sample to have Fred temporarily disable the ship transponders that the missiles were targeting. Fred ended up in control of both the last known sample of the protomolecule and thousands of nuclear warheads; he had finally bought the OPA a seat at the table.

Answer: Venus

When Miller decided to try to reason with Julie to get her away from Earth, he asked Holden where she should go instead. Holden said, "Give her Venus. It's an awful place." It took Miller thirty-three hours to find Julie. When he did, he was able to explain to her half-stable mind that what she was doing would kill the thirty billion people living on Earth. He said that they could instead go to Venus together. Holden hadn't expected Eros to actually go to Venus; it had been a joke.

Eros smashed into Venus, but neither the impact nor the harsh atmosphere was enough to stop the protomolecule. The clouds just covered up what it was doing. All eyes would be on Venus during "Caliban's War", the second novel in "The Expanse" series.