The Expanse 2: Caliban's War [2] Quiz

Answer: Prax lured it out with bait.

The cargo bay doors hadn't been able to close because the monster was in the way, so the bay was already in vacuum when Holden and Amos went to get rid of the monster.

Protomolecule fed on radiation. When the protomolecule hybrids were not being directed, the acted predictably. The one in the Rocinante's cargo hold saw Amos and Holden, but only lashed out in response to Amos trying to shoot it with his auto-shotgun. It then went back to scratching its way through the Rocinante towards the reactor core. Prax realized it was trying to move up a radiation gradient. The crew rigged up a fuel pellet in a canister, and sent Prax out onto the hull to release it. Prax threw it by the cargo airlock, and the monster leaped out after it. The Rocinante then burned up the monster in its drive plume.

Answer: Fred fired Holden.

Fred was tired of Holden's self-righteousness. Now that the OPA was a legitimate governing organization, he didn't have to put up with it anymore, and fired Holden. Fred also told Holden that he wasn't responsible.

Holden ended up really liking being fired. For the first time in years, he was truly his own captain, free to do what he wanted. He would be responsible for his own costs, now, but he would be able to take whichever contracts he wanted.

Holden called a ship meeting where the survivors of the Canterbury agreed to create a corporation to own and run the Rocinante, with equal shares. They also officially voted for Holden to be the captain, a role he'd assumed at first because he'd been the ranking officer from the Canterbury.

Answer: Prax crowd-sourced his investigation.

When the Rocinante got to Tycho Station, Prax thought his journey on the ship was over, and tried to figure out how to continue his search for Mei. There had obviously been a miscommunication, because Holden and Amos were under the impression that they were still helping Prax.

And even though they were still helping, they needed money to run the ship, which Prax didn't have. When Prax asked whom he should ask for help, Holden suggested everyone. They put together a video of Prax and Holden explaining the situation, and set up an account that could receive donations. With Holden's fame boosting the signal, the video was seen across the solar system, and donations poured in. Within hours they had enough to fund their search, and even a new lead when someone recognized Dr. Strickland, but by a different name.

Answer: Incendiary

The armour-piercing bullets used by the marines at the beginning of the novel seemed to have little effect on the hybrids. They would pass through the monster, who would immediately heal. Bobbie likened it to shooting water.

No one ever used radioactive bullets, but considering the protomolecule fed on radiation, they would likely have not been effective.

Instead, the hybrid's designers had installed incendiary (fire) explosives to reliably destroy the protomolecule, and incendiary-tipped bullets also seemed to be more effective than other types.

Answer: Bobbie's armour

Avasarala knew how the game was played, and foresaw her opponents' moves. When in deep space, she would try to contact Holden. The Guanshiyin would not let her, the crew feigning ignorance and claiming equipment failure. When that happened, she would need a way to get back communications access. That was where Bobbie came in.

Bobbie's armour had been given to UN techs to verify the video footage stored on it, but after that they had no use for it, so Avasarala had been able to take it with her. The weapons had been removed from the suit, but it would still protect Bobbie from small arms fire and the vacuum of space while augmenting her strength. Any weapons that security would have would not be armour-piercing (they would not want a stray shot to open the ship to vacuum), so the suit was more than enough for Bobbie's mission. Bobbie took control of the ship with only one fatality due to a bullet ricocheting off Bobbie's armour back at the shooter.

Answer: By using the Razorback, a racing pinnace

The Razorback was first mentioned in "Leviathan Wakes". It was the personal racing pinnace of Julie Mao. Since her death on Eros, her father had kept the ship parked on his personal yacht.

Bobbie took control of the Guanshiyin so Avasarala could talk to Holden, but the luxury ship was designed for comfort, not speed. Bobbie had seen the Razorback during her assault on the bridge. It was only big enough for two, so Bobbie and Avasarala took the Razorback, leaving Cotyar and his team to hold the Guanshiyin.

Answer: Avasarala asked the tailing Martian ships for help.

Admiral Nguyen was building up a fleet in the Jovian system, so the Martians built up a force of their own. When Nguyen sent six ships to destroy the Rocinante, six Martian ships followed them. Bobbie suggested asking them for help.

Neither side wanted to be the ones to escalate tensions, but when Avasarala called the Martian ships for help, labeling the six UN ships as "rogue elements," she had given them permission to shoot without political repercussions.

The Martian ships caught up to the UN ships about the same time the Rocinante came within effective weapons range of the UN ships. During the fight, the Rocinante even managed to score the first hit, with Bobbie controlling the weapons systems.

Answer: A new gun

Bobbie's suit had been brought to Earth for information sharing, but it had been stripped of its armourments first. Even though Bobbie had her suit back, it was only good for strength augmentation and protection.

After the Martian Navy helped the Rocinante survive an attack from Admiral Nguyen's forces, Holden asked for some replacement torpedoes, and a new gatling gun that would integrate with Bobbie's suit. He also got 5000 caseless incendiary-tipped rounds to go with it.

Answer: To get the transponder codes for Io's torpedo arsenal

After the space battle was over, Io launched hundreds of missiles with protomolecule hybrids on board. Most went towards the inner planets, but at least one struck the Agatha King. Then their transponders turned off, leaving no way for them to be detected. They were on their way to the inner planets, each one a global death sentence, and nobody could see them. They needed to get the codes to turn on the transponders so the missiles could be destroyed, and Admiral Nguyen had them.

Over the next few hours, the Agatha King's crew was turned into protomolecule zombies. Nguyen tried to trade the codes for safe passage off his own ship, but no one else could take that chance. Holden went over to the King himself to get the codes from the the Combat Information Centre.

Answer: Holden shot Nguyen.

Nguyen had quarantined himself on the bridge as the rest of the crew was turned into protomolecule zombies. He still wanted to trade the transponder codes for a ride off the Agatha King, but Holden could not take the chance of taking someone infected off the ship. Nguyen got angry, so Holden shot him before he lost control of the situation.

Holden found transponder codes, and almost scuttled the ship while he was still on it. Ensign Larson, a sailor Holden had found hiding in a closet, offered to stay behind instead to trigger the self-destruct. Larson's suit had been ripped, so he was infected anyway.

Answer: It threw its abdomen at her.

First indication of protomolecule monster was radio jamming. Bobby sent Amos and Prax inside while she stayed outside to fight. Bobby needed to damage the creature until its self-destruct kicked in. The monster threw its own abdomen at her, which exploded. While she was down, it tried to vomit zombie her.

Bobbie knew about the bombs implanted in the protomolecule hybrids. When the monsters were damaged, they would try to heal, increasing the chance that they would "slip their leash" and trigger the internal explosive. All Bobbie wanted to do was damage it enough times to get the bomb to go off. Bobbie started celebrating when she saw the creature changing, but then it ripped out its own abdomen (with the bomb), and hurled it at Bobbie. The explosion knocked Bobbie on her back, and shut down all her suit's systems.

Answer: She shot its head off when it was on top of her.

Once again, Bobbie found herself on her back during a fight with a monster. This time, all her suit's functions were disabled. Instead of killing her, the monster tried to infect her with protomolecule, but couldn't figure out how to get through the suit. Bobbie had to lie there while systems slowly came back online.

When her arm-mounted gatling gun came back online, she held it up to the monster's head and fired.

Answer: Mei was fine.

Mei was drugged to keep her calm, but otherwise alright. Dr. Strickland had explicitly not used Mei as a test subject in case he was ever found, but only after Mei had become the poster girl for the missing children. Once Prax had Mei back, he didn't need revenge; he just wanted to get her some place safe. Amos, on the other hand, was not a forgiving man, and held a deep hatred for anyone who hurt children. Dr. Strickland's "benevolence" was not enough to save him from Amos.

Answer: Fred Johnson destroyed them with his stolen nuclear warheads.

In "Leviathan Wakes", Earth had launched its entire arsenal at Eros to try to destroy it. When the transponders the missiles were targeting were disabled, Fred was able to essentially "steal" those warheads, which made the inner planet governments take the Outer Planets Alliance seriously.

In "Caliban's War", Fred used his nuclear warheads to destroy the protomolecule warheads before Mars could, gaining more political clout for the OPA.

Answer: Detective Miller

Josephus Miller was on protomolecule-infected Eros when it crashed into Phoebe, so when Holden saw the dead man on his ship, saying, "We need to talk," it was alarming. This Miller was accompanied by blue fireflies, and had a feint inner blue glow that coloured his eyes - hallmarks of the protomolecule.