The Expanse 5: Nemesis Games [2] Quiz

Answer: Marco dropped asteroids on Earth

Marco Inaros covered asteroids in stealth coating, then launched them at Earth. The first one struck Morocco, and measured an 8.75 on the Richter Scale (about the same strength as the 2010 Chile earthquake), and was compared to the destruction of the island of Krakatoa in 1883. People on Earth thought it was a tragic natural disaster until the second rock struck the mid Atlantic, triggering tsunami warnings in every coastal nation.

Answer: To get the protomolecule sample

Agents wearing EVA suits on Tycho Station attacked Fred in his office while at the same time the office was targeted by a torpedo. Fred thought they were trying to kill him, and moved away after fighting off his attackers. The torpedo was also thought to be a dud when it didn't explode.

It was not until things had calmed down that the attackers' real goals were revealed. They had placed a salvage mech on the tip of the torpedo, and used it to removed Fred's personal safe, which contained the protomolecule sample.

Paolo Cortázar, the brilliant protomolecule scientist who had elected to have his ethical inhibitions chemically removed, was pulled out of a Belter prison by the same people in the novella "The Vital Abyss."

Answer: Marco always had many plans and revealed the one that worked

This quote from chapter 14 of "Nemesis Games" sums up Marco's strategy:

"No matter how bad things got, [Marco] always managed to make it seem like each new hurdle was something he'd factored in...

The trick, he said, is to have a simple plan that more or less can't go wrong so that you always have something, and then stack your risks on that. Have another alternative that won't work but maybe one time in a hundred, and if it happens, you look like a god. And then one that won't work but one time in twenty, that if it lands you look like you're the smartest one in the room. And then one that's only one time in five, but you look like you knew you could do it. And if everything else fails, you've still got the one that would always win."

Coupled with this mode of thinking, Marco would take credit for the successes of the Free Navy, while pinning any failures on individuals (other than himself).

Answer: Steal a ship to fly to Luna

Clarissa knew about Rattlesnake Island from her youth, where rich people had lavish getaway mansions. Some of those residences also had personal shuttles, and because they were vacation homes, there was a good chance those ships would still be there.

Answer: Peaches

Amos liked to give people nicknames. He never gave any explanation, and usually people didn't resist. He called Clarissa Mao "Peaches." Bobbie Draper was "Babs", pastor Anna Volovodov from "Abaddon's Gate" was "Red" (because of her hair), and Chrisjen Avasarala was "Chrissy" (who was also the only person to ever tell Amos not to call her that).

Answer: Make the ship's nuclear reactor lose containment and blow up

Naomi had written the code back when she and Marco had been in the same crew. She'd written it to be generic, and was appalled when she found out that she was partially responsible for the destruction of the Augustín Gamarra. It was one of the many reasons she left Marco originally.

While Naomi was a prisoner of Marco's on the Pella, she told him that he couldn't do anything to Holden. He responded with, "No? Well maybe you will." This tipped off Naomi that Marco was planning to use her old corrupted firmware on the Rocinante.

Paula Gutierrez, the data wonk Holden had hired on Tycho Station, later found the offending code. She explained that containment failure could have been tied to any number of parameters, and that a lot of accidents in the past couple decades may have actually been murders without evidence.

Answer: On old-fashioned bicycles

When Marco's asteroid struck North America, the power grid and other systems were thrown into chaos. Low-tech, unpowered, robust bicycles ended up being the most reliable form of transportation. It still took them two weeks.

When they met up with Erich in Baltimore, they traveled the rest of the way to Lake Winnipesaukee in a helicopter, and then moved to Rattlesnake Island in boats.

Answer: They flew Smith away onboard the Razorback

The Razorback racing pinnace was an important ship in the first two "Expanse" novels. It was Julie Mao's ship, then transferred to her father, Jules-Pierre Mao, and then to Avasarala when he went to prison. Avasarala gifted the ship to Bobbie after working together.

Bobbie didn't sell the ship, but she was no pilot either, so the ship sat in storage. She and Alex were able to use the ship to investigate the Hungaria asteroids (which led them to hostile ships and made them flee to the Martian convoy). Later, they used the ship again to get Nathan Smith away from the convoy when it came under attack.

Answer: Naomi hijacked a diagnostic signal from her ship

Naomi was allowed to move about the Pella and interact with the crew, but she was not given comms access, and was always watched. During the battle with the Martian convoy, she was left in the crash couch in her room. As soon as she did not have a minder and everyone else was distracted, Naomi picked up some equipment from the machine shop, and then opened an access panel.

She found a communications channel, triggered a diagnostic signal used for testing, and then overwrote the signal with 30 seconds of speech telling Holden about the sabotage.

After the battle with the Martians, there was a good chance someone would analyze all the recorded data, find her message, and pass it along to Holden.

Answer: Yes

Holden heard Naomi's message while the Rocinante was powering up, preparing to take Fred Johnson to Luna. The fusion reactor was at 60% when it was shut down. Had it gotten to 95%, the reactor would have lost containment, turning the Rocinante into a nuclear bomb that would have atomized the whole ship, and a lot of Tycho Station.

Marco lied to Naomi, saying that he had only meant to disable the Rocinante; to make it lose containment at a small 3%.

Answer: Clarissa knew the override codes

There was a security flaw in the gates that the youths of the island used to sneak in and out without their parents noticing. That same flaw still existed when Clarissa and Amos showed up.

Once they were in a house, Clarissa also recognized one of the butlers, and was able to ease the tension between the abandoned house staff and Erich's group.

Answer: Herself

Naomi knew she needed to escape the Pella back to the Chetzemoka. She had planned to use an EVA suit but realized that, if Marco saw her escape, he would thwart her plans. She left the suit and took a decompression kit with her, to give herself a shot of oxygen. Without the suit, everyone else would think it was a suicide attempt.

Her friend Cyn even got into the airlock with her to persuade her not to kill herself. She didn't want to kill her friend, but had to escape. Cyn poetically asked her to be strong, so she cycled the airlock.

Answer: That they should rescue Naomi

Alex wanted to save Naomi, and argued that it was the law and their moral responsibility to answer a distress call. Bobbie also wanted to save Naomi, but argued that they had to follow their orders to get the Martian prime minister to safety, especially now that they were out of immediate danger.

Not that there was an official vote, but Smith ultimately got to break to tie on what to do. He suggested that they go save Naomi, saying that she was a witness to the events on the Pella, and that Avasarala would be very upset if they left such valuable intelligence behind.

Answer: Bobbie picked Naomi up while riding a missile

Alex was not able to approach the Chetzemoka in the Razorback; the Chetzemoka had a proximity sensor tied to a bomb. He was being escorted by a cloud of Martian torpedoes that he could remote-control, and they were small enough to not trigger the sensor. Bobbie put on her power armor, used her magnetic boots to lock herself to a missile, and rode to Naomi's rescue.

Answer: Onboard the Rocinante

Naomi and Holden had been talking about bringing on more crew for the Rocinante. A crew of just four people was below what could even be reasonably called a skeleton crew for a ship the size of the Roci. Amos suggested bringing on an apprentice for himself. Holden had not anticipated bringing on someone who had previously tried to sabotage the ship and kill him and his friends. Clarissa would become a permanent member of the Rocinante.