The Expanse 8: Tiamat's Wrath [2] Quiz

Answer: A dancing bear

Holden explained to Theresa that old kings would have tamed dangerous animals to display at parties as a way to show power. There would be an obvious danger, but the king would not be afraid, implying just how powerful he was. Usually, though, the dancing bear was the least dangerous thing at the court. It was everyone else the kings had to watch out for.

Answer: Angriest

Theresa had tried to help a younger student, Elsa Singh (the daughter of Santiago Singh, who had been killed in the previous novel), but ended up causing a tantrum. She told Amos that she was surprised at how angry the child had been, which baffled Amos.

He said Theresa was one of the angriest people he knew. Theresa hadn't thought of herself as an angry person, but Amos was very familiar with anger, and easily recognized it.

Answer: Everything in ring space was destroyed.

Elvi was angry about the first bomb ship experiment that ended with two gates being destroyed. She was livid when, three days later, Laconia wanted to repeat the experiment. Before the second experiment could be run, though, the strongest-yet time-loss event occurred.

The entities that had originally killed the ring gate builders were back, and swarmed ring space. They destroyed everything they could, physically, which was everything made by humans. Medina station, its rail gun defenses, and all the ships and satellites in ring space were reduced to atoms. Elvi managed to retain just enough self awareness to trigger the Falcon's automated sequence to return to Laconia.

It was the only ship to survive the event. Large portions of the ship and its crew seemed to have been carved away, making the ship look like coral, or Swiss cheese. Elvi lost a chunk of her thigh, and her husband Fayaz lost a foot.

They were the lucky ones.

Answer: Duarte had been personally modified by the protomolecule.

Duarte was having himself modified by protomolecule technology in an attempt to achieve immortality, for a continuity of vision for the Laconian Empire. Instead of constantly changing emperors, and changing the vision of that empire, there would only ever be one, ever-lasting leader. Duarte forbade the technology from being used on anyone else.

The beings that killed the ring gate builders were using the same attacks they had millions of years ago, which were designed specifically for their targets. Being modified by protomolecule technology, Duarte was more like the ring gate builders than any other human, so the effects of the attack were more pronounced on him.

Answer: Amos was shot dead.

Theresa accidentally led Colonel Ilich right to Amos, not realizing just how much of an enemy of the state he was. Theresa had had a tracking device implanted when she was a toddler, so Laconia always knew where she was, even when she escaped the grounds for her sanctioned rebellion. Those watching her movements never sent anyone to investigate the cave, and didn't know she had become friends with an assassin with a pocket nuclear device.

When Ilich finally met Amos, Amos refused to back down, and after a very brief fight, was shot many times. Theresa was devastated. In their rush to get Theresa to safety, the Laconian guards left Amos' body in the cave. When they went back later, it was no longer there.

Answer: Cortásar was plotting to kill Theresa.

Winston Duarte wanted immortality originally for just himself. Dr. Cortásar also wanted to be immortal, but Duarte wouldn't allow it. Duarte bent his rule for his daughter, though. Cortásar said he would do this, but planned to use Theresa as a test subject (who would not survive) to refine the process before applying it to himself.

When Duarte was rendered incoherent by the time-loss event, Cortásar became bolder. He almost got away with his scheme, but Elvi stopped him.

Answer: Cara and Xan

Cara and Xan were the two children from the novella "Strange Dogs". They had died on Laconia and were repaired by the native repair drones. In the roughly thirty years since being remade, they had not physically aged a day. They still had the personalities of children, but with an information dump of what the ring gate builders knew. The existence of these two children were highly classified, and the key to Cortásar's research on immortality for Duarte.

Cortásar insisted on treating the two children like objects, but Elvi was able to see they clearly maintained their humanity. Being held in cells for decades was a human rights violation of the highest order.

Answer: Blow up the Tempest with anti-matter

The only way to get enough power for the new Laconian magnetic weapon was to annihilate antimatter. Bobbie's crew recovered some antimatter in the resupply shipment meant for the Heart of the Tempest. Bobbie's ship, the Gathering Storm, did not have any use for antimatter, but that didn't mean they couldn't use it more directly.

The plan was to destroy the Heart of the Tempest just by hurling the antimatter at it, which worked spectacularly.

Answer: Bobbie Draper

Bobbie's original battle plan was to use her big ship, the Gathering Storm, to distract the Heart of the Tempest while an unassuming shuttle got too close to the battle, and dropped off a torpedo with the antimatter close to the target. That went mostly as planned, except the shuttle and torpedo got shot up during the fight. Bobbie had to take the torpedo herself and launch it ballistically at the Tempest, which meant she had to get close. Bobbie went down firing her machine gun at the impossibly large battleship, and then the antimatter charges hit. Later, Alex compared her to a Valkyrie.

Answer: Cortásar, his doctor

Theresa had the impression that Cortásar planned to kill her, but she didn't know how or why. During one of her meetings with her mute and childlike father, she told him all her fears and anxieties. Duarte didn't seem to understand any of it, but when all the six people who knew about his condition gathered to fabricate a press release, he got up and used his protomolecule abilities to disassemble enough of Cortásar's torso to kill him.

The rest of the conspiracy was mortified and left the High Consul alone.

Answer: Place Elvi Okoye in charge of Laconian research

Elvi thought Holden's plan was to kidnap Theresa off of Laconia, either as insurance to get off planet, or for the resistance to have a hostage. Holden's plans were not nearly so self-centered. His plan was to get Elvi in charge of Laconian research so humanity might actually have a chance to survive, because he knew Cortásar was a self-serving sociopath who wouldn't help. To do this, Holden slowly influenced Cortásar to make worse decisions so Cortásar would fall out of favour with Duarte, and be replaced.

Answer: Destroy the orbital construction platforms

Laconia's ability to project power was being crippled. They had constructed three Magnetar-class battle ships. The one guarding Medina (Eye of the Typhoon) was destroyed when ring space was cleared out. Another (Heart of the Tempest) was destroyed by Bobbie in the Sol system.

The last one (Voice of the Whirlwind) was defending Laconia itself. These awesome new ships were constructed at the alien platforms orbiting Laconia, which had been there before humans arrived. The goal of the resistance was to destroy these platforms to prevent any new advanced hardware from entering the war.

Answer: Theresa Duarte broke Holden out.

Thinking back on her lessons about the prisoner's dilemma, Theresa had been told that cooperating was better for everyone in the long run. But she was starting to feel that she was the only one left trying to cooperate. If everyone else was defecting, then so would she.

Theresa used her authority as the High Consul's daughter to get in to Holden's cell, borrowed a guard's stun baton, and turned it on him. She had Holden wear the guard's outfit to escape.

Answer: On the Rocinante

Theresa called the Rocinante during its attack on Laconia, and used Holden as a bargaining chip. If they wanted to extract Holden, they would have to take her too. It turned out to be a good thing, too, because the Voice of the Whirlwind targeted the Rocinante as it left.

Theresa spoke to Admiral Gujarat, confirmed that she was on the Rocinante, and browbeat the Admiral into standing down.

Answer: Amos had met Theresa Duarte.

Amos' plan had been to get Holden, use a special transmitter to call for a ride, and set off a pocket nuclear device on his way out. Then he met Theresa, finding something of a kindred spirit.

Colonel Ilich, Theresa's minder, followed Theresa as she escaped. A rebuilt Amos saved Theresa and Holden (and Theresa's dog, Muskrat, whom Ilich had threatened to shoot to get Theresa to comply), just before the Rocinante arrived to take them all off Laconia.