LMB Quote Game

[voralfred]

I was pretty sure you were alluding to Falling Free. It's one of the books I only have on e-book, and I'm hesitant to crack open my Cryoburn disc. It appears my other copy of Falling Free has disappeared from my hard drive. I suspect I lost it in a hard drive crash a few years back. (I had already looked up GalacTech in Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, but haven't had the opportunity to look for the other instances, and didn't want to guess Falling Free without verifying.)

As far as the quote, it's from Cetaganda.

Zzz is Ambassador Vorob'yev
Yyy is Hegen Hub (where Miles and the Dendarii kept the Cetagandans busy until the Prince Serg battleship could show up)

Another mission that was only alluded to was in A Civil Campaign, when Aral asked if Illyan had ever used the Dendarii for assassinations, and the only allusion was something to the effect of, there was this one mission, tricky, but we brought it off.

There's also the mission alluded to in Komarr, where Miles tells Ekaterin's son about the child informant he paid. I'm sure there are other missions he referred to, but I'm not coming up with them off the top of my head.

As far as the main quote is concerned, you are perfectly right. One full and the next quote.

In addition you get two bonuses. The one I remembered was the child informant; the one about assassination I had forgotten but, indeed, it is a good one. I know of a third one, sort of (but I'll still give a 1/2 point for it, if anyone proposes it), and they might be more.

About the other line of bonuses, about GalacTech, well, sarsaparilla got the Falling Free bonus, but there are at least three more, two of which, in the same book, do have some kind of connection (very different kind of connection for each) with the Dendarii, but not Dendarii equipment. And there is a third book, with only one reference to GalacTech. Plus the bonus' bonus, one 1/2 point for two references not to GalacTech itself, but each to one (not twice the same) of the GalacTech bonuses.

[SPetty]

Next quote:

"It's not that I will not tell you," said Xxx desperately. "It's just that the truth would be of no use to you. None whatsoever."

Book?
Who is speaking?
To Whom?
What truth?

[SPetty]

An expansion:

"It's not that I will not tell you," said Xxx desperately. "It's just that the truth would be of no use to you. None whatsoever. Still, I agree you deserve some compensation. I have another piece of information I could trade you, more immediately valuable."
"Oh?" said Yyy. His voice was neutral but his expression was black.

Book?
Who is Xxx?
Who is Yyy?
Why is Yyy due some compensation, and what is the information?

[SPetty]

An expansion:

"It's not that I will not tell you," said Xxx desperately. "It's just that the truth would be of no use to you. None whatsoever. Still, I agree you deserve some compensation. I have another piece of information I could trade you, more immediately valuable."
"Oh?" said Yyy. His voice was neutral but his expression was black.

Book/Novella?
Who is Xxx?
Who is Yyy?
Why is Yyy due some compensation, and what is the information?

Hint: Xxx is the main character. Yyy appears in more than one book, but not as many as Xxx.

[SPetty]

An expansion:

Yyy turned his head."Station commander, launch pursuit ships-"
"Wait!" Xxx cried.
Yyy raised his brows. "You reconsider? Good."
"It's not that I will not tell you," said Xxx desperately. "It's just that the truth would be of no use to you. None whatsoever. Still, I agree you deserve some compensation. I have another piece of information I could trade you, more immediately valuable."
"Oh?" said Yyy. His voice was neutral but his expression was black.

Book/Novella?
Who is Xxx?
Who is Yyy?
Why is Yyy due some compensation, and what is the information?

Hint: Xxx is the main character. Yyy appears in more than one book, but not as many as Xxx.

[orchestrali]

*returns from months of dealing with life*
*thinks really hard*

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, I know this one!

It's from "Labyrinth".
Xxx is Miles, or rather Admiral Naismith.
Yyy is Baron Fell.
Fell is due some compensation because he had an agreement with Bel Thorne to get Admiral Naismith out, plus I think they were still loading arms they'd bought from him, and then all hell aka Miles Naismith broke loose...
The information that would be of no use to Fell is about the Betan rejuvenation treatment. The more immediately valuable info...

*goes to look*

Oh wait, the compensation was in exchange for Nicol. The info Miles gave Fell was that Bharaputra's agents were the ones who actually killed his clone. Whether or not this information was correct is anybody's guess!

[voralfred]

You should still wait for Spetty's OK, but I agree with you.
As for the role of Bharaputra's agents, either they killed Fell's clone themselves, or minimally Bharaputra was an acccomplice in allowing Ryoval agents to kill the clone and not reporting this info to Fell. This is clear from what Ryoval told Miles just a few minutes earlier, before Miles took the shower he was emerging from when Fell called :

"Or was it Bharaputra who hired you? Trying to block me from cutting in on their biologicals monopoly at the last, not merging as they promised?"

(emphasis is mine)
There was clearly some collusion between Bharaputra and Ryoval to get rid of Fell and sharing the spoils, except that Ryoval got paranoid when discovering the freezers disaster and accused Bharaputra of betraying him, too…
So the useful information was not so much who actually killed the clone, that was irrelevant at this point, but rather the existence of this collusion between Bharaputra and Ryoval and the need for Fell to keep his guard against his rivals. Though after the lies that Miles just fed to Ryoval, the collusion was dead even if Bharaputra had not already decided to betray Ryoval.

[SPetty]

That's absolutely right, orchestrali! Welcome back, and you're up for the next quote!

[orchestrali]

Hooray! It's nice to be back. Here is your next quote!

Xxx frowned after Yyy. "Zzz—is Yyy bluffing, with this crazy gambit?"

Book?
Xxx?
Yyy?
Zzz?
What's the crazy gambit?

Xxx is the one speaking, in case you were wondering.

[orchestrali]

Time for an expansion, I think.

Xxx frowned after Yyy. "Zzz—is Yyy bluffing, with this crazy gambit? Holding himself hostage, to force Www to knuckle under and take me back?"

Book?
Xxx?
Yyy?
Zzz?
Www? (Www as it appears in the book is a group of people, not an individual)

[Caroline Tredez]

Nice to see you again indeed ^^.

Actually it doesn't really ring a bell, but I'll try a blind shot, for once : it's it in Barrayar, with XXX = Aral, Yyy being Vordarian, Zzz Piotr, and Www the council of counts ?

I had a question aside for you all, also : a friend of mine asked me, there are 4 common languages on Barrayar, if I remember correctly : Russian, English, Greek and French. Are the languages other than Russian also written in cyrillic alphabet ? I can't remember, but he seemed sure that there are mentions in the books of cyrillic as being the dominant alphabet ?...

[SPetty]

To your question, Caroline, I would highly doubt it (Russian was my foreign language for college, not that I remember a lot). For example, there are no w's in Russian. You can use a f or v sound instead, but it would be much easier just to use the alphabets associated with each language. I'm sure there are people who speak a bit of some languages, but don't write them.

Darn it, trying to figure out the quote made me figure out the quote. I was looking for a better fit than Caroline's guess, and remembered it.

[orchestrali]

Hmmm, I think there's a throwaway line in Barrayar or maybe Warrior's Apprentice where it says that all of Barrayar's languages were written in Cyrillic in the time of isolation. Whether that's true or not, I wouldn't be surprised if whatever alphabet(s) they *are* using have gotten altered slightly as a result of being cut off from the rest of the universe and so much technology. I think Lois has said that when the firsters arrived on Barrayar they spoke many more languages than just those four, but most of them got wiped out. And she's usually careful to say "Barrayaran Russian" or "Barrayaran Greek," indicating that the languages aren't the same as what we know now. Maybe they use some alphabet that's mainly Cyrillic but also has a few Latin and/or Greek letters incorporated.

Anyway, Caroline's guess is indeed incorrect, although I am glad to see I successfully misled you! SPetty, don't you only have to wait five days before you can answer? Or are you trying to be nice? You seem disappointed to have figured it out!

[SPetty]

Figuring it out means the puzzle's over(for me, anyway). I don't like to get the quote too frequently because it might keep other players from getting a chance to play (more players is more fun). So I'll wait a few more days until I guess.

[orchestrali]

YOU GUYS. I am soooooooo excited about that new book! About CORDELIA!!!!

Alright, back to the game. I think it is past time for an expansion!! A big one this time:

Xxx frowned after Yyy. "Zzz—is Yyy bluffing, with this crazy gambit? Holding himself hostage, to force Www to knuckle under and take me back?"

The corner of Zzz's mouth tucked up. "I think he thinks he is. I'm sure they think he is."

Xxx nodded somewhat relieved understanding, then shot Zzz a sharper look. "Then what's the use?"

"Well, I got him this far. I figured the rest would be up to you."

Book?
Xxx?
Yyy?
Zzz?
Www? (Www as it appears in the book is a group of people, not an individual)
What is up to Xxx?

[voralfred]

Spetty, it seems that noone but you guessed this quote.
Why don't you put an end to our suffering ? They shoot quotes, don't they ?
Pretty please ?

[SPetty]

You mean you can't guess that the book is Horizon, that Xxx is Dag, that YYY is Arkady, and that Zzz is Barr? That the group is the New Moon Cutoff, and that what's up to Dag is what they're going to do with Arkady, who has left New Moon Cutoff to protest the leaving of his apprentice. In theory, he could go back, but it's much better for Dag if he joins the party (which, of course, he does). I was going to make a reference to grabbing your seed corn, but I didn't want to overstep the bounds of hospitality, it being orchestrali's quote.

At first, I saw "crazy gambit" and figured it was Miles, but none of the rest of it made sense. Then I thought it might be Dag and the leader of his home camp (I haven't re-read in a while, so I'm not coming up with names. I remembered Dag and Arkady, but I had to look up Barr for the quote) in Legacy. While I was trying to think of that is when I realized that it must be Arkady in Horizon. It's kind of fun as a mental exercise to see which parts of the quote bring you to the correct answer. I try to have something that triggers memory in most of the quotes I pick without being too easy. Unfortunately, what triggers a memory for me isn't what works for someone else.

[orchestrali]

I picked that quote because I thought the "crazy gambit" might mislead people! Usually the language of the Sharing Knife books is a dead giveaway, so I'm glad to see it worked, if only briefly.

Anyway, SPetty, you're correct and you're up next! I will go add that Sherlock...

[SPetty]

Good choice, apparently! Next quote then:

"We have what we can hold, dear boy, and never let them see you flinch or falter."

Book?
Speaker?
Who is the dear boy?
What does the speaker have in the quote?

[Caroline Tredez]

Isn't it the provincara dy Baocia, talking to Caz in the Curse of Chalion ? About holding on to the title of provincara way past the death of her husband, when her own son is the provincar and his wife should have the title ?

[SPetty]

Yes, that's it exactly! Your Sherlock, and the next quote.

[voralfred]

Caroline, yoohoo !

[voralfred]

While waiting for Caroline's question which is the only one that will entitle to the next one, I remind you that there are four (or maybe 5?) 1/2 point bonuses concerning the legitimate owner of the Mycoborer:

sarsaparilla correctly identified the owner as the GalacTech corporation, mostly mentioned in Falling Free as the creator of the Quaddies.

There are three more logically independant references to GalacTech (that I know of..), two of them in the same book. These two are both more or less related to the Dendarii, but not to Dendarii ordnance or other military equipment.
Also if you find a allusion to one of these references in yet another book, you can get a fourth bonus. (Initially I have asked for a two allusions, each to a distinct of the bonus references, for the fourth half-point. But to my shame, I now remember only one of these two; so if you can guess what I originally meant, these second-degree allusions can give a 1/2 bonus each).
Good hunt !

[Caroline Tredez]

My apologies, I got sidetracked again and forgot I had to supply the next quote.

There it is :

"...Come to think of it, I do want a favor."
"Name it," he said eagerly.

Who are "I" and "he", and what is the favor ?

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

"...Come to think of it, I do want a favor."
"Name it," he said eagerly.

Who are "I" and "he", and what is the favor ?

Erm ...
I think "he" is Miles.
"I" is Ekaterin and, as a favor, she wants "a trophy" for Nikki.