Can you play "The Hydrogen Sonata"? Quiz

Answer: Gzilt

The subliming of a civilisation consists of the vast majority of its biological inhabitants entering a state above and beyond the mundane dimensions. Or possibly a place, "parcelled, rolled, compressed and enfolded into the dimensions beyond the dimensions beyond the ones you could see and understand".

The Gzilt are a pan human species, who have finally decided to sublime. The Liseiden and the Ronte are two of the species which intend to scavenge the physical things left behind, from technology to planets. The concept of "subliming" is present in many of the author's novels about "The Culture".

Answer: One not yet invented

The piece was written by T'ikrin Vilabier and is the "26th String-Specific Sonata for an Instrument Yet to be Invented", catalogue number MW 1211. There are mountains elsewhere in this novel which generate sound and "A Feersum Endjinn" is the name of another novel by Iain M Banks.

Answer: Undecagonstring

The instrument in question is an Antagonistic Undecagonstring, also known as an elevenstring. The instrument was developed specifically to play this particular piece of music. To play it properly required four hands, something few people have, even in this setting. Although the instrument is called an 11 string, there are an additional 13 internal resonating strings for a total of 24.

Vyr Cossont was described as the fifth best Volupt player of the Gzilt, but no other information on the instrument is given.

Of the others, the Baliset is a stringed instrument in the Dune universe and a Ressikan Flute comes from Star Trek, although as a flute is a wind instrument, a multi-string version is unlikely.

Answer: 14th Socialist-Republican People's Liberation Regiment

Although Vyr has a military rank, she has no real military ability. Her role was purely as a musician. Despite this, she is recalled by her regiment to serve in a role. The regiment didn't have many options, firstly because like most of the Gzilt the majority of its members have stored themselves awaiting the subliming.

The second reason is that the regiment urgently requires the recovery of an artefact, one that Vyr previously possessed.

Answer: Lords of Excrement

The band is described as being a "dung-chomp/smutter band". Vyr played electric volupt in it. The jacket is customised in the sense of having four arms, which is necessary for Vyr. The other three options are the names of Culture ships that appear in this book.

Answer: Sand

Sand, reduced and polished into spherical grains. Why Hassipura has created this is not disclosed but as droids (and the ship minds) are individuals as much as any human it is not dissimilar to anyone else having a hobby, such as quiz writing.

Hassipura is described as being about the size and shape of a suitcase. The relevance to the plot is that the droid is an old friend of one Ngaroe QiRia whose current whereabouts are unknown. It is hoped that Hassipura knows where his friend has gone.

Answer: Mountains of the Sound

The Mountains of the Sound are on the planet Cethyd. The Querechui Mountains on this planet had been tunnelled through by a previous alien culture. The size of the tunnels combined with the prevailing winds creates a giant wind organ. When the local jet stream is in the right place the sound can deafen people for many miles around and demolish buildings in the vicinity.

The other three options are all found in the Terry Pratchett book "The Dark Side of the Moon".

Answer: Eyes

Although being ensconced at the Mountains of the Sound, where deafness would be an advantage, it is his eyes QiRia has had removed. Ten thousand years of memories is a lot of information and takes a lot of storage. QiRia has carefully encoded his memories around his body. Why he has had his eyes removed and where they are now provides the motive for the final encounters of the story.

Answer: Septame

Most of the Gzilt political leaders, like the rest of the population, have gone into storage awaiting the subliming. Of those remaining, the highest ranking is President Sefoy Geljemyn, then the remaining trimes. Only then do the septames come in to the ranks, although still more senior than the degans.

But nominal power and actual power are different. Septame Banstegeyn, an ardent supporter of the subliming, holds the remaining effective political power within the Gzilt civilisation.

Answer: Towering Seas

The ship's full name, which is revealed close to the end of the novel is "Mistake Not My Current State Of Joshing Gentle Peevishness For The Awesome And Terrible Majesty Of The Towering Seas Of Ire That Are Themselves The Mere Milquetoast Shallows Fringing My Vast Oceans Of Wrath".

One of the many pieces of creativeness in the Culture novels is the naming of the space ships. This book is no exception. The wrong answers are also the names of Culture ships appearing in this book. Another ship mentioned in this book is "Just The Washing Instruction Chip In Life's Rich Tapestry".