Lieutenant Lopez, in each interrogation session of the Canterbury survivors, was seen consuming something that looked like a water droplet. A pill of sorts.
Was it a snack, some kind of a drug like tabacco or amphetamine, or was it simply a Tic-Tac?
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3I know it's odd to post a question and an answer, despite the FAQ encouraging it, but I've decided to do it anyway, because this has bothered me for a while. Until the show consumed me so much I watched the entire first season in one day.– PetersaberCommented Jan 18, 2017 at 21:31
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3Self-answering is, as you say, positively encouraged. Kudos. Have an upvote and an upvote.– ValorumCommented Jan 18, 2017 at 21:34
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12@Petersaber : +1...+1. You should absolutely post both a question and an answer. There is negativity about this because of the idea that you are gaining rep from the two actions while someone else could have answered and earned part of the rep. While true, none of that is relevant. The point is to build a knowledge base, and you have helped this goal along doubly so.– PraxisCommented Jan 18, 2017 at 21:40
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2 Answers
These are described in Leviathan Wakes as "focus drugs". They apparently give the user the ability to accurately assess the mental state of those that they're observing through their micro-expressions.
Lopez reached into his pocket, took out a small packet of white lozenges, and popped one into his mouth. He didn’t offer one to Holden. Lopez’s pupils contracted to tiny points as he sucked the lozenge. Focus drugs. He’d be watching every tic of Holden’s face during questioning. Tough to lie to.
With regard to the TV show, this detail was explicitly confirmed by producer Mark Fergus in an interview with SyFyWire. He refers to them as "focus pills"
What's the deal with the pill the Martian interrogator takes before talking to the Cant crew members?
It’s a focus pill. It heightens the senses to the point of being able to hear your subject’s heart-beat and discern the micro-twitches in their face and eyes, indicating whether they are lying or telling the truth. The focus pill is lifted straight from the novel.
The Expanse Executive producer Mark Fergus on Episode 3: Belter-speak, pace, and planetary politics
The pill in question is called a lozenge, which is a very non-descriptive name. It's almost a synonym to "candy".
Lozenge is focus drug, and, as you can guess, it improves your ability to focus.
Lozenges is inserted orally and the user must suck on it for its effect to persist. One pill only lasts a few minutes.
The user is granted greater awareness, making it possible to better watch even small change in expression. For this reason, Martian naval intelligence uses this drug during interrogation.
The usage of Lozenge is easy to spot, as the pupils of the person using it contract to tiny point.
Information found in the Novel Leviathan Wakes, in Chapter 11.
answered Jan 18, 2017 at 21:29
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18You appear to be hampered by the fact that the wiki you site has erroneously conflated the type of pill, a lozenge (a pill which you suck on to dissolve in the mouth), with the type of drug. Looking at @Valorum's answer, it is clear that "lozenge" is used in the source material correctly as the delivery type for the pill. The type of drug is a generic class of "focus drugs" without providing a specific drug name.– MakyenCommented Jan 19, 2017 at 0:25
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