Warning: contains spoilers for The Expanse: Dragon Tooth #5!Picking up ten years after the previous issue, the new story arc of The Expanse: Dragon Tooth #5 has some intergalactic implications for humanity. When the crew of the Rocinante reunites with Dr. Elvi Okoye, they think they’ll be, as Captain James Holden puts it, “babysitting a science project.” However, Dr. Okoye’s Ring studies have led to a disturbing theory about how they work. Created thanks to a record-breaking Kickstarter, The Expanse: Dragon Tooth features the first new canon stories since the Syfy/Amazon show ended in 2022. The 12-issue series fills in the 30-year gap between The Expanse novels Babylon’s Ashes and Persepolis Rising, which also means it picks up after the TV series finale.
As Dr. Okoye and ship mechanic Amos Burton get up close and personal with one of the gigantic wormhole gates, they discuss how humanity still doesn’t quite understand the science behind them. Dr. Okoye sticks her hand directly into Ring Space while sharing her game-changing theory: the Rings break down anything that goes through them and rebuild the energy into matter at the destination.
This would mean Ring travel isn’t a process of teleportation, but of destruction followed by creation – whatever comes out isn’t the same as what went in. Written by Andy Diggle (Green Arrow: Year One), drawn by Francesco Pisa (Stable), and developed with original creators Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (who wrote the books under the joint pseudonym James S.A. Corey), the latest issue shows how much there still is to learn about this hard sci-fi universe.
The Expanse’s Rings Aren’t Just Teleportation
A major component of the faster-than-light travel of The Expanse is the Ring network, a series of over 1,300 wormholes throughout the Milky Way. However, they were built by an ancient alien civilization which is already extinct when the series begins, so the characters don’t yet fully understand how they work. Dr. Okoye is an exobiologist who’s been studying the Rings for at least a decade but admits she’s still intimidated by them. She doubts they’ll be fully explained in her lifetime, but she is still dedicated to her task of scientific discovery, no matter her fear. Amos speculates its an “A-M/F-M thing… There’s Actual Machines, an’ there’s F***n’ Magic.” Dr. Okoye says it’s an apt comparison.
Essentially, Okoye’s theory suggests that the Ring network may be closer to cloning that rapid transport, and there’s no guarantee that what steps out of the other end is exactly 1:1 what stepped in. Dr. Okoye suggests that it’s like growing up: human bodies are constantly regenerating, replenishing, and expelling cells and molecules. However, that’s a very optimistic reading on a freaky process that essentially destroys anyone who uses it, then creates a new version. However, Okoye’s theory does represent a major theory of how teleportation could be possible in the real world, showing why The Expanse was one of TV’s most accurate sci-fi shows.
The Expanse Gets Existential
If Dr. Okoye’s theory is correct, this could make Ring travel more discomforting than it already is. Some characters in The Expanse admit they find going through the Rings uncomfortable and terrifying already. Discovering that the Rings break one down and spit out a copy elsewhere could cause a mass panic. The Expanse: Dragon Tooth is making it clear that fans have only scratched the surface of this universe’s hidden truths.
The Expanse: Dragon Tooth #5 is available now from BOOM! Studios
This story originally appeared on Screenrant