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Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Jafrey

We promised when we did our original Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Time’s Edge post there would be sequels. Naturally, we just had to take a look at the world from the point of view of Jafrey, the irascible old man from the Time’s Edge series.

 

It’s okay to be yourself.

“Nice to meet you,” Jafrey said gruffly, his hands stuffed firmly in his pockets. “Shame the way they make us all get decked out for these events. Feel like a fool.”

(Jafrey, grumpy about being forced to dress up for a formal dinner. Time’s Edge.)

 

A sense of humor is a good thing.

“Alrick requested that we train him.”

Michael saw a spark of interest in Jafrey’s light blue eyes. “Did he? Interesting.” Jafrey eyed Michael again. “You his son?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” Michael replied.

Jafrey gave a brief laugh. “Got a sense of humor. Good.”

(Time’s Edge.)

 

Mind your own business.

“If it’s that important, I don’t want to know. Knowledge like that can get a man killed.”

(Jafrey, deciding he doesn’t really want to know the secret involving Michael. Time’s Edge)

 

Be honest.

“Then either Barris or Jafrey is lying,” Michael noted.

Jafrey chuckled. “Good thing Barris didn’t hear you say that!”

“But it doesn’t bother you?” Michael asked with half a smile.

“Holy Kryton, no. I admire honesty.”  (Time’s Edge)

 

Have some fun once in a while.

“Ah, he’s an old lizard. No fun at all,” Jafrey said as the door closed behind Ivar. “Now we can really have a good time.” He swung toward the musicians. “Play something we can dance to!”

(Jafrey, deciding to party once the very serious Ivar has left the room. Time’s Edge.)

 

Know your limits.

“I never go near that damn place!”

“Yes.” Ivar nodded. “I have noticed that you are the only member of the staff who has never ventured out to the site.”

“I’d rather be boiled in Karrilian lizard juice.”

(Jafrey, refusing to venture out to an abandoned site that holds bad memories for him. Time’s Edge.)

 

Don’t be envious of others.

“Alrick will kill you if you talk, and Michael will kill you if you don’t.” Jafrey shook his head. “Glad I’m not you.”

(Jafrey, grateful that he is not the boss. Time’s Edge.)

 

Everything I Need to Know…

We recently read an article that took the “everything I need to know” gimmick and applied it to several books, movies, etc. What a great idea, we thought, and promptly stole it. So without further ado, here is the first installment (of course we are anticipating sequels!) of Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Time’s Edge.

Choose your battles.

“Unless you know of a way to force a scientician to leave a room when he chooses not to, you’re wasting your time.” (Orela, a member of the Executive Council, cautioning another council member not to tangle with a man who could, literally, blast him into atoms. Time’s Secret.)

Know yourself.

“Choose your path. Choose the one that calls for you alone.” (The direction given to Michael and Kate as they are being tested in the Realm of the Scienticians. Time’s Edge.)

Perception is everything.

Unfortunately, Michael did not trust his own interpretation of events. His attraction for Kate was so strong he was afraid it was coloring his perception of her. He wanted her to be innocent of any evil intentions. He wanted her to be just what she said she was. He wanted it so badly he wondered if he was twisting the facts to convince himself she was innocent. (Michael, trying to decide if he can trust Kate. Time’s Edge.)

Don’t jump to conclusions.

“I won’t pass judgment until I have all the facts.” (Michael, refusing to express a negative opinion of his commanding officer in spite of the fact that it appears that the officer deceived him. Time’s Edge.)

Be observant.

Michael saw the flicker in Radford’s eyes and recognized it for what it was. Radford was, for the first time, afraid of losing. Michael now knew he had an edge over his opponent. (Michael and Radford’s Tavon contest. Time’s Secret.)

Keep a sense of humor during stressful situations.

“Let me be, Kate,” Radford whispered. “If you die healing me, Michael will kill me anyway.” He grinned ruefully. “I think bleeding to death would be an easier way to die.” (Time’s Secret.)

Don’t be afraid to say, “I love you”.

“No, I don’t think I do,” Michael replied, remembering Kate had known he loved her even though he had never said so. He looked down at her and opened his mouth to say the words.

“I love you, too, Michael.” Kate smiled and then stretched up on her toes to kiss him. (Time’s Edge.)

Our Favorite Time’s Edge Quotes

Shelfari, amazon.com’s “community-powered encyclopedia for book lovers”, has a neat feature; readers and authors can add quotes from books they enjoyed. We had a lot of fun selecting quotes from our novel Time’s Edge. Here are our favorites (in no particular order):

“It’s impossible to walk through solid rock… You have to walk between the molecules that make up the rock.” Nick, the Sarzonian guardian

“Seers. They make everything they say sound like a prophecy.” Jafrey Ral

“What I can do is science, not magic. Magic is just a term for an aspect of science that hasn’t been explained yet.” Michael Blayne

“Within this dimension there are doorways to every place in the galaxy… A misstep in this hall can have serious consequences.” Alrick Zartollis

“If we live through this remind me to buy you a Ratherian beer.” Commander Lucas Joyston

“This place is a cross between a medieval castle and a space station.” Kate Weston

“The robot was my ancestor…just as the amoeba was yours.” Edgar, Michael’s robotic servant

“I’m ready to believe anything from a man who spends three months on a simple probe retrieval and then returns wearing a cat.” Zilla, the commander of Division 9

“You are not the portent. You are the great event.” Rista Jahlan

“Alrick will kill you if you talk, and Michael will kill you if you don’t. Glad I’m not you.” Jafrey

Don’t Panic! And Other Great Quotes from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

We often get asked who our favorite authors are. And we can name many, many wonderful writers whose books we love. However, we are both are huge fans of author Douglas Adams of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fame. So, although towel day has passed, we have decided to pay our own tribute to Adams and The Guide. Here are our ten favorite quotes from The Hitchhiker’s series.

1. I’d rather be happy than right any day.

2. I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I don’t know the answer.

3. I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.

4. Right planet, wrong universe.

5. Distance is incomprehensible and therefore meaningless.

6. The Guide is definitive. Reality is frequently inaccurate.

7. “My doctor says I have a malformed public duty gland and a natural deficiency in moral fibre,” Ford muttered to himself, “and that I am therefore excused from saving Universes.”

8. She was mostly immensely relieved to think that virtually everything that anybody had told ever told her was wrong.

9. A common mistake people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

10. It is known that there is an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the product of a deranged imagination.

Any other Hitchhiker fans out there? What are your favorites quotes from the Guide?

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