55 — Ignition

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will. — Mohandas Gandhi

54 — Coalescence

Life is extremely complicated. — Robert Ludlum

53 — The Truth About Everything and Nobody

Information is the oxygen of the modern age. It seeps through the walls topped by barbed wire, it wafts across the electrified borders. — Ronald Reagan

Training, Lies, and the CIA

self-de·fense /ˈsɛlf dɪˈfɛns, ˌsɛlf-/ [n. self-di-fens, self-]
noun

1) the act of defending one’s person when physically attacked, as by countering blows or overcoming an assailant: the art of self-defense.

2) a claim or plea that the use of force or injuring or killing another was necessary in defending one’s own person from physical attack: He shot the man who was trying to stab him and pleaded self-defense at the murder trial.

3) an act or instance of defending or protecting one’s own interests, property, ideas, etc., as by argument or strategy.

52 — The Return of TX-1138

Hell is other robots. — Matt Groening

51 — Once More Onto the Beach

A true leader always keeps an element of surprise up his sleeve, which others cannot grasp but which keeps his public excited and breathless. — Charles de Gaulle

50 — Solo

The moment you think you understand a great work of art, it’s dead for you. — Oscar Wilde

49 - Applied Force

Doubt yourself and you doubt everything you see. Judge yourself and you see judges everywhere. But if you listen to the sound of your own voice, you can rise above doubt and judgment. And you can see forever. — Nancy Lopez

Not in the Stars

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves. — William Shakespeare

Chapter 47: A Genius to Rival Rambaldi

Look, I really don’t want to wax philosophic, but I will say that if you’re alive, you got to flap your arms and legs, you got to jump around a lot, you got to make a lot of noise, because life is the very opposite of death. And therefore, as I see it, if you’re quiet, you’re not living. You’ve got to be noisy, or at least your thoughts should be noisy and colorful and lively. — Mel Brooks

Chapter 48: The Final Domino

Discontent is the first necessity of progress. — Thomas Alva Edison

Chapter 46: My Favorite Russian

Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success. — Henry Ford

AU - That Which Is Greater

Chapter 03: First Date

AU - That Which Is Greater

Chapter 02: Family Life

AU - That Which is Greater

Chapter 01: Pickup Lines

Fortune Favors Fools 06: Strike Another Blow

With a bitter cry of sorrow,
And a dark and angry frown,
Looked that band of gallant patriots
At their gunner stricken down.
"Fall back, comrades, it is folly
Thus to strive against the foe."
"No! not so," cried Irish Molly;
"We can strike another blow."
Quickly leaped she to the cannon,
In her fallen husband's place,
Sponged and rammed it fast and steady,
Fired it in the foeman's face.
Flashed another ringing volley,
Roared another from the gun;
"Boys, hurrah!" cried gallant Molly,
"For the flag of Washington."
- William Collins, Molly Maguire at Monmouth

Chapter 45: Red Day Dawning

He was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher...or, as his wife would have it, an idiot. — Douglas Adams

Fortune Favors Fools 05: Be Still My Heart

Be still my heart; thou hast known worse than this.
- Homer

Fortune Favors Fools 04: Stained

People are like stained-glass windows.
They sparkle and shine when the sun is out,
but when the darkness sets in,
their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.
- Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Fortune Favors Fools 03: It's Time You Unbecame

now does our world descend
the path to nothingness
(cruel now cancels kind;
friends turn to enemies)
therefore lament, my dream
and don a doer's doom


create is now contrive;
imagined, merely know
(freedom: what makes a slave)
therefore, my life, lie down
and more by most endure
all that you never were


hide, poor dishonoured mind
who thought yourself so wise;
and much could understand
concerning no and yes:
if they've become the same
it's time you unbecame


where climbing was and bright
is darkness and to fall
(now wrong's the only right
since brave are cowards all)
therefore despair, my heart
and die into the dirt


but from this endless end
of briefer each our bliss-
where seeing eyes go blind
(where lips forget to kiss)
where everything's nothing
-arise,my soul;and sing


- ee cummings, now does our world descend