# Jove-Run Nibley — Short Fiction character guide

> Jove-Run Nibley in Short Fiction by Ray Bradbury.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Nibley, Mr. Nibley, old Nibley

**First appearance:** 0021-jonah-of-the-jove-run

## Snapshot

A trembling old spaceman who offers his intuition as a spare computator, begging a captain to trust a brain that drinks and once wrecked a ship.

## Who they are

Nibley talks too fast and hobbles too slow, selling himself to Captain Kroll as an auxiliary computing machine for a run through the asteroids to Jupiter. Kroll remembers the drinking and the wreck; Douglas, the computant-mechanic, calls him a decrepit son-of-a-witch-doctor and refuses him outright. What Nibley claims is that machines cannot read sabotage, hatred, or people — and that he is faster.

## Relationships

### [Captain Kroll](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters/captain_kroll)

_professional_

Captain Kroll commands or supervises Jove-Run Nibley in a hierarchical, duty-bound context.

### [Douglas](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters/douglas)

_friendship_

Douglas and Jove-Run Nibley are comrades, often found together in cooperative or casual settings.

### [Bruno](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters/bruno)

_friendship_

Bruno and Jove-Run Nibley share a close bond, likely as allies or friends in a shared mission.

### [Captain Kroll](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters/captain_kroll)

_professional_

Captain Kroll commands or supervises Jove-Run Nibley in a hierarchical, duty-bound context.

### [Bruno](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters/bruno)

_friendship_

Bruno and Jove-Run Nibley share a close bond, likely as allies or friends in a shared mission.

### [Douglas](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters/douglas)

_friendship_

Douglas and Jove-Run Nibley are comrades, often found together in cooperative or casual settings.

### [Captain Kroll](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters/captain_kroll)

_professional_

Captain Kroll commands or supervises Jove-Run Nibley in a hierarchical, duty-bound context.

### [Douglas](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters/douglas)

_friendship_

Douglas and Jove-Run Nibley are comrades, often found together in cooperative or casual settings.

### [Bruno](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters/bruno)

_friendship_

Bruno and Jove-Run Nibley share a close bond, likely as allies or friends in a shared mission.

## In the story

### [The Piper](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/chapters/the-piper)

The old man who arrived from Earth on the same ship as the Piper. He explains the Piper's history and the coming attack, and is swept away by the advancing horde.

### [Jonah of the Jove-Run](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/chapters/jonah-of-the-jove-run)

The protagonist, an old man with a gift for sensing orbits and trajectories, who redeems his reputation by calculating the ship's course to Jupiter despite being fatally wounded.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters/jove_run_nibley
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters