 What word best describes Commander Curtis?
SILENCE IS—DEADLY By Bertrand L. Shurtleff Radio is an absolute necessity in modern organization—and particularly in modern naval organization. [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Astounding Science-Fiction April 1942. Commander Bob Curtis roused himself from his doze, got up from his chair, stretched himself to his full, lanky height and yawned. That would be Nelson, his navigating officer. Curtis got a glimpse of the design on which he was working, and his lips relaxed in a faint smile. Androka had arrived on board the Comerford the day before she sailed from Norfolk. With him came a boatload of scientific apparatus and equipment, including a number of things that looked like oxygen tanks, which were now stored in the forward hold. Sometimes, Curtis thought old Androka was a bit wacky—a scientist whose mind had been turned by the horror that had come to his country under the domination of the Nazi gestapo . Overhead, the sky was a storm-racked mass of clouds, broken in one spot by a tiny patch of starlit blue. It was Nelson, his shaggy blond brows drawn scowlingly down over his pale eyes; his thin face a mass of tense lines; his big hands fumbling at the neck of his slicker. He was overfriendly with a black-browed bos'n's mate named Joe Bradford—the worst trouble maker on board. Nevertheless, his taut face, restless, searching eyes, and eternally nervous manner got Curtis' goat. Curtis closed the door and nodded toward the bent form of Zukor Androka, with a quizzical grin. Nelson had no answering smile, although there had been a great deal of good-natured joking aboard the Comerford ever since the navy department had sent the scientist on board the cruiser to carry on his experiments. "I'm not sure about my dead reckoning. This storm—" Curtis threw his arm around Nelson's dripping shoulders. "But this storm, sir!" Nelson avoided Curtis' friendly eyes and slipped out from under his arm. Commander Curtis shrugged good-naturedly and reached for the instrument. Curtis donned his slicker and went outside, sextant in hand. In a few minutes he returned and handed Nelson a sheet of paper with figures underlined heavily. "Here's what I make it," the commander told his navigating officer. Curtis stared, frowned, grabbed his own sheet again. Nelson's estimate, I'm checking back," he declared, frowning at the two papers and hastily rechecking his own figures.
 Authoritative
 Collaborative  Egotistical  Authoritative  Fierce