# Captain Kroll — Short Fiction character guide

> Captain Kroll in Short Fiction by Ray Bradbury.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Kroll

**First appearance:** 0011-iii

## Snapshot

A cool, skeptical starship commander who gambles his crew's lives on an aging drunk's uncanny brain when his ship's computers fail.

## Who they are

Kroll commands a supply run through the asteroid belt to Jupiter, weighing the lives of men with families against his deep distrust of the old man Nibley, whose drinking once wrecked a ship. He is quiet, far-away, and unsentimental, yet he takes the risk anyway, overruling his computant-mechanic Douglas. His cold pragmatism sets the story's central wager in motion: whether human intuition can outthink failing machines.

## Relationships

### [Jove-Run Nibley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters/jove_run_nibley)

_professional_

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

### [Young Halloway](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters/young_halloway)

_professional_

Captain Kroll mentors or commands Young Halloway in a military or vocational setting.

### [Jove-Run Nibley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters/jove_run_nibley)

_professional_

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

### [Young Halloway](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters/young_halloway)

_professional_

Captain Kroll mentors or commands Young Halloway in a military or vocational setting.

### [Jove-Run Nibley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/characters/jove_run_nibley)

_professional_

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

## In the story

### [Defense Mech](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_46_se/chapters/defense-mech)

The captain of the rocket, who is frustrated with Halloway's delusions and tries to keep the crew focused on survival.

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

Captain of the Terra, initially skeptical but ultimately trusts Nibley's calculations and orders the ship to proceed to Jupiter.

## Links

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