 Who was the mission intended to benefit?
S. A. LOMBINO There were more Joes on Venus than you could shake a ray-gun at. Perhaps there was method in Colonel Walsh's madness—murder-madness—when he ordered Major Polk to scan the planet for a guy named Joe. [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Planet Stories November 1952. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] For example, he could have chosen a Second Looie for the job on Venus. But he liked me about as much as I liked him, and so he decided the job was just right for a Major. We were somewhere in Area Two on Earth, takeoff point for any operations in Space II. The rest was gravy, and Colonel Walsh wasn't going to let me get by with gravy. "It will be a simple assignment, Major," he said to me, peering over his fingers. "It will involve finding one man, a Venusian native." I thought our activities were confined to Mars." He folded his fingers like a deck of cards and dropped them on his desk as if he were waiting for me to cut. I tried to picture a Venusian understanding Mars and I didn't get very far. If Walsh really wanted to know the reasons for the revolt, I could give them to him in one word: Walsh. It had been going on for six months now and we'd lost at least a thousand men from Space II. Revolt. "And this man is on Venus now?" It was just like Walsh to ship me off to a strange place. "This man is on Venus." He'd goofed off on a pile of uranium that could've, and almost did, blow the barracks sky-high that night. And now, through the fouled-up machinery that exists in any military organization, he outranked me. "A native, you know. But then, it should be simple to find a man with a name like Joe. The trip to Venus came off without a hitch. Ever since Walsh had taken command, ever since he'd started pushing the natives around, there'd been trouble. Venus was hotter than I'd expected it to be. Big plants and small ones, some blooming with flowers I'd never seen before, and some as bare as cactus. I recognized a blue figure as one of the natives the pilot had told me about. His features, his muscles, everything seemed to have been stretched like a rubber band.
 Captain Walsh, because he wanted to see Major Polk suffer.
 Captain Walsh, because they desperately needed to find the right Joe.  Major Polk, because he wanted to force Captain Walsh out of office.  Major Polk, because he wanted to prove himself better than Major Walsh.  Captain Walsh, because he wanted to see Major Polk suffer.