 Who is Pard Hoskins and what is his relationship to Casey Ritter?
JUPITER'S JOKE By A. L. HALEY Casey Ritter, the guy who never turned down a dare, breathed a prayer to the gods of idiots and spacemen, and headed in toward the great red spot of terrible Jupiter. [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Planet Stories Fall 1954. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] I never thought I'd mess around any of them, but things can sure happen. Sure, the crystals are deadly, but I was smuggling them legitimately, in a manner of speaking, for this doctor to experiment with. But—and this was the 'but' that was likely to deprive the System of my activities—even experimenting with them was illegal even if it needed to be done; also, I had promised not to rat on him before taking the job. Well, Casey Ritter may be a lot of things we won't mention, but he doesn't rat on his clients. So there I was, closeted with the ten members of the S.S. Customs Court, getting set to hear the gavel fall and the head man intone the sentence that would take me out of circulation for a long, long time. And instead, blast me, if they didn't foul me with this trip to good old Jupiter. "You've no doubt heard tales of the strange population of Jupiter," he said. Insect-like creatures who manifestly migrated there from some other system and who inhabit the Red Spot of the planet, floating in some kind of artificial anti-gravity field in the gaseous portion of the atmosphere—" I snorted. "Aw, hell, judge, that's just one of those screwy fairy tales! How could any—" The senior judge rapped ferociously, and I skidded to a halt. We possess well-authenticated photographs of these inhabitants, and if you are prepared to visit them and in some way worm from them the secret of their anti-gravity field, the government stands ready to issue you a full pardon as well as a substantial monetary reward. Your talents, Mr. Ritter, seem, shall we say, eminently suited to the task." That whole Kooleen caper: Had it been just a trap to lead me straight to this? Not when I already had more counts against me than a cur has fleas. Those inhabitants were charming, just charming if you like scorpions. Well, a cross between a scorpion and a grasshopper, to be accurate. "So this is the great Casey Ritter, daredevil of the Solar System!"
 Pard Hoskins is a smuggler/grifter like Casey Ritter. Casey met Pard during a real estate related operation, and now the two have met again in jail. Pard has been to Jupiter’s Great Red Spot before, and so he teaches Casey how to deal with its inhabitants and navigate safely.
 Pard Hoskins is a daredevil like Casey Ritter. Casey met Pard during a Pluto related operation, and now the two have met again in jail. Pard has been to Jupiter’s Great Red Spot before, and so he teaches Casey how to trick its inhabitants into giving him emeralds.  Pard Hoskins is a smuggler/grifter like Casey Ritter. Casey met Pard during a gambling related operation, and now the two have met again in jail. Pard has been to Jupiter’s Great Red Spot before, and so he invites Casey to help him break out of jail so that they can go sell emeralds on Jupiter together.  Pard Hoskins is a smuggler/grifter like Casey Ritter. Casey met Pard during a real estate related operation, and now the two have met again in jail. Pard has been to Jupiter’s Great Red Spot before, and so he teaches Casey how to deal with its inhabitants and navigate safely.  Pard Hoskins is a smuggler/grifter like Casey Ritter. Casey met Pard during the Kooleen crystal operation, and now the two have met again in jail. Pard has been to Jupiter’s Great Red Spot before, and so he teaches Casey how to make sure it’s strange inhabitants don’t fall in love with him, as this could ruin the mission.