 Why didn't Casey want to take the deal?
[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. It just ain't big enough for a gent of scope and talent; and the day the Solar System Customs caught me red-handed smuggling Kooleen crystals in from Mars, I knew I was in that corner, and sewed up tight. 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. I'd argued with 'em, but inside I'd been all set for the sentence, and even sort of reconciled to it. Jupiter was a death sentence. He frowned me down and then nodded at the judge on his right. "You've no doubt heard tales of the strange population of Jupiter," he said. "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. That whole Kooleen caper: Had it been just a trap to lead me straight to this? Government men trapping me and then beaming at me. Not when I already had more counts against me than a cur has fleas. Well, a cross between a scorpion and a grasshopper, to be accurate. "Never loses a bet, never turns down a dare!"
 He didn't think he'd live through it.
 He'd never make a deal with the S.S.C.  He wanted to retire from smuggling  He didn't think he'd live through it.  They didn't offer him enough money