 What wouldn't Casey say to describe himself?
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. I'd argued with 'em, but inside I'd been all set for the sentence, and even sort of reconciled to it. "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. That whole Kooleen caper: Had it been just a trap to lead me straight to this? Well, a cross between a scorpion and a grasshopper, to be accurate. "So this is the great Casey Ritter, daredevil of the Solar System!" After all, in the pen a man can eat and breathe, and a guard won't reach in and nip off an arm or leg while he's got his back turned. The way that bunch of stuffed shirts in the S.S.C. made a gold-barred chimpanzee out of me has broken my spirit and turned me into an honest trader. Me, Casey Ritter, slickest slicker in the Solar System, led like a precious infant right where I'd flatly refused to go! "I just made a pass at the Killicut Emeralds, that's all, and got nabbed." Big as hen's eggs, an even dozen of 'em; and flawless, I'm a-shoutin', not a flaw!" Those emeralds were in the inner shrine of the super-sacred, super-secret temple of the cavern-dwelling tribe of Killicuts on Mars—the real aborigines. Either he was the world's champion liar or its bravest son, and either way I took my hat off to him. My jaw must've been hanging down a foot, because I'd just been playing along with him, not really believing him, and now all of a sudden I somehow knew that he'd really lifted those emeralds.
 He'd do anything for money
 He'd never give up a client  He's a master smuggler  He's traveled all over the solar system  He'd do anything for money