 What convinces Casey Ritter to help the government by throwing himself into Jupiter’s Great Red Spot?
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. 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. 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. Jupiter was a death sentence. "You've no doubt heard tales of the strange population of Jupiter," he said. 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. "So this is the great Casey Ritter, daredevil of the Solar System!" No doubt they had it figured that I'd gratefully throw myself into a sea of ammonia among man-size scorpions just for the hell of it. 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." "What were you trying to do, start a feud between us and Mars?" 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.
 Pats Hoskins tells him that Jupiter’s scorpion race isn’t as harmful as previously thought, which makes Casey realize how easy it would be to earn the compensation the S.S. Court’s offered him if he completed the mission.
 Pard Hoskins tells him that Jupiter’s scorpion race is rich with emeralds, which makes Casey realize how easy it would be to caper the emeralds and collect the compensation the S.S. Court’s offered him for completing the mission.  Pats Hoskins tells him that Jupiter’s scorpion race isn’t as harmful as previously thought, which makes Casey realize how easy it would be to earn the compensation the S.S. Court’s offered him if he completed the mission.  Casey wants to earn back his honor as a dare devil by successfully tricking Jupiter’s scorpion race into selling him emeralds.  Casey wants to learn more about Jupiter’s scorpion race.