 What was Captain Walsh's main motive behind putting the narrator on the mission?
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. For example, he could have chosen a Second Looie for the job on Venus. 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. 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. It was just like Walsh to ship me off to a strange place. He'd goofed off on a pile of uranium that could've, and almost did, blow the barracks sky-high that night. The trip to Venus came off without a hitch. And I thought about Colonel Leonard Walsh and how he was supposed to be quelling that revolt. Ever since Walsh had taken command, ever since he'd started pushing the natives around, there'd been trouble. His features, his muscles, everything seemed to have been stretched like a rubber band. "The guys back in Space II are searching high and low for you," I told him. "You've got the wrong number," he said, and I was a little surprised at his use of Terran idiom. "You are Joe, aren't you? "Only thing I ever traded, though, was a pocketknife. My orders said I was to report to Captain Bransten immediately upon arrival. The Officer's Club was a plasteel hut with window shields that protected it from the heat of the sun. I began to curse Walsh for taking me away from my nice soft job in Space II. Walsh was about the lowest, most contemptible.... "Yes," I said, still thinking of Colonel Walsh. He was wearing a tropical tunic, but he still resembled a wilted lily more than he did an officer. "Cigarettes. "And the natives are only now becoming acquainted with Terran culture. And I began to appreciate Walsh's doubtful ancestry more keenly. "It's impossible to tell exactly where it all started, of course," Bransten was saying.
 Walsh sought revenge against the narrator.
 Walsh sought revenge against the narrator.  Walsh wanted to test the narrator's intelligence.  Walsh wanted the narrator fired from his position.  Walsh wanted to test the narrator's competency.