Sanka noticed the spike in radiation that occurred when Jade opened the box. Noticing the level of radioactivity, he called Jade over the com.

"Hey, Pretty Lady, what are you doing in there? Nee Tzao Se Mah? You are sure putting off a lot of heat. Before you start glowin' like a lightning bug, you better put that stuff away and get out now."

He closed the channel and immediately hit the PA," Star, we got issues down here. Your woman opened that box and it is causing all manner of fireworks. It's making our ship reactor look like a night light."

With that he closed the PA and started flooding the room outside the vault with radiation suppressent gas...just in case.

XXXXXX

Immediately upon hearing Sanka's report, Kane sprung out of his seat, knocking his chair and food across the room. He ran toward the aft stairwell in engineering deftly avoiding tripping over Salt and Pepper.

In the seconds it took Kane to get to engineering he tried to call Jade over his transmitter. Unfortunately, Jade was not wearing her microtransmitter because she was in a vac suit. Gorramit Kane said to himself. He slammed his hand against the general emergency klaxon as he passed an alarm panel. Arriving at engineering he jumped over the rail and turned to move up the hallway to the door outside of the vault room.

Sanka saw him leap off of the stair from his console in engineering and tried to call after him. However, Kane was already moving and so Sanka had to take off after him.

Kane spent the next few moments tensely waiting outside the door of the vault room...

Jade hurriedly slapped the lid back on the top of the box, sealing it as best she could. She did not know how much radiation she had been exposed to, but the box had not been opened more than a few seconds before the alarm sounded. She slipped out of the vault as fast as she could, slamming the vault door closed behind her. She caught a glimpse of Sanka through the room's window, and noticed Kane had joined him. Their worried expressions did little to ease her mind.

XXXXXX

Wash was up in the cockpit having trouble with controls. When the alarm had come on, the controls had gone wacky. He quickly put the ship on autopilot and jumped under the console to get a look at the wiring. The wiring started sparking, and he started working on it. After about a minute, the ship's controls were back to normal.

Wash got on the transmitter. "Kane, what's going on? Is everyone okay? I've got some bad controls up here; it's under control now, but I need Sanka in the engine room to see if that end's okay."

XXXXXX

Jade explained to Kane what had happened and what the next steps would be. Kane nodded in acknowledgement and turned to Sanka.

"Sanka," he started," Could you refrain from using such colorful language in future so we avoid full fledge panics?"

Sanka tipped his head to Kane's request and then turned to answer the call from Wash. Kane intercepted him and clicked the intercom.

"Wash, would you mind coming down to engineering for a minute."

Looking at his engineer, "Sanka, get your wrench..."

XXXXXX

Once all the excitement had ebbed, Kane asked Wash to wait a moment before he headed to the bridge. Kane took Sanka off to the side and appeared to be having a heated conversation. Repeatedly, Kane and Sanka would jesture toward Wash. The conversation ended abruptly with Kane nodding and Sanka picking up his pipe wrench. The two turned and approached Wash.

Kane's countenance was fierce and Sanka's was, through the smile, mischeivious, almost maliciously evil. They moved to Wash and kept coming so that he retreated. When his back was in a corner, Kane folded his arms and Sanka bounced the wrench in one hand while holding it firmly in the other.

"So," Kane began," you brought the crate on board and stowed it."

"I did," Wash replied.

Sanka smiled broader and nodded his head rhytmically.

"And what were the results of the scan I told you to run on the crate BEFORE Jade examined it?"

Sanka laughed a throaty disturbing laugh.

Wash tried to explain, "I, uh, well, we were so, uh, busy and, uh..."

Kane leaned forward and with audible tension in his voice said, "The next time you fail to carry out an order to scan potentially hazardous materials, you will be doing the analysis...in your boxers."

Kane smiled a slight, intimidating smile and said, "Do we understand each other?" But without waiting for an answer, he leaned back and ordered Wash to the bridge to prepare for landing.

Sanka laughed again, lowering the the pipe wrench to the floor with enough force to let the clang be the exclimation point on the conversation.

Wash nodded and left the room.

About five seconds later, Kane and Sanka could no longer hold it it. Both of them deteriated into laughter.

"That never gets old, Star" Sanka said over his chuckling.

Kane, barely able to talk clearly, said, "I just can't believe it...twice in one day!"

Down the hall outside engineering, lyrical laughter reached Wash's ears as he moved toward the bridge expeditiously.

XXXXXX

Wash muttered to himself as he stepped onto the bridge. "Stupid...scans..." He plopped down in the pilot's chair and made sure the autopilot was going well. He looked at his dinosaurs and sighed, grabbing one. He looked at it in sadness.

"Only you understand me, Ted." He said, and set the dino on top of the console where he could see it better. He then looked at his T-rex and smiled. "You too, Bernard."

He saw Higgins' Moon in the window, and shut the ship off autopilot and grabbed the controls. He switched the intercom on. "Captain Kane, we are approaching planetside." He quickly manuevered the ship, and they broke atmo.

Canton could be seen down below, and Wash grinned. Time for some payback.

XXXXXX

Kane heard Wash's announcment over the in-ship intercom in an important-sounding voice.

"Thank you for flying Odyssey express. We hope you enjoyed yourself on the flight, and hope you can join us again. We will be landing in three...two...one..."

Nothing happened. Kane felt no jolt of the ship on the ground, indicating she landed, and he looked over at Sanka.

"Did we lan--"

A jolt went through the ship, making Kane lose his balance.

"...zero." Wash said, and the laughter was heard in his voice.

Sanka help Kane get back to his feet, the amusement visible on Sanka's face.

"Sanka," Kane began, "make sure we are ready to go and see if you can't find a buyer for some of those toiletries we got off of Aces & Eights. I am sure some one here in Canton needs a bath. Then get back here as soon as possible."

Hitting the intercom, he called Wash and Jade,"Wash, Jade: meet me at the port side airlock. We'll go find Niska and get moving on this cargo of chickens.

"Jade, make sure our passenger will be comfortable and quiet.

"Wash..." Kane paused, finding the right words,"...nice landing."

Kane shut off the intercom and moved to his quarters to gear up.

XXXXXX

The hatch opened from the ship, and the first view of Canton could be seen. The smell reached you too. A sickening smell of dirt and mud reaches the inside of the ship, and makes your eyes water.

Canton seems to be as dirty as you've always heard it to be.

Outside to the left, there is a big pit of mud with 'mudders' in it, knee deep in mud. They slodge through it, packing and mixing it. They take no notice of the huge ship that had landed. To the right, the local slave driver stood there with his bullhorn and whip.

Down the road a bit, a statue can be seen, with a couple mudders around it. The pub is in the middle of the town, down the road, and easy to spot. Niska would be there, because that's the center of all the town's business.

As soon as Jade and Wash joined Kane, he spoke briefly without looking at them, still looking out at Canton, "You know we're here for a job so let's try and stay out of trouble. We have a box of mystery rocks and a guest we need to get home. Let's do what we came to do."

With that, he took off walking toward the pub, Jade on his left, Wash on his right. Kane looked at the statue and the plague at the bottom as they passed by it.

"Hero of Canton? Never heard of him. Well, simple heroes for simple people I reckon."

With that he turned toward the pub and pointing said,"Ok, we go in there, make contact with Niska and see what the deal is. I don't want to hang around this mud hole any longer than we need to."

Wash and Jade nodded and the trio moved to enter the pub.