The Light at the End of the Escape Route

A/N: Hi everybody! Welcome to part three of the continuing Escape Route saga. That's right, this is a part three. If you want to read it alone, go for it, but no complaining if you don't understand what's going on. Nimeria (my co-author) and I recommend that you read parts one and two first. And as I just stated, Nimeria is my co-author. Yep, this is just as much hers as mine. We write this together via MSN messenger, hence the format and the irregularity of posting stories. (The irregularity of posting chapters is entirely my fault. College seems to make you lazier than the rest of the population. Heehee!) Please feel free to let us know what you think! - Bann and Nimeria

Disclaimer: Neither Nimeria nor I own anything that is mentioned, discussed, referred to in passing, or blatantly stated. We don't own any of the characters, and we don't own the settings. We do, however, own ourselves (and the third original character owns herself as well). If we did own them, we wouldn't be wasting our time writing fanfiction and going to school. Mostly because there would be this whole new galaxy to go play in, and all these really awesome people to meet. But just because we don't own them now doesn't necessarily mean that sometime in the near future that we won't! Stay tuned for more information on that front! And now, on to the chapter…

Chapter 10

(The next morning, the early risers who managed to crawl out of bed and the scientists who decided to have a bit of food before sleeping all stagger into the mess hall only to be bombarded by three women, obviously too cheerful for their own good, asking politely for any spare change.)
Sleep Deprived Scientist #3: You want what?
Taylor: (Patiently) Pennies. Quarters. (Notes the patch on his arm) Pence?
SDS#3: What? Right. I've got some back in my quarters I think.
Taylor: When you're done with your breakfast we'd much appreciate you giving us any...coins that you don't want back.
SDS#3: What do you need them for?
Jessie: World domination.
SDS#3: Ah. Well that's alright then. (Wanders away to get food.)
Taylor: This is going better than I thought it would.
Jessie: Yep. Told you it'd be easy. Next one is mine.
Mary: (Ignoring Jess's claim, she walks up to the next guy to walk through the door) Hello. How are you this fine morning?
SDS #4: Ummm...Fine. You?
Mary: Also quite fine thank you. I was wondering if you possibly had any spare (She glances at his arm patch) lira that you no longer require or want.
SDS#4: I think so yes. Why?

Mary: My friends and I could use any spare coins the members of this excellent population have for an endeavor of ours. (She gestures to the younger two girls who are looking on in what seems an odd confusion).
SDS #4: Oh. Well, sure. I'd be happy to help you out. I'll go back to my room after breakfast and fetch them for you. Would you like for me to bring them back to you here?
Mary: Why, yes. That would be excellent. Thank you.
SDS #4: You're welcome. I'll see you again soon. (Walks off smiling slightly at the antics of the women the majority of the city had become fond of)
Mary: (Turning back to the twins) What's with you two?
Jessie: That was...
Taylor: Mary do you realize you were just speaking Italian?
Mary: Was I?
Jessie: Yes.
Mary: Huh. That's odd. Oh well. Oh look. Here comes Ronan. I'll bet we get some cool alien coins off him.
Jessie: (Skipping ahead of Mary) Ronan! Hi!
Ronon: ...Hi.
Jessie: Do you have any coins you don't want anymore?
Ronon: What?
Jessie: Coins. They're, uh, small and metal and shiny.
Ronon: Bullets?
Jessie: No, coins.
Ronon: What are you talking about?
Taylor: Sorry Ronon. We're just looking for pieces of currency that no one wants anymore.
Ronon: Why?
Mary: Because we've decided to act like small children today. (Seeing Ronon's look) Well, younger than we normally act like children.
Ronon: I don't have anything like that. Can I go have breakfast now?
Mary: Yep!
(Ronon walks away and Taylor surveys the room.)
Taylor: I think this must be the end of the early breakfast crowd.
Jessie: We should sit and wait for the money to rain down upon us.
Mary: Sounds good. Somewhere by the door so we can get stragglers.
(The girls sit, and Taylor reaches over and pokes Mary.)
Taylor: You.
Mary: Yes?
Taylor: You were speaking Italian.
Mary: I really wasn't.
Jessie: You really were. So was he. It was an Italian-fest and we weren't invited.
Mary: I'm sorry.
Jessie: It's okay. I don't like Italians anyway. They are, in general, too pansy. It took them many days to defeat Ethiopia when Ethiopia was armed with spears and Italy had planes and guns and things.
Taylor: That you could probably just blame on bad strategy.
Mary: You two be nice to the Italians.
Taylor: We are nice to the Italians.
Jessie: We're just mean to the idea of being Italian.
Mary: It's the same thing.
Jessie: It's not.
Mary: It is too. Now hush. Here comes change.
(A small woman with an arm patch of the British flag walks up carrying a small box)
Small Woman: Here you go girls. (She hands the box to Taylor) All the change I could find. I don't need any of it back. Have fun.
Taylor: We will. Thank you.
SW: No problem. I'll see you 'round. (She walks off.)
Jessie: So how much do we have?
Taylor: Well, the box is pretty much full.
Mary: Good! This is going to be fun.
Taylor: So how much are we actually going to collect?
Mary: Well, it does go very fast when we're throwing it into the water. I should think as much as we can get before we're bored of asking will be about enough.
Jessie: Hey guys, I was wondering...
(Another early morning person drops a plastic bag of various coins on the table.)
Taylor: Thanks very much!
Jessie: ...was wondering whether throwing coins of various denominations into an alien ocean would, you know, be bad.
Mary: Like bad for the environment or bad as in against the rules or bad as in what if someone wants their money back?
Jessie: Yes.
(Pause)
Taylor: Right. Well, they won't want their money back. We are making sure that everyone knows they won't be getting this stuff back.
Mary: And so far no one has screamed in horror when we told them what we would be up to, so I'd bet that we're not doing anything illegal.
Jessie: What about the environment? Chucking alien species of metal into an already thriving ecosystem?
(There's another pause, and more change accumulates on the table in front of the girls.)
Jessie: Danka!
Taylor: Well...
Mary: We could ask Rodney before we do it?
Taylor: Yes! That! He'll tell us.
Jessie: Well that's alright then.
Mary: What were we talking about before?
Taylor: What?
Mary: Before we were talking about this.
Jessie: Italians?
Taylor: Which came from you having the ability to speak in different languages without noticing.
Mary: One. One language. Maybe it was a fluke?
Taylor: A fluke?
Mary: Yes. (Taylor raises her eyebrows) Okay so it probably wasn't a fluke, but what am I supposed to do? It's not like there's someone I can go to in order to find out if my power is malfunctioning and if it is, what that means.
Jessie: There's Misty.
Mary: (Curiously) Do we know how to get a hold of Misty?
Jessie: (Thinks for a minute) No.
Taylor: I'll bet she'll be around when we need her to be around.
Mary: So what you mean to say is...
Jessie: She doesn't think the unconscious speaking of Italian on your part is anything to be worried about
Mary: Ah. (Another person drops change on the table) Thank you.
Taylor: So anyway. I have a date tonight. I think I forgot to tell you last night because we were planning this.
Jessie: You did. So what are you doing?
Taylor: Dinner and then some football movie.
Mary: Football?
Taylor: Yeah. Some game he's got taped. He's going to explain it to me, or try to anyway.
Mary: I could tell you the basics of the game. You don't sit on the sidelines for four years and pick nothing up.
Jessie: You're just saying that because your little brother played football. Otherwise you wouldn't know anything.
Mary: Not necessarily true.
Jessie: Oh really? Then tell me something about basketball, since you played in pep band for that too.
Mary: Uh...they try to get the ball into the other team's basket?
Jessie: And?
Mary: Oh very well. You win.
(Another person returns with change for the girls.)
Taylor: Thanks!

---
(Later that morning, Ronon wanders into the gym and sees Sheppard bench pressing in a corner by himself.)
Ronon: Sheppard.
Shep: G'morning Ronon.
Ronon: You're never in here this early, of your own free will.
Shep: I do occasionally wake up early for some weight lifting, I'll have you know.
(Ronon eyes him suspiciously.)
Shep: Alright, I'm hiding from paperwork. What have you been up to this morning?
Ronon: Well, at breakfast the girls asked me for bullets.
Shep: What?!?
(Ronon catches the weights as they tilt off balance and threaten to hit Sheppard in the chest)
Ronon: (Calmly replacing the weights on the rack) The girls asked me for bullets at breakfast.
Shep: That was an "I hope you're kidding" what, not an "I didn't hear you" what, Ronon.
Ronon: (Shrugging) I thought you should know. It was very...odd. They were very bouncy and smiley about it.
Shep: Tell me you didn't give them any.
Ronon: I didn't have any on me.
Shep: That's...you mean you would have...never mind. I don't want to know. (Sighing he sits up on the bench)
Ronon: You might want to go find them anyway. They were talking to just about everybody. Including the guys who were headed toward the 'Gate, fully armed, for a mission.
Shep: What?!? (He gets up and sprints out of the room)
Ronon: What kind of a "what" was that? (He waits a moment, shrugs, adds more weight to the bar and starts bench pressing)

---
(In Rodney's lab, McKay and the three girls are alone. Mostly because everyone else has fled.)
McKay: What? NO!!! Are you kidding? There could be serious ecological repercussions and-and-and something horrible could come of it!
Jessie: Told ya so.
Taylor: Shush. What kinds of horrible things could happen, really?
McKay: Well, there, there could be anything from some kind of toxic chemical reaction to you pissing off a giant sea monster who doesn't like getting hit on the head with falling coins! We know remarkably nothing about this planet's indigenous life, let alone everything in the sea! You could be throwing the entire ecosystem out of whack! You could doom the entire planet!
Mary: Statistically speaking, what are the odds that something like that would happen?
McKay: (Thinking) Well… rather small actually.
Mary: So the most likely outcome of us throwing coins into the water just for fun would be...?
McKay: Probably nothing.
Mary: So?
McKay: Oh fine. Go and act juvenile. Destroy the planet. See if I care.
Taylor: Great!
Jessie: Cool!
Mary: Thanks!
(The girls leave the lab happily with their large bags (It was easier to carry the many, many coins that way.))
McKay: Oh, this is going to go badly...maybe.

---
(In the cafeteria)
Sheppard: Lorne!
Lorne: Yes colonel?
Shep: Have you seen the ladies lately?
Lorne: Uh, I'm assuming you mean your - the three ladies with the powers?
Shep: (Slightly agitated at how long finding them is taking) Yes.
Lorne: Yes sir. They were up by the control room. Said hello to 'em before I came to have breakfast, sir.
Sheppard: Thank you.
(Sheppard leaves.)
Lorne: (Talking to himself) Gave them some change too. Hope I don't need it later. (He pauses, coffee halfway to his mouth) Oh man, if they go and install a coke machine now I'll be... well it'll be ironic.
McKay: (Entering the cafeteria) Talking to yourself Lorne?
Lorne: Only a little.

---
(In the control room)
Sheppard: What do you mean they're not here?!
Weir: They were here, but they left awhile ago. I think they went to find Rodney.
Sheppard: (Running off in the direction of Rodney's lab) Thanks.
Weir: I really hope they find a better way to carry all that change. It must be so heavy.
Control Guy: Yes, Ma'am.

---
(In the hallway near Rodney's Lab)
Shep: (Skidding to a halt) Zelenka! Have you seen the girls?
Zelenka: I will assume from panicked look and frantic running about that you mean the three ladies with the gifts. Yes, I have seen them.
Shep: (Out of breath) Recently?
Zelenka: They went off towards the less used part of the city down near South Pier a few hours ago. The way they were talking it sounded like they would-(He stops as he realizes that Sheppard is already gone) be there for awhile. He could have at least said thank you.
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