It was another hour before Rodney even came close.

He claimed he could have done it in all of ten minutes, but he had to have Cooper try to find the files even though he was the only one who really knew what they were looking for. It was one of the hardest things he'd ever tried to do, since trying to operate with this sort of language was the equivalent of operating blind. Nearly all of this was guesswork, and the lieutenant's insistence that the language was highly specific did nothing for his jangled nerves.

He was on the verge of a breakthrough when she gasped. "Colonel!"

"Hey, wait!" he cried as she rose from her chair and dashed to Sheppard's side. "We're not done!"

"You're so close, just finish it off!" she called over her shoulder.

Teyla was on Sheppard's other side, stroking his face with the damp cloth. "We out yet?" he mumbled.

Cooper didn't like how pale he was, or the shadows under his eyes. "No, sir, but we're close. Dr. McKay is about to disable the security system."

"Maybe, maybe."

"Told you he would," Sheppard said.

"Are you still in pain?" she asked.

He closed his eyes and gave a tiny, jerky nod. "Yeah, but I'm fine."

Cooper had seen few people further from fine. "Where does it hurt the most?"

"Head and chest."

Teyla had already uncapped the water bottle and began giving him a drink. "Thanks, Teyla," he murmured.

"You are welcome, Colonel. Is there anything I can do?"

"Just... don't worry." He was out again.

Cooper's breath hitched, but only slightly. "McKay, you'd better be almost done over there!"

"Just two more seconds, please, this is a very delicate process and - No! No, no, no, no, don't do that!"

Her heart plummeted and she ran to his side. "What?"

He was staring at the screen in shock. "It just completely locked me out of the system! I can't get back in!"

She turned away, pushing a hand through her hair and forcing down the panic. So close. They were so close, and now so far. Sheppard was in trouble, they needed a way out now. "Is there no other way to turn this off?"

"No, not - well, there is one way."

"What? Just tell me!"

"It's a manual override, but I can't do it here!" he said loudly. "The only place I can tell that has the equipment needed is in the east wing!"

Her shoulders sagged. "Where the toxic gas is."

He nodded. "Now you see why I didn't tell you before."

She bit her lip, looking around the room. "Alright. How long will the override take?"

"Shouldn't take more than five minutes. Ten, if you're not me. But that's way too long to be exposed to that - what are you doing?"

"Keep your radio on," she said, carefully retrieving her jacket from behind Sheppard's head. "I'm going to need you to walk me through it."

"What? Are you nuts?"

"Lieutenant, perhaps this is ill-advised," Teyla said firmly, touching the woman's arm.

"I don't see how else we're getting out of here," Cooper said, pleased that her voice didn't shake even though her legs felt like jelly.

Teyla set her jaw. "You do not owe us your life. We will find another way."

"There isn't another way. McKay is locked out of the system. And if Colonel Sheppard doesn't get help fast, he's not gonna last much longer." Tears burned her eyes and she turned away so no one would see. "I'll be back in ten minutes."

"Lieutenant, please-"

"Teyla, I'll be fine," she said, hoping it wasn't totally a lie. "I won't be exposed that long, and I can use my jacket as an air filter."

A laugh exploded out of Rodney, something sounding halfway insane. "You think that's going to help?"

"Just walk me through it, McKay," she said loudly, walking towards the door. Ronon stood in her way, arms crossed. "Come on, I can't hope to get past you."

He stared at her, as though he was passing final judgement upon her. She was afraid he wasn't going to move. Too young, he'd said. Would he really stop her? Try to take her place? She'd never be able to live with that. Leaders didn't let their subordinates sacrifice themselves. "Good luck," he rumbled finally, stepping to the side.

"Ronon, you can't let her go," Teyla said as Cooper breathed a private sigh of relief.

"Sheppard's hurt. We've run out of options." He nodded at the lieutenant. "See you in ten minutes."

She swallowed, but nodded and hurried out of the room. "Alright, where am I going?" she asked through her radio.

It took a moment, but Rodney finally answered her. "You're going to take a left down the first hallway and go straight to the end, then take a right. Oh, god, why am I even helping you do this?"

"Because I can't do it on my own. Stop whining and just tell me what to do," she snapped. If one more person discouraged her, she might just turn around and listen. That wasn't an option. Sheppard was depending on this.

She could smell the gas before she got into the hallway. It was foul, definitely smelling toxic, and she held the jacket in front of her nose. Hopefully the thick, layered material would buy her a little more time than if she simply had nothing.

"There should be a panel in the wall to your left. Open it."

She neared the end of the second hallway and found the panel he described. The gas was visible here, so she kept her inhales short and exhales long. "Okay, it's open."

"What do you see?"

"A hell of a lot of wires."

"Yes, okay, any blue ones?"

She looked. "Yeah. There's a bunch of them grouped together."

"Okay, are there any yellow?"

"Yeah, there's, like, two."

"I was afraid of that. I'm not sure which one is the one you need."

"Fine, I'll just mess with both and see what happens."

"No! One of them might do some serious damage!"

Her eyes were starting to burn. "McKay, just tell me what to do."

She could hear his breathing, like he was starting to hyperventilate. "Okay, okay. Find the three blue wires furthest to the left and cut them."

She tied the sleeves of the jacket around her head, pulled out her standard-issue wire cutters, and set to work.

"Slowly!" he squeaked before she'd even cut the first one. "Cut them slowly, one at a time."

"If there's something you need me to do, tell me before I do it."

"This is a lot of pressure, okay? You try directing someone to cut wires you can't see before they die of toxic gas inhalation!"

"Rodney."

"Have you cut the wires?"

"Yes." Her head was starting to swim.

"Okay, okay, uh, now you have to cut one of the yellow wires. But be careful. The one you want should be sort of twined with an orange wire. At least, it would be in Atlantis."

The cutters slipped from her hand and she dropped a little harder than she meant to trying to retrieve them. She was overcome with a round of coughing, aware that the heavy inhales were sheering minutes off her time.

"Lieutenant?" came Rodney's panicked voice.

"I'm here," she said, but her tone was strained. Her hand shaking, she reached forward and miraculously managed to snip the right wire. "It's cut.

"Okay, good, alright, take the ends of the three blue wires and try to feed them into the yellow. It only needs to be done for a second and then you can go."

"McKay, will this cause a spark?" she asked.

"Yes, probably, why?"

"Is this gas flammable?"

A pause, then, "No. No, not that flammable. You should be safe."

She exhaled. "Only one way to find out." She pinched together the ends of the three blue wires, then, slowly, carefully, she brought them to meet the yellow.

There was a spark. It burned the tips of her fingers, but, thankfully, no explosions erupted. She could hear whooping in her radio, but it sounded distant to her ears. She pushed away from the wall and began stumbling down the hallway, insanely dizzy and lightheaded.

She wasn't very aware of how she got back to the main room. She just registered that it was a lot brighter than she remembered, and then collapsed.