"What are our options, Dr. McKay?" Caldwell asked.
"Well, we could completely take out the hyperdrive system," McKay suggested. "We'd have to fully drop out of hyperspace, of course."
"How far are we from Atlantis?" Cadman asked.
"About thirty minutes," Caldwell answered.
"Can't we wait?" The blonde tapdancing explosives expert questioned.
"Wait?" McKay asked.
"Are you my echo now?" Cadman snarked with an annoyed tone.
McKay tightened his jaw and glared at her. "I was going to say. . . Are you insane? Thirty minutes from now we could all end up sucked into space unless we do something."
"That'd be bad," Sheppard added.
"You think?" McKay was beginning to get agitated. "If we shut down the hyperdrive and get it all broken down, we could reinstall the entire system in a few hours."
"Hours we might not have," Cadman said. "Even if we do get the system dismantled, what makes you think other systems aren't infected? We might need to do a diagnostic of the entire ship."
"That's it!" McKay said excitedly. "We run it through a translation program. We take the Goa'uld text and run it through a translation program to see what it says."
"How long will that take?" Caldwell asked.
"Eh, thirty minutes," McKay told him.
"We just don't have enough time," Cadman said.
"Yes, we do," McKay argued. "Look, all we have to do is figure out what it does, by translating it. We'll have time to spare, trust me."
"I hate it when he says that," Sheppard mentioned.
"How much time to spare?" Caldwell asked.
"Well, a few seconds, give or take," McKay replied.
"I don't like that sound of that," Caldwell stated.
"Neither do I," Sheppard agreed.
"Okay, lets get to work," McKay said. "We should have this done in no time."
"Thirty minutes seems like a lot more than just 'no time'," Sheppard announced.
"Well, eh, just go have something to eat, which makes me envious because I haven't eaten since this all started," McKay said sadly. "Could you bring me something back?"
"What?" Sheppard asked.
"Anything but citrus," McKay replied.
"Right," Sheppard said with a smug grin.
Caldwell walked out with Sheppard.
"I have this feeling he's going to bring back something with lemon in it," McKay said watching the two men leave.
"Oh, come on, he won't do that. . ." Cadman said sending the Goa'uld text to the tablet. "Until you've fixed the ship."
McKay turned around and noticed something in the corner. "What's that?" He asked as he moved closer to it.
"McKay?" Cadman asked as she began to follow behind him.
"Oh, no," he said with a worried expression.
"It's a bomb," Cadman finished his sentence.
To Be Continued. . .