The survivors aboard Destiny are still dealing with the basic necessities of life in the sixth Stargate Universe (SGU) episode “Water.” With the air and power issues resolved—at least for the moment—the Icarus Base refugees are now suddenly confronted with an exponentially growing shortage of drinking water. No one is certain why the water is disappearing, but it’s obvious that if they don’t get water soon, they will all perish aboard.
When Destiny drops out of its faster than light (FTL) mode with a planet in range that should contain water, Dr. Nicholas Rush (Robert Carlyle) believes it has done so because there’s drinkable water on the planet. Although Rush still has no control over Destiny’s propulsion and navigation systems, with his knowledge of Ancient technology and non-stop study of the ship’s databases, he’s beginning to understand enough of the ship to realize they’ve landed here for a reason.
Colonel Everett Young (Louis Ferreira) and Lieutenant Matthew Scott (Brian J. Smith) use the Ancient space suits and head to the planet through the stargate, leaving T.J. (Alaina Huffman) in charge.
The planet is inhospitable: cold and toxic; the entire surface is a sheet of ice. Although much of the ice contains too much ammonia to be drinkable, the pair locate a frozen waterfall some distance from the stargate. But Eli's (David Blue) ingenuity comes through. Taking several kinos (floating camera balls) and placing them beneath a platform, he's created a floating sled. Even the highly unimpressible Rush is impressed with his inventiveness.
Young and Scott begin to send ice back to the ship via the stargate before Scott falls through a breech in the ice and into a crevasse, becoming trapped in a too-tight space. He's really stuck, and Young is unable to free him. The situation becomes dire when Scott's suit springs a leak. Time is also an issue, as the ship will jump back into FTL, leaving Young and Scott little time to get back even if Scott is freed from the crevasse.
Aboard Destiny, they eventually realize that the source of the water shortage is a tiny water-consuming alien life form that has hopped a ride aboard the ship. Apparently, it is the same bug Scott believed he’d seen on the desert planet in “Air Part 3.” During that episode, Scott had been guided to a barely-there water source by following what appeared to be a desert hallucination, but which had been, in fact, microscopic bugs that swarm into a more visible form.
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