Had to get everyone across the desert first, had to drag things out long enough for them to make it. split‐second timing gen.

[katerinkadar]

Не понимаю как это перевести, помогите, пожалуйста:
‘Had to get everyone across the desert first, had to drag things out long enough for them to make it.
split‐second timing,’ the Doctor had said.

Вот контекст:
He couldn’t quite believe that the Doctor had done ‘Had to get everyone across the desert first, had to drag things out long enough for them to make it.
Then split‐second timing,’ the Doctor had said.
‘Those things only work at very close range. Had to be near enough to get here when the teleporter was still in operation, while the Quevvils were still streaming through the air as their component atoms – but not so soon that they’d muck it all up as soon as the disruptor signal was sent.
Then we’d’ve just had a pile of angry Quevvils on our hands, and that’d be no good to anybody.
’ He’d smiled then.
‘I suppose that Mickey’s not so useless after all.
http://notabenoid.com/book/28065/94426/?page=1

[Tamerlane]

Он помог им пробраться через пустыню. При этом, ему пришлось оттягивать время (отвлекая внимание врагов?), дабы помочь им успеть вовремя. Каждая секунда была на вес золота.

что-то в этом роде