Daniel almost wept when he saw what had become of the ancient city. The one thing the USAF couldn't be accused of was finesse and they'd certainly attacked this task with extreme lack of said attribute. They'd torn the jungle apart in their efforts to get to the time ship and irretrievably damaged the archaeological site at the same time. He knew it was necessary and in the grand scheme of things, it probably didn't matter anyway but Daniel still felt that twinge of anger when he surveyed the destruction.

But the ship was there and it seemed undamaged. Even so, they were forced to wait whilst Sam went over it with the physicist equivalent of a fine toothcomb. And Jack wasn't the only one to be frustrated by the delay. Every moment they stayed here was another moment when the creatures could breed and kill.

"Carter?" Jack questioned yet again.

Daniel found himself phasing out their agitated conversation. He dug into his pack, took out a book and tried to lose himself in familiar words and phrases. For once it wasn't working. Daniel didn't know why he'd brought it along. Force of habit, probably. A historical text was hardly likely to be any use on this mission.

"Shouldn't be much longer," Jack's voice said as the man sat down beside Daniel. "Carter's just got to check the… thing."

"The thing?"

"Yeah the… okay so I wasn't exactly listening. I swear that she gets less comprehensible with age."

"Yours or hers?"

"Funny."

"I thought so."

But Daniel didn't feel much like laughing and he realised that Jack wasn't the only one who was getting old. Somehow, this had seemed so much easier ten years ago.

"What was it like, Jack?"

"What?"

"The other place, the other us."

Jack paused before answering.

"All I know for sure is that we have to stop it happening here."

Daniel nodded, he couldn't argue with Jack's words. He had seldom seen his friend so shaken and he knew whatever he had seen, it had to be bad. His eyes, Daniel noticed, were drawn to Sam. Did he think that he was going to lose her too?

The future would be like visiting an alien world. They would have nothing to help them. The books Daniel had brought along would be next to useless. They had no idea what twists and turns civlization might have taken. Who knew if the human race would still be there to greet them? It felt like the biggest step they had ever taken.

The Sun was setting by the time Sam had the ship ready.

"Is it okay, sir?" she asked as Jack took the controls.

"I guess we're about to find out," he answered.

As far as Daniel was concerned, nothing felt any different, but Jack didn't seem to be too happy. He was shifting in his chair, as if he was trying to get comfortable.

"Tell me again, when are we going?" Jack asked.

"Ten thousand years," Daniel supplied.

"Nice round number... Okay... here we go."

The ship rose upwards with barely a shudder and the sky rapidly giving way to stars. Looking over, Daniel saw Jack's eyes were closed in concentration. The constellations hadn't changed.

"Sir?" Sam questioned. "Is there something wrong?"

"Don't know," Jack replied, "I don't think I can..."

His mental stress was evident as the ship shook around them. It felt like both were about to fall apart. Daniel found himself wondering how deep the connection between Jack and this craft actually went. Something was stopping him from making the transition and it wasn't just a mental block.

Leaving her seat, Sam darted to the back of the ship, her first instinct was to try and fix whatever was wrong.

"Try it now!" she shouted after several nervous minutes. The ship stopped shaking.

Whether Jack did anything different or not, Daniel couldn't tell but he swore he felt a subtle dislocation... just before the lights went out and the ship dropped from the sky.

XOXOXO

General Landry bowed his head as he returned the red phone to its cradle, wondering exactly what he had just done. Phone calls form the President of the United States weren't uncommon, not for a man in his position, but they seldom caused Landry to question his own decisions. Everything had been fine whilst he had been talking only now, in the silence, did he have regrets.

Regrets would get him nowhere.

This was tactical, he told himself. They had to stop the creatures. Civilian casualties would be minimized… But a certain area of Nevada would remain barren for centuries.

The President's call had been a formality, nothing more. He had just wanted some kind of reassurance with regards to the severity of the threat. Information, that Landry had been only to happy to supply so why was he wondering if he'd made the right call?

Innocent people were going to die, and that was always a difficult choice for any soldier. Landry had balanced the needs of the planet, he had done everything he was supposed to do but he still felt like he'd personally pushed the button

Seemingly without conscious thought, he reached for his other phone, the grey one, the one that didn't have the connection with the leader of a nation. Landry dialled an internal number.

"Lam," the voice at the other end answered.

"It's me," was all Landry said

"Something I can do for you sir?" she said

He hesitated, just for the briefest moment but it was enough for her to say,

"Dad?"

"Nothing," he replied, "wrong number."