The crate was on the table next to them. The ZPM, or Zero Point Module, nestled in a bed of straw. Sam's eyes were automatically drawn to it. A long lasting powerful source of energy that was way ahead of anything humans had ever created. They needed the device to power the Ancient weapons on Earth; to travel to the Pegasus Galaxy and contact the team that had gone to Atlantis so many months before. Hope. It was strange to think that the steady orange glow of the object brought so much of the simple emotion.

Sam's hands itched. Daniel and Teal'c had been sent straight to Egypt from Washington to collect the ZPM personally while Sam and Jack had returned to Colorado to prepare for its arrival. They'd had to wait hours before it had arrived at the SGC base under Cheyenne Mountain. There was so much analysis to do, Sam thought. Ultimately, they had to find someway of recharging it so it didn't run out of power…maybe there was a way to hook up the generator Jack had created the first time the knowledge of the Ancients had been downloaded into his head but then would that work given the ZPM drew its power from sub-space…

'Earth to Carter.' Jack waved his hand in front of her face.

'Sorry, sir.' Sam pulled herself out of her thoughts to concentrate on what was happening around her. Daniel was pushing a video into the television they had hooked up in the room. Oddly, the ZPM hadn't been the strangest thing recovered from the dig in Giza; a jar containing a perfectly preserved video camera had been the real shock. The camera was consistent with their current level of technology and it was the same make and model the SGC used for field work.

'So,' Daniel said, 'as I was telling you, they found this buried with the ZPM.'

'It is most strange.' Teal'c said.

'It's incredible.' Daniel said. 'This is incredible.' He, along with Teal'c, had already seen the tape; it had been the reason why they'd called Jack and Sam into Daniel's office as soon as they'd gotten back. He pressed the remote and the screen flickered into life.

'OK, my name is Daniel Jackson. I'm part of a team called SG1 and we have just travelled back in time five thousand years…'

Sam's blue eyes widened.

'Whoa.' Jack's hands gestured at the screen. He grabbed the remote and stopped it. 'Is that you?' His brown eyes glared at the archaeologist.

Daniel grabbed the remote back. 'Just watch.'

The tape began to play again. The team watched as the Daniel on the screen explained what had happened; time travel to recover the ZPM. All four members of the SG1 team appeared one by one.

'…and there are no fish in my pond. At all. Where I fish. I think that covers it for me.' The Jack on the screen declared.

'Is that correct?' Sam asked Jack thinking about the weekend of fishing that her CO was insisting was going ahead despite the discovery of the ZPM since it was now safely at the SGC.

Jack ignored the question as the tape ran on and finished abruptly. He rewound the tape and turned to look at her. 'Is this possible?'

'Theoretically, yes, sir. We could have fixed the machine we found and gone back in time to recover the ZPM.' Sam pushed her sleeves up her arms. 'I can't believe I agreed to it but yes.'

'I guess the benefits outweighed the risks.' Daniel murmured, his eyes sliding to the crate.

'We messed with our own timeline.' Sam gestured at the television. 'There's no telling how much damage we did.'

'But like I said on the tape, well not me but him, that's exactly why we left the tape.' Daniel said.

'Huh?' Jack's bemused eyes landed on the other man.

'To provide our future selves, us, with a checklist, a set of references if you will, that we can use to ensure the future is the same.' Daniel explained and gestured back at the screen. 'If anything doesn't match we know we screwed up.'

'You mean like there being no fish in my pond?' Jack checked.

'Exactly.'

'There aren't that many references on that tape, Daniel.' Sam pointed out. 'Even if those match, there's no telling how many more others don't.'

'But if the ones on the tape match given their range and randomness, isn't it likely that others would too? Or at least be really close.'

'Maybe.' Sam allowed.

'So if everything mentioned on the tape matches with what has happened in this timeline then we think we're OK?' Jack asked double-checking he'd heard correctly.

'Yes.' Daniel confirmed adamantly.

Jack's eyes slid to Sam; she was the theoretical astrophysicist.

Sam shifted uncomfortably. 'If everything matches on the tape then it's unlikely that anything major will have been altered.' She agreed.

'And if it doesn't?' Jack questioned.

'Then the right thing to do would be to correct the timeline.' Sam stated firmly.

'Teal'c?' Jack glanced at the quiet Jaffa.

Teal'c inclined his head. 'I believe we should watch the tape again, O'Neill, and see whether such a course of action is required.'

'Then let's watch the tape again.' Jack pressed play.

'…and there are no fish in my pond. At all. Where I fish. I think that covers it for me.' They stopped the tape.

'Is that correct?' repeated Sam.

'If it is, we don't do anything?' Jack checked.

'Apparently, nothing we did affected the timeline.' There was a hint of disbelief in her voice. All the other references had matched; there was only the question of the fish left. It seemed too good to be true.

'But we didn't do anything.' Jack protested.

'Not yet.' Sam agreed amused at the confusion on his face. Temporal physics wasn't the easiest thing for anyone to get their heads around including her. 'Apparently we were going to. Two weeks from now but now we don't have to.'

'Excellent. That's it.' Jack tapped the desk as Daniel and Teal'c gave satisfied nods and both men headed back to Daniel's computer console. 'I like it.'

Sam breathed a sigh of relief and reached for the crate. Finally, she could begin her analysis. 'OK, I'm going to get this up to the lab for analysis…'

'No.' Jack grabbed the crate before she could move. 'I'll take it. There's a whole room full of geeks up there just dying to get their hands on this.' His eyes danced with merriment as he looked at her. 'You've got packing to do.'

Sam looked after him as he walked from the room and sighed. She wandered over to Daniel and Teal'c.

Daniel shifted his attention from the monitor long enough to glance over his shoulder at her. His lips twitched at the disgruntlement on her face from not being allowed to play with the ZPM and he quickly averted his gaze before she saw his amusement.

'What are you guys doing?' Sam asked taking in the text of the Constitution on the screen.

'Daniel Jackson is attempting to help me create a system of government for my people.' Teal'c stated.

Sam sighed. She asked a simple question…

'Shouldn't you be packing?' Daniel kept his eyes on the screen. He could just see the faint outline of her glaring at him on the monitor.

'Shouldn't you?' Sam countered.

'I'm done.' Daniel informed her gleefully. He gestured at the stack of bags in the corner.

'As am I.' Teal'c said.

Sam knew when she was beaten. It looked like the guys wanted the weekend to go ahead. She sighed again. 'Fine. When are we supposed to meet?'

'An hour from now in Jack's office.' Daniel reminded her.

Sam nodded and backed out of the room. It didn't take her long to pull together a rucksack with all the essential items she needed or to change into blue jeans and a light top. She smeared another layer of lipstick over her lips and headed to the General's office. He was on the phone; the phone; the one with the direct link to the President but he waved her in as soon as he caught sight of her lurking outside his door. She hovered awkwardly just inside, absently noting that Jack had also changed into civvies.

'Yes, Mr President. Monday? We'd be honoured, sir.' Jack scribbled a note on a pad of paper and nodded. 'Thank you, sir. We look forward to seeing you.' He hung up and scratched his head thoughtfully.

'We look forward to seeing you?' Sam repeated.

'Yeah. He wants to come visit. Say hi. Thank us for saving the world. Again.' Jack shrugged and pushed his chair back. He took the two steps to the second office door that opened out on the briefing room and poked his head around it. 'Sergeant!'

Sergeant Walter Harriman appeared a moment later. Jack handed him the note. 'Walter, the President is visiting on Monday. I'm going to need you to arrange everything. These are the details I've been given.'

'I take it you will be cancelling your and SG1's vacation this weekend then, sir?' Walter asked nervously.

'No. You do not take it that I will be cancelling mine and SG1's vacation.' Jack paused wondering if he had made grammatical sense.

'I'm sure SG1 could cancel the weekend if you're needed here, sir.' Sam suggested seeing the momentary look of panic flit across the Sergeant's face.

'SG1 is actually going on leave, Carter. Suck it up.' Jack smirked at Sam's mutinous look.

'Sir, there may be details that you will need to decide…' Walter began.

'I trust you, Walter. You choose. Bunting, buffet, whatever's needed.' Jack said firmly. 'We'll be back on Sunday at 1800 hours and you can brief us all on protocol and agenda at that time.'

'But, sir…'

'And you can call that phone line the techs rigged up at the cabin if something major happens that requires my attention.' Jack's tone indicated that 'something major' was probably nothing short of an invasion of Earth. 'That'll be all.'

Walter came to attention. 'Yessir.' He hurried out of the office.

'Sir, don't you think…' Sam stopped at Jack's raised finger; the finger that denoted the time for all discussion had come to an end.

'You guys ready?' Daniel asked from the doorway loaded up with his bags; Teal'c stood just behind him.

'Sure we are, aren't we, Carter?' Jack raised an eyebrow at Sam.

'Yes, sir.' Sam sighed.

'Then let's go.' Jack reached for the bag he'd stowed under the desk.

The alarm sounded.

'Oh, for crying out loud!' Jack muttered.