Nicola was a nervous wreck. It was time to leave for Calgary and Ken (techie extraordinaire) was still tweaking the media presentation. Her little swag elves had folded, and stuffed, and inventoried, and were now standing bags in hand waiting to go to the con.

“Go ahead,” he said.
“I'll meet you there.” He said.
“You promise…” She asked dubiously.
“Don't worry. I'll be there with plenty of time to spare.” He said confidently.

Two hours later the Scaper elves and their fearless leader arrived at the con. With registration all taken care of, supper eaten and many con friends greeted. …No Ken. Still there were a couple more hours to the presentation -- so not to worry. The presentation was scheduled for ten pm; it was nine thirty. …No Ken.

Nicola was ready to crawl out of her skin. Dire threats were uttered. Offers of pantomime displays and sock puppet presentations were considered and dismissed. Nicola was planning what kind of flowers to plant in the new plot that was going to appear soon in her back yard.

A cell phone rang.

It was Ken calling from the edge of town to say that his truck wouldn't start and that he had, at the last minute, borrowed Vanna Scaper's nifty wheels and was barreling through Calgary at a breakneck pace towards the hotel.

Go Ken Go! Drive Ken Drive! Wheeeeeee!

Ken arrived at Conversion XXI with seconds to spare and Nicola, now with her complete troop, marched up the stairs to the presentation suites. As fortune would have it, the preceding panel had run long. And since the Farscape Panel: “To be continued… Hell Yeah!” was the last presentation of the evening - the pressure was off. …Well sort of.

For the last panel of the night, and in competition with the cabaret, the turn out was fantastic. Extra chairs were brought in, and it was still standing room only as everyone waited patiently for Techie Ken to pull wires and push knobs and such. Ta-DAH! Everything was working, …so on with the show.

First up for the evening was Scorpy Went Down to Georgia a video by Dallascaper. Everyone was thrilled by it despite the fact that the colour seemed strangely odd. Someone from the back who had stayed over from the previous Anime panel murmured that the red was missing.

Oh well.

Nicola wasn't going to let that stop her. She gave an entertaining and thought provoking talk on the significance of the Peacekeeper symbol and its origins in European history. Despite the fact that all the media examples were now blue instead of red, she had the audience following along with her and nodding along with insight and understanding. Go Nicola go! Wheeeee!

Next up were the ladies of season four, in a video by Dani Moore called Trouble which had the audience bopping along in their seats. The girls did look good no matter what colour they were – Chiana excepted of course – she always looks good - grey being grey no matter how much red is missing. Then a short presentation of “Scape-speak”: covering the unique vernacular of the Farscape universe. To also be known as “The Seven Words you CAN say on television”. The Media examples were bang on and people laughed instead of throwing fruit. Though I must say I still think that ‘Fekkic' means the front, rather than the back, of the lap.

In the grand finale, a teaser vid for “Farscape – The Peacekeeper Wars” and the eternal crowd pleaser 1812 by Adnan Virk got everyone all ‘Scaped up.

A raffle for a DVD and two pieces of Virginia Hey artwork had the Audience busily filling a box with ballots. And then after the draw, the rest of the swag was set out on the table and the stampede began.

Big smiles were on everyone's faces as the panel goers trickled out of the room: The attendees for an entertaining hour of Farscape stuff and nifty swag -- …And Nicola, sagging with relief that the deed had, at last, been done.

Much thanks, to the many Scapers from the far corners of everywhere, for providing swag and inspiration. Bless you!

Here is an example of some (but only some mind!) of the swag that we were able to give out at the Convention.

Post scriptum …Later during the rest of the convention, many congratulations were received for an exemplary panel.

…Oh yes, and Ken and Vanna's nifty wheels made it back home intact.

…Although due consideration is still being given to what kind of flowers might best grace the back garden.