There was one more panel that Monday afternoon, 'Computers Using DNA for Storage", but talking about recording exabytes of data on lab-created DNA, in fact, the sum total of human knowledge, seemed tame after the exposition on gun control. By then, fans were dragging suitcases and hugging one another, art dealers were loading up their unsold paintings, book and T-shirt vendors were packing up their wares, and the remainder of the guests wandered off to the the Con closing ceremonies. As the hotel and the Convention Centre slowly emptied itself, San Antonio took on a drab look bereft of its Sci-Fi overlay. I felt unaccountably sad, as if my parents had taken my toybox away.
The four of us made our way to the Leapin' Lizard for a last beer before going our separate ways the next morning. OK, not quite true: having got the taste for it again, we had a few more and a light supper in the supposedly longest bar in Texas, the Esquire Tavern. An early night, though, as we were both driving the next day. We're still not sure where Gary was really heading off to. Sarah kept joking about Vancouver and Gary mentioned Maryland more than once (which over 1300 miles away westwards). He did ask me what was at Roswell (apart from aliens, I presume) but that is in New Mexico and in a different direction again. So god knows where they are by now!
We got up later than our usual 0700 hours start on Tuesday morning and starting begging Enterprise Car Rentals for a pick up from the hotel. They couldn't come until 1200 so we ambled down to an empty River walk for breakfast idly wondering where all the weekend thousands of shuffling zombies had gone. Perhaps they had fallen in the water and were still shuffling around under the surface. We paid our hotel bill for the week, a paltry thirteen hundred dollars of comfortable beds, bar bill, state tax, county tax, city tax and tips. Good job it's not real money and on the credit card. Car hire was painless (apart from when we drove away from the lot with the boot open). We headed south. Farewell WorldCon! Same time next year in London!
