An Unconventional Convention

"And that's why I think 'Scott's Folly' has always been one of my favorite episodes," Maggie McAllister said as she smiled out at the two thousand fans that filled the ballroom of the Royal Grand Hotel.

The cheers that greeted the fifty-two-year-old actress were such that an unknowing observer might think the short haired redhead had won an Oscar rather than her claim to fame having been that she'd appeared on a twenty year old science fiction show. It went on for another half minute or so as she flashed her best smile and wallowed in their admiration.

"And to think I originally told my agent that I wanted no part of some geek sci fi show," Maggie thought as the applause finally died.

-=-=-=-

Twenty years before, as a thirty-two-year-old never really was actress, Maggie had been called late one Friday morning by Ryan Clarke, her agent, and offered the chance to take over the role on an upcoming science fiction show about time travel called "Chronos II". It seemed that the actress that had been originally cast had been injured in a car accident the day before. She hadn't been seriously hurt, but some facial contusions were enough to delay production on the pilot, which was scheduled to start the following Monday.

Her initial reaction had been to say no, but then Ryan had convinced her to at least read the script which he had already sent over by messenger. One of the producers evidently had remembered her from some of her earlier work and thought she would fit the role perfectly. That most of her previous work had been a string of quite forgettable films where her breasts had a greater role then the rest of her said a lot about her career so far. And while her boobs were still holding up pretty well, she was getting a little old to still play those roles.

After reading the script, which had arrived just ten minutes later, she had still been unimpressed. The story revolved around the crew of the Chronos II, hence the title of the show, which had been lost in time. She would play June Kirkland, the assistant to Professor Mortimer Weatherby, the scientist who had invented the time ship. Rounding out the cast would be a strong male lead character named Rock Cooper, a not too bright but devilishly handsome sports hero on whom June would have a crush on, and his teenage nephew, Jim Cooper, who would have a similar crush on June.

"This is hardly the big break you've been promising me for the last two years, Ryan," she had said over the phone shortly after putting down the script.

"It's work." Ryan had replied, reminding her that was something that had hardly been breaking down the door lately. "Just think of it as a paycheck," he'd added. "It'll probably never get past the pilot and no one will ever remember it a year from now."

"I just have to show up ready to go on Monday morning?" Maggie asked as she glanced on the small pile of bills on her coffee table. "No late night auditions or anything like that?"

In her early days in Hollywood, there had been quite a few of those where she had been called upon to demonstrate her acting ability to various producers and directors. Said demonstration and her chances of getting the role usually consisting of how realistically she was able to fake an orgasm. She hadn't minded it so much back then, it was part of the game, one that a lot of girls, and in some cases, guys had to play. The problem was that none of those roles had ever caught fire and it seemed that the practice was beginning to reappear.

"Nothing like that," Ryan had promised, "I swear. They would, however, like you to come down to the studio tomorrow to make sure the wardrobe fits and all. You and Cynthia Cannon, she's the girl they originally hired, have pretty much the same build, but they want to see if the costumes need any minor alterations."

"In other words, I'm getting the gig because she and I both have great boobs," Maggie pointed out.

"You said it, not me," Ryan replied. "Now do I tell them yes or start looking for another girl. They wanted an answer ten minutes ago and already another one of the producers is saying that they want to go younger for the role."

"Oh hell, I'll do it," Maggie said in resignation, glancing again at the stack of bills.

It hadn't been only the money she owed that sealed the decision. Ryan's last comment had carried a lot more weight than she wanted to admit. Up to then, she'd been able to play younger roles without a problem but there were a lot of new girls actually those ages out there, many of them willing to do an awful lot to get their chance.

-=-=-=-

"Chronos II" turned out to be exactly the kind of silliness that Maggie had thought it would be. But much to her, and many other people's surprise, it was also a minor hit. So much so that it ran for four years. Over ninety-eight episodes, she had been crammed into the sexiest outfit they could find for the time period they visited. From a Victorian gown that was so tight she could hardly breathe in it, to a bikini like outfit made of twisted vines. It got so she came to the conclusion that the writers started with how revealing an outfit they could get past the network censors and then wrote a story around it.

When the show finally folded, Maggie thought it would be the last she'd ever heard of "Chronos II". Then, to her even greater surprise, the show became an even bigger hit in what seemed like endless reruns. Over the last two decades, it had never really been totally off the air. Along with the growing fan base of new generations of Chrononauts, as they came to be called, came the personal appearances at various science fiction conventions around the country.

"Chronos II" would never be popular enough to have a convention of its own, but there were enough generic gatherings in which it played a role for her to make at least a half dozen appearances a year. All with travel expenses paid and a not unwelcome stipend for just answering some silly questions and then spending an hour or so signing autographs for which she would also get a cut of the profits.

Her acting career had also flourished after Chronos had gone out of production. She was never going to be offered a staring role, but she had spent the years since in a steady number of supporting roles in various movies and television shows. That some of these turned out to be caricatures of her June Kirkland character hadn't bothered her in the least.

-=-=-=-

The sound of applause brought Maggie back from her musings as Roy Carlsen, who had played Professor Weatherby in the series, finished up a question of his own. Back when the show had first premiered, Roy had only been a few years older than the rest of the cast and used makeup to fit into his role. Now, two decades later, he had aged into it naturally.

As another fan took her turn at the microphone, Maggie was relieved to see that there was no one else in the waiting area. The organizers of the event were quite skilled at keeping things on schedule and knew just how many questions could be fit in during the question and answer panel. Not only was it bad form to have fans wait on line to ask a question, only to be told that time was up, but such disappointments might more importantly have a negative impact on their spending money on autographs and other souvenirs.

Only two of the cast of "Chronos II" had been available for the star panel this time around. Stephen Duke, who had played Rock Cooper, was home with the flu and that had disappointed Maggie terribly. She had become good friends with Stephen over the years and had been looking forward to seeing him again. The remaining no show wasn't missed at all by either Maggie or Roy. Tommy Butler, who had played Jim Cooper, had grown up into the kind of obnoxious former child star that the supermarket tabloids loved.

Getting the role of Jim Cooper, after a string of television commercials and small guest staring roles, Thomas, and his mother turned agent, had been convinced that he was well on the way to a Tom Cruise like career. Instead, the show had turned out to be the highlight of his acting days as he had the looks, but not the talent to go further. Once he reached adulthood, he lost most of the charm of his teen years as well as the ability to keep off the extra pounds.

In the latter area, Maggie could well sympathize as she had added a few pound herself. Only in her case, the added weight had fallen in all the right places, giving her a more mature, sexy look. The girls, as she had long ago started referring to her breasts, had held up pretty good too. The effects of time and gravity held at bay by a specially constructed brasserie.

The last question of the morning was again directed at Maggie and she gave the young woman at the mike her full attention as she began speaking. It was a typical die hard fan question, but one that brought back other, best forgotten memories to the actress.

"I know that all though the series, June Kirkland always had a thing for Rock Cooper, even though he never seemed to notice," the teenage girl, who Maggie knew hadn't even been born when the show was originally filmed, said, "but a lot of fans have always thought that maybe she should've given Jim Cooper a chance. After all, by the time the series ended he was already eighteen. Do you think the show would've been better if the writers had gone in that direction?"

A chorus of laughter filled the room as Maggie glanced back at Roy, to also see a look of bemusement on his face. She was going to get no help with the answer from his direction.

"Well, I know that's a direction of lot of the fan fiction you find on the Internet these days would like to have seen taken," Maggie answered. An answer that brought a renewed assortment of cheers and whistles from the crowd. "But I'm afraid that I have to say that maybe the writers of the show knew what was best for the characters."

The answer was a stock reply as she well knew, but that wasn't an area that she wanted to go anywhere near. Still, the look of disappointment on the girl's face made Maggie wonder if perhaps she had written at least one of those stories herself.

"Still," Maggie added after a long pause, "I think you'd have to agree, Jim Cooper was pretty cute, wasn't he?"

That brought a smile to the questioner's face and another chorus of cheers from the audience. Almost as if on cue, the master of ceremonies stepped to the center of the stage and thanked everyone for coming, reminding them that both Maggie and Roy would both be available for autographs after they took a short break to freshen up. Plenty of time for everyone to buy official souvenir photographs for them to sign.

-=-=-=-

As the crowd began to stir in their seats, Roy leaned over to Maggie and said in a low voice that she had sidestepped that admirably.

"Oh fuck you," she replied in a similarly low tone, the smile on her face saying she really didn't mean it. "I still say it was all your fault."

A look of innocence appeared on Roy's face, along with an appropriate hand gesture returning the sentiment. Maggie just laughed and rose from her chair to follow one of the stage hands off the platform.

The reason for their little exchange was another reason why Maggie was so glad that they no longer bothered to invite Tommy Butler to the conventions. She wondered what all the fans now moving out the exits would think if they know that during the final year of the show, June Kirkland, or at least her alter ego of Maggie McAllister was doing the nasty with the Tommy Butler side of young Mr. Jones.

It had started out as a dare actually, or maybe even a joke, Maggie had never really been sure which. One night, after wrapping up an episode, she and Roy had been having a drink in his trailer. The subject of how Tommy had carried his character's affections for Maggie's over to real life had come up. It wasn't unexpected of course, he was a normal, healthy teenager who spent a great deal of time around a woman with a great set of knockers which were constantly being flashed in his face.

"I think you should do something about it," Maggie remembered Roy saying.

"What would you suggest?" Maggie had asked, feeling the effects of the half bottle of scotch they had put away.

"Why not give him a tumble," Roy had replied. "He's old enough and certainly cute enough, and from a few quick looks I've been able to catch in the showers, certainly equipped enough. God knows that if I'd thought he'd be the least bit interested, I'd have given him one long ago."

Maggie had smiled. Roy's being gay had been one of the worst kept secrets in Hollywood. Known to just about everyone it seemed except for fans of the show. It was that way for a lot of actors.

Even with more than half a buzz on, Maggie would've let the issue die then and there, except for the fact that she happened to run into Tommy on the way back to her own dressing room. He had been hanging around outside of it, looking she thought, for another chance to peek into the window while she was changing. She had caught him at it a few times in the past. As she had on those occasions, she was about to chase him off, then had a change of heart.

"Oh fuck," Maggie had said as she glanced around and saw that no one else was anywhere near. "Come on in Tommy, if you really want to look, you might as well get a good one."

She had let him do a lot more than look that evening, teaching him things he only dreamed about and by the time he stepped back out, he'd left his virginity behind. Over the last few weeks of the show they wound up doing it just about every chance they got, right up until the night his mother found out.

When Sharon Butler walked into Tommy's dressing room, she had a key, to find the two of them naked and in the middle of the act, Maggie was sure her career was about to go up in ashes. Then to her surprise, Sharon acted almost thankful to find the two of them together.

Sharon had suspected for some time that her son was getting it on with someone and was most worried that it was some underage groupie who was going to have him splashed across the front pages of the tabloids. Or some girl who wanted to get her hooks into him and ride the gravy train that Sharon just knew was waiting for the two of them once he hit it big. So it was actually a relief for her to discover that it was only an older woman interested in his hard body and even harder cock.

Their little affair sort of died off after that, ending totally before the show was canceled. In the last few conventions they'd attended before he stopped being invited, Tommy, or Thomas as he now went by, had insinuated that he'd like to recapture their glory days. Maggie had made it as clear as she possibly could that she didn't. A message he never seemed to get.

-=-=-=-

After the short break was over, Maggie and Roy walked into the small room in which the autograph table had been set out to find that not only was the room already packed, the line into it already stretched out into and down the hallway. The promoters couldn't stop a fan from bringing their own non-official items, but they did their best to insinuate that only holders of photos bought at the convention would get their chance at having them signed. Since they got a piece of each photo sale, some actors would refuse to sign anything else. Both Maggie and Roy, however, were more than willing to put their names on anything a fan put in front of them. Not everyone, they felt, could afford the overpriced souvenirs.

While she had always been at a loss to explain the popularity of the show, Maggie had always been keenly aware how seriously many of the fans took it and how much she had gained over the years due to that devotion. That was why she added to her answer earlier and why now she tried to give each fan a kind word or at least a warm smile as she scribbled her name on whatever they put in front of her. Over the years she'd also come to realize that one of the reasons of lot of fans were willing to stand in line for such a long time, at least the male ones, was to get a close up look at "the girls." Truthfully, she got as much of a thrill out of having them look as they did, so much so that she always made it a point to change into something that showed off as much of them as to be just the wrong side of respectable.

Earlier in the year, she had gone too far over the line, showing up at the San Francisco Star-Con in a see through blouse, deciding at the last moment to leave her bra behind as well. The combined effect of the overhead lighting and the flash strobes going off had produced some magnificent shots of her large nipples. It didn't take two days for the photographs to find their way onto the Internet, provoking a small moral outrage from some quarters. Mostly, she felt, from narrow minded old ladies who felt she was helping corrupt today's youth. As if most of them needed help. The convention promoters hadn't seemed to mind, feeling that even more people came to the next one they invited her to, to see if she repeated the performance. In that they were disappointed, but she still put on a good show nevertheless.

When the autograph session finally ended, some thirty-five minutes past its scheduled hour, both Maggie and Roy were relieved to finally put down their pens. With a practiced precision, the organizers again took over and quickly cleared the room, herding the masses to the next scheduled event. Since it didn't include either of the two of them, it gave the actors a chance to relax for a little while. They weren't needed until the Best Costume Competition this evening where they would be two of the judges.

"Maggie, could I ask a favor of you," Roy asked as he handed her a cup of coffee from the small cart that had been set up in the corner.

"Oh oh," Maggie said in a foreboding tone, "every time you use those words I wind up regretting what ever it is you ask me to do."

"That's not true," Roy laughed, then added. "Okay, maybe it is. But this time it's different."

"And you always say that too," Maggie replied.

"Would you at least just listen first?" Roy smiled.

"Don't I always," Maggie answered, returning the smile.

"It seems I have a little scheduling conflict," Roy began, the casualness of his words causing Maggie's caution lights to all come on.

"A scheduling conflict," Maggie repeated.

"Well, it's actually kind of simple," the older man continued, "thinking I had a few hours to kill this afternoon, I sort of agreed to sit for an interview for one of those science fiction magazines."

"And..."

"And now something else has...has come up you could say."

With that, his gaze moved over her shoulder to something behind her. Maggie turned her head to find a very cute, twenty-something young man standing at the doorway. It was obvious from his expression that he was waiting for Roy, and not for an interview.

"You're incorrigible," Maggie laughed, trying to sound angry but failing miserably.

"No, just very horny," he said in a soto voce tone as he moved close enough so that only she could hear him.

"So where do I find this person that was supposed to interview you?" Maggie asked.

"He's waiting for me in the coffee shop off the lobby," Roy answered, his face beaming at his little victory.

"All right, you go have your fun and I'll go educate the masses once more about what a joy it was working on "Chronos II," she relented.

"Bless you, dear," Roy said, kissing her on the cheek as he waved to the young man in the door that he would only be a moment more.

"You better go before I forget how much I love you and come to my senses," Maggie retorted.

"And I love you, darling," Roy replied, "So much that I just wish you'd learn to take more advantage of your own opportunities."

"Not all of have your adventurous spirit," she replied, also asking him what the guy's name was and how was she going to recognize him.