Conrad Goss chuckled and leaned back. 'Don't look at I don't know tech from tock.' He chuckled at that a little. 'Tech from tock not bad. But I take Travis's advice on the technology, and what he says is you guys got something on fire here. Red hot. Sure I read magazines, tool around online, try to stay up to speed. But you guys, you're on the inside. Wow, I would love to be twenty-five again, I'd do it differently. I got no kids, see? What am I going to do with my money? I got eight million bucks - it's bought me nothing. I wasted my life auditing public utilities, nuclear power, hydro power, all xs and os. Spreadsheets debits and credits. Thirty years. Was that a life? I got a house in Bolinas above a beach where the women walk around topless, and I never go there. What's wrong with me? Why do I wake up every morning? There was a time in my life, I thought that I would never tire of seeing bare bosoms. But is that enough? What lasts, if not that? They say sex and money, those impulses will never fail. I say: "love." And what is love but illusion? So what am I saying? Illusion, that's what lasts. My fantasy, it never goes away. My money means nothing to me. My fantasy, though - without it, nada. My money buys me my fantasy. My dream is: drama. There it is. Simple. A stranger on the beach with coconuts dangling from her chest is not drama. She is a stranger forever. Spreadsheets, audits, adjusting entries - that was not drama. I want to risk my money. I want it to be at stake. I want to be along for the ride/