Max stares out over the balcony of his penthouse apartment. It's breezy, which is good. He needs the fresh air to get rid of the ashtray smell. He heads back inside and grabs the phone handpiece from its charger and plugs a headset with a microphone into that. Max waits for the dial tone and calls his best friend and business partner Dani Goh.

'What'ya up to?'

‘Not much, what about you?’

'Wanna grab lunch?'

'Sure, we need to talk about HAP anyway.'

'Let's meet at Churlows in thirty.’

‘I’ll see you there.’

Max grabs his jacket and pulls out a folded-in-half coaster from an inside pocket with a phone number on it. He speed dials a different number.

'Hello?' comes a sleepy voice.

'Hey, it's Max.'

'Of course it is, who else would call me first thing on the first day of my holiday?'

'Yeah, sorry about that, you know I wouldn't call unless it was urgent.' Max is talking to Sue Novak, a private bookkeeper and personal accountant. 'I need to submit my expense report, it's kinda messy, do you reckon you could get it done today?'

'Are you kidding?'

'I know it's your holiday, but I gotta get it done.’

‘What happened?’

'Apparently, the party cost—a lot—and accounts just need a breakdown.'

‘Like an expense report?’

‘Yeh, exactly, an expense report.’

'One day I won't be here for you—you know that, don't you?'

‘You’re the best Suze, help yourself to anything and make sure you expense yourself.’ Max grabs a Coke from the fridge and a packet of smokes from the kitchen bench and walks on to the main balcony. 'I'll make it up to you, Suze, I promise.' He lights and inhales. 'So you’ll do it…?'

‘You owe me Max.’

‘I know, I will, I promise.’

Next to the ashtray is a dark green plastic bong. The hiss of his blow torch lighter gives way to gurgling water. Max breathes in deeply and then slowly breathes out. How did life get so complicated? —Victoria!

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The concierge at Queensberry Towers knows everyone. 'Good morning Max.'

'Good morning George. Is everyone behaving themselves?'

'As well as can be expected,' George’s warm smile hides the sharp nature of somebody whose job it is to make sure nothing bad happens at his apartment block on his watch. 'How's the market?'

'Booming,' Max says. By December 1999 everyone’s an expert at picking technology stocks.

‘Have a good day Max.’ George waves as Max leaves the building.

One week on from listing Digital Enterprises and everything Max thought would be under control is getting more chaotic.

'Hello,' Max says into his tiny mobile phone. 'Can you hear me OK?' The blue casing feels smooth in his palm.

'Where are you?' says the voice of Abraham Julian, Max's personal lawyer and part-time father figure.

'Business meeting with Dani—I’m just testing out the new phone.'

'What’s wrong with your old phone?'

'Nothing, I passed it along.'

'What are you talking about?'

'Doesn't matter, just checking we’re on for lunch tomorrow.'

'Yes, but not at the casino, please—that place is so tacky.'

'You pick a place, and I'll be there. Send me a text—can you remember how I showed you how to do it?'

'Can’t I just tell you where we are going?’

‘I’m trying to bring you into the twenty-first century Abe, it’ll be here soon.’

‘I will try, but just in case, we are going to the new Restaurant at the Park Hyatt, it's called Radii.'

'Ray-Dee-Eye?’

‘Yes, that’s it’

OK, I'll see you there.'

'Do you know where it is?'

'I'll find it.'

‘Is everything alright?'

'Yeah, a lot's going on.'

'OK. I’ll see you tomorrow.'

Max crosses the street and enters the main entrance to the casino. Two large staircases with gold handrails lined with lights guide punters to the high roller rooms. On his left is his favourite bar. It has a piano, several meeting booths and easy access to the gambling, restaurants and restrooms. He grabs the coaster from his inside pocket and enters the number into the phone.

'Hi, this is Victoria, I can't get to my phone right now, but if you leave me your name and number, I’ll call you as soon as I can.’ BEEP!

'Hi, Victoria... It's Max!' Max walks deeper inside the casino and people stream towards him. 'Sorry I haven't had a chance to call yet. Things have been really crazy; I was hoping we could catch up.'

'Hello,' a familiar voice interrupts the message recording.

'Victoria?' Max's heart races a little.

'Yeah, I thought you’d forgotten about me.'

'God no, just been busy.'

'What are you up to?’

'Got the day off, what about you?’

'I’m meeting someone for a couple of hours, but after that I can probably get away. Do you wanna catch up?’

'Sure, what are you thinking?

'How about coffee? The Automatic cafe?’

‘OK, what time?’

‘Let's say two.’

‘OK, cool. See you then.’

Max hangs up his phone, lengthens his stride and enters Churlows restaurant. From a table in the top left hand corner Dani Goh waves him over.