J.P. McCorwin always had a concept whether he had a company or not. When he was head of product development for Infinity Computer, the Valley's tabernacle of technological theology and digitized human potential, McCorwln was always hanging out past the leading edge. He designed machines "to change the world," or at least that's what the ads said. What was always clear was that every one of his machines was intended to be the very latest next best thing.

Now J.P. is on his own and determined to change the world one last time. He plans to start a company, create the last best thing, collect his millions, pass Go and be gone for good.

But first, he and his team have to figure out how to make Infinity's latest laptop computer stop blowing up and decide whether they're really going to create the last best thing and get their well-deserved riches or just fake it so well that the money comes anyway. And that's not all that needs figuring out.

Brad, the marketing maven, and Maria, J.P.'s executive assistant who can still remember when the Valley was all farmland, want to know just who RoseD, the online sex goddess, is, and where Robert the geek got his supercooled superchip and why he's walking around with it in his glasses. And everyone wants to know whether or not it matters if your computer knows when you're lying to it.