Ah, time. Not so much a cruel mistress as a confusing one. Now we have two people with time ambiguously on their side. And two people with heavy ties to gold.

Well, they have us in the center of a Venn diagram between "cog in a machine," "toolbox full of ambiguously useful screwdrivers," and "chess pieces on a roughly twenty-way board." I suppose one or more of them found your unique experience and skills different enough to be important.