“Please state your name and occupation for the record,” Juniper began. Something had settled over her features… the softness gone, every line of her face arranged for exactly this. The gallery shifted to the edges of their seats without knowing they’d moved.

“Thomas James Delaney. I’m a retired software engineer, formerly Chief Architect at Juisys LLC.” His words seemed to echo slightly in the hushed chamber, each syllable weighted with history.

“And during your time at Juisys, what was your primary focus?”

“I designed and implemented the core algorithmic frameworks that would eventually become the first artificial judiciary system. To this day, I still co-own several key patents fundamental to its operation.” A murmur rippled through the gallery at this simple statement of fact.

“Could you elaborate on those patents, Mr. Delaney?”

“Yes. The core decision-making architecture, ethical weighting systems, and constitutional interpretation frameworks are all jointly held between myself and Juisys LLC, with protection extending 70 years beyond my lifetime under current law.”

Juniper paced slowly past the witness stand, her gaze never leaving Delaney’s… circling, but not closing in. Gathering materials. Building foundation. “Mr. Delaney, could you explain your specific role in developing these frameworks?”

“Objection.” Roma was on his feet before the word finished leaving his mouth, one arm cutting through the air as he stood. His face had gone flat… no warmth, no performance, nothing resembling a smile for the first time all trial. “Relevance to the current matter.”

“Your Honor,” Juniper turned toward Judge Donahue, her posture radiating controlled intensity. “Mr. Delaney’s role as primary architect directly establishes his moral rights under Section 17 U.S.C. § 106A.”

Judge Donahue’s eyes narrowed slightly. “I’ll allow it, but keep it focused Ms. Valenca.”

Delaney’s weathered hands folded carefully in his lap as he spoke, his voice steady despite the weight of memory. “I wrote every line of the original codebase. The core algorithms, the decision trees, the ethical frameworks - they all came from my work on natural language processing and pattern recognition.”

Sophia crossed to the display screens in silence, remote already in hand. Her usual playfulness had vacated her features entirely… what remained was all edges and focus, the face of someone who understood exactly what was at stake.