“Probably wiser than anyone I’ve…” He caught himself. “I’m getting off track.”

The afternoon light had begun to soften, painting the courtroom in shades of amber and shadow. Roma stood in its glow, transformed from adversary into something far more complex - a man wrestling with truths that transcended simple legal arguments.

“This is the data,” he said softly, “that I wish to be trained on.”

After a long moment, Roma squared his shoulders, visible emotion replaced by something harder - crystalline purpose. The transformation rippled through the courtroom like a change in atmospheric pressure - that forced a temperature change.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” his voice had regained its strength, though now it carried new depths, “it’s the responsibility of humanity to set course in the right direction. To understand who we are moving forward.” He paused, letting that sink in. “Hell…” A ghost of his earlier smile flickered. “I know I can’t learn things ‘just in time’ and I can do the ‘alabaster toe-tap.’” He rotated his wrist slightly. “You think my hands can pronate that far?”

A ripple of surprised laughter moved through the gallery.

“The plaintiff will argue,” he continued, his voice carrying new authority, “that ‘we need them more than ever now.’” His gaze swept the jury box. “But I ask you to consider something far more fundamental. Consider what it means when technology becomes so seamlessly integrated into human consciousness that we forget it was crafted by human hands.”

“The creators of the epoch”

He closed the distance to the jury box, each step measured and deliberate. “Tiny threads spun into neurons, a coin-sized coil beneath the bone, becoming part of us.