The fabulous complexities of Sinjin’s case had all been researched and footnoted to the nth degree by his staff, which must by this point have occupied several new office buildings adjacent to Zelrijk-Aalberg’s convoluted border. The burden of detail had been lifted from his shoulders, freeing him to do what his subordinates were not capable of: to tell the story of it in a way that was engaging, coherent, and disturbingly close to being absolutely convincing. It was, as everyone understood, a sort of dress rehearsal for future pleadings before judges or juries. Elmo Shepherd was demonstrating the power of his new superweapon before a handpicked delegation of his enemies. The message was obvious: Surrender now or I shall be forced to use this weapon in anger against you. Imagine how bad that would be. Sinjin had only brought two associates with him but it was to be understood that they were only the head of a queue of legal myrmidons that would stretch behind him over the horizon were they all physically here. With their carrying the supporting documents in their satchels, he was free to just be Sinjin. He pointed to squiggles on graphs and held forth about their meaning enough to convey the point that he had mastered all of the details, but just when he was getting into the weeds he would retract that accusatory finger and with a gentle wave of the hand dismiss the specifics and look someone in the eye and make an interesting point of a more general nature, not in an aggressive manner that might elicit a sharp defensive response but more with an air of Since we are all intelligent grown-ups here, and since we have subordinates who can plow through the specifics later, I thought you might find a few moments’ diversion in the following trenchant observations. And then he could be philosophical, he could be wry, he could even get everyone in the room to laugh. Not the fake forced laughter that people made when they understood someone was pooping out an attempt at humor but sharp surprising laughter followed by an afterglow of appreciating Sinjin. Even loving Sinjin. Being glad to be in his company. All, of course, with the unstated message of Imagine what this man could do in front of a jury.