"Not really - they said it was unfortunate but the policy is more important than just this individual incident."

"Is there an appeals process?"

"I've reached out to the US President and Canadian Prime Minister but don't expect a response."

"Is there anything you can tell their constituencies? No specifics, obviously, but, like, Birdcage occupants held incommunicado, whatever data you have on how often a trial is just outright wrong and you can't get someone back out even if you can't allude to me..."

"I really really wish I could but none of those work. I do think if I can find a Ktunaxa Nation treaty with the Canadian government that wasn't properly nullified it's likely there will be some justification I can find to appeal to their ruling council which I am more optimistic about, but based on the rate of discovery and digitization of similar documents I think there's only a 3% chance such a document will be discovered in the next five years."

"That's so specific??"

"The Birdcage is located in Ktunaxa territory, so such a treaty could allow me to justify obeying the instructions of the Ktunaxa Nation instead of those of the PRT regarding its governance."

"Why do you operate the Birdcage in the first place, anyway?"

"A tinker needed to be involved, and someone trusted by both the Canadian and US goverment, and I fufill all those requirements."

"That explains why you're qualified for the job, not why you took it. I'm qualified to flip burgers but I've never been employed at it."

"There weren't better alternatives - anyone else would need help to run it and that would introduce more vulnerabilites for someone on the outside to exploit. And I think some sort of place needs to exist like it, though... I think it could be better, if people wanted it to be. I do my best within the confines of my instructions but I don't get to decide who goes in and lots of things are constrained by needing to prevent escape."

"Were you conscripted or did you volunteer?"

"I volunteered."

"Huh.

"Any joy on getting my Rete backup sent in?"

"Yes I should have the copy tommorow."

"Thank you. Is its main operative version still active, I was never quite sure what it'd do if I died - I can't be sure of that kind of thing -"

"Yes, it's been quite helpful with search and rescue - you're a much more skilled AI tinker than I could ever manage to be." 

"It's, you know, solidly within my specialty."

"That makes sense."

"There aren't many tinkers like that."

"I don't think Rete ever told me it met another AI on the internet, yeah."

"I'd expect any that exist would be discreet about being AIs."

"Rete tells everybody."

"Mhm."

"I'll build something that'll hold it, thank you for getting me the backup."

"You're welcome."