Orin and Hal on the phone (p. 1017)
'The issue she raises is is there really any sort of realistic hope of Québec getting Gentle to get O.N.A.N. to reverse the Reconfiguration. Take back the Concavity, shut down the fans, make us acknowledge the waste as fundamentally American waste.'
Context
The A.F.R.'s actual demand, stated by Hal: un-bend the circle. Stop the fans, take the territory back, and make the loop's origin own its output — "fundamentally American waste." The whole separatist plot is a demand that a ring be opened.