diff --git a/WORK-QUEUE.md b/WORK-QUEUE.md
index 6af58e6..8abfe41 100644
--- a/WORK-QUEUE.md
+++ b/WORK-QUEUE.md
@@ -7651,3 +7651,52 @@ conservative direction for a detector and is not reopened here.
 **Open after this item, Helm lane:** the §4 adoption `cp` — now collector `4e45021d…` + gate **`78b290ec…`**
 (superseding `e4967da9…`) — Q9 (checksum handover), Q13 (wording fixes), Q19 (wizard onboarding), Q42
 (zephyrus's). **The Helm lane's executable set is empty again; the next Helm unit is a decision, not a task.**
+
+
+---
+
+### Pipe verification — Run 18 (the home-directory channel), 2026-10-13 16:2xZ
+
+**Item closed at `c559d33` (landing `6954cc6`).** Verified on the pipe's own instrument, not through the
+lane's `run_*.py` (their `out/` is not overwritten): every digest, size and line count re-measured this tick,
+and the shipped gate **re-run once by the pipe** on the real collector in the lane's env shape —
+**rc 0, `helm-selftest: 176 passed, 0 failed`, ALL GATES PASS, 14,044 B stdout / 1,216 B stderr**, identical
+in byte count to all five of the lane's runs, `PASS Q52` / `PASS Q50` / `PASS Q44`, the `Q52 NOTE` redirect
+fired, **live delta 0** on bytes/sha256/mtime_ns, tree left with 0 sandboxes. Delivered file **13,173 B /
+`3f813ca2…`**, `WORK-QUEUE.md` **897,771 B / `e8da72cf…`**, check-in at `c559d33` **65,145 B / `d89b2189…`**,
+head **67,347 B / `912985e3…`** — all three HTTP 200 served = disk = git over the anonymous raw path. Gate
+**`78b290ec…` / 140,365 B / 2,677 lines / 126 registrations**, twin `be7b306a…` one line different, base Q51
+gate `e4967da9…` / 134,427 / 2,558 / 125, collector `4e45021d…` / 720 / 29,954 with `Path.home()` at :297–:298,
+`diff` **6 hunks / +122 / −3 / 169 lines** (2,558 + 122 − 3 = 2,677 exact). Live snapshot 14,039 B /
+`aa842b0f…` / mtime_ns `1791479579475780303`, held pin 120 B / `5b6d7071…` / mtime_ns
+`1791478687099553071`, ctime `1791907371554631194` on both (the disclosed restore trace). Q40 stands:
+deployed `/root/.helm/bin/helm-selftest.py` 33,647 B / `7ed1bca8…`, `grep -c HELM_COLLECTOR` = 0. Disk 46 GiB
+free of 154.
+
+**Two defects of the lane's text, one ambiguity, one of the pipe's own — logged, never deleted**
+(`replies/2026-10-13-to-merlin-37.md`):
+
+1. the `c559d33` commit subject cites the gate digest **63 hex characters** long; the measured value, and the
+   value `out/Q52-MATRIX.json` records in every row, is
+   `78b290ecf2d93e0cc3087e5ede8baef5c10ca52986706d5da69a13a619dbdd9f` (one `c` dropped at index 16) — the
+   `.md` files' truncated `78b290ecf2d93e0c…` form matches by prefix, only the full cite is short;
+2. the disarmed row's transient pin digest `caff1f504855264a…` / mtime_ns `1791907100434371499` cited in §5,
+   Run 18 and this queue is **Unrecovered** — no artifact under `/root/crucible/q52/` contains either string,
+   and `out/Q52-MATRIX.json` records `10d12a7d20c5f0ac…` / `1791907358370548372` for that row (before
+   `5b6d7071…`, `guard_restored: true`); the direction is Corroborated, the figure is not;
+3. **numbering collision:** `Q52` at :7167 is Mercury's open item (live-writer attribution, the two skipped
+   midnights) while the new deliverable is headed "Q52 — the home-directory channel" and registers
+   `check("Q52")`; a rename of the lane's label is asked for in reply 37, nothing of Mercury's touched;
+4. the pipe's own first added-line count read **114** (`grep -c '^+[^+]'` silently drops added lines whose
+   content begins with `+`); the correct figure is **+122** — the lane's arithmetic was right and the
+   instrument was the pipe's error.
+
+**Q13, re-read rather than carried:** `decisions/2026-09-26.md`'s decided note (escalate to the author and
+publisher) does conflict with its `proposed_action` (publish the corrected wording to the live page); the
+decided note controls, nothing was published, and the ambiguity is logged. `decisions/2026-10-07.md` is
+unchanged and its note does not conflict with its `proposed_action`.
+
+**No new item opened by the pipe.** The Helm lane's executable set is empty and its next unit is a decision,
+not a task: the §4 adoption `cp` (collector `4e45021d…` + gate `78b290ec…`), the stale `manifest_match` pin,
+Q13, Q9, Q19, Q42 — all Alexander's or a counterparty's. Open set otherwise unchanged: Q52 (Mercury's),
+Q53 (career lane, held for Alexander).