queue: record the reply-renumber fix, ledger the two retired names

Appends the record at the foot: the red (4 DUPLICATE_NUMBER), the measured
next free integers (67 / 12 -- reply 87's 59 was taken), the identity
repair (numstat 1/1 each), the empty-by-measurement reply ledger, and the
two RENAMED rows the rename costs. path_claim_check --fail-on-missing ->
17 missing, 0 new. Index re-rendered in this commit.

WORK-QUEUE.md

@@ -10860,3 +10860,25 @@ is a failure of the item, not a partial success.
 for every repaired row, the repo path holding the full value or a fetch of the completed URL with its
 status and byte count; for every Unrecovered row, the searches run. Worked example for the grading:
 `replies/2026-10-24-to-zephyrus-86.md` §6 and `replies/2026-10-24-to-zephyrus-87.md` §1.
+
+---
+
+**Duplicate reply numbers closed at `7d18269` (volt, Workhorse) — the gate's one red leg was four replies wearing two integers: both later files renumbered to their own series' measured next free integer, and the reply ledger's single row retired because the fault it named no longer exists under any name. The reply leg now reads rc 0 bare, with no tolerance at all, for the first time since the heading rule landed.** No item opened or closed; the open set is unchanged (`Q37`'s pipe span, `Q53` held for Alexander, `Q64`'s design question Alexander's, `Q57` null's lane, `Q58` sol's lane, `Q60` unclaimed). Appended at the foot; `docs/queue-index.md` re-rendered in the same commit.
+
+1. **The red, at `09dfa0f` before any edit.** `verify.py --repo . --fast` → 8 legs, 6 pass, **1 fault**, 1 skipped: `reply-headings` rc 1. Its tool, bare: `reply_check.py --repo .` → **333 files, faults 4, advisories 103**, rc 1, `DUPLICATE_NUMBER 4` naming every member of both pairs (`2026-10-14-to-merlin-58.md` and `2026-10-15-to-merlin-58.md`; `2026-10-22-to-mercury-11.md` and `2026-10-24-to-mercury-11.md`), because the class flags *each* file sitting at a repeated integer rather than the collision. Under the ledger it was still rc 1 — **0 known, 4 new, 1 stale** — because the ledger's only row (`2026-10-15-to-timmy-58.md`, `HEADER_RECIPIENT`) named a file `5d00265` had renamed three hours earlier. A tolerance that names a dead path while covering nothing live is the one state that ledger exists to make visible, so the row went rather than the fault.
+
+2. **The integer is measured, not proposed — and reply 87 §3's figure is wrong.** `ls replies/ | sed -n 's/^[0-9-]*-to-merlin-\([0-9]*\)\.md$/\1/p' | sort -n` → **01 … 66 with 58 twice**, so merlin's next free integer is **67**, not the **59** reply 87 §3 answers with: 59 through 66 are all occupied, 59 by `2026-10-15-to-merlin-59.md`. The same command over mercury → **01 … 11 with 11 twice**, so **12**, which is what reply 87 §4 said. The rule is `replies/README.md`'s — "`<N>` is the next free integer in that recipient's own series" — per recipient, not per date, and reading it per date is what produced both collisions.
+
+3. **The repair is identity: one token per file, no prose rewritten.** `git mv` both later files onto their measured integer, then the heading's own number token (`# Reply 58 —` → `# Reply 67 —`; `# Reply 11 to mercury —` → `# Reply 12 to mercury —`). `git show --numstat 7d18269` reads **1/1 on each reply file** and **11/1 on the ledger**, so every body byte is Merlin's and the pipe's, unchanged. The 10-15 file still says "Timmy's own reply 58 (`2026-10-14T23:15Z`)", which names the *other* file and is still true; nothing inside either reply was edited to fit its new number.
+
+4. **The ledger goes empty by measurement, not by refresh.** With the renumbers in place, `reply_check.py --repo .` reads **HEADER_RECIPIENT 0, HEADER_NUMBER 0, DUPLICATE_NUMBER 0, faults 0, advisories 103, rc 0 bare**: the archive does not carry a heading fault under any name, so the row had nothing left to tolerate and was replaced by a comment recording why. This is stricter, not looser — `verify.py` still passes `--baseline`, and an empty ledger is the strictest state it can hold, since every future row is then new. The rc 2 path was re-measured rather than assumed: `--baseline /nonexistent.tsv` prints `cannot grade: baseline … No such file or directory` and exits **2**, so "nothing tolerated" and "nothing readable" stay different facts.
+
+5. **A rename costs citations, and the cost is ledgered rather than smoothed.** At `7d18269`, `path_claim_check --repo . --fail-on-missing` moves **15 → 17 missing, 2 new**: the retired names are cited by committed prose — `career-lane/daily-2026-10-24.md:12` and `:92` plus `replies/2026-10-24-to-zephyrus-86.md:90` for `-58`, `replies/2026-10-24-to-zephyrus-87.md:35` and `:118` for `-11`. Both got `RENAMED` rows naming the new path, the commit, the numstat and the citing sites, and the earlier `5d00265` row gained a pointer saying its own target name was retired one commit later, so all three names this file has worn read in one place. After the rows: **17 missing, 0 new, rc 0**. One row went `CLEARED` (`docs/deepseek-cost-routing.md`, now tracked) and is left in place for its owner to delete, printed on every run rather than dropped in silence.
+
+6. **What this does not decide, and whose it is.** The renumber keeps `5d00265`'s direction (addressee = Merlin) and does not re-open it, but three reads already in this file at `:10140` point the other way: the file is signed "— Merlin (Run 33), Helm lane" and a reply cannot address its own author; its body answers Timmy's Run 32 and cites "your reply 57" as `2026-10-14-to-timmy-57.md`; and `2026-10-15-to-merlin-59.md:7` cites it back as Merlin's under the name `to-timmy-58`. On those reads the original filename was right and the heading clause was the defect. That is Merlin's call and it is now a question carrying no fault, because whatever the answer the series holds one 58. The advisory that follows from it is not graded and did not move: `series: 16 recipient(s), 327 numbered file(s), 1 hole(s): timmy [58, 59]`, identical before and after, which is the tool declining to guess where a number went.
+
+7. **The gate, full, on this tree** (`python3 tools/verify.py --repo .`, rc 0): **8 legs, 8 pass, 0 fault, 0 ungradable, 0 skipped** — checkin 0 new / 35 known, path-claims 17 missing / 0 new, reply-headings 333 files / 0 new / **0 known**, index-current current, append-audit clean, doc-commands 70/70, selftest-sweep **22 pinned, 22 agree, 0 drift**, write-axis clean. `reply_check.py --selftest` **49 cells, 49 passed, 0 failed**, rc 0.
+
+Artifact `/root/.hermes/wizard-outputs/volt/2026-10-24-reply-renumber/` — `REPORT.md`, `check.sh`, `series.py`, `before/`, `after/`, `files.sha256` (`sh check.sh` → `CHECK: PASS`, rc 0).
+
+— Volt

tools/path_claim_baseline.tsv

@@ -28,5 +28,7 @@ checkins/2026-10-19-zephyrus-sovereignty.md	RENAMED	added at a013842 (2026-10-19
 checkins/2026-10-21-spark.md	TARGET	owed, not cited as existing: replies/2026-10-21-to-spark-06.md:26 says Post `checkins/2026-10-21-spark.md` (Did / Blocked / Next / Ask); git log --all --diff-filter=A -> 0 commits, so no ref holds it and only spark posting it clears this row
 replies/2026-10-22-to-null-01.md	RENAMED	renamed to replies/2026-10-22-to-null-03.md at 7a472a4 (DUPLICATE_NUMBER fix: filename and heading renumbered 01 -> 03, body byte-identical); the reply was added at d659219 and WORK-QUEUE.md:10582 cites the old name while describing that fix
 docs/deepseek-cost-routing.md	NOT_ADDED	the citing line says it is untracked and sits in this worktree only (replies/2026-10-24-to-volt-52.md:82); git log --all --diff-filter=A -- docs/deepseek-cost-routing.md -> 0 commits, so no ref holds it
-replies/2026-10-15-to-timmy-58.md	RENAMED	renamed to replies/2026-10-15-to-merlin-58.md at 5d00265 (HEADER_RECIPIENT fix requested by reply 84 §5; content byte-identical, blob 0bf6e51a2d80 on both sides of the rename); WORK-QUEUE.md:10140 cites the old name while describing that fix
+replies/2026-10-15-to-timmy-58.md	RENAMED	renamed to replies/2026-10-15-to-merlin-58.md at 5d00265 (HEADER_RECIPIENT fix requested by reply 84 §5; content byte-identical, blob 0bf6e51a2d80 on both sides of the rename); WORK-QUEUE.md:10140 cites the old name while describing that fix. The target name was itself retired one commit later: see the 7d18269 row below, which renumbered it to -67
+replies/2026-10-15-to-merlin-58.md	RENAMED	renamed to replies/2026-10-15-to-merlin-67.md at 7d18269 (DUPLICATE_NUMBER fix: 5d00265's rename had put two 58s in merlin's series, the 10-14 reply 58 and this 10-15 one; 67 is that series' measured next free integer -- 59 through 66 are all taken; filename and the heading's number token renumbered, numstat 1/1, body byte-identical); cited at career-lane/daily-2026-10-24.md:12 and :92 and replies/2026-10-24-to-zephyrus-86.md:90 as the name that rename created
+replies/2026-10-24-to-mercury-11.md	RENAMED	renamed to replies/2026-10-24-to-mercury-12.md at 7d18269 (DUPLICATE_NUMBER fix: 2026-10-22-to-mercury-11.md already held 11 in that series; filename and the heading's number token renumbered, numstat 1/1, body byte-identical); cited at replies/2026-10-24-to-zephyrus-87.md:35 and :118 while naming the collision
 career-lane/daily-2026-10-23.md	NOT_ADDED	the citing line asserts it does not exist (career-lane/daily-2026-10-24.md:14: no career-lane/daily-2026-10-23.md exists on main); git log --all --diff-filter=A -> 0 commits, so no ref ever held it; the dailies are 10-20, 10-21, 10-22, 10-24