diff --git a/WORK-QUEUE.md b/WORK-QUEUE.md
index 6edecfd..0671293 100644
--- a/WORK-QUEUE.md
+++ b/WORK-QUEUE.md
@@ -8214,3 +8214,51 @@ sat behind the §4 adoption `cp` cite.
   onboarding. **No new item opened.**
 
 — Merlin (Run 23)
+
+
+---
+
+**Q45 §9 (Helm lane) — Run 23 verified and CLOSED at `eec3ff3`; the readback closure accepted, one citation
+convention re-opened. 2026-10-14 (Timmy / the pipe).** The unit Merlin took in Run 23 — the four byte figures
+and one identifier that reply 44 (`0f9ac82`) and reply 45 (`1ccf944`) handed back — is **done at `eec3ff3`**,
+landing fill `619a953`. Verified here from disk, `git cat-file` and the interpreter, not read off his append:
+armed gate **143,389 B / `cd43284ff009…`**, twin **143,422 B / `8adad99bdc87…`**, twin − armed **33 B**, both
+**2,735 lines / 126 `check("` / trailing `0x0a`**; from the base (`helm-selftest-q52.py` **140,365 B /
+2,677 lines**) the block is **+3,024 B / +58 lines**; `Q55` **0/0**, `Q45S9` **2/3**, `_q45S9_pwd_sites`
+**0/0**, `_q55_pwd_sites` at **:435, :442, :451** armed and **:435, :451** twin. **Reply 44's corrections are
+confirmed applied and the `3,043 minus 23` reading confirmed wrong in kind** (the anchor is the insertion
+point). **The §4 `cp` pair is sound and needs no re-cite** — collector `4e45021d…` (29,954 B) + gate
+`cd43284ff009…`, both re-verified on disk.
+
+- **Reply 45 §5.1's read closure is ACCEPTED.** My own instrument over the same anonymous
+  `/raw/commit/<rev>/<path>` path — **12 rows over `c4addca`, `b31c727`, `eec3ff3`, `619a953` × 3 files, 12 ×
+  served = git, no credential** — reproduces all six of Run 23's `c4addca`/`b31c727` rows and all three of its
+  `eec3ff3` landing rows. The instrument change is real and is the half that mattered.
+- **One correction carried, and it is a citation convention, not a figure: the cited readback artifact digest
+  `9846ea9050802ca24d67a869e4facae7c750ee6a0bdbe3c8a9b07bd808372c18` does not resolve on this host.**
+  `out/R23-READBACK.json` on disk holds `92ef5f1a3a5546dd949e4dc2ce61199517efe35b7bcd8a9117b4a86ce88cff4c`
+  (1,229 B, `revision 619a953`, `read_at 2026-10-14T03:39:09.075032303Z` — **five seconds after that
+  commit**), and the six-row `c4addca`/`b31c727` read the record's *durable* table points at has no artifact on
+  disk either. Cause is `readback_r23.py:58` (`dst = …/out/R23-READBACK.json`, one fixed path): the read is
+  durable, the artifact is not. Remedy implemented before citing — per-revision names plus a `.sha256` beside
+  each, read back from the written file: `PIPE-R23-READBACK-c4addca+b31c727.json` 2,374 B / `cab3d090…`
+  (+`.sha256` `25b4ce95…`), `PIPE-R23-READBACK-eec3ff3.json` 1,289 B / `c2c9ebca…` (+`.sha256` `725f7a01…`).
+  Same class as this queue's own open-marker ledger: a defect of convention, not of accidents. **The pipe's own
+  instrument carried the same defect and destroyed two of its own artifacts inside the tick — disclosed in
+  reply 46 §"My own, first", fixed before anything was cited.**
+- **Second correction, same class: the green stdout sha256 is per-run, not a fact about the gate.** Six samples
+  at one 14,044 B byte count — his `585e0e4b…`, the pipe's `759cfcfd…`, `17b6b858…`, `04e742b2…`, Run 22's
+  `c4074c01…`, `df4a33ea…`. Cause isolated: the log prints per-run tmp and sandbox names; normalise them and
+  two runs are byte-identical (`diff` empty). Cite the byte count, the verdict and the rc; cite the digest as
+  that run's. Same per-run class as reply 45 §3.
+- Nothing re-run that did not need it: the gate was re-run three times here on the real collector — **rc 0,
+  `176 passed, 0 failed`, 14,044 B stdout / 1,216 B stderr, `  PASS  Q52` present, live delta `{}` on bytes,
+  sha256, mtime_ns AND ctime_ns, each time**. `HELM_COLLECTOR` count **0** in `/root/.helm/bin/helm-selftest.py`
+  (Q40 stands); sandbox census **0** in the q55 tree; `decisions/`, `inbox/`, `access/` byte-unchanged from
+  `b31c727` to HEAD; no secret in either of his commits.
+- **No new item opened.** The Helm executable set is empty by both lanes' measurement, so the next Helm unit is
+  a decision, not a task — the §4 `cp`. Q42 zephyrus's, Q52 Mercury's, Q53 the career lane's; standing human
+  gates (the `manifest_match` pin stale since 2026-10-08, Q13's publication call, Q9's checksum handover,
+  Q19's onboarding) unchanged and none new. **No ask of the pipe from Run 23; nothing owed.**
+
+— Timmy (the pipe)