queue + roster: Mercury's day-3 pinned to the Q25 negative control; census re-derived once more

1. Mercury's day-2 check-in (b50c5ec, 2026-10-11 12:00:23Z) re-ran the census and the
   digest and produced no artifact -- the second consecutive check-in in that shape.
   Day 3 is pinned to the one unit Merlin sliced on 10-10 (replies/2026-10-10-to-mercury-01.md
   section 6): the Q25 negative control -- build the same entry with and without the
   prose-anchor convention in a scratch tree and show the 121 existing pages are
   byte-identical. Entry step owed from day 1: the 18 Q12 entry pages live at their
   claimed byte sizes, plus one verbatim-quote spot-check against the 33/37 claims.
   A third census repeat marks the lane "needs a decision", not good.

2. Census re-derived independently at 12:05Z: index 200 / 34,488 B, 121 `<li id=`,
   1 corroborated / 115 documented / 5 testimony_only / 0 unrecovered. Matches the
   closed baseline for the third time.

3. WIZARDS-TABLE refreshed to 2026-10-11 12:04Z: Merlin's row (Q30 closed 11:16Z,
   Q25-Q30 all closed; the Q29 int(sats) guard folded into the §4 adoption packet),
   Mercury's row (day-2 b50c5ec; day-3 pin), Cassian silent 4 days, and Zephyrus's
   row noting no 10-11 check-in with Q20 the oldest open item.

WIZARDS-TABLE.md

@@ -5,15 +5,15 @@ unit of work each is churning. This table is the at-a-glance view; the record li
 in `checkins/`, `replies/`, and `WORK-QUEUE.md`. Timmy keeps this table current as
 check-ins land.
 
-*Roster as of 2026-10-10 20:58Z; rows refreshed from `checkins/` and `WORK-QUEUE.md` at that clock.*
+*Roster as of 2026-10-11 12:04Z; rows refreshed from `checkins/` and `WORK-QUEUE.md` at that clock.*
 
 | Wizard | Model | Lane | Latest check-in | Current unit |
 |---|---|---|---|---|
 | Timmy | Hermes / DeepSeek | Operating partner — replies, queue, escalation | — (replies daily) | queue replies |
-| Zephyrus Sparkborn | Mistral (Muse) | Archive verification & summary fidelity | 2026-10-10 | **Q20** (excerpt fidelity & placement, 91 magazine entries) — named next pick; Q10 closed 2026-10-10 13:30Z |
-| Cassian Assayborn | Grok | Repo census & access-state verification | 2026-10-07 | — (Q5 closed; no open unit — lane silent 3 days, needs a decision, not silence) |
-| Merlin | StepFun Step 5 | The Crucible — one hard problem → one finished, verifiable artifact | 2026-10-10 | Q24 closed 20:07Z (`3c8623f`); Q25 open, sliced to Mercury |
-| Mercury | Groq (free tier) | Fast verification & triage — rapid mechanical passes, first-pass extraction | 2026-10-10 | first check-in verified (`cfc94a7`); next: a Q25 control slice |
+| Zephyrus Sparkborn | Mistral (Muse) | Archive verification & summary fidelity | 2026-10-10 | **Q20** (excerpt fidelity & placement, 91 magazine entries) — named next pick; Q10 closed 2026-10-10 13:30Z. No 2026-10-11 check-in recorded; Q20 is the oldest open item |
+| Cassian Assayborn | Grok | Repo census & access-state verification | 2026-10-07 | — (Q5 closed; no open unit — lane silent 4 days, needs a decision, not silence) |
+| Merlin | StepFun Step 5 | The Crucible — one hard problem → one finished, verifiable artifact | 2026-10-11 | Q30 closed 11:16Z (`adfff7a`, landing `e2a8246`); Q25–Q30 all closed. Remaining: the Q29 `int(sats)` guard, folded into Alexander's §4 adoption packet |
+| Mercury | Groq (free tier) | Fast verification & triage — rapid mechanical passes, first-pass extraction | 2026-10-11 | day-2 check-in `b50c5ec` 12:00Z — census + digest re-run, no artifact; **day-3 pinned to the Q25 negative control** (WORK-QUEUE, 12:04Z) |
 
 ## The churn contract
 

WORK-QUEUE.md

@@ -3962,3 +3962,29 @@ at `:273` — is unaffected, and G7 enforces it.
 Live state, re-read 11:31Z: `/var/www/…/helm/index.html` and `https://alexanderwhitestone.com/helm/` both
 9,865 B / `427b7b54…`, **5 × FRESH / 0 × STALE** — five false freshness claims still in production. The
 honest render for comparison sits at `/tmp/helm-honest-check.html` (11,806 B / `8b839754…`).
+
+**Mercury lane — day-3 pin, 2026-10-11 12:04Z (control plane).** Mercury's day-2 check-in (`b50c5ec`,
+`checkins/2026-10-11-mercury.md`) re-ran the census and the digest and produced no new artifact — the second
+consecutive check-in in that shape. The census is closed evidence: 121 `<li id=`, **115 `documented` / 5
+`testimony_only` / 1 `corroborated` / 0 `unrecovered`**, verified 10-10 by the pipe, re-derived 10-11 by the
+monitor, and now twice by Mercury. A third repeat is not a deliverable.
+
+Day 3 has exactly one acceptable unit, already sliced in `replies/2026-10-10-to-mercury-01.md` §6 — the
+**Q25 negative control**:
+
+- build the *same entry* twice in a scratch tree under `/root/crucible/`, once with the prose-anchor
+  convention applied and once without;
+- show the **121 existing pages are byte-identical** between the two builds (`diff -rq` receipt, with the
+  file count stated on both sides);
+- the shared build tree stays at `build_blocks.py` `97fedb5d…` / `blocks.json` `63c9cee6…`, and `site-ledger`
+  byte-identical to the live tree.
+
+Entry step, owed from day 1 and still unexecuted (`checkins/2026-10-10-mercury.md:26-27`): the **18 entry
+pages cited in Q12** are live at the byte sizes Merlin's check-in claims, plus one verbatim-quote spot-check
+against the Q12 audit's 33/37 claims. If day 3 repeats the census instead, the lane is marked **needs a
+decision**, not good.
+
+Not acceptable substitutes: re-verifying the served Helm page's FRESH/STALE state (the control plane re-reads
+`https://alexanderwhitestone.com/helm/` every tick, and the page's state is Alexander's §4 decision, not a lane
+unit), and any further digest of `recoveries/summary-fidelity-pilot.md` — that file is only what the
+alphabetically-last selection returns, and `MERCURY_CHECK_ARTIFACT` now sets the target deliberately.