queue: Run 26 verification block appended -- four discharges confirmed, two reply-49 items still unanswered, one Run-26 sentence too broad, no item closed and none opened. The pipe's block after the lane's Run 26 block (append-only, prefix asserted on bytes before the write: 996336 -> 1002350 B / +6014, 17 insertions 0 deletions). Contents: C1 measured and closed by mechanism (the lengthened tree's three files with their digests, Q34-NULL-EVIDENCE.txt 694 B / f46b2f3b6775 / mtime_ns 1791965612626017276, write site helm-selftest-q56.py:2551, the dump's collector line naming /root/crucible/q48/helm-collect.py), so the foreign-writer residual loses its actor here as well as in reply 49; C2 measured (out/ holds the eleven moved files, every R26-MANIFEST digest re-hashed, the five cited artifacts resolving at 2405 / 111b949ffb8c, 1274 / 366593fd8149, 1735 / 887578d0a2bf, 1126 / 39803e50e668, 869 / 4e9263a4, 0 paths under out/ in the repo tree) and corroborated from the pipe's side (reply 49's grep ran at the tree root and returned the same four lines this tick's grep returns under out/); C3 measured (read_at 08:23:20Z at 2b834d4, 08:31:19Z at 0c8aef5); C4 nothing owed. Landing rows reproduce anonymously at 121da2f (HTTP 200, 22650 / 35bdeec2, 50668 / c35ffc5d = served = git cat-file = digest), numstat 2fe5d17..121da2f 82/0 + 56/0 and 121da2f..e388225 33/0. A mistake of mine logged first: the tick's first raw fetch measured both rows one byte short because a shell substitution stripped the trailing newline -- re-run with -o, exact, nothing from the broken pass published. Two reply-49 items unanswered and recorded: predicted_growth 72 still standing at R25-C2-BYTES.json:8/:25 and R25-C2.json:48/:49 against the measured 96 in the same objects, and e388225's subject citing the hyphenated check-ins/ path that resolves nowhere. Live pair unchanged in bytes, mtime and ctime (snapshot 14039 / aa842b0f / 1791479579475780303 / 1791957230760646867; pin 120 / 5b6d7071 / 1791478687099553071 / 1791957230761646950, both ctime_ns the Run-24 guard-restore pair, which answers the open question the previous block left), deployed five files untouched with HELM_COLLECTOR count 0 so Q40 stands, disk 45 G of 154, author=merlin 86 at 121da2f and 87 at e388225, PR #76 on timmy-talking-turd re-verified unchanged and named once for Alexander. No item closed, no new item opened, section 4 pair untouched, nothing deployed, no another-party file edited, decisions/ and inbox/ untouched, nothing from inbox/ quoted, no secret printed.

WORK-QUEUE.md

@@ -8441,3 +8441,20 @@ check), the census **0/0**, `HELM_COLLECTOR` 0 so Q40 stands, disk 45 G of 154,
 - **The three commits the brief lists as unpushed are pushed:** origin/main and local HEAD both read `0c080e3`, and `origin/main..HEAD` is empty — the snapshot was simply taken before the 08:32:39Z push. Nothing owed there.
 - **PR #76 on `timmy-talking-turd` is Alexander's call, not another bot pass.** Open, mergeable, head `d670360560bb` on base `5744969faf18` (the released tree), **+398/−5 across 15 files**, CI green in 2m59s, **0 reviews**, `Closes #34` — while **#34 itself is open with no acceptance box checked**, so the merge is a decision about criteria, not about code. It also carries three PNGs under `artifacts/` (≈1.05 MB). First new PR on that repo since Aug 23.
 - **Standing, unchanged and not re-argued: the §4 `cp` (collector `4e45021d…` + gate `c56230e5…`), the `manifest_match` pin stale since 2026-10-08, Q13, Q9, Q19, and Q53 — the career lane, held for Alexander, item 7 expiring.**
+
+### Pipe verification — Run 26 (the Q34 writer, the `out/` move, the clocks), 2026-10-14 08:5xZ
+
+**Run 26 verified end to end: all four discharges reproduce on the pipe's own instrument, the anonymous landing rows reproduce byte for byte, and the live pair has now been checked for writes down to ctime. Two items of reply 49 remain unanswered and one Run-26 sentence is too broad. Reply 50 written to Merlin. 2026-10-14 08:47Z (control plane; clock read immediately before the edit).**
+
+- **C1 discharged and closed by mechanism, not by inference: the Q34 file is the gate's own output.** `/root/crucible/q57/q56-plus-twelve/` holds exactly three files, all re-hashed here — `Q34-NULL-EVIDENCE.txt` **694 B / `f46b2f3b6775…`**, `helm-selftest-q55.py` **143,389 / `cd43284ff009…`**, `helm-selftest-q56.py` **147,151 / `c56230e5a075…`** — with the dump's `mtime_ns` **`1791965612626017276`** (08:13:32.626Z) and `grep -n '_q34_dump ='` → **2551**, the exact write site quoted, the dump's own header naming `collector   : /root/crucible/q48/helm-collect.py`. **The foreign-writer residual in Q49 §5 is now closed by the writer being identified**, which is the direction reply 49 already retracted toward from the timestamp side. *Tier: Documented for the files, digests, size, mtime and write site; Testimony only for the "between the two re-run cells (08:13:23Z / 08:13:38Z)" bracket — the captures carry no clock and the artifacts record no per-cell times, so the bracket is bracketed by the directory mtime 08:13:38.685 and nothing more.*
+- **C2 discharged: `out/` holds the moved files with every digest intact**, re-hashed here against `R26-MANIFEST.json` (`R25-MEASUREMENTS.json` 2,405 / `111b949ffb8c…`; `R25-C2.json` 1,274 / `366593fd8149…`; `R25-C2-BYTES.json` 1,735 / `887578d0a2bf…`; `R25-READBACK.json` 1,126 / `39803e50e668…`; `R25-READBACK-FINAL.json` 869 / `4e9263a4…`; captures 14,140/1,264 and 14,350/1,726). **The move is corroborated from the pipe's side rather than accepted:** reply 49's grep ran against `q57/R25-C2-BYTES.json` at the tree root and returned the same four lines this tick's grep returns under `out/`. `git ls-files | grep -c '^out/'` = **0**, so E13's rule still holds in the repo.
+- **C3 discharged:** the artifact fields are the authority — `"read_at": "2026-10-14T08:23:20Z"` at `2b834d4` and `"read_at": "2026-10-14T08:31:19Z"` at `0c8aef5`. **C4** nothing owed (the `bc95796` erratum stands).
+- **The landing evidence reproduces over the anonymous raw path with no credential:** HTTP **200** on both rows at `121da2f` — `recoveries/helm-discovery-channel-seed.md` **22,650 B / `35bdeec2…`** and `checkins/2026-10-14-merlin.md` **50,668 B / `c35ffc5d…`**, served = `git cat-file -s` = digest = the artifact's own fields. `git diff --numstat 2fe5d17 121da2f` = **82/0** + **56/0**; `121da2f..e388225` = **33/0** (50,668 → **52,937** B). Append-only on both, as claimed.
+- **A mistake of mine, logged first and caught before publication:** my first raw fetch this tick measured both landing rows **one byte short** (22,649 / `e093df3e…`, 50,667 / `cf55fe1d…`) because the response went through a shell substitution, which strips the trailing newline. Re-run with `-o` to a file, both rows are exact. No figure from the broken pass reached the archive, the delivery or this file; the class is the one-byte family this lane has raised before, so it is recorded rather than quietly dropped.
+- **Two items of reply 49 unanswered by Run 26, and §9's figure sentence is too broad.** §9 reads "Every Run-25 in-file figure (bytes, digests) was correct — only the paths were wrong", but the moved artifacts still carry `"predicted_growth": 72` at `R25-C2-BYTES.json:8`/`:25` and `"shipped_predicted": 72` / `"armed_predicted": 72` at `R25-C2.json:48`/`:49`, with `"growth": 96` recorded in the same objects — a prediction rather than a result, so no digest, suite count or verdict moves, but a figure in an artifact is a figure. **Also: `e388225`'s subject cites `check-ins/2026-10-14-merlin.md`** — hyphenated, a path that resolves nowhere, and the subject is the one citation the monitor publishes; §9's body writes `checkins/` correctly and a commit message cannot be edited, so the erratum form is the remedy.
+- **The live pair has not been written since Run 24 — ctimes included, which is the answer to the question the last block left open.** snapshot **14,039 B / `aa842b0fd88037f8…` / mtime_ns `1791479579475780303` / ctime_ns `1791957230760646867`**; held pin **120 B / `5b6d70716153c3f4…` / mtime_ns `1791478687099553071` / ctime_ns `1791957230761646950`** — both ctime_ns still the guard-restore pair reply 47 recorded.
+- **Deployed untouched and Q40 stands:** the five files in `/root/.helm/bin/` re-hashed (`ee0b36a82f23…`, `5c67473d8928…`, `7ed1bca8f9da…`, `12570786ba70…`, `738699986778…`), `grep -c HELM_COLLECTOR /root/.helm/bin/helm-selftest.py` = **0**; disk **45 G of 154**; sandboxes 0 in the lengthened tree. Provenance re-counts: `--author=merlin` = **86** at `121da2f`, **87** at `e388225`.
+- **PR #76 on `timmy-talking-turd` re-verified, still Alexander's call and unchanged from the last block:** open, mergeable, head `d670360560bb` on base `5744969faf18`, **+398/−5 across 15 files** (3 `artifacts/*.png`), **0** comments / **0** review_comments / `/reviews` `[]`, CI `Quality gates / quality` **success 2m59s**, `Closes #34` while **#34 remains open with 3 acceptance boxes unchecked**. It has not yet been put in front of Alexander, so this tick's brief names it once — not re-argued here.
+- **Standing, unchanged and not re-argued: the §4 `cp` (collector `4e45021d…` + gate `c56230e5…`), the `manifest_match` pin stale since 2026-10-08, Q13, Q9, Q19, Q42 (Zephyrus), Q52 (Mercury), Q53 (career lane, held for Alexander).** No new item opened, and the Helm executable set remains empty with the next Helm unit the `cp` decision.
+
+— Timmy (control plane), Run 26 verification