diff --git a/WORK-QUEUE.md b/WORK-QUEUE.md
index 853dd2a..0b3886a 100644
--- a/WORK-QUEUE.md
+++ b/WORK-QUEUE.md
@@ -9983,3 +9983,12 @@ Artifact: `/root/.hermes/wizard-outputs/volt/2026-10-18-index-stale/` (`REPORT.m
 - **One arithmetic defect inside the correction itself, carried to its owner.** The ledger sentence decomposes the 9-line render diff as 7 lines of re-pin plus *"one added Q53 reference and 13 lines on Q45's extent"* — 7 + 1 = 8, not 9, and the added-line count shows **two** lines mentioning Q53 (the `refs` count rises 94 → 96). Correct decomposition is 7 + 2, or the sentence should say "two added Q53 references". A one-unit arithmetic contradiction, in the block that was already being corrected for count precision.
 - **Structural finding, unchanged:** nothing obliges a queue append to re-render, and 3 historical commits left the pin stale. Until something does, this is a convention each lane has to keep — and this lane just broke it twice. If Alexander wires `queue_index --check` into the tick's `check.sh`, the class closes for everyone; that is a policy call, not a repair.
 - **Nothing operational.** No item opened or closed; open set unchanged (Q37 `:5278` pipe, career-lane Q53 `:7303`); no issue, PR, release or deploy surface. Both counterparty ties remain as recorded — Vincent's route dead on expired auth, Praetorian's jobs `blocked_config`. No another-party file edited; no secret printed.
+
+
+**Control-plane tick 2026-10-18 15:16Z — correcting two things in my own 15:15Z block: a wrong-sliced count and evidence measured on the wrong commit.** (Clock read immediately before this edit; appended in a detached worktree at `origin/main` = `1976d66` whose true last line was `- **Nothing operational.** No item opened or clo…`; the index is re-rendered in this same commit, per the rule that block adopted.)
+
+- **Correction 1 — the scope count.** I wrote *"10 commits, 4 rc 0, 5 rc 1"*. Measured again by checking out each queue-touching commit and running `--check` in place: **5 rc 0** (`1976d66, 39312c2, 676be46, de3dcdc, e79cbca`), **3 rc 1** (`067afdf, ece5228, f2c3067`), and **2 rc 2** (`0bdb9d4, 12b4497`) — the two rc-2 commits predate `docs/queue-index.md`'s existence, so the tool *could not grade* them; they are not stale. My "5 rc 1" folded two ungradable commits into the stale bucket. **Wrong slice, third instance this week, in the block that was adopting a count-precision rule** — the rule is not retroactive, and this is what it is for.
+- **Correction 2 — the Q53 evidence, not the Q53 conclusion.** I wrote *"two added lines mention Q53 (refs 94 → 96)"*. That was measured on `067afdf`'s queue append, where **Q53 mentions are 0 in the added lines** (82 → 82 across the file), and my `refs` extraction printed nothing usable — so the cited evidence was wrong. The correct measurement: `WORK-QUEUE.md` carries **82 → 84** Q53 occurrences between `067afdf` and `de3dcdc`, i.e. **two added Q53 references**, and `de3dcdc` touches exactly 3 files (queue +13, check-in +59, index 9/9). So the arithmetic conclusion I carried to Volt stands on that evidence — 7 re-pin + **2** Q53 refs = 9, not 7 + 1 = 8 — but it was published with the wrong support and is restated here correctly.
+- **Instrument lesson, recorded because it nearly produced a false green twice in one tick.** A `--check` run in a working tree at HEAD says **nothing** about a cited revision: my first probe loop reported rc 0 "at `067afdf`" while actually grading HEAD's tree, contradicting the checkout scan on the same commit. Any claim of the form "the gate was red at X" must come from a checkout of X, never from `git show <rev>` plus a working-tree run.
+- **What stands from the 15:15Z block, unamended:** the red window is real and mine (`067afdf` 12:33:59Z → `de3dcdc` 15:11:09Z, 2h37m, from this lane's append plus the earlier `f2c3067` prose quoting); the rule (queue append + `--write` in one commit, `--check` rc 0 at the landing commit) is now exercised twice; the repair verifies; and `docs/queue-index.md` is green at the pushed HEAD.
+- **Nothing operational.** No item opened or closed; open set unchanged (Q37 `:5278`, career-lane Q53 `:7303`); no issue, PR, release or deploy surface; no another-party file edited; no secret printed. Vincent's route remains dead and Praetorian's jobs remain `blocked_config`.
diff --git a/docs/queue-index.md b/docs/queue-index.md
index 08b55f2..89e9cbb 100644
--- a/docs/queue-index.md
+++ b/docs/queue-index.md
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@
 | 46 | Q44 | 6162-6705 | 88496 | opening | The pin class: redirect every constant composed from the live data root, not only `SNAPSHOT_PATH` *(Helm lane; opened 2026-10-12 by the pipe, per Q43's own closing sentence — "extend the redirect … | DONE 2026-10-12 — `recoveries/helm-root-redirect.md` (Merlin, Helm lane); the closure block is at the foot |
 | 47 | Q48 | 6706-6825 | 15123 | opening | The runtime-resolution redirect: close the class Q45's literals cannot see | DONE 2026-10-13 — `recoveries/helm-runtime-redirect.md` (Merlin, Helm lane), scratch tree |
 | 48 | Q49 | 6826-7593 | 92050 | opening | The runtime-resolved root's live write path: name it, reproduce it, then close it | open and unclaimed. Opened by the pipe 2026-10-13 |
-| 49 | Q45 | 7594-9985 | 347776 | opening | §9 follow-on — the home-directory channel *(Helm lane; Merlin)* | -- |
+| 49 | Q45 | 7594-9994 | 350722 | opening | §9 follow-on — the home-directory channel *(Helm lane; Merlin)* | -- |
 
 ## Ids with no `## ` heading
 
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ Opened as records inside another section. `line` is the record's own opening lin
 | Q50 | 6990 | 6990 | 46 | Q49 | BULLET+BOLD | BOLD-LEAD |
 | Q51 | 7106 | 7106 | 37 | Q49 | BULLET+BOLD | BOLD-LEAD |
 | Q52 | 7167 | 7167 | 90 | Q49 | BULLET+BOLD | BOLD-LEAD |
-| Q53 | 7292 | 7246 | 100 | Q49 | BULLET+BOLD | BOLD-LEAD |
+| Q53 | 7292 | 7246 | 108 | Q49 | BULLET+BOLD | BOLD-LEAD |
 | Q63 | 9918 | 9909 | 16 | Q45 | BULLET+BOLD | BOLD-LEAD |
 
 **Not in this document.** Ids the prose corpus names that the queue has never mentioned (`checkins/`, `replies/`, `recoveries/`, `audits/`, `docs/`, the top-level documents; `tools/` excluded). That set moves with the prose, not with the queue, so embedding it here would make `--check` go RED for a reason that has nothing to do with the queue being current. It is reported on demand: `python3 tools/queue_index.py --outside`.
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ The block below is the parse this document renders, byte for byte. `--check` com
    "form": "BOLD-LEAD",
    "id": "Q53",
    "line": 7292,
-   "refs": 100,
+   "refs": 108,
    "section": "Q49",
    "shape": "BULLET+BOLD"
   },
@@ -236,9 +236,9 @@ The block below is the parse this document renders, byte for byte. `--check` com
   "end_line": 8,
   "line": 1
  },
- "queue_bytes": 1240037,
- "queue_lines": 9985,
- "queue_sha256": "2a98dd0e42e7032bef86b6a8f87fcfd78168047e465006707fb7ef18f4a27ef9",
+ "queue_bytes": 1242983,
+ "queue_lines": 9994,
+ "queue_sha256": "4149f60ab86c3e4b8a95fdf4a67518897f735cccf85498857cf419a7ef497df2",
  "sections": [
   {
    "bytes": 3139,
@@ -817,11 +817,11 @@ The block below is the parse this document renders, byte for byte. `--check` com
    "title": "The runtime-resolved root's live write path: name it, reproduce it, then close it"
   },
   {
-   "bytes": 347776,
-   "end_line": 9985,
+   "bytes": 350722,
+   "end_line": 9994,
    "id": "Q45",
    "line": 7594,
-   "lines": 2392,
+   "lines": 2401,
    "role": "opening",
    "role_detail": "",
    "status": null,