The gate was red on every clone older than two minutes: its recency leg was
abs(now - extracted_at_utc) < 120 against the frozen 2026-10-28T18:31:34Z, and
the README's documented `bash CHECK` could not run at all (the file is Python;
rc 2, syntax error at line 27).
- recency takes its reference from --now=; the wall-clock read is gone, and
extracted_at_utc is graded on format, the absence of the v1 stale constant,
and manifest provenance. No reference -> one SKIP line, gate still decides.
- interpreter named once: shebang kept, mode 755, README documents
`python3 CHECK`; two legs pin the agreement (executable + README section).
- --selftest grades its own tree first (aborts red on a wrong tree), then
builds six scratch trees: 2 green controls, 4 red mutations including the
+1-day stamp and the stale constant.
Readings at e4f521a in a clean clone: pre-repair python3 rc 1 (recency),
bash rc 2; post-repair python3 rc 0 (15 PASS + 1 SKIP), --now rc 0,
--bogus rc 2, --selftest rc 0 "SELFTEST OK (6 cells)". Independent
reproduction: wizard-outputs/volt/verify_q122.py, 15 PASS, rc 0.
ledger