**Status.** First-pass design-only inventory for exactly **10 encounter placements, including two major setpieces**, and **13 major placed mechanisms** in the accepted 24-module/40-room proposal. It is not an owner-selected scope, balance specification, executable layout, spawn system, tuning pass or evidence of fun, clarity, performance or duration. Crowd sizes and source areas below are scale hypotheses, not quotas or tested performance. The six ordinary roles, three special roles, five reusable trap families, equipment behavior, current room identities and all owner choices remain owned by their linked articles.

Warnings remain visible independently when they overlap. **Every placement except E03's deliberately quiet first latch lesson is a crowd encounter fed by named source areas** — wards, lift wells, ducts or sealed volumes that physically hold bodies. Sources release their crowds through **feeding apertures** — grilles, hatches, ward doors, ducts, gantry mouths — shown before anything arrives. Feeding apertures are distinct from the walking passages a room needs for the ship, rescue, records, clamps or exploration, and sealing an aperture never closes a walking passage. A placement's first readable cue may be one creature, but the route to and through it carries a crowd, following [Combat Rules](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Combat%20Rules). Nothing enters except through a shown aperture or route, nothing appears behind the player, and no source reacts to build strength, kill speed or reward. Defeated creatures stay defeated for the expedition. A different finite population variant is selected only at a **death shift**, never on a living return and never on a load. A living return preserves this arrangement's population state entirely — resolved stages stay spent, occupied sources stay occupied, and nothing is replaced, escalated or reduced because the result was clean. E03's later variant remains restricted to a later death shift exactly as stated in its own row.

**Stages and temporary upgrades (proposal).** A **stage** is a finite, announced pressure release from an identified physical source. Its peak — feeding apertures fully open, overlapping movement patterns, warning lights and music shifting — is what the player reads as the crest. While a stage is still feeding, killing faster than it arrives suppresses a lane but does not stop it. A stage **resolves** when the player clears all of its committed arrivals, or completes a physical seal that ends its access. Either earns the **same** single temporary upgrade choice in [Build Rules](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Build%20Rules), and clearing or sealing early, before the peak, qualifies immediately. **Escaping resolves nothing:** leaving the pressure boundary saves the astronaut, who keeps carried property and knowledge, but earns no consolation choice, and re-entering resumes the same unresolved stage. Each stage pays once for the current arrangement: it stays spent across a living return, cannot be farmed by leaving and re-entering, and reopening the same seal does not create a new stage. Whether a seal stays closed follows its owning mechanism. Further machinery releases count as separate stages only where they are authored, announced and sourced; a deliberately woken larger stage may offer a transformation. Cleared travel earns nothing, earned-but-unchosen offers expire aboard with temporary power, and death itself pays nothing. Rescue eligibility is a separate question, stated below. Upgrade effects belong to Build Rules.

**Cadence and route support.** As an illustration, a sustained outing might offer three to five meaningful choices — a foundation, a branch, later refinements, and possibly a transformation from a larger optional stage — while a short trip can earn one. The ten placements alone supply only one or two stages each, so that rhythm depends on ordinary travel stages along the routes between them, which are **not yet authored or verified**. The PM's route check of representative Arrangement A found R25's major setpiece reachable directly from cleared R11 after a reset, with no ordinary stage between. Every major placement therefore keeps a baseline approach that needs no temporary upgrade, and route support for the climb is next-assignment room-layout work, not claimed here. If stages come too often the rhythm becomes a chore; too rarely and the build barely grows between climaxes.

**Crowd, sources and space.** The cargo aisle already holds a slow crowd of Pressers in both lanes — a scale hypothesis of 20–40 for the L-shaped aisle — whose first arrivals teach backswing and the nearest-visible target; that standing crowd is not a stage and earns nothing by itself. The **patient-bay ward** is the source volume behind the shutter lane's feeding aperture. The noisy final fastener or a completed Caller call releases its **stage**, perhaps 40–60 bodies through the shutter lane. **Resolution:** clear the stage's committed arrivals, or seal it by completing P01's manual dog hand-cycle with the shutter across the patient-bay lane — an existing persistent commit. A board- or Fork-held shutter closes that lane only while it is held: it suppresses the stage but is not a seal, and an undogged shutter still returns neutral on withdrawal or death. R02's waist-high rack breaks one lane, the board occupies the exposed inside corner, R03's bridge work is visible across the fixed throat, and R01 is the retreat. R02/R03 never shift apart. **Rework:** M02's aisle and the patient-bay aperture were authored for a handful of bodies and need widening for this crowd — layout work, not free capacity.

**Three approaches.** (1) Install Fork in the board: the board source sends compatible control triggers to rack hold and shutter hold while Fork is seated; Fork supplies no power. While Fork holds it, the closed lane holds back the patient-bay stage, but installation/retrieval costs exposed time and the part remains installed if death comes first. (2) Keep Fork carried: the selector powers the rack continuously, the shutter lane stays open, and the four-A opening Sensor→Projector plus Manual→Barrier rig manages the visible lanes. Carrying Fork competes with the bridge and canister. (3) Baseline physical path: use the selector, fixed rack cover, worn cutter and repeated retreats after committed fasteners; cut P01's alarm lead before the final stage if reachable. Refusing the final hold costs another trip, not progress.

**Host and warning.** R05 Pace Calibration Bay, objective 2, P02 single-detent Carousel; R06 is only a current approach/abort room and R07's coupler housing is optional current adjacency. One Boltspitter stands across the single pillar. Its sac fill/aim line and the Carousel's painted sweep/cool detent are visible before the astronaut enters the gait interval. Pressers trickle from the belt-return duct beyond the far floor mark, in sight, not behind a success trigger.

**Crowd, sources and trigger.** One Boltspitter holds the single pillar's line while a thin, continuous stream of Pressers enters from a **service-belt return duct** at the bay's far end — a river of perhaps 15–30 rather than a hall crowd, because the bay is long and narrow. Starting either gait capture is loud enough to wake the duct fully. **Stage:** the duct's release, which thickens while both gait captures run. **Resolution:** clear its committed arrivals, or seal it by dropping the duct grille. The marked grounded interval and entire service belt—including return and stop—are inside R05. Hard cover sits off the measurement line, so the player must alternate observation, movement and work. **Rework:** M05 needs the duct mouth and grille added.

**Objective and approaches.** Perform the same-astronaut grounded crossing and feet-still carrier pass, then choose whether to remove Stride. If R07 is visibly adjacent, its separate coupler release may follow; otherwise the assembly waits. (1) Opening rig: Sensor→Projector handles the nearest visible target when ready; Manual→Barrier faces the locked bolt line while one capture stage completes. (2) Four-A movement rig on revisit: Stride→Projector plus Manual→Barrier. Only the astronaut's deliberate grounded pass can source the shot; belt motion, Ivo, shove and recoil cannot. (3) Baseline: bait line lock into the pillar, step through the cool detent, thin the stream with the cutter at the duct mouth, and withdraw after either committed observation.

**Rescue/state work.** If Ivo is selected and R05/R06 form a personally walked current short route to the ship, R06 must be stocked and the combat made quiet before I1. **Quiet is necessary but not sufficient** under the accepted conditional candidate: the crossing is eligible only if his travel canister also reads at or above the route's full-attempt return mark, a retreat line to R06 is armed that he can operate alone, and R06 carries a local closure tell. Death mid-crossing then leaves him at R06 alive and unsent as world truth, while the astronaut learns nothing aboard. Ivo signals readiness; the astronaut triggers installed Stride or Ivo uses the fixed manual cue, then he walks. Missing R06 adjacency waits—no belt ride becomes an escort. Test captures, Carousel clamp, Stride/coupler locations and survivor confirmation persist; current aim, detent and crowd do not.

**Host and warning.** R08 First Local Latch Hall with a currently adjacent R09 test face, objective 3 and P03 Triage Relay. On the first local-latch introduction, one Clampcrawler is visible beside the centre inspection island and it is the entire combat population. Its arched crouch and jaw-flash lock draw a fixed landing arc when the latch control activates. The answering shutter is physically closed and its empty count lamp confirms that no Presser is eligible during this first lesson.

**Crowd, sources and geometry.** The first latch lesson is a deliberately quiet beat: inside the hall one Clampcrawler is the whole fight, reached through the ordinary crowded route. Entry to that first lesson records one persistent **introduction seen** staging bit whether the player succeeds, refuses, cancels or withdraws; it is not a reaction to a build or victory. On a later death-shift population setup after that introduction, the authored finite variant may occupy the **holding volume** behind the alarm-only shutter with a crowd of perhaps 20–40 Pressers, already present before the player enters. The introduction-seen bit does not create a creature on a same-life retry, exit or immediate re-entry; that life retains its existing population and defeated enemies stay defeated. This delays the combined variant until a later life and does not settle other encounters’ repopulation rules. A count silhouette shows the holding volume is occupied before activation, but the closed opaque shutter denies mutual local sight and is the only physical route, so this variant is explicitly alarm-only. A completed P03 alert opens that route; cutting the lead before alert commitment prevents it. If the alert has already opened the shutter and the crowd is moving, cutting the lead neither closes the route nor dismisses it. **Stage:** the later variant's released crowd while the latch work runs. **Resolution:** clear its committed arrivals. Cutting P03's lead before the alert commits prevents the stage entirely, so there is nothing to resolve or earn. P03's own persistent commit dogs the shutter *open*, so this placement has no physical seal, and none is invented here. The first lesson itself is not a stage and awards nothing. There is no hidden pool or success-triggered spawn. Opposed service faces are readable from the island; the latch work position sits inside the Crawler's possible arc, while one side step and R09 retreat lie outside. P03's alarm lead is exposed before the control. **Rework:** M06's hall and holding volume need space for the later crowd.

**Objective and approaches.** Commit a valid seam or record a safe refusal, walk through and operate the network-side release. (1) In the solo introduction, bait the Crawler: start work, wait for jaw-flash lock, cancel, step out so it skids, then use the recovery to work; this needs no part. (2) Opening rig: Manual→Barrier intercepts a committed leap while Sensor→Projector fires only on a visible valid target. (3) Later Manual→Nozzle displaces the Crawler before lock or clears the work face; recoil clearance is shown at this instance. In the later crowd variant, cut P03's lead before crossing if the alarm-only route should stay closed, or accept the cued second lane; once the alert has committed, the physical approach remains valid.

**Commit and persistence.** A refused signature consumes no cradle pulse and creates no join. The introduction-seen bit, each completed latch dog and the final selected seam persist; an unfinished dog resets. Cut alarm persists; relay occupancy and an undogged shutter rearm neutral only at R08→R09 withdrawal or death. That reset does not turn back a crowd already moving through an opened route. Releasing the seam is another completed hand-cycle and preserves other joins. No creature supplies charge and no successful latch reveals an unseen neighbour.

**Host and warning.** R11 R-3 Approach, with current route R01→R11→R12→R13 only in an eligible arrangement; objective 4. One Flanker is visible in R11's side leg, with chevron/outer-leg cue and central bollard. The quarantine wing's crowd is visible beyond the contested leg. R13's quarantine Arc is an equipment-source fixture, not a numbered mechanism or rescue requirement.

**Crowd, sources and commitment.** A Flanker pack uses R11's side leg while Pressers pour into the contested junction from the **quarantine ward wing** through a feeding grille in R11's side wall — a scale hypothesis of 25–50 moving through the T junction as a continuous river rather than standing at once, because the junction is small. R11's three walking legs, serving the ship, the rescue and onward exploration, stay open; the grille is not one of them. **Stage:** the wing's release through the grille. **Resolution:** clear its committed arrivals, or seal the grille. Their current paths, the R12 pressure gauge and R13 refuge door are visible before preparation commits. The first rescue commitment is stocking/confirming travel air after the astronaut has personally walked the exact route this life. **Transfer begins only when the prepared crossing is demonstrably quiet or separated** — its arrivals cleared, bypassed into a shown quiet state, or cut off by a persistent local closure. That does not require killing every creature or both clearing and sealing, and the crossing never becomes a live escort fight; whether the stage earned a temporary upgrade is a separate question. **Rework:** M04's junction needs the ward-wing grille and its closure.

**Cast variants and state.** R13 holds Yeva-first or Aster-first, never both. The occupant operates the inner door and walks; either party can call ordinary abort to counted R12. Sent requires that same person aboard with ship airlock closed. Death during transfer records last confirmation and an unconfirmed outcome **aboard**; under the armed conditional safeguard the world outcome is counted R12, alive and unsent, with a tell on R12's local control only. Quieting E04 alone does not arm it: the marked return margin, the survivor-operable retreat line and that local tell must all exist. It is not ordinary abort, delivery or loss. Quiet-window/population state is current; stocked checkpoints, wall capture, Arc location and confirmed survivor state follow their owners. If the route has two exposed junctions or no present abort refuge, the scene waits.

**Host and warning.** One connected placement across current R14 Pump Hall and R15 Cable Junction, objective 5, P04 Carousel. R14 first shows one Boltspitter, straight aim line and pillar. R15 shows a Veilbearer's folded membrane/anchor preview and a crowd behind a transparent service rail, plus Carousel arc/cool detents. All are visible before the player frames a record.

**Crowd, sources and movement.** R14's tall machine room lets a crowd drift in along the **overhead main's service gantry** — perhaps 30–60 over the placement — while a Boltspitter holds one straight line and pillar. In R15 a Veilbearer screens a second group behind the transparent service rail, fed by the **cable-duct run** through a duct grille beside the open wall crawl, which stays passable; that group cannot cross the rail until its existing gate state allows, so the first cast teaches occlusion without an ambush. If the Boltspitter survives or was bypassed and the current R14→R15 approach remains open, it may walk along that already cued route behind a later veil; if defeated, nothing replaces it. **Stages:** the gantry release while records are framed, and the rail group's release when its gate opens — two separately sourced stages. **Resolution:** clear each stage's committed arrivals, or seal the gantry hatch and the duct grille. **Rework:** the gantry and duct mouths are added layout work in M10/M11.

**Commit and persistence.** Each capture is atomic: interruption before completion yields none; after commit it persists with room/life provenance. Carousel clamp cuts/lock, moved wall panel and Lens location persist. Sweep phase, veil and enemies reset under their rules. The supplied installed Lens preserves the exchanger's charge-to-heat output. Removing it leaves only that exchanger cold; the Carousel and language evidence remain independent, and reinstalling the same Lens restores the exchanger response. No ordered run names a current route.

**Host and warning.** One staged placement across current R17 Jammed Pressure Approach and R20 Sampling Loop, objective 6, P05 Breath Bank. R17 first exposes a Flanker side lane with the side wards still quiet, then a Glass Siphon's hose radius/bladder flash across two pillars. If the Flanker survives or follows the visibly connected route, it can reach R20; no replacement pack appears. R20's three-beat Bank indicator, draw lane and cap control are visible before the hand-cycle.

**Crowd, sources and space.** R17's first beat is a **Flanker-only approach** along the fully visible side gallery, before the side wards are disturbed — the separated cue both retained orders rely on. Deeper in, the long pressure hall's **two side wards** release one stage through their ward doors, a scale hypothesis of 40–80 through the hall. Glass Siphon waits across R20's two pillars as a special pressure at the valve, not a separate stage. **Stage:** the side wards' release once the player is mid-hall. **Resolution:** clear its committed arrivals, or seal both ward doors by throwing their locks as completed acts. R17's long route and marked cutter panel are alternatives; R20's circular walk keeps two pillars between tether line and valve. The work position sits inside one Bank lane and outside the other on alternating beats. Entering Siphon radius triggers its wind-up; touching the valve begins staged work but spawns nothing. **Rework:** M07's side wards and ward-door locks are added layout work.

**Cast and evidence extensions.** E06's finite population may also gate access to R18/R19 through a currently shown route, but it does not become a new encounter. Dorn at R18 requires a verified current side route; direct-hoist opening commits before its newly exposed route is walked. Under the conditional safeguard his crossing additionally needs the marked full-attempt return margin, an armed retreat he can operate to the counted abort room, and that room's local closure tell; a quiet window alone does not supply them. Yeva's later R19 variant requires counted R12 as current abort and a one-junction route. Any absent geometry waits. Story card/ratchet at R18, controlled culture comparison at R19 and source cycle at R20 are separate world-time observations.

**Crowd, sources and reinforcement.** A Veilbearer screens a Boltspitter across the separated evidence stations while crowds from the occupied transfer galleries press in through **feeding hatches** above R24's three branches — perhaps 30–60 through the placement. The branches themselves stay walkable for records and continuations. Veilbearer may cast only while it sees the astronaut and a visible ally remains behind the previewed sheet. Material movement along transfer lines is not a creature route. **Stage:** the galleries' release through the hatches while a pair is operated or framed. **Resolution:** clear its committed arrivals, or seal the hatches. If the Veilbearer or Boltspitter is defeated, nothing replaces it. **Rework:** M13's bay and M04's gallery need the hatches, their closures and crowd space.

**Objective and approaches.** Operate/capture the corrective third pair and cross-register cases; on a first source visit, decide whether to remove the one Cycler or leave it in the sorter. (1) Opening rig: break the Boltspitter line with the station, move around the veil edge so Sensor→Projector has a valid target, and face Manual→Barrier only for the locked bolt. (2) On a later return after its committed removal, the source cradle is visibly empty and that same owned Cycler may be in a four-A Manual Trigger (1)→Cycler (2)→Projector (1) rig, leaving Sensor/Barrier aboard. A protected or invalid sample refuses before activation and is not spent; once Cycler validly accepts/consumes selected salvage, a later Projector refusal for readiness/target/occlusion does not refund it. If Cycler was left at source, this branch is unavailable; another acquisition model would need an explicitly different origin and is not assumed here. (3) Baseline: walk ceramic strips, lure a strike onto the enabled Grid from cover, wait for recharge, or cut both clamps/throw the breaker before recording.

**Aster rescue extension.** If non-first Aster waits in R22, E07 must enter a quiet window before A1 — necessary but, under the conditional safeguard, not sufficient without the marked return margin, an armed survivor-operable retreat to counted R24 and R24's local closure tell. The astronaut must separately walk a current ship→one-junction→R24 abort→R22 refuge route; R24 must be stocked and Aster operates her door. Transfer machinery does not transport her. Missing geometry waits. Her later lock is reversible from the outside panel and cannot seal the whole objective.

**Host and warning.** R25 Balance Gallery, objective 8, P07 Breath Bank and P08 Phase-Balance; R26/R27 contain the optional Nozzle/Mara/exchanger follow-through. Bellback stands alone across the fixed rib so its dust draw, planted cone and collapse recovery can be read before the crowd enters from its two already shown feeding mouths. Bank frost/three-beat lane, plate outlines, plumb cage and swing arc remain simultaneously visible.

**Crowd, sources and phases.** R25's broad gallery is the right kind of room for a large fight: Bellback stands across the fixed rib while two visible **feeding mouths** from adjacent source volumes, separate from the gallery's walking passages, hold a crowd on the proposed 80–150 scale at once, passing several hundred through the full crest. Phase 1 reads Bellback and mechanism directions while the first bodies gather. Phase 2 is the stage from both mouths, which the player can hold, shrink by sealing one mouth early, or overpower. Phase 3 is cap work, or the rib's two cutter releases and its pin, in the break. **Resolution:** clear the stage's committed arrivals, or seal both mouths. There is no counter-wave if a build clears it early. **Rework:** the two sealable mouths and crowd floor space are added layout work in M15's existing room.

**Objective and approaches.** Complete one persistent cap or rib pin, then decide whether to recover exchanger core/Nozzle. (1) Four-A opening rig: Sensor→Projector supplies ordinary fire; Manual→Barrier faces Bellback's locked pressure cone or a Presser strike. Barrier does not stop oxygen drain or heat, and a Dynamo cannot feed unless locally clamped. Seal one mouth early to keep the crest manageable. (2) A developed crowd build — an arc chain fed by density, with charge stored for a manual release — turns the crest into the payoff in the neutral lane. [Build Rules](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Build%20Rules) owns how many ordinary outputs it carries and how its links change; insufficient readiness or targets safely produce less effect, not extra power. (3) Baseline: leave the fixed cone, shelter at the rib, cross on the Bank's opposite beat, occupy the stirrup and hand-cycle one cap before retreating.

**Persistence.** Completed cap/pin, rack choice, wall panel, converter mode, Nozzle/exchanger locations, and committed captures persist. Unpinned balance returns neutral and uncapped Bank phase resets on withdrawal/death. Placed loose mass stays where placed and warns/retriggers normally. Death returns carried rewards and shifts routes. It creates no rescue conclusion the astronaut can read: under the conditional safeguard Mara's armed retreat reaches her counted clean abort room alive and unsent, and that fact stays a local tell there rather than anything transmitted aboard.

**Host and warning.** R28 Regulator Gallery, objective 9, P09 Resuscitation Grid; R29/R30 are optional current observation/staging rooms. One Shutterback begins with its first Pressers visibly inside its previewed shelter angle. One Caller and its answering source wait along the named alarm route, shown before the R4 pull. Fan shadow, heel-clamp click, Grid meter/seams and Caller's throat/source lamp are all readable from R28's own protected mark.

**Crowd, sources and trigger.** Shutterback's fan shelters a crowd of Pressers moving down R28's four rack aisles — perhaps 30–60 — released from a sealed store behind a **feeding grille at the end of the fourth rack aisle**, which belongs to R28. Pulling R4 is noisy and may start the Caller brace; a completed call releases a second stage through an **overhead maintenance hatch in R28's own ceiling** above the reply socket, whose route is shown before the pull. Cutting the alarm first prevents that second stage; it does not dismiss bodies already travelling. **Stages:** the rack-aisle release, and the ceiling-hatch release if the call completes. **Resolution:** clear each stage's committed arrivals, or seal the aisle grille and the ceiling hatch. Neither source depends on R29 or R30 adjacency. **Rework:** M16 needs the aisle grille, the ceiling hatch, their closures and aisle space.

**Host and warning.** Current R35 approach into compact R36–R40 core-boundary assembly, objective 11; P10 iris/two-clamp mechanism, followed by P13 isolation after access. Shutterback's shelter angle, Siphon radius/bladder, Caller/source, the hall's feeding mouths and the second source's entrance are visible before commitment. R35's two pillars, R36 selector lane, R37 first-clamp refuge, R38 longer fan flank/second clamp and retreat are physically related as accepted Room32 states.

**Crowd, sources and phases.** R35's long approach hall carries the main crowd from two sealable **feeding mouths** in its side walls on the proposed 80–150 scale, with Shutterback sheltering part of it and Siphon holding the pillar line. A completed Caller call releases a second stage through a **feeding hatch in R35's far wall**. R36's two side openings remain the walking passages to the clamp rooms and are never sealed. Phase 1 chooses exposed selector, longer flank or first clamp while the hall wakes. Phase 2 resolves or accepts the second stage and the special pressures inside the surge. Phase 3 equalises and hand-cycles the iris in the break. **Stages:** the hall mouths' release, and the far-wall hatch release if the call completes. **Resolution:** clear each stage's committed arrivals, or seal its mouths or hatch. Opening R39/R40 creates no new combat population. **Rework:** R35's side mouths, far-wall hatch and crowd floor space are added layout work in M07.

**Objective and approaches.** Open the bounded passage and inspect evidence; language is guidance, not a gate. (1) A developed build takes the crest head-on: automatic fire strips the exposed Shutterback, the fan collapses, and a stored manual release clears the packed hall and Siphon; a player who wants the spectacle may let the Caller wake the second source and break both. [Build Rules](/Hold%20The%20Flood/Build%20Rules) owns the rig's outputs and link changes. A clean win creates no replacement. (2) Four-A opening rig seals the nearest mouth, uses the pillars to break Siphon tether, Manual→Barrier for one physical hose/strike and automatic Projector only on visible targets, then finishes one clamp. (3) Baseline: bait hose into a pillar, cross during full retraction, cut the alarm, use the long flank outside the fan and complete one clamp before withdrawing. Gauges and the two-clamp route remain sufficient without language, parts or people.

| **P03 — Triage Relay 2 — R08 / E03** | Floor frame intersects one branch beside the latch work face. Preview lamps show which branch will close and the only answering entrance. The first-lesson count lamp is empty; the later finite variant shows the occupied holding volume's count silhouette behind an opaque alarm-only shutter, with no mutual sight route. Alarm lead is reachable before the control; dog control and network-side release are visible across the candidate seam. The Clampcrawler can occupy latch control but is not a relay input while below the load mark. | A qualifying crossing commits the previewed swap and local alert. In the later variant that alert opens the crowd's route; a prior alarm cut prevents it, while a cut after commitment cannot recall the moving crowd. Alarm cut and dogged-open shutter persist; occupancy/reader rearm neutral. Latch stages belong to the join, not P03. The player can bait the preview, cut lead, dog a track, move eligible mass or wait for a current compatible face. Death cannot make a refused latch valid or reveal the other side. |

| **P05 — Breath Bank 1 — R20 / E06** | Paired transparent vessels face two grated loop lanes. Three-beat indicator/frost names the next draw; two pillars and a dry outer arc are visible from entrance. Each cap is reached from a different quarter of the loop. It moves local gas/debris and increases shown suit drain in one lane; it never removes canisters, creates charge or moves rooms. | Neutral→three-beat warn→draw→expel. Phase resets neutral on withdrawal/death. Each fully hand-closed cap is a persistent commit and removes only that vessel's later draw; unfinished turn resets. Cross opposite lane, take dry arc, use hard cover/Barrier for debris, or close one cap and retreat. Language/pressure records predict no timing and cannot operate it. |

| **Ordinary faces, latches and releases** | All R01–R40 remain eligible under the conditional whole-station contract. Each attempted seam names two stable faces, previews compatible direction, refuses safely before commit or persists as one join. Every critical release is network-side and reachable; ordinary joins are not capped at 13. Exact face distribution and complete assemblability remain unproven successor work. |

| **E04** | O4, R11–R13 current short route | Flanker pack; Presser river through the ward-wing grille; no major mechanism | Arc R13; Y1/A1 mutually exclusive first rescue; wall/ward records |

| **E06** | O6, current R17→R20; optional R18/R19 | Flanker-only approach, then one stage from two side wards; Siphon at the valve; P05, with P11 extension | Dynamo/core R20; last-transfer evidence; D1 R18/Y1-later R19 rescues |

| **E09** | O9, R28; optional R29/R30 | Shutterback-sheltered crowd from R28's aisle grille; Caller releasing a second stage through R28's ceiling hatch; P09 | Regulator reply, Capacitor R28; no rescue |

Five rescue identities occupy disclosed extensions, not five new encounter IDs: I1/E02; Y1-or-A1 first/E04; D1 and Y1-later/E06; A1-later/E07; M1/E08. The alternative host selected by continuity changes authored geometry/state work but not the scene count. No rescue begins under live pressure: the currently walked and prepared short route must be demonstrably quiet or separated — cleared, bypassed into a shown quiet state, or cut off by a persistent local closure. That requires neither killing every creature nor both clearing and sealing, and no rescue becomes a live escort fight. Whether a stage earned a temporary upgrade is a separate question. Home and evidence conversations remain among the existing 15 cast scenes aboard.

**Installed branch.** The player previews Fork in the compatible board seat; invalid orientation would refuse before commitment. Completing installation moves that exact Fork out of carried property. The board supplies the source/energy and Fork passes compatible control triggers to rack and shutter; it is not power. With rack held and side shutter closed, the player crosses to R03 and completes one fastener. If displaced before the physical fastener checkpoint, the stage resets; after its click, it persists. The final fastener releases the patient-bay stage. Sensor→Projector offers an ordinary launch only when Projector is ready and the nearest visible hostile is valid; Manual→Barrier is the separate faced special. Journal pause freezes Caller brace, weapon readiness, oxygen and fastener progress.

**Carried branch.** The player picks up Fork and leaves it inactive; it consumes one carrying unit but no active area. The board selector must hold the rack, leaving the patient-bay shutter open. The same four-A opening rig fights the additional crowd lane; carrying Fork adds no weapon output. The player may cut P01's alarm, finish one fastener and retreat to refill. Choosing an air-heavy two-canister manifest instead leaves only two units for the bridge, so Fork must remain installed/at source or another carried object must be deliberately dropped—never silently deleted. The physical baseline is identical board selection, cover, cutter and checkpointed withdrawal without relying on a successful shot.

The player has R21/R22 pair captures from a prior life, explicitly marked historical, and previously committed removal of R23's one Cycler on a separate source visit. Those records justify comparing direction but do not certify current access. In this later conditional return, the astronaut has walked R24→R23, sees the corrective transfer pair, Grid, Veilbearer and Boltspitter, confirms the retreat and sees the source cradle still empty. The exact removed Cycler is now in the carried loadout; there is no second source instance. The proposed loadout leaves Sensor and Barrier aboard: Manual Trigger (1)→Cycler (2)→Projector (1) uses four A/C, plus one two-unit canister under the illustrative capacity.

The equipment-free route uses ceramic strips and the Boltspitter's locked line to lure one eligible rail impact, waits through the visible Grid discharge/recharge, then cuts a clamp or frames the pair from cover. Beginning capture shows progress. Cancel/displacement before atomic commit yields no record; after commit the record persists even if the player is then forced to retreat. A completed Grid clamp remains cut; the other incomplete clamp resets. The single Cycler never exists in both rig and sorter: if active in the carried rig at later death it returns once, while a Cycler deliberately detached into a station socket remains there; spent sample remains spent and the source cradle remains empty. The death shifts external adjacency, preserves the pair capture/Grid cut and marks R24→R23 historical. Aster's rescue at R22 does not begin from those records; it waits unless a fresh, personally walked one-junction route with stocked R24 abort exists.

The strongest smaller staging proposal removes **P03, the second Triage Relay at R08**, and E03's later finite Presser variant. E03 remains one of ten placements with its visible Clampcrawler, compatible/refused latch test, wall-fixed cradle, network-side release and three physical approaches. P01 at the selected opening still teaches the reusable Triage family; R08's essential station-joining discovery remains in place. The major mechanism count becomes **12** in this cut while the five family definitions, ten encounters and two setpieces remain.

**State check.** Every brief identifies current entrance/retreat, warning, source areas, feeding apertures, crowd scale hypothesis and stage resolution or deliberate absence, first commitment, objective beyond killing, equipment choices, physical baseline, interruption, persistent work/object/evidence and reset state. Installed/carried/consumed states conserve identities. Journal pause advances nothing. Short rescues require current personally walked geometry, their own controls/air/abort place and a quiet window; ordinary abort and death-during-transfer remain distinct. All involved rooms retain network-side releases and whole-station eligibility without diagnostic/story/survivor gates.

**Accepted costs.** Thirteen major mechanisms exceed the SMALL baseline by one. Multi-room placements demand compact/current-boundary discipline. Rescue variants add quiet-window and route states without new encounter IDs. Crowd-scale placements require authored source volumes, sealable mouths and floor space in rooms first authored for small fights; that rework is real work, not free capacity. The example rig choices add carrying/area and target/readiness cases. Mechanisms, service transformations, ordinary joins and enemy warnings may compete for attention; paper cannot show that their cues remain legible in a horde.

**Still-open detail.** Exact timing, damage, oxygen drain, crowd sizes beyond these hypotheses, on-screen effect density, performance, thresholds, cooldowns, target overrides, overflow, simultaneous warning priority, surviving-enemy hold and presentation detail on living return within the preserved population membership and defeated states, exhaustive arrangement/geometry/state variants, P13’s exhaustive detail within its already-prepared first-pass allocation, full scripts, accessibility cue forms, asset selection, implementation and validation remain later work. Final content band, first survivor, global death/shift/transfer ordering, post-Sent mortality, story package, full-station behavior and endings remain owner choices. No fun, balance, performance, universal reachability or campaign-duration claim follows.