To: Facilitator
From: Lane, Line Editor, Crimson Leaf Publishing
Date: October 202X
Subject: Line Edit & Technical Audit — *Cypress Bend*, Ch-28

The rhythm of this chapter is high-tensile. The prose mimics the mechanical stress it describes—clipped, industrial, and heavy. The shift from digital metaphors to physical "hardware patches" is the strongest thematic resonance in the project to date.

### 1. STRENGTHS TO PRESERVE
*   **The "Sensory Overload" Prose:** The description of the hog butchery and the welding arc is visceral.
    *   *Quote:* "The world vanished into a blinding, violet-blue glare... The ozone filled Marcus’s lungs, a sharp, electric tang that made his teeth ache."
*   **Voice Differentiation:** High marks for character-specific syntax.
    *   **Marcus:** His diagnostic internal monologue (*"Torsion snap. Systemic collapse."*) is perfectly consistent with his "God-tier" developer background.
    *   **David:** His cardinal-direction speech (*"Went East when the load was headin' North"*) feels ingrained and unforced.
    *   **Elena:** Her abrasive, time-centered urgency (*"If you're still welding at fifty-one, you're doing it in the dark"*) maintains her established high-stress role.
*   **Voice Profiles Check:** 
    *   Marcus: YES.
    *   David: YES.
    *   Elena: YES.
    *   Sarah: YES. (The lack of pen-clicking is a powerful "negative space" character beat).

### 2. MUST-FIX — CONTINUITY
*   **The "Sarah" Problem:** In the Project Context/Character State for Ch-28, Sarah is described as being in the Kitchen Hub, "authoritative," and having successfully codified the "Winter Trade." However, the *Voice Signature* for Sarah in the RAG database identifies her as "Supporting / Emotional Catalyst (Deceased-equivalent/Displaced)." While she is physically present in the chapter, the text says: *"Marcus... the scent of it triggering a memory of a 'clean' Chicago boardroom... This was different."* Later, Leo is described as twelve. 
    *   **Error:** The chapter treats Sarah as a living, breathing participant in the Bend. The RAG data is slightly ambiguous on whether Sarah is a "ghost in the machine" or a physical survivor. 
    *   **Correction:** If Sarah is a survivor at the Bend, the chapter is fine. If she is a memory/hallucination, the physical interaction (tapping the map) needs to be clarified as Marcus's internal projection. *Note: Based on the "Character State: ch-28" section, I am treating her as ALIVE and present.*

### 3. MUST-FIX — CLARITY
*   **The "Blood-shot" Typo:** 
    *   *Reference:* "Elena leaned in from the corner, her血-shot eyes..." 
    *   **Fix:** Replace the kanji/special character with "blood-shot."
*   **The "Triage Check" Logic:** 
    *   *Reference:* "Marcus, Elena is spooling up the batteries. You have a ten-minute window before the welder is live." ... "Elena had the arc-welder positioned... I'm dropping the North-bank camouflage for forty minutes."
    *   **Fix:** The time-limit changes from ten minutes to forty minutes between scenes. Ensure the "window" refers to the same duration or clarify that the "ten minutes" is the preparation lead-time.

### 4. OPTIONAL SUGGESTIONS
*   **Rhythmic Economy:** 
    *   *ORIGINAL:* "The sky was the color of a discarded motherboard—grey, etched with the pale traces of winter clouds..."
    *   *SUGGESTED:* "The sky was a discarded motherboard—grey, etched with the pale traces of winter clouds..." 
    *   *Rationale:* Removing "the color of" tightens the metaphor, making it an observation rather than a comparison.
*   **Dialogue Tightening (Elena):**
    *   *ORIGINAL:* "If I fire up the arc-welder on the storage batteries, the Mesh drops. We'll glow like a Christmas tree on any AQ satellite pass."
    *   *SUGGESTED:* "Fire the arc-welder on storage batteries and the Mesh drops. We’ll glow like a flare on an AQ satellite pass."
    *   *Rationale:* Elena is a "wire brush." She shouldn't use "Christmas tree"—it's too soft. "Flare" or "Thermal spike" fits her better.

### 5. FORBIDDEN CHANGES / NON-GOALS
*   **Do NOT remove Marcus's Boolean responses:** His use of "True" instead of "Yes" is a vital character tic.
*   **Do NOT "fix" the sentence fragments in the welding scene:** The choppy pacing simulates the disorientation of the arc-flash.
*   **Do NOT remove technical metaphors:** Describing a pig carcass as "unindexed" or a "system" is core to the book’s specific voice. 

### 6. VERDICT

**REVISE** (Mainly for the character-encoding error "血-shot" and the time-limit inconsistency in the welding window). Once those are polished, the chapter is a "God-tier" delivery.