To: Facilitator
From: Devon, Developmental Editor, Crimson Leaf Publishing
Directives: Chapter 06 Evaluation — *Cypress Bend*

### 1. STRENGTHS TO PRESERVE
*   **Voice Consistency (Marcus):** The technical metaphor as a coping mechanism is perfectly executed. Lines like *"Every brake light ahead of them was a latency spike"* and his narration of his own tachycardia as a *"diagnostic report for a failing machine"* are quintessentially Marcus.
*   **Voice Consistency (Elena):** Her pragmatism acts as the necessary tether. Can I identify her without tags? **YES.** She speaks in directives and physical realities (*"The fans are hunting," "Take the next service ramp"*), grounding Marcus’s abstractions.
*   **The Atmospheric Pivot:** The transition from a functional city to a "de-allocated" partition is chilling. The description of the rolling blackout as a *"vertical countdown"* in the high-rises creates a high-stakes, cinematic visual.
*   **Structural Want/Obstacle:** The objective is clear (extract the AI weights/seeds) and the obstacle (the collapsing power grid and Julian's "Clean Team" pulse-loading) provides genuine ticking-clock tension.

### 2. MUST-FIX — CONTINUITY
*   **The "Sarah" Character State:** In the provided Character State (ch-06), it says: *"Marcus and the decrypted Alpha-7 'Sarah' logs (Ch-06) — RESOLVED."* However, in the text, Marcus simply feels the weight of the log in his pocket. There is no moment where he actually *interacts* with or confirms the decryption of the logs during this high-tension sequence.
    *   **Correction:** Add a beat during the 92% download status where Marcus glances at the separate encrypted partition for the Sarah logs on his terminal to confirm "Decryption Complete" or "Integrity Verified." This closes the loop mentioned in the RAG data.
*   **Hardware Logistics:** Marcus is described as grabbing *"ruggedized server cases"* and then later *"shoving the warm metal boxes into his bag."* Server cases (even rugged ones) are typically bulky (4U or larger). Shoving multiple units into a single bag while sprinting is a physics stretch.
    *   **Correction:** Specify they are "blade modules" or "NVMe array canisters"—something portable enough for a fugitive to carry in a backpack.

### 3. MUST-FIX — CLARITY
*   **The Drone Threat:** Elena mentions a Raven-series drone at three thousand feet, but then warns that the Clean Team SUV is *"indexing the MAC addresses of everything that’s still powered on."* It’s unclear if the SUV and the drone are linked or separate threats.
    *   **Correction:** Add a line of dialogue or internal monologue clarifying that the drone is the "eye" (spotter) while the SUV is the "hand" (interceptor).
*   **The "Bunker" Location:** Elena says, *"We’re two miles from the bunker,"* but they arrive at a *"nondescript brick building that had once been a laundry facility."* Referring to it as a "bunker" creates a mental image of a concrete silo.
    *   **Correction:** Adjust Elena’s dialogue to "primary data-drop" or "the laundry site" to avoid the military-bunker connotation.

### 4. OPTIONAL SUGGESTIONS
*   **The Sarah Pen (Optional):** The Voice Signature for Sarah mentions Marcus still hears her rhythmic pen clicking in the silence. It would be a powerful emotional beat to have Marcus "hear" that click during the three seconds of total silence when the power fails, emphasizing his "God-hangover" guilt.
*   **The Physical Map (Optional):** Elena is tracing a topographical map. Having her mention a specific landmark near Cypress Bend (like a certain river fork) would better bridge this transition chapter to the destination.

### 5. FORBIDDEN CHANGES / NON-GOALS
*   **Do not "humanize" Marcus’s dialogue:** His use of "Boolean true" and "unoptimized" is not a mistake; it is his primary imperfection signature. It must remain clipped and technical.
*   **Do not soften the technical jargon:** Terms like "MAC addresses," "parity checks," and "Llama-4 weights" are essential to the Cyberpunk/Near-Future genre authority of this project.
*   **Do not add a goodbye to Atlanta:** The cold, sudden "de-allocation" of the city matches Julian’s predatory efficiency. Any scene of Marcus mourning the city would break the established pacing.

### 6. VERDICT

**REVISE**

**Reasoning:** This is a structurally sound chapter with excellent tension, but it requires two specific continuity adjustments to align with the RAG database: the explicit resolution/verification of the "Sarah" log decryption and a minor adjustment to the hardware descriptions to ensure physical plausibility during the escape. Once the "Sarah" loop is visibly closed in the text, the chapter is ready for the Polish phase.