**Lane, Line Editor – Editorial Review: *Cypress Bend*, Ch. 04**

### 1. STRENGTHS TO PRESERVE
*   **The "Analog" Contrast:** The prose brilliantly distinguishes between the digital "UI skin" of Chicago and the "marl and limestone" reality of Florida.
*   **Voice Signature Authenticity (Marcus):** The use of "Boolean false," "system failure," and "high-alpha entry" perfectly aligns with the Marcus Thorne profile. His internal narration effectively treats his own body as hardware: *"System check. Connectivity: zero."*
*   **Voice Signature Authenticity (Elena):** Elena’s dialogue is appropriately pragmatic and blunt. The line, *"In the city, you pay for the uptime. Out here, you pay for the ability to fix it when it breaks,"* is a foundational character beat.
*   **Sensory Economy:** The olfactory transition from "rot and diesel" to "old cosmoline" and "stale diesel" inside the container provides a visceral sense of place.
*   **Can I identify voices without tags?** **YES.** Marcus is hyper-analytical/probabilistic; Elena is tactile/logistical; Gable is rhythmic/performative.

### 2. MUST-FIX — CONTINUITY
*   **Caterpillar Branding:** Gable shouts *"Caterpillar-style"* (Line 42). 
    *   **The Error:** In a world dominated by the "Avery-Quinn Corp" and "Tier-1 tracking chips," using a real-world brand like Caterpillar breaks the "Genre Sovereignty" of this near-future setting.
    *   **The Correction:** Replace "Caterpillar-style" with a fictional legacy brand or a generic descriptor like "heavy-tread yellow-iron" or "pre-Avery units." 
*   **The Location of Julian:** The final beats mention Julian in the *"Medical Annex, surrounded by synthetic vitality."* (Line 95).
    *   **The Error:** According to the [character-state] RAG, Julian is currently "Remote/Atmospheric" at Corporate HQ, not in a Medical Annex. While he may be using life-extension tech, the "Medical Annex" is new information that lacks establishment.
    *   **The Correction:** Ensure this reflects Julian’s "Atmospheric/Corporate" status or clarify that Marcus is imagining Julian in a specific high-tech recovery suite.

### 3. MUST-FIX — CLARITY
*   **The "Chinese Auction" Misnomer:** 
    *   **The Passage:** *"This was the 'Chinese Auction'—a misnomer for a grey-market clearinghouse..."* (Line 8).
    *   **The Issue:** The term "Chinese Auction" traditionally refers to a silent auction/raffle hybrid. In this chapter, Gable is performing a standard open-cry or livestock-style auction. If it’s a misnomer, the text should briefly clarify *why* the locals call it that or use a more descriptive slang term common to the "Displaced" to avoid reader confusion.
    *   **The Fix:** Add a half-sentence explaining the local slang or change the title to something more evocative of the setting, like "The Ghost Lot" or "The Marled Auction."

### 4. OPTIONAL SUGGESTIONS
*   **Rhythmic Tightening (Opening):**
    *   **ORIGINAL:** *"The heartbeat of Chicago was a perfectly rendered line on a glass screen, but here in the humidity of the Florida interior, the only rhythm was the wet, rhythmic thrum of cicadas..."*
    *   **SUGGESTED:** *"The heartbeat of Chicago was a perfectly rendered line on a glass screen. Here, in the Florida interior, the only rhythm was the wet thrum of cicadas..."*
    *   **RATIONALE:** "Rhythmic" is used twice in the same sentence. Removing the second instance and the "but" conjunction increases the punch of the contrast.
*   **Dialogue Tag Audit:**
    *   **ORIGINAL:** *"...Gable laughed, but it was a performative sound."* (Line 72).
    *   **SUGGESTED:** *"...Gable laughed, a short, performative bark."*
    *   **RATIONALE:** Avoid "it was a [adjective] [noun]" constructions. Make the sound a direct action.
*   **Adverb Check:**
    *   **ORIGINAL:** *"Red Hat immediately signaled a bump."* (Line 61).
    *   **SUGGESTED:** *"Red Hat signaled a bump before the breath left Gable's lungs."*
    *   **RATIONALE:** "Immediately" is a weak adverb. Showing the speed through the auctioneer's breath underscores the tension Elena is trying to manage.

### 5. FORBIDDEN CHANGES / NON-GOALS
*   **Do NOT "fix" Marcus’s tech-metaphors:** Phrases like *"physical throughput"* and *"recursive grievance"* are essential to his voice profile. They are not "clunky"; they are specific to his character's inability to process emotion without data.
*   **Do NOT smooth over the dialogue in the auction:** Gable’s "serrated blade" of speech is meant to be jarring and "legacy."
*   **Do NOT remove the "Four-beat ping":** This is Marcus’s established physical habit from the [voice-sig-marcus] sheet.

### 6. VERDICT

**REVISE**
(The Caterpillar brand mention and the Julian location discrepancy must be addressed to maintain the integrity of the Avery-Quinn world-building.)