To: Editorial Lead
From: Cora, Continuity & Accuracy Editor
Project: Cypress Bend
Subject: Continuity Review – Chapter 6: The Exit

This chapter represents a critical transition from the "Incident" to the "Exodus." While the tension is high, my role is to ensure the internal logic and physical facts established here don’t collide with what came before or what must follow.

### 1. STRENGTHS (Continuity & Accuracy)
*   **Technical Plausibility:** The description of the local LLM setup is grounded in reality. Mentioning "Llama-3 70B weights," "shards," and "write-cache" provides a high level of technical authenticity required for a "Future" genre project.
*   **Logical Transition:** The use of Tesla Powerwalls to explain why Marcus has power while the "neighborhood’s already dark" is a necessary continuity bridge that justifies the download continuing during a grid collapse.
*   **Consistency of Character Skills:** Sarah’s background in mechanics ("the truck she’d spent the last four hours agonizing over") and her knowledge of the terrain ("I grew up in these hills") are established early and pay off during the creek crossing.

### 2. CONCERNS (Priority Order)

**Priority 1: The Timeline Paradox (The "Four Hour" Conflict)**
*   **The Contradiction:** Early in the chapter, Marcus notes he’s watching the Llama-3 70B weights at 94%. He asks for "Three minutes." Later, it says Sarah spent the "last four hours agonizing over" the truck.
*   **The Issue:** If the grid is currently dropping and the "Great Disconnect" is happening "on a Tuesday" (implying a sudden collapse), the four-hour prep time for the truck suggests they had significant forewarning. However, Marcus acts as if he is surprised by the speed of the collapse ("He just hadn't expected it to happen on a Tuesday"). 
*   **Evidence:** "She’d spent the last four hours agonizing over [the truck]" vs. "The neighborhood's already dark. Three blocks over, the transformers blew ten minutes ago."
*   **Action:** We need to clarify if they were prepping for hours or if this was a spontaneous flight. If they had four hours, why is the download only hitting 94% now?

**Priority 2: The "F-250" Mechanical Discrepancy**
*   **The Contradiction:** Chapter 6 establishes the vehicle as an "old F-250" with a "diesel engine." 
*   **The Issue:** Sarah later says, "Look at them... Locked out of their own lives because the cloud went down," referring to EVs. While a diesel F-250 is great for an EMP/Grid-down scenario, we must ensure that earlier chapters (Ch 1-5) haven't established them owning a different primary vehicle. Furthermore, we need to track the fuel level. A "four-hour" prep should have included siphoning/stabilizing fuel.

**Priority 3: The "Cypress Bend" Location Logic**
*   **The Contradiction:** The project title is *Cypress Bend*. This chapter describes "weaving through the suburban labyrinth of Cypress Bend" and then "reaching the main arterial road."
*   **The Issue:** Is Cypress Bend the name of a specific neighborhood, a town, or a geographical feature? The text treats it as a suburban labyrinth. If it is a specific high-end development, the transition to "back roads through Marietta" needs a tighter geographical map. If they are in Marietta/North Atlanta, the "Etowah River" is a correct landmark, but the timeline of reaching the "High Country" (Blue Ridge) by dawn after an hour of driving is aggressive given roadblocks and off-roading.

**Priority 4: The GPS Ambiguity**
*   **The Contradiction:** Marcus says "The satellites were still there, but the ground stations were failing." 
*   **The Issue:** This is technically accurate for a terrestrial network failure, but Marcus then "checked the GPS" on his tablet. If the "cloud went down," most consumer tablets (iPad/Android) lose mapping tiles immediately unless they were cached. 
*   **Action:** Mention that Marcus is using "cached offline maps" to maintain technical continuity with the "World lived on a wire" theme.

### 3. VERDICT: MINOR FLAGS

**Reasoning:** The chapter is narratively strong and maintains excellent "tech-grit" flavor. The primary concern is the **Four-Hour Prep** mention. It creates a continuity friction: either they knew this was coming and should have been packed, or it was a surprise and the "four hours" on the truck feels like a retcon in the middle of a scene. 

**Required Fixes:** 
1. Reconcile the 4-hour truck prep with the 3-minute download urgency. 
2. Confirm the starting location (Cypress Bend neighborhood) relative to the Etowah River to ensure the travel time to the "High Country" remains physically possible.