diff --git a/cmd/mesh-controller/release_plan.go b/cmd/mesh-controller/release_plan.go
index 44dd8231..76fbd95b 100644
--- a/cmd/mesh-controller/release_plan.go
+++ b/cmd/mesh-controller/release_plan.go
@@ -508,7 +508,11 @@ func advancePlans(ctx context.Context, open *stores) {
 		fmt.Printf("plans: what waits for a gate could not be looked at: %v\n", err)
 	}
 	advanceHeld(ctx, open)
-	// Where the walks that ended lately spent their time (novox/hq ADR 0282): measured, never acted on.
+}
+
+// keepWalkPhases keeps where the walks that ended lately spent their time (novox/hq ADR 0282), outside the hold
+// on the plans so it never lengthens it: measured, never acted on, and an error only said.
+func keepWalkPhases(ctx context.Context, open *stores) {
 	if err := recordWalkPhases(ctx, open.inventory, time.Now()); err != nil {
 		fmt.Printf("plans: the phases of the walks ended lately could not be kept: %v\n", err)
 	}
@@ -1215,6 +1219,7 @@ func sayUnsent(p *inventory.Plan, rollsOut func(string) bool) {
 // planTicker advances open plans on a timer, for the steps outcomes alone cannot take.
 func planTicker(ctx context.Context, open *stores) {
 	advancePlans(ctx, open)
+	keepWalkPhases(ctx, open)
 	tick := time.NewTicker(30 * time.Second)
 	defer tick.Stop()
 	for {
@@ -1223,6 +1228,7 @@ func planTicker(ctx context.Context, open *stores) {
 			return
 		case <-tick.C:
 			advancePlans(ctx, open)
+			keepWalkPhases(ctx, open)
 		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/internal/catalogue/verbs.go b/internal/catalogue/verbs.go
index ac95d050..f3aaedaf 100644
--- a/internal/catalogue/verbs.go
+++ b/internal/catalogue/verbs.go
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ var ControllerVerbs = []Verb{
 		Input: schema(map[string]string{"plan": "the walk's id", "why": "why", "by": "who stopped the delivery"},
 			[]string{"plan", "why"})},
 	{Name: "delivery-walks", Description: "The walks the controller keeps (novox/hq ADR 0239): every open one and the " +
-		"last ended ones, each whole — its tiers, each module's state, first machines and gate with its readings, and its " +
+		"last ended ones, each whole — its tiers, each module's state, first machines and first-node gate with its readings, and its " +
 		"phases from its merge to every machine running it (novox/hq ADR 0282) — and whether the delivery seat has a " +
 		"holder on record. Given a plan, that one.",
 		Input: schema(map[string]string{"plan": "one walk's id", "limit": "how many ended walks beside the open ones (default 50)"},
diff --git a/internal/inventory/plans.go b/internal/inventory/plans.go
index fdac17a7..bd03edc5 100644
--- a/internal/inventory/plans.go
+++ b/internal/inventory/plans.go
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ type PlanModule struct {
 	// went there in one send (novox/hq issue 281), and one gate judges what one send moved. Empty for
 	// the module the gate is kept on, and for a plan from before tiers were sent whole.
 	GatedBy string `json:"gated_by,omitempty"`
-	// Rest is, per machine of the rest, the declaration the send after the gate carried there (novox/hq ADR
+	// Rest is, per machine of the rest, the declaration the send after the first-node gate carried there (novox/hq ADR
 	// 0282 decision 6): the machine's first report of it, applied, is when the build runs there.
 	Rest map[string]SentDeclaration `json:"rest,omitempty"`
 }
@@ -315,7 +315,7 @@ type GateReading struct {
 	Said string `json:"said,omitempty"`
 }
 
-// maxReadings bounds a gate's readings: a judging that never passes reads every few seconds for ten minutes.
+// maxReadings bounds a first-node gate's readings: a judging that never passes reads every few seconds for ten minutes.
 const maxReadings = 24
 
 // Read keeps one reading: a pass always, and a reading that did not pass only when the one before passed or
@@ -324,8 +324,8 @@ func (g *PlanGate) Read(at time.Time, healthy bool, said string) {
 	if !healthy && len(g.Readings) > 0 && !g.Readings[len(g.Readings)-1].Healthy {
 		return
 	}
-	if len(said) > 200 {
-		said = said[:200]
+	if r := []rune(said); len(r) > 200 {
+		said = string(r[:200])
 	}
 	g.Readings = append(g.Readings, GateReading{At: at, Healthy: healthy, Said: said})
 	if len(g.Readings) > maxReadings {
diff --git a/internal/inventory/walkphases.go b/internal/inventory/walkphases.go
index 0378d9a2..d49c93c5 100644
--- a/internal/inventory/walkphases.go
+++ b/internal/inventory/walkphases.go
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ const (
 	PhaseBetween  = "between-tiers" // one tier's end to the next tier's ask
 	PhaseBuild    = "build"         // a tier asked to its last module built
 	PhaseSend     = "send-first"    // built to sent to the first machines
-	PhaseJudge    = "judgement"     // sent first to the gate's last verdict: its readings
+	PhaseJudge    = "judgement"     // sent first to the first-node gate's last verdict: its readings
 	PhaseRest     = "send-rest"     // judged to sent to the rest
 	PhaseApply    = "apply"         // the last send to every machine of the rest reporting the build applied
 	PhaseOpen     = "open"          // a walk still running: since its last moment
@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@ func (p Plan) points(now time.Time, applied AppliedLookup, w *WalkPhases) []poin
 	}
 	if len(lastSends) == 0 {
 		return append(out, point{phase: PhaseApply, tier: -1, none: true,
-			said: "no machine beyond the first: the gate's readings were its run"})
+			said: "no machine beyond the first: the first-node gate's readings were its run"})
 	}
 	if applied == nil {
 		return append(out, point{phase: PhaseApply, tier: -1, said: "the rest's reports were not read"})
@@ -330,7 +330,7 @@ func (p Plan) points(now time.Time, applied AppliedLookup, w *WalkPhases) []poin
 	for _, s := range lastSends {
 		r, ok := applied(s.node, s.at)
 		switch {
-		case !ok && now.Sub(s.at) > ApplySilentAfter:
+		case !ok && now.Sub(s.at) > ApplySilentAfter, ok && r.At.Sub(s.at) > ApplySilentAfter:
 			w.Silent = appendOnce(w.Silent, s.node)
 		case !ok:
 			waiting = appendOnce(waiting, s.node)
@@ -429,18 +429,19 @@ func words(d time.Duration) string {
 	return d.Round(100 * time.Millisecond).String()
 }
 
-// FirstAppliedAfter is a machine's first report, at or after a send to it, that it applied a declaration — the
-// controller's `apply` durations, which measure every send to its first report (to-be 45 Phase 0). A declaration
-// sent later carries the build too, so its report counts.
+// FirstAppliedAfter is a machine's first report of a send made at or after a walk's send to it, within
+// ApplySilentAfter of it — the controller's `apply` durations, which measure every send to its first report (to-be
+// 45 Phase 0). A declaration sent later carries the build too, so its report counts; one sent past the bound is a
+// machine that slept, listed as silent and never moving the walk's end (ADR 0282 decision 1).
 func (i *Inventory) FirstAppliedAfter(ctx context.Context, node string, sent time.Time) (AppliedReport, bool, error) {
 	var started time.Time
 	var ms int64
 	var outcome string
 	err := i.store.Pool().QueryRow(ctx,
 		`select started, took_ms, detail from duration
-		  where kind = $1 and subject = $2 and started >= $3
-		  order by (detail = $4) desc, started limit 1`,
-		DurationApply, node, sent.Add(-appliedSlack), OutcomeApplied).Scan(&started, &ms, &outcome)
+		  where kind = $1 and subject = $2 and started >= $3 and started < $4
+		  order by started limit 1`,
+		DurationApply, node, sent.Add(-appliedSlack), sent.Add(ApplySilentAfter)).Scan(&started, &ms, &outcome)
 	if errors.Is(err, pgx.ErrNoRows) {
 		return AppliedReport{}, false, nil
 	}
diff --git a/internal/inventory/walkphases_test.go b/internal/inventory/walkphases_test.go
index 8850288a..e350e0bc 100644
--- a/internal/inventory/walkphases_test.go
+++ b/internal/inventory/walkphases_test.go
@@ -273,3 +273,30 @@ func TestAWalksMomentsAreKeptAndItsRestsReportRead(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("the total kept: %v %v %v", anyKept, total, err)
 	}
 }
+
+// A machine that slept past the bound and reported later is listed silent: its late report never moves the
+// walk's end; and a report sent past the bound is not read as the walk's.
+func TestALateReportIsSilentNotTheEnd(t *testing.T) {
+	sent := time.Date(2026, 10, 10, 18, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC)
+	p := walkOf(t, recordedWalk)
+	p.Modules["mesh-delivery"].SentAt = &sent
+	p.Modules["mesh-delivery"].Rest = map[string]SentDeclaration{"laptop": {Digest: "d"}, "server": {Digest: "e"}}
+	w := p.WalkPhases(sent.Add(3*time.Hour), func(node string, _ time.Time) (AppliedReport, bool) {
+		if node == "server" {
+			return AppliedReport{At: sent.Add(20 * time.Second), Outcome: OutcomeApplied}, true
+		}
+		return AppliedReport{At: sent.Add(2 * time.Hour), Outcome: OutcomeApplied}, true
+	})
+	if len(w.Silent) != 1 || w.Silent[0] != "laptop" || w.End == nil || !w.End.Equal(sent.Add(20*time.Second)) {
+		t.Fatalf("a late report: silent %v, end %v", w.Silent, w.End)
+	}
+	inv := ForTest(t)
+	ctx := t.Context()
+	if err := inv.RecordDuration(ctx, Duration{Kind: DurationApply, Subject: "laptop", Node: "laptop", Ref: "late@1",
+		Started: sent.Add(time.Hour), Took: time.Second, Detail: OutcomeApplied}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if _, ok, err := inv.FirstAppliedAfter(ctx, "laptop", sent); err != nil || ok {
+		t.Fatalf("a send past the bound read as the walk's: %v %v", ok, err)
+	}
+}