The subject proved nothing: the bus lets any principal allowed to answer reply to a message it received on the reply subject that message named, so a tool server — the operator's account, every agent — could deliver a hand-over to an engine. The controller now signs the ask with the mesh's key over a fixed context (node, path, who asked, a minute's expiry, a fresh nonce), as declarations are signed, and the engine verifies it. The writers table gains the row for mesh.node.*.ask.hand-over; the subject's comment no longer claims who the engine hears. The line's known-node check and the refusal branch are tested; every check was removed in turn and a test failed.