mesh/merge-gate pass: builds mesh-host → ace, g14, novox, shanks; no bus step; every machine composes with the change as it did without (4 of 4 compose)
The queue asks a tool through a ToolBus assertion that only OverNATS satisfied; the
link the engine actually holds (natsLink) had no Ask, so every tool check failed as
"no link to the bus is open" while the link was up (hq issue 331). Give natsLink Ask,
assert at build time every optional interface the queue expects of it, and tell a link
that cannot ask apart from no link.
