diff --git a/src/declaration/validate.ts b/src/declaration/validate.ts
index 8f772e0..ee6f2da 100644
--- a/src/declaration/validate.ts
+++ b/src/declaration/validate.ts
@@ -199,6 +199,16 @@ export function validate(scenario: Scenario): void {
     }
   }
 
+  // "uplink" is the one network name the lab itself claims, for the NAT bridge behind
+  // `egress: true`. A segment wearing it would be created first, as an isolated bridge — and the
+  // uplink code, finding a network by that name, would attach egress machines to it. No error
+  // anywhere, no route anywhere: a scenario key silently ignored, which is the fault this file
+  // exists to refuse.
+  if (scenario.segments["uplink"]) {
+    problems.push(`segment 'uplink': the name is reserved for the lab's own NAT bridge — ` +
+      `an egress machine would be silently attached to this segment instead of the world`);
+  }
+
   for (const [name, machine] of Object.entries(scenario.machines)) {
     if (machine.at === "detached") {
       if (machine.published?.length) {
diff --git a/src/lifecycle/address.ts b/src/lifecycle/address.ts
index 8af4143..6d6ed48 100644
--- a/src/lifecycle/address.ts
+++ b/src/lifecycle/address.ts
@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@ function networkUnit(wire: Wire): string {
       "IPv6AcceptRA=no",
       "",
       "[DHCPv4]",
+      // UseDNS matters only where systemd-resolved runs; on a machine whose mesh modules own
+      // /etc/resolv.conf it is inert, and that inertness is load-bearing — the uplink must not
+      // outvote the resolver a scenario is testing.
       // **Worse than any route the scenario states.** A machine behind a declared gateway must
       // keep using it: the uplink is a way out of the scenario, not a better way around inside
       // it. On-link segments win regardless, being connected routes; this only settles which
diff --git a/test/integration/mesh.test.ts b/test/integration/mesh.test.ts
index 8aff77c..6b91734 100644
--- a/test/integration/mesh.test.ts
+++ b/test/integration/mesh.test.ts
@@ -131,23 +131,29 @@ async function settled(node: string, withinMs = 240_000): Promise<void> {
     // And a poll that *threw* — an exec timeout, a lost fifo — is also "could not ask", not a
     // verdict. The distinction failed once as an IncusError surfacing at minute four of a wait
     // whose machine was merely slow.
-    let said = "", ok = false;
+    let state: {
+      wrong: { node: string; outcome: string; refused?: string;
+               failed?: { id: string; error: string }[] }[];
+      waiting: { node: string; never: boolean }[];
+    } | undefined;
+    let said = "";
     try {
-      ({ out: said, ok } = await on("anchor",
-        `docker exec mesh-control /mesh-control status --json`));
+      const asked = await on("anchor",
+        `docker exec mesh-control /mesh-control status --json`);
+      said = asked.out;
+      // Parsed inside the try on purpose: a truncated answer from a struggling machine is the
+      // same fact as no answer, and the likeliest moment for one is exactly the machine this
+      // poll is watching.
+      if (asked.ok) state = JSON.parse(said);
     } catch (err) {
       said = (err as Error).message;
     }
-    if (!ok) {
+    if (!state) {
       last = said;
       await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 5000));
       continue;
     }
-    const state = JSON.parse(said) as {
-      wrong: { node: string; outcome: string; refused?: string;
-               failed?: { id: string; error: string }[] }[];
-      waiting: { node: string; never: boolean }[];
-    };
+
     const bad = state.wrong.find((w) => w.node === node);
     if (bad) {
       const why = [bad.refused, ...(bad.failed ?? []).map((f) => `${f.id}: ${f.error}`)]
diff --git a/test/validate.test.ts b/test/validate.test.ts
index b928d07..e07a309 100644
--- a/test/validate.test.ts
+++ b/test/validate.test.ts
@@ -250,3 +250,10 @@ segments: { net: { kind: public, cidr: [192.0.2.0/24] } }
 machines: { a: { at: detached, egress: true } }`,
     /detached but declares egress/);
 });
+
+test("a segment may not be named 'uplink' — the lab claims that name for egress", () => {
+  refuses(`scenario: x
+segments: { uplink: { kind: public, cidr: [192.0.2.0/24] } }
+machines: { a: { at: { segment: uplink, address: [192.0.2.1] }, egress: true } }`,
+    /reserved for the lab's own NAT bridge/);
+});