diff --git a/test/integration/mesh.test.ts b/test/integration/mesh.test.ts
index a3c3705..3522d55 100644
--- a/test/integration/mesh.test.ts
+++ b/test/integration/mesh.test.ts
@@ -66,11 +66,24 @@ function quote(s: string): string {
 }
 
 async function on(machine: string, command: string, timeoutMs?: number): Promise<{ out: string; ok: boolean }> {
+  // Each part on its own line, and stderr redirected once for the whole script.
+  //
+  // It was `${command} 2>&1; echo ...` on a single line, which quietly broke every command
+  // containing a heredoc: the terminator line became `MARKER 2>&1; echo ...`, matched nothing, and
+  // the heredoc swallowed the rest of the script — including the echo. `exec 2>&1` needs no
+  // trailing text on the command's last line, so a heredoc terminates where it says it does.
   const { stdout } = await exec(instanceId, machine, [
-    "sh", "-c", `${command} 2>&1; echo "__exit=$?"`,
+    "sh", "-c", `exec 2>&1\n${command}\necho "__exit=$?"`,
   ], timeoutMs);
   const marker = stdout.lastIndexOf("__exit=");
-  return { out: stdout.slice(0, marker), ok: Number(stdout.slice(marker + 7).trim()) === 0 };
+  if (marker < 0) {
+    // **Never success.** `Number("")` is 0, so a missing marker used to read as exit 0 — a
+    // command whose output was swallowed reported that it worked, which is the one answer a test
+    // harness must never give.
+    return { out: stdout, ok: false };
+  }
+  const said = stdout.slice(marker + 7).trim();
+  return { out: stdout.slice(0, marker), ok: said === "0" };
 }
 
 async function must(machine: string, command: string, timeoutMs?: number): Promise<string> {