The perch doctrine

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They called it roosting.

The public called it roosting. The contractor called it queue management. Some ledges were waiting areas. Others concealed service stations. A unit could leave the square, transfer its records, renew its power and return without ever looking like equipment. LOFT, the Local Operations and Fleet Tally, reconciled the work at 03:17 on the depot clock. That number is not mystical. It is a scheduled job. What matters is what the job accepted. Sixteen physical chassis. Seventeen active identities. The continuity rule kept the missing account open while the report kept the service available. You cannot replace a cartridge in an account. Somebody eventually had to sign that it had been done.