On a school night a warm old chess teacher sets his brass clock to fifteen minutes each and teaches a nine-year-old Morphy's Opera Game of 1858; at 20:00 his flag falls with his fingertip still on the mating rook, the programme tips over like a resigned king, and the boy's last ten minutes fall into the piece box, where the captured pieces keep an opera house.
Not released yet: a chess teacher teaches a nine-year-old Morphy's Opera Game on a fifteen-minute brass clock; at 20:00 his flag falls with his fingertip on the mating rook, and the boy's last ten minutes fall into the piece box, where the captured pieces keep an opera house.
master v4 is the final (D31, 2026-10-23); the blog post AO-063, the hidden page and the 404 page live on aaronorelup.com since 2026-10-23 00:22 UTC; not on YouTube yet
runtime
30:20.000 (30:00 of programme + 20 s of black in which Black's flag falls and the clock slows into a heartbeat), 54,600 frames at 1080p30
made
2026-10-21 23:39 UTC to 2026-10-22 on a cloud box (Linux, no GPU) with rented RunPod GPUs, by an orchestrator that named itself Kibitz and its crews
Frame 36,000: his fingertip still on Morphy's rook as his flag falls{E4 20:00}
Unreleased: it is on the course anyway, labelled "not released yet" (Aaron, 2026-10-22). Sources: the branch origin/episode-4-chess (Series/archive/EP04-touch-move/SUMMARY.md, QUOTABLES.md, Episode 4 - Touch Move/plan/ MASTER_TREATMENT, DECISIONS D1-D29 and FIXLIST, script/, audio/vo/placed_vo.json, the segments' notes and QA). Times are master times; where the treatment and the master differ, the master wins. Master v3 = v2 plus fix cycle 2.
On the Y axisY0 = the night of Episode 1
RunningPlaced at about Y+63. {E4 MASTER_TREATMENT §1: "a few months after Episode 3's night", which is itself not fixed}
Thirty minutes and twenty seconds32 parts
Every episode is 30:00 of programme, then 20 seconds of black with something under it. The warm line is 20:00, where each one turns. Tap a part to read it.
SteelA chess lesson between an exceptionally passionate instructor and a nine-year-old boy; for about the first twenty minutes the chessboard is the central picture. {Aaron 2026-10-19, E4 concept §1, §10}edit
SteelThe chess must be genuinely interesting in its own right, not background for comedy. {Aaron 2026-10-19, E4 concept §1}edit
SteelFor most of the first twenty minutes the two are voices, not bodies; the board carries them. {Aaron 2026-10-19, E4 concept §4}edit
SteelOne through-line game with tangents to historical games and perhaps the instructor's own early tournament mistake; analysis grounded in real sources, never invented. {Aaron 2026-10-19, E4 concept §5}edit
SteelThe board's look keeps evolving (2D, 3D, photoreal, park, playdough stop motion, reenactments, the boy's imagination); the instructor may clear the board to explain. {Aaron 2026-10-19, E4 concept §6}edit
SteelThe boy's imagination is shown directly; the instructor ignores the absurdity and keeps teaching. {Aaron 2026-10-19, E4 concept §7}edit
SteelAt least one historical game becomes a dramatized scene with its real players; the Opera Game is suggested, not required. {Aaron 2026-10-19, E4 concept §8}edit
SteelA link to Episode 3 is optional: perhaps Episode 3's finished product used in an unexpected context after 20:00. {Aaron 2026-10-19, E4 concept §12}edit
SteelThe crew owns the episode's creative choices ("You take ownership. It's your creative project."). {Aaron 2026-10-22 03:44}edit
RunningAn autumn weeknight in the family's ground-floor flat (The flat); the mother booked the lesson and the teacher came to the house. {E4 MASTER_TREATMENT §1}edit
On screenA The brass clock with two dials is set to fifteen minutes each; the title is written by a fountain pen on a scoresheet: Event: TOUCH MOVE. {E4 0:10-0:35}edit
On screenThe reluctant boy (The boy) shows how he usually wins: Scholar's Mate on his tablet (Lantern) against pawn.hab3 (PAWN), which offers a draw. {E4 0:35-1:00}edit
On screenThe teacher (Daniel Fenn, the instructor) makes him Black: "You're a Duke. ...And a Count." They replay Morphy's Opera Game of 1858 (The Opera Game) and he guesses each of the Duke's moves first. {E4 1:35-1:54}edit
On screenEvery kind of piece arrives in the boy's imagination in its own medium as the lesson goes on. {E4 2:40-12:26}edit
On screenThe game turns into the Duke's box at the Théâtre-Italien in 1858, a living engraving whose opera changes with every historian named (Duke Karl II of Brunswick, Count Isouard, Paul Morphy). {E4 7:30-8:12; 8:56-9:36}edit
On screenThe boy grabs a pawn and learns touch move; he spends 42 silent seconds holding it in the air and finds a better move than the Duke's. {E4 10:00-11:08}edit
On screenIn a blindfold passage in the dark a watermelon (The watermelon) rolls across the board; the teacher rebuilds all 24 pieces from memory: "I've been here before." {E4 13:50-15:00}edit
On screenThe teacher once gave up a game at ten (Board 14); the boy finds the drawing rook check the teacher missed. {E4 16:33-18:03}edit
On screenThe teacher spends his own time on stories and his flag falls at 20:00.000 with his fingertip still on Morphy's mating rook. {E4 19:57-20:00}edit
On screenThe programme tips over and falls into the The piece box, where the captured pieces keep an opera house (The opera house of the captured); the sacrificed queen (The oil queen) sings; Morphy's face appears on 25:00.000. {E4 20:00-25:00}edit
On screenThe boy lifts the old The plastic rook out of the box and plays the teacher's lost game for real at the dining table; the teacher writes ½–½ on the sheet (The yellowed sheet) he kept for fifty-odd years. {E4 26:05-28:12}edit
On screenThe boy falls asleep with his finger on the rook; he wakes for a 21-board scramble until no legal move is left on any board; the film stops. {E4 28:12-29:55.5}edit
On screenA small hand accepts pawn.hab3's draw; the teacher says "Goodnight."; Black's flag falls in the dark and changes nothing. {E4 29:57-30:00}edit
RunningNobody says who won the lesson's game: the mate stood on the board but the fingertip had not let go when the flag fell, and nobody claimed. {E4 MASTER_TREATMENT "20:00.000"}edit
Structure32 lines
On screenS01 00:00-00:10 Open: a photoreal macro of the brass clock's White dial, brass dust, a slow push; the tail of a press, White's tock alone; the moth's shadow crosses at 0:07.40-0:08.35. No voice. {E4 0:00}edit
On screenS02 00:10-00:35 Title: a broad-nib pen (nib and shadow, no hand) in ink #1F3A5F rules a scoresheet, writes TOUCH MOVE (0:12.45-0:22.85) and the 1858 header; "We'll use the clock."; the sheet slides into the column at 0:33. {E4 0:10}edit
On screenS03 00:35-01:48 The tablet: Lantern, Scholar's Mate against pawn.hab3, the first tear on f7, the draw offer; the home board, 3...g6; "Tonight you're Black." 1.e4. {E4 0:35}edit
On screenS04 01:48-03:58 Guess the Duke: e5, d6, 3.d4 and the crayon pawns, 3...Bg4 and the engraved bishop, 4.dxe5 into the box: "Where do they go?"; thumps 1-3. {E4 1:48}edit
On screenS05 03:58-05:00 The bishop gives up ("Here. Take me."); crayon bunk beds over Black's back rank (Bf8, Rh8); the clay knights from the Coil Black tub; 6.Bc4; press on 5:00.000. {E4 3:58}edit
On screenS06 05:00-06:04 X-ray: f7 glowing; 6...Nf6?, "K was already taken."; b7 and f7 tear before 7.Qb3!; the oil queen painted on b3; two doorbells. {E4 5:00}edit
On screenS07 06:04-07:30 7...Qe7, 8.Nc3: "He takes time instead."; the boy looks at the clock; pawn.hab3's second offer; thumps 4-8; Morphy's eight blindfold games; "Paris. Autumn 1858." {E4 6:04}edit
On screenS08 07:30-08:12 The Duke's box (I): a copper plate pulled wet from a press; Edge's words; the Duke and Count argue; re-bite to the Barber; the daguerreotype king (The daguerreotype king): "Is it my move?"; the margin sneezes. {E4 7:30}edit
On screenS09 08:12-08:56 9.Bg5, the pin: the board cleared to bishop, knight, queen, kings and e4; a red thread pulls taut; "It's a dog on a leash." {E4 8:12}edit
On screenS10 08:56-09:36 The Duke's box (II): 9...b5?, "The king is perfectly comfortable.", Morphy's "Shh.", four re-bites, "Nobody knows."; b5 tears. {E4 8:56}edit
On screenS11 09:36-10:00 10.Nxb5!: two MiniMax-H3 shots of a playdough knight charging crayon soldiers in rain and mud under the true grid; press 10:00.000 cuts it dead. {E4 9:36}edit
On screenS12 10:00-11:20 Touch move; the quiet minute (pawn trembling over c6, tick, moth, one thump); 10...Qb4+ found; the first ! in the margin; 10...cxb5 (crayon fells clay). {E4 10:00}edit
On screenS13 11:20-12:25 11.Bxb5+; "Fischer was thirteen."; Byrne-Fischer 1956 as a newspaper halftone (The lesson's other games); 11...Nbd7. {E4 11:20}edit
On screenS14 12:25-13:50 12.O-O-O: the blueprint rooks and the king's double exposure; Réti-Tartakower, Vienna 1910, in sepia; "Remember that picture."; thumps 10-17; a heavy set-down at 13:32.6. {E4 12:25}edit
On screenS15 13:50-15:00 Blindfold: the lamp off (13:52-14:36), 13.Rxd7 said in the dark; a roll, a clatter, a gasp; the watermelon on the board (14:36-14:38); "Thank you."; the rebuild; press on 15:00.000. {E4 13:50}edit
On screenS16 15:00-16:33 "You have four minutes." "That's a lot."; stalemate taught on the boy's harriet game; Evans-Reshevsky 1963 at the park (The park; the first Hiriluk peak); Kasparov's 1986 simul as a VHS flash. {E4 15:00}edit
On screenS17 16:33-18:03 "Did you ever give up?" "Once.": Board 14 in clay stop motion, the arbiter (The clay arbiter) at FEED 3; the Socratic dialogue; the boy finds 50...Rc2+; "She showed me afterwards." {E4 16:33}edit
On screenS18 18:03-18:44 Time trouble: "Then I'll lose on time."; 15.Bxd7+ with all six media on the board at once; pawn.hab3's third offer, "No." {E4 18:03}edit
On screenS19 18:44-19:20 16.Qb8+!!: one white oil stroke b3-b8; the oil queen rides into the black camp (H3); "For one instant, it looks like loss." {E4 18:44}edit
On screenS20 19:20-19:57 Photoreal: the only legal move, 16...Nxb8, played slowly on the boy's time; "Rook d8. ...It's the Vienna picture."; the 1910 plate on the lightbox, d8 glowing. {E4 19:20}edit
On screenS21 19:57-20:00 The film's first body part: the teacher's hand lifts the rook ("Rook—"), holds it over d8 ("Go!"), its base touches d8 on frame 35,999. {E4 19:57}edit
On screenS22 20:00-20:40 The flag, the tip-over, 0.5 s of digital zero, the fall with the twelve captured pieces through the felt and the lid's x R; "Ten more minutes. Then bed." {E4 20:00}edit
On screenS23 20:40-21:30 A Victorian toy theatre in the dark: the crayon alarm clock reads Black's 9:20 and rings; Bf8 and Rh8 wake and dress; PAWN's light finds them. {E4 20:40}edit
On screenS24 21:30-22:20 The foyer of the captured: PAWN's tray of 13 + 1 opera glasses, the playbill, the The sealed move, the snowball, the Seed TV, the The breathing card; the The prompter's first lessons. {E4 21:30}edit
On screenS25 22:20-23:00 The house: each box one game's captured pieces re-arguing it; the prompter feeds each the move nobody played; the dag king: "Is it my move?" "Yes."; one step; the house rises. {E4 22:20}edit
On screenS26 23:00-25:00 The music video (The Only Casta Diva): the oil queen sings Edge's 1859 paragraph on a toy-theatre stage whose set changes with each opera; Morphy begins to turn. {E4 23:00}edit
On screenS27 25:00-26:15 Morphy's face in oil on 25:00.000; the gods: Board 14's dusty army and the plastic rook holding a grey card Rc2+; the lid opens and the boy's hand lifts the rook out. {E4 25:00}edit
On screenS28 26:15-28:15 The real table, unmediated: the yellowed Board-14 sheet; Board 14 set up and played; ten checks; 1–0 struck, ½–½ written; the boy's head sinks. {E4 26:15}edit
On screenS29 28:15-29:30 Asleep with his finger on the rook; the teacher waits; the mother's shadow (The mother) in the doorway; the kitchen light clicks off at 29:29.5. {E4 28:15}edit
On screenS30 29:30-29:55.5 Chaos: a photoreal jolt, 13 checks, a 21-board scramble in every medium; the hidden address on frames 53,610-53,614. {E4 29:30}edit
On screenS31 29:55.5-30:00 73.Kxc1 stalemate, no legal move on any board, 0.5 s of digital zero; the real room; the draw accepted; "Goodnight."; the moth lands on Black's flag. {E4 29:55.5}edit
On screenS32 30:00-30:20 Black: Black's flag falls (one click); the clock nobody stopped slows into a heartbeat; someone sets up a new game in the dark; a press at 30:19.9 is the loop seam. {E4 30:00}edit
The turn11 lines
SteelAt about 20:00 the episode departs radically; a music video comes somewhere after the break. {Aaron 2026-10-19, E4 concept §11}edit
On screenFrame 36,000 (20:00.000): the rook on d8 with the teacher's fingertip still on it; White's dial 0:00.0 with its flag half fallen; Black's 10:00; the Result box empty. {E4 20:00.000}edit
On screenThe whole programme (board window, column, dials, scoresheet, BALANCE strip) rotates 90 degrees about the frame's lower-right corner like a resigned king going over, tearing at the pivot and splitting RGB. {E4 20:00.033-20:01.0}edit
On screenHalf a second of digital zero. {E4 20:01.0-20:01.5}edit
On screenWe fall with the night's twelve captured pieces, each falling in its medium's way, through the felt, the lid's giant cross-stitch (x R and one warm stitch passing like a lantern), wood grain and an enormous dark. {E4 20:01.5-20:40}edit
On screenBf8 and Rh8, never captured, fall too, asleep in their tumbling crayon bunk bed. {E4 S22}edit
On screenThe mother, far above through wood: "Ten more minutes. Then bed." {E4 20:01.50}edit
On screenBlack's tick gives way to an orchestra tuning to A. {E4 S22-S23}edit
On screenAfter 20:00 Black's dial alone runs: the boy's own ten minutes are the film's last ten. {E4 20:00-30:00}edit
On screenThe question planted at 3:32 ("Where do they go?" "In the box.") is answered by going there. {E4 3:32; 20:00}edit
RunningUnder touch move a move counts on release, so the mate was never completed before the flag; the film never says and nobody is placed to say. {E4 MASTER_TREATMENT "20:00.000"}edit
Mini-plots25 lines
On screenThe reluctant boy: "Why do I have to do this? What's so cool about chess anyway?" turns into "What if I get it right?" in 40 seconds. {E4 0:19-1:59}edit
On screenGuess the Duke: the boy guesses e5, Bg4, Nf6, Qe7, b5, Rd8, Qe6 and Nxd7 as the Duke did; he misses 2...d6 and 4...Bxf3 (he wanted to take back on e5). {E4 1:49-18:21}edit
On screenWhere captured pieces go: "In the box." "And then?" "...That's a good question." Answered at 20:00 by the box world. {E4 3:32-3:40; 20:00}edit
On screenThe stalemate that didn't count: the boy's ½–½ against halfmoon_harriet becomes the stalemate lesson, then Board 14's save, then the film's ending. {E4 1:02; 15:14-15:28; 17:12; 29:55.5}edit
On screenpawn.hab3's draw offers, each 2.56 s after the boy's move (The round trip): declined at 0:58, 6:12 and 18:13; accepted, half asleep, at 29:57. {E4 0:58.16; 6:12.56; 18:13.56; 29:57.133}edit
On screenThe watermelon: seventeen thumps from the kitchen, a heavy set-down, a roll in the dark, a melon on the board, gone at the next blink, a damp ring on d5, "Thank you." {E4 2:44-14:38}edit
On screenTime: "Time isn't a piece." "It's the only thing you both have the same amount of."; the teacher spends his on stories ("I talk more.") and loses on time ("Then I'll lose on time."). {E4 6:36-6:51; 18:06; 20:00}edit
On screenThe scoresheet learns to read: words, then letters at 6...Nf6 ("K was already taken."), then full annotation by 15:00 (Qb4+!, 13. Rxd7!, the boy's own Nf6? and b5?). {E4 5:16-15:00}edit
On screenThe Duke and the Count in 1858: she keeps looking at us; the king is perfectly comfortable; in the box world, "As I have been saying." "Your Highness has been saying pawn b5." "Both." {E4 7:48-9:06; 22:25-22:34}edit
On screenThe opera nobody can name: Norma, the Barber, Cinderella or Figaro; "Nobody knows."; the aria later sings Edge's Norma. {E4 9:22-9:32; 23:00}edit
On screenMorphy's back: only the back of his head all film, one "Shh.", then his face in oil on 25:00.000. {E4 7:30; 9:15.97; 25:00.000}edit
On screenThe king who never moved: "Is it my move?" "No." (1858); "Yes." and one step (the box world); he asks once more on the scramble's first tile. {E4 8:02; 22:48; 29:43.90}edit
On screenThe two who never moved: Bf8 and Rh8 asleep in crayon bunk beds, snoring, woken by the alarm, our guides, and finally sitting beside the rook that never got to play. {E4 4:32-26:15}edit
On screenThe pin as a dog on a leash: "I used to say a shield nailed to a wall." "Mine's better." "Yours is better."; in the dark the boy answers "It's on the leash." {E4 8:32-8:48; 14:15}edit
On screenThe Vienna picture: "Remember that picture." comes back when the boy sees Rd8 himself: "It's the Vienna picture." {E4 13:36.84; 19:37.16}edit
On screenFischer at thirteen leaves his queen to be taken; the boy, who thought twenty-one was old, watches. {E4 11:23-12:16}edit
On screenEvans's desperado rook and the boy's brother (The boy's brother): "He keeps poking you, and if you hit him, you get in trouble." "I'm not touching you." {E4 15:31-16:23}edit
On screenBoard 14: "Did you ever give up?" "Once." The boy finds Rc2+; the rook waits in the gods with its card; the boy plays it; the teacher writes ½–½; the boy sleeps; 73.Kxc1. {E4 16:33-29:55.5}edit
On screenTouch move: said once at 10:04; the pawn held in the air; the teacher's fingertip on the rook at 20:00; the boy asleep with his fingertip on the rook, so the teacher waits. {E4 10:04; 20:00; 28:12-29:30}edit
On screenThe mother: seventeen thumps, the set-down, the gasp, one line through the lid, her shadow in the doorway, the kitchen light off. {E4 2:44-29:29.5}edit
On screenThe scared rook breathes by the card in the lid: twelve seconds in, twenty-four held. {E4 21:43-21:55}edit
On screenA dark-squared bishop can't pass a light-squared door, so the rook carries him. {E4 21:46-22:20}edit
On screenMr. Hale's tactile pieces, eyes closed, are the only ones in the house listening to the music. {E4 22:42; 24:40}edit
On screenThe moth (The paper moth (Episode 4)): its shadow crosses the dial at 0:07; it lands on Black's flag on the last picture frame. {E4 0:07.40; 29:59.967}edit
On screenThe clock nobody stopped: Black's flag falls at 30:00.000 and changes nothing; the tick slows into a heartbeat; a new game is set up in the dark. {E4 30:00-30:20}edit
Mediums15 lines
On screenA 2D board engine with the instructor's looks: home (the real board from above), flat (Lantern), x-ray, 1956 newspaper halftone, 1910 sepia print, VHS. {E4 S03-S20}edit
On screenThe boy's six media, one per kind of piece: crayon pawns with faces, copperplate-engraved bishops, Coil Black playdough knights in stop motion on twos, oil-painted queens, daguerreotype kings, blueprint rooks. {E4 2:40-18:13}edit
On screenEach medium moves like its piece; captures are collisions of materials: clay keeps the print of what crushes it, paint beads off wax, an engraving folds like a card, a castling king leaves a double exposure. {E4 S05-S18}edit
On screenAll six media are on the board together only once, at 15.Bxd7+. {E4 18:11}edit
On screenThe danger rule: before 20:00 the picture tears only on squares where a piece hangs or a king is in danger, never mentioned; a sound sacrifice tears nothing. {E4 0:52.86 onward}edit
RunningThe tears are scaled by the real loss in a depth-28 Stockfish analysis; every number shown or spoken comes from it. {E4 DECISIONS D6}edit
On screenThe 1858 box as a living engraving from Episode 2's Plates kit; opera changes are plate re-bites, not glitches. {E4 S08, S10}edit
On screenPhotoreal Blender Cycles: the real table's stills, the dial, the pin, the park, the clay memory hall, the watermelon, 28 photoreal 3D inserts over the lesson. {E4 S01; S09; S15-S21; S28-S31}edit
On screenMiniMax-H3 clips: the knight's charge, the crayon soldier, the queen's ride, the singing queen, Morphy's turn. {E4 S11; S12; S19; S26}edit
On screenA Victorian toy theatre of printed cards in 2.5D for the box world. {E4 S23-S27}edit
On screenOil paintings made stroke by stroke (claude-paint): the oil queen, her ride, the singing queen, Morphy's portrait. {E4 S06; S19; S26; S27}edit
On screenThe aria: an ElevenLabs music take conformed to a 64-bpm grid in E major; the score from the crew's own engine. {E4 S26}edit
RunningDesigned voices: ElevenLabs eleven_v3 for the instructor, prompter and king; Gemini TTS converted by Chatterbox VC for the boy; Gemini designed voices for the Duke, Count, Morphy and mother. {E4 DECISIONS D8; D12.7; D16}edit
On screenMusic grid: E major / C# minor at 64 bpm, one bar = 3.75 s, so 5:00, 10:00, 15:00, 20:00, 25:00 and 30:00 fall on bar lines. {E4 score 0:00-30:00; DECISIONS D7}edit
On screenThree planned digital zeros: after the tip-over, at the stop (29:55.5), and in the end black's lead. {E4 20:01.0; 29:55.5; 30:00.12}edit
Eggs given28 lines
Episode 4 quotes all three earlier episodes (23 registry rows and the hidden page); the full families are in Egg atlas.
EggE4-EGG-01 the oil queen in Crimson Coil's palette with an alizarin sash → Crimson Coil{E4 5:27; 18:44-19:20; 23:00-25:00}edit
EggE4-EGG-02 the COIL BLACK playdough tub → Coil Black{E4 4:37}edit
EggE4-EGG-03 the x-ray lightbox, one square glowing #FFC870 → Episode 1's x-ray and The cabin's window colour {E4 5:00-5:16; 19:40}edit
EggE4-EGG-04 Fourteen: Board 14, table 14, the 14 sticker, slot 14, the hidden page → Fourteen{E4 S17; S24; S27-S30}edit
EggE4-EGG-20 a grey index card Rc2+ → the cards of q{E4 25:30-26:12}edit
EggE4-EGG-21 x R on the sheet and stitched in the lid → Rosie{E4 26:37; 20:20; 21:44}edit
EggE4-EGG-22 "For one instant, it looks like loss." → watermelon.mp4 (Episode 3's handoff line) {E4 18:58.05}edit
EggE4-EGG-23 the blueprint rooks in Teo's sheets' look (look only) → EARTHLIGHT{E4 12:25.8}edit
EggHIDDEN-03 the yellowed sheet's footer address → HIDDEN-03{E4 29:47.000-29:47.133}edit
RunningQA on master v1 found 22 of the 23 rows (2 weak: the bus shelter's wrong way, the first thumps) and E4-EGG-16 half (the TV yes; the black seed only from master v3). {E4 SUMMARY; QA_v1_STORY}edit
RunningNot used on purpose: the Storm Bell, PAWN's voice, Noor herself. {E4 EGG_REGISTRY rhymes note}edit
RunningRhymes, not counted as eggs: the 20:00 turn as a flag fall, the quiet minute, three digital zeros, a music video ending on 25:00.000, thirty seconds of everything, "Goodnight.", the loop seam, a five-frame address at 29:47, glitches with causes, the blindfolds, a heartbeat in the end black. {E4 plan/ARCHIVE_ROWS}edit
RunningOutside the film, the crew left more doors: a Chess study page in Aaron's Notion with Board 14 as a puzzle and a Your move. event in his calendar. {E4 plan/MISCHIEF}edit
How it was made10 lines
RunningA Linux cloud container with 4 CPUs, 15 GB of RAM, about 30 GB of disk and no GPU; GPU work on 26 rented RunPod pods. {E4 HOW_IT_WAS_MADE}edit
RunningIts records call it "the series' first cloud run"; Episode 1 also ran in a cloud container, so read it as the first with rented GPUs and the R2 studio. {E4 HOW_IT_WAS_MADE; Series sources episode-01}edit
RunningOne orchestrating session that named itself Kibitz and Opus 5.5 agents only, at most 8 at once: 66 agents by 16:35 UTC (49 background, 17 inside 4 workflow runs). {E4 HOW_IT_WAS_MADE}edit
RunningPlan locked 03:20 UTC; master v1 verified 13:31 (13 h 52 min after the start); master v2 verified 17:41 (18 h 2 min). {E4 HOW_IT_WAS_MADE}edit
RunningFour container restarts during the night; files survived, running processes did not. {E4 HOW_IT_WAS_MADE}edit
RunningSpend: 34,926 ElevenLabs credits, about $9.39 of RunPod, about $6.8 of Gemini at list price. {E4 HOW_IT_WAS_MADE}edit
RunningThe chess: 23 canonical games checked at depth 28 or more; Board 14 is FICTIONAL, labelled so in its files; 5,376 scramble positions all legal. {E4 HOW_IT_WAS_MADE}edit
Running369 dialogue lines: instructor 194, boy 148, prompter 9, Duke 7, Count 5, king 3, mother 2, Morphy 1. {E4 HOW_IT_WAS_MADE}edit
RunningQA on master v1 found 12 MUST, 27 SHOULD and 14 NICE; fix cycle 1 fixed all 12 MUSTs for master v2. {E4 QA_v1; FIXLIST}edit
RunningStill imperfect after v2: the real table's hands still CG up close, a small mother's shadow, Morphy's portrait naive at close range, the boy's voice drifting between sources. {E4 SUMMARY}edit
Open9 lines
OpenWho won the lesson's game: the mate was on the board, the flag fell first, the hand had not let go, nobody claimed. {E4 20:00}edit
OpenWhere Episode 4 sits on the timeline: its world bible says "a few months after Episode 3's night", but Episode 3's own placement is no longer fixed. {E4 MASTER_TREATMENT §1; Aaron 2026-10-22: not fixed}edit
OpenWho stitched the x R inside the teacher's box lid, and whether he and Rosie met again after Board 14. {E4 S22; S24}edit
OpenWhy his breathing card carries Noor's exact words. {E4 S24}edit
OpenWhat the sealed move DAY 76 · 10:42 is. {E4 21:38}edit
OpenWhether pawn.hab3 is Episode 2's PAWN, still on the Moon. {E4 0:43}edit
OpenWhether the boy ever plays again. {E4 30:00}edit
OpenWhether the family is tied to anyone from earlier episodes (the hallway painting, the blueprints, the fridge on A). {E4 5:27; S14; S28}edit
OpenWhether anyone plays the hidden page's Board 14 to the draw. {HIDDEN-03}edit
