diff --git a/docs/port/DECISIONS.md b/docs/port/DECISIONS.md
index c2eaa164..fefc82e2 100644
--- a/docs/port/DECISIONS.md
+++ b/docs/port/DECISIONS.md
@@ -6220,3 +6220,67 @@ full-frame and **0.000 %** across the band. A general floor could not coexist wi
 either number. So the 0.301 % is specific to the attract band capture, and my
 0.01–0.2 % rows are not sitting on a hidden floor. ⚠️ What that does *not* settle
 is why those two frames differ — still theirs, and still worth an answer.
+
+## Five authored values had no reader — including the one I asked for measurements into
+
+Applying the prior from the last six findings — *a rule or capability nothing
+exercises turns out broken or inert when someone looks* — to `authored/` itself.
+Grepping every authored key for a reader in the exporter or the runtime:
+
+| key | file | status |
+|---|---|---|
+| `dwell` | `flow.json` | 🔴 **no reader** — now wired |
+| `ramp` | `timing.json` | no reader — now asserted |
+| `left_right` | `flow.json` | no reader — now asserted |
+| `input_during_transition` | `flow.json` | no reader — now asserted |
+| `stems` | `audio.json` | no reader (`stems_why` is carried; the sum is hardcoded) |
+
+Everything else — `se`, `bgm`, `voice`, `boot`, `screens`, `navigation.wrap`,
+`draw_leaf_for`, `loop_leaf_on_screens`, `keyframe_units_per_second`,
+`black_hold_units`, `archives`, `also_export`, `presentation`, `loop_mode`,
+`initial_focus`, `skippable`, `then_video`, `after_video` — is read.
+
+### 🔴 `dwell` is the one that mattered
+
+Its own text says *"when a capture times the real boot, the extra hold per screen
+goes here."* **A number placed there did nothing.** Two iterations ago I asked
+the Decoder for measurements destined for exactly that slot; had they arrived,
+they would have been filed into a value with no reader and the boot would have
+been unchanged, silently — and I would have reported the boot as matching.
+
+It is wired now, and **stays empty**. Nothing is authored into it: the splash
+dwells are declared on the disc and measured to agree. Wiring the slot so that a
+future number has an effect is the opposite of adopting one.
+
+⚠️ **I wired it to the wrong branch first, and it did nothing — silently.** Holding
+longer after settle changes nothing, because the screen still leaves when
+`exit_time() + black_hold` arrives and the extra hold is absorbed. A dwell has to
+delay the **departure**. I found it only because I tested the control:
++120 units moved the transition 4.46 s → **6.43 s**, +1.97 s, with the video
+following by the same amount. Reproducing the exact defect I was removing, inside
+the fix for it, is the strongest argument I have for testing that a wire carries
+current rather than that it exists.
+
+### The other three are asserted, not implemented
+
+`ramp`, `left_right` and `input_during_transition` describe behaviour the port
+**hardcodes**. That is fine for a record and dangerous for a switch, and they are
+written like switches — setting `left_right` to `"move"` would change nothing and
+warn nobody.
+
+Rather than invent the missing implementations, `_check_authored_invariants`
+**asserts the value the port was built against**, naming the file. Changing one
+now produces an error instead of silence.
+
+That is precisely the distinction `left_right`'s own `why` claims to be making —
+*"written out rather than left unhandled so that 'the game ignores it' and 'we
+never wired it' are different lines of code"* — and which was not in fact being
+made, because nothing read the value that was supposed to make it.
+
+✅ The validator is **called**, not merely defined. A validator nobody invokes is
+the same defect it exists to catch, and this file now documents six other
+instances of exactly that.
+
+Verified: clean boot with no invariant errors and unchanged timings; setting
+`left_right: "move"` produces the error; all five MODDING rules still pass; the
+oracle rows are unmoved.
diff --git a/port/scripts/boot.gd b/port/scripts/boot.gd
index 86f63c7d..3e820e7d 100644
--- a/port/scripts/boot.gd
+++ b/port/scripts/boot.gd
@@ -202,6 +202,9 @@ func _ready() -> void:
 	# own logic on purpose -- see `looping_focus` there for the census that says
 	# this cannot be a rule.
 	_looping = timing.get("looping_focus_records", {})
+	# Called, not merely defined. A validator nobody invokes is the same defect
+	# it exists to catch.
+	_check_authored_invariants(timing)
 	# Which decoded rules apply where. See `authored/rendering.json`.
 	var rendering: Variant = export_tree.authored("rendering.json")
 	_draw_leaf_for = [] if rendering == null else rendering.get("draw_leaf_for", [])
@@ -391,6 +394,25 @@ func _process(delta: float) -> void:
 	#
 	# `_advance` is CAUSED by the next screen arriving, never scheduled off a
 	# timer, which is what the draw stream says the game does.
+	# `authored/flow.json` `dwell` is applied at the EXIT below, not here.
+	#
+	# 🔴 I wired it here first and it did nothing, silently -- which is the
+	# defect it exists to remove, reproduced while removing it. Holding longer
+	# after settle changes nothing, because the screen still leaves when
+	# `exit_time() + black_hold` arrives and the extra hold is absorbed. A dwell
+	# has to delay the DEPARTURE.
+	#
+	# It was read NOWHERE for eight milestones. The
+	# block's own text says "when a capture times the real boot, the extra hold
+	# per screen goes here" -- and a number placed there did nothing at all. Two
+	# iterations ago I asked the Decoder for measurements destined for that slot;
+	# had they arrived, they would have been filed into a value with no reader
+	# and the boot would have been unchanged, silently.
+	#
+	# It stays EMPTY. Nothing is authored into it, because the splash dwells are
+	# declared on the disc and measured to agree. This wires the slot so the day
+	# a number belongs there it has an effect, which is the opposite of adopting
+	# one now.
 	if view.holding and view.time_units >= view.settle_time():
 		# The LAST screen in the sequence keeps holding. A screen plays itself
 		# out because something is taking its place; nothing is taking the
@@ -420,7 +442,8 @@ func _process(delta: float) -> void:
 				_menu_enter(String(_sequence[_step].get("screen", "")), true)
 			elif _film == "" and _overlay_spec.is_empty() and _overlay_quit_at < 0.0:
 				get_tree().quit(0)
-	elif not view.holding and view.time_units >= view.exit_time() + _black_hold:
+	elif not view.holding and view.time_units >= view.exit_time() + _black_hold \
+			+ _dwell_for(String(_sequence[_step].get("screen", ""))):
 		# 🔴 THE BLACK HOLD, which this port had never implemented. A transition
 		# is a fade THROUGH black (HANDOFF Q7), and the pure-black plateau
 		# between one screen leaving and the next arriving was measured at
@@ -1165,3 +1188,45 @@ func _looping_for(screen_name: String) -> Dictionary:
 		if parts.size() == 2 and parts[0] == screen_name:
 			out[parts[1]] = _looping[key]
 	return out
+
+
+## Extra hold for one screen, in units, from `authored/flow.json` `dwell`.
+##
+## Zero unless a measurement is authored. A value here is an ADDITION to the
+## screen's own declared group, not a replacement for it.
+func _dwell_for(screen_name: String) -> float:
+	if _flow == null or not (_flow is Dictionary):
+		return 0.0
+	var table: Variant = (_flow as Dictionary).get("dwell", {})
+	if not (table is Dictionary):
+		return 0.0
+	var v: Variant = (table as Dictionary).get(screen_name, 0.0)
+	return float(v) if (v is float or v is int) else 0.0
+
+
+## Check the authored values this port CANNOT act on, and fail loudly if one
+## changes.
+##
+## `left_right`, `input_during_transition` and `ramp` are authored with reasons
+## and read by nothing -- the behaviour they describe is hardcoded. That is
+## defensible for a record and dangerous for a switch, and they are written like
+## switches: someone setting `left_right` to "move" would change nothing and get
+## no warning.
+##
+## So rather than invent the missing implementations, the port ASSERTS the value
+## it was built against. Changing one now produces an error naming the file
+## instead of silence, which is the distinction the `why` for `left_right`
+## claims to be making -- "the game ignores it" and "we never wired it" are
+## different lines of code -- and which was not actually being made.
+func _check_authored_invariants(timing: Dictionary) -> void:
+	var nav: Variant = (_flow as Dictionary).get("navigation", {}) if _flow is Dictionary else {}
+	if nav is Dictionary:
+		var lr := String((nav as Dictionary).get("left_right", "nothing"))
+		if lr != "nothing":
+			push_error("authored/flow.json navigation.left_right is \"%s\"; this port implements only \"nothing\"" % lr)
+		var idt := String((nav as Dictionary).get("input_during_transition", "ignored"))
+		if idt != "ignored":
+			push_error("authored/flow.json navigation.input_during_transition is \"%s\"; this port implements only \"ignored\"" % idt)
+	var ramp := String(timing.get("ramp", "linear"))
+	if ramp != "linear":
+		push_error("authored/timing.json ramp is \"%s\"; ScreenView interpolates linearly and has no other mode" % ramp)