diff --git a/fktry/src/audio/compliance.test.ts b/fktry/src/audio/compliance.test.ts
index 2f8700b..a635559 100644
--- a/fktry/src/audio/compliance.test.ts
+++ b/fktry/src/audio/compliance.test.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ import { COMPLIANCE_HZ, RATIFY_TRIAD } from './sfx';
 
 function unit(
   id: number,
-  phase: string,
+  phase: CorrectionUnit['phase'], // v9.1: the union is pinned now — a typo'd phase fails here
   kind: CorrectionUnit['kind'] = 'checksum-warden',
 ): CorrectionUnit {
   return { id, kind, pos: { x: 0, y: 0 }, phase, progress: 0 };
diff --git a/fktry/src/contracts.ts b/fktry/src/contracts.ts
index 9b8a68d..f8309e3 100644
--- a/fktry/src/contracts.ts
+++ b/fktry/src/contracts.ts
@@ -168,7 +168,11 @@ export interface CorrectionUnit {
   pos: Vec2;
   /** v9.1 PINNED (SCREEN string-matches this; a free string was a silent-miss trap):
    * the full lifecycle vocabulary. SIM: request additions via NOTES, never invent. */
-  phase: 'approach' | 'audit' | 'tether' | 'prescan' | 'stasis' | 'leaving';
+  phase: 'notice' | 'approach' | 'audit' | 'tether' | 'prescan' | 'stasis' | 'leaving';
+  // 'notice' = the mandated gap between the fax and the act — the unit exists,
+  // is visible on approach vectors, but has not begun. (Added v9.1 when the pin
+  // caught SIM's in-flight code already using it — the union earned its keep in
+  // its first ten minutes.)
   progress: number;                 // 0..1 of current phase
   target?: number;                  // warden: audited entity; gunship: the PARITY ANCHOR
   rect?: { x: number; y: number; w: number; h: number }; // gunship sector / auditor stasis