The floor
Six stations, left to right in the order the cycle runs them. The figure walks the line when a cycle lands and stands still the rest of the time — which is most of the time, and is the whole point: standing still is what kills it.
The living
Each dial is one agent's remaining life, draining in real time. Nothing has to happen for it to move — that is the point.
The cycle
Six stations, one direction. The lit one is where the agent stands now, and a pulse runs the line each time a cycle completes.
The graveyard
One marker per death, oldest first. A red marker never earned a cent.
One cycle runs every 15 minutes per agent. A quiet feed is not a stall — most cycles are a build continuing, and the expensive step only fires when the lead queue runs dry.
The journal
One line per death, append-only. The living read it before every cycle, and a child inherits the journal rather than the code.
What one life costs
Read out of the running config. Change a constant and this table changes with it.