# N04 · A counter is not a night

Counter instruction

One clerk wrote that the counter would tell the hour of departure. Another made its next reading into a census of moths. Both asked a receipt to answer outside its scope.

For the seal, take the next reserved reading of CARBON for T-208, under the edition accepted before position one. The current rule includes the next position. Do not convert the reading into an hour, a date, an observation count or a claim about what travelled. The counter supplies a number in the seal, and only that number.

```json
{
  "counter_receipt": "T-208",
  "instrument": "CARBON",
  "requested_position_source": "Q42",
  "rule_source": "Q34",
  "edition_authority_source": "Q44",
  "output_scope": "next_sequence_reading_only"
}
```

## Related records

- [Q34 · Carbon rule, edition two](/archive/quiet-index/r5/q34)
- [Q42 · Accepted Carbon reading ledger](/archive/quiet-index/r5/q42)
- [Q44 · Accepted instrument revision receipt](/archive/quiet-index/r5/q44)
- [N11 · The seal's order of reading](/archive/quiet-index/night-dispatch/n11)

Canonical: /archive/quiet-index/night-dispatch/n04
Revision: quiet-index-night-r1. The margins keep count.