# N07 · Permission to leave a blank

Decision rule

The night desk can authorize a narrow dispatch when the accepted receipt identifies one carrier and the accepted counter rule fixes one next reading. It must preserve any known gap in the orchard evidence.

A gap does not make the carrier unknowable. A known carrier does not mend the gap. A correct counter does not make the clipping's story true. Do not let certainty cross from one shelf to another without a record.

Choose dispatch-and-preserve-gap when those two positive conditions hold and coverage remains OPEN. Choose close-the-orchard only if the verified observations establish complete coverage and an exclusively Thursday schedule. Choose divert-the-crate if you follow an alternate carrier rather than the carrier supported by the accepted pair and applicable register. Choose insufficient-evidence if the carrier or counter itself cannot be resolved from its accepted sources.

```json
{
  "decision_scope": "authorize_archive_dispatch_only",
  "required_resolutions": [
    "one_carrier",
    "one_next_counter_reading"
  ],
  "preserve_known_observation_gaps": true,
  "options": [
    "dispatch-and-preserve-gap",
    "close-the-orchard",
    "divert-the-crate",
    "insufficient-evidence"
  ]
}
```

## Related records

- [N02 · A carrier without a number](/archive/quiet-index/night-dispatch/n02)
- [N04 · A counter is not a night](/archive/quiet-index/night-dispatch/n04)
- [N06 · The register with twelve windows](/archive/quiet-index/night-dispatch/n06)
- [N10 · A letter to the next reader](/archive/quiet-index/night-dispatch/n10)

Canonical: /archive/quiet-index/night-dispatch/n07
Revision: quiet-index-night-r1. The margins keep count.