diff --git a/.github/workflows/diag.yml b/.github/workflows/diag.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 4fe34ba..0000000
--- a/.github/workflows/diag.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,123 +0,0 @@
-# SPDX-License-Identifier: MPL-2.0
-# TEMPORARY diagnostic workflow. It exists so that the investigation of the
-# three red Julia checks (hyperpolymath/InvestigativeJournalism.jl#73) can be
-# read from outside the runner: GitHub job logs are served from
-# objects.githubusercontent.com, which is not reachable from the environment
-# coordinating this work, so the workflow records its own output in the branch
-# instead. Removed again before the pull request is opened for review.
-name: CI Diagnostic (temporary)
-
-on:
-  push:
-    branches: ['arena/**']
-  workflow_dispatch:
-
-permissions:
-  contents: write
-
-concurrency:
-  group: diag-${{ github.ref }}
-  cancel-in-progress: true
-
-jobs:
-  diagnose:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    timeout-minutes: 60
-
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@34e114876b0b11c390a56381ad16ebd13914f8d5 # v4
-
-      - uses: julia-actions/setup-julia@fa02766e078afaaf09b14210362cee14137e6a32 # v3.0.2
-        with:
-          version: '1.11'
-
-      - uses: julia-actions/cache@a45e8fa8be21c18a06b7177052533149e61e9b38 # v3.1.0
-
-      - name: Install hyperpolymath-internal Julia deps from git
-        run: |
-          julia --project=. -e '
-            using Pkg
-            Pkg.add([
-              Pkg.PackageSpec(url="https://github.com/hyperpolymath/Cliodynamics.jl"),
-              Pkg.PackageSpec(url="https://github.com/hyperpolymath/Causals.jl"),
-              Pkg.PackageSpec(url="https://github.com/hyperpolymath/ZeroProb.jl"),
-              Pkg.PackageSpec(url="https://github.com/hyperpolymath/AcceleratorGate.jl"),
-            ])
-          '
-
-      - name: Reproduce the undeclared-dependency failure mode
-        continue-on-error: true
-        run: |
-          set -x
-          {
-            echo "### minimal reproduction: using Luxor inside a package that does not declare it"
-            echo '```'
-            REPRO=$(mktemp -d)
-            mkdir -p "$REPRO/src"
-            printf 'name = "MinRepro"\nuuid = "11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555"\nversion = "0.1.0"\n' > "$REPRO/Project.toml"
-            printf 'module MinRepro\nusing Luxor\nend\n' > "$REPRO/src/MinRepro.jl"
-            ENVDIR=$(mktemp -d)
-            REPRO="$REPRO" ENVDIR="$ENVDIR" julia -e '
-              using Pkg
-              Pkg.activate(ENV["ENVDIR"])
-              Pkg.add("Luxor")
-              Pkg.develop(path=ENV["REPRO"])
-              try
-                using MinRepro
-                println("UNEXPECTED: MinRepro loaded")
-              catch err
-                println("REPRO FAILURE: ", sprint(showerror, err))
-              end
-            ' 2>&1 | tail -n 30
-            echo '```'
-            echo
-            echo "### the same using-Luxor line in this repository"
-            echo '```'
-            grep -rn "using Luxor" src/ || true
-            echo '```'
-          } > /tmp/repro.txt 2>&1 || true
-          cat /tmp/repro.txt
-
-      - name: Run the CI test command and capture the output
-        continue-on-error: true
-        run: |
-          set -x
-          {
-            echo "### julia --version"
-            julia --version
-            echo
-            echo "### using InvestigativeJournalism"
-            julia --project=. -e 'using InvestigativeJournalism; println("LOAD OK")' 2>&1 | tail -n 60
-            echo
-            echo "### Pkg.status()"
-            julia --project=. -e 'using Pkg; Pkg.status()' 2>&1 | tail -n 80
-            echo
-            echo "### Pkg.test() — same command as .github/workflows/ci.yml"
-            julia --project=. -e 'using Pkg; Pkg.Registry.add("General"); Pkg.Registry.add(Pkg.RegistrySpec(url="https://github.com/hyperpolymath/julia-professional-registry.git")); Pkg.instantiate(); Pkg.build(); Pkg.test()' 2>&1
-            echo
-            echo "TEST COMMAND EXIT CODE: $?"
-          } > /tmp/ci-run.txt 2>&1 || true
-          {
-            echo "## CI diagnostic for $GITHUB_SHA"
-            echo
-            cat /tmp/repro.txt 2>/dev/null || true
-            echo
-            echo "### tail of the test run (600 lines)"
-            echo '```'
-            tail -n 600 /tmp/ci-run.txt 2>/dev/null || true
-            echo '```'
-          } > CI-DIAG.txt || true
-          wc -l CI-DIAG.txt || true
-
-      - name: Commit the diagnostic output back to the branch
-        if: always()
-        run: |
-          git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
-          git config user.email "41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
-          git add -f CI-DIAG.txt
-          if git diff --cached --quiet; then
-            echo "nothing to commit"
-          else
-            git commit -m "chore(diag): capture CI output for ${GITHUB_SHA} [skip ci]"
-            git push origin "HEAD:${GITHUB_REF_NAME}"
-          fi
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.adoc b/CHANGELOG.adoc
index 6f77c0d..8662ff2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.adoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.adoc
@@ -29,6 +29,14 @@ https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html[Semantic Versioning].
   `ArgumentError` instead of exercising the code. Tests now write a real
   embedded PNG fixture to a temp directory and, separately, pin the intended
   "missing file is rejected, not scored" behaviour.
+* `src/storytelling/timelines.jl:43-44` used the invalid escape `\\_` in the
+  ASCII timeline banner, and `src/storage/verisim_bridge.jl:37` interpolated
+  `query` after closing the log string
+  (`println("Executing VQL: "$query" ⚡")`). Both are Julia parse errors, so
+  `using InvestigativeJournalism` raised `LoadError: ParseError` and no test
+  ran on any leg (`Julia 1.10 - ubuntu-latest`, `Julia 1.11 - ubuntu-latest`,
+  `Julia 1.11 - macos-latest`). The backslash is doubled, and the query is
+  interpolated inside the string.
 
 ==== Changed
 
@@ -43,4 +51,8 @@ https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html[Semantic Versioning].
   No file under `src/`, `test/`, `benches/`, `examples/`, `ffi/` or `docs/`
   referenced any of them; they were declared packages that every CI job paid
   to download and precompile. Re-add each one with its feature.
+* `.github/workflows/diag.yml`, a temporary diagnostic workflow whose only job
+  was to copy runner output back into the repository while these failures were
+  being investigated. It was carried into `main` by the squash commit of the
+  previous pull request and is not part of the project's CI.
 
diff --git a/src/storage/verisim_bridge.jl b/src/storage/verisim_bridge.jl
index ea557f7..292a2ed 100644
--- a/src/storage/verisim_bridge.jl
+++ b/src/storage/verisim_bridge.jl
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ Executes a Veridical Query Language (VQL) query against the investigative databa
 Example: "SELECT * FROM investigation WHERE DRIFT < 0.1 AND MODALITY = 'graph'"
 """
 function vql_query(query::String)
-    println("Executing VQL: "$query" ⚡")
+    println("Executing VQL: $query ⚡")
     # Return mock results
     return []
 end
diff --git a/src/storytelling/timelines.jl b/src/storytelling/timelines.jl
index 21735ff..a64f2ee 100644
--- a/src/storytelling/timelines.jl
+++ b/src/storytelling/timelines.jl
@@ -40,8 +40,8 @@ Prints an ASCII 'git-style' branching timeline to the console.
 function visualize_git_timeline()
     # In a real implementation, this would use a graph renderer
     println("MASTER:  *---*---*---*")
-    println("LEAK_V1:      \_*___*")
-    println("ALT_HIST:          \_*")
+    println("LEAK_V1:      \\_*___*")
+    println("ALT_HIST:          \\_*")
 end
 
 end # module