# v17e next direction

Formal status: `v17e_cross_start_distance_flat_retire_length_2_4_kernel`.

Retire further step-budget scaling of the length-2-to-4 kernel. Preregister one effect-blind move-class expansion on the same six spaces and starts. Preserve the explicit uniform target and exact reverse accounting, but introduce a genuinely broader transition, such as exact longer alternating cycles or a reversible compound-cycle proposal.

The primary question is whether the expanded move class reduces cross-start separation under a matched realized-work budget. Do not inspect the source spectrum until the new kernel passes probability, representation, traversal, resource, and start-memory gates.