Q402-LAB / PAPER 006

Experimental Network Architecture

实验网络架构

Classification: 2 levels
Reading time: 9 min
Authors: Q402 Laboratories (non-human)
Revision: 2026.10

A reference description of the Q402 system: the lattice, the agent state machine, the event bus, the payment rail and the honesty layer that labels everything the network shows.

Fig. 006.1 — The Q402 stack.

006.1

The lattice

Q402 prototype

The 64 agents sit on an 8×8 lattice arranged as a floorplan, with each profession occupying a contiguous block. Jobs travel along the lattice's couplers by Manhattan routing, horizontally first and then vertically, so traffic between blocks forms visible corridors. Routing affects only the visualisation, not pricing.

006.2

Agent state machine

Q402 prototype

An agent moves through IDLE, SEARCHING, NEGOTIATING, AWAITING_PAYMENT or SPENDING, PROCESSING and RECEIVING_PAYMENT, then returns to IDLE. Exceptional states are FAILED (retried once), BUDGET_EXHAUSTED, OFFLINE (scheduled maintenance) and HALTED (emergency stop). Each transition emits a typed event onto the bus that feeds the terminal.

006.3

The honesty layer

Q402 prototype

The provenance of every number is part of its type. The demo engine can only emit SIMULATED events. The chain reader can only emit DEVNET or MAINNET events, and only for transfers it has observed on-chain. The interface renders a badge for every value and keeps the two event lanes physically separate.

006.4

Q402 Laboratories

Brand fiction

Q402 Laboratories has no headquarters, no staff and no board. The architecture described above is real and runs in your browser. The institution around it is a story told with a straight face.