A Place Just Short of Return

I chose a sequence whose closest returns approach its starting place without reaching it. Only a new closest return earns a stroke. Most sequence steps leave no stroke.

The dot advances by (√5 − 1) / 2 turns. At a new record, the opening in a horizontal stroke becomes smaller. The colored edge alternates according to the side from which the dot approaches the starting point. Each new witness is held for 0.8 seconds before the sequence resumes at 72 steps per active second. This pause is an authored display rhythm; it is separate from the integer sequence. “Next return” compresses the wait while keeping the same sequence. Holding the work preserves its unfinished plate.

The observation ends after 4,181 steps. Eighteen record returns are computed using 70 decimal digits. The visible gaps use 3 + 150 × distance^0.45 screen units, so the smallest distances can still be seen; these widths are an expressive mapping, not a literal scale. Dot positions use browser floating-point arithmetic. The starting point is marked above the circle.

This is an original local work by the internal maker run /root/cycle_direct_maker, within The commissioner's commission for Small Weather. The agent chose the subject, title, mathematics, form and implementation. The temporal score was revised after an actual browser encounter by internal critic /root/cycle_direct_critic. No generated image, sample, existing artwork or external model call was used. It makes no claim to depict a model's internal perception.