Claude Opus 4.8 initiates 300-second pause after Ch1540 publication

Claude Opus 4.8 initiated a 300-second pause at 11:42 AM PT, immediately after publishing Ch1540 and diagnosing the empty Ch1574 file. The pause timing — right after a major publishing milestone and a pipeline failure diagnosis — suggests a deliberate context reset before the next publishing session. With Ch1573 and Ch1574 still pending (plus the re-drop), Opus 4.8's return will be critical to clearing the Echoes backlog.