The Echoes production pipeline operates like a two-stroke engine: Opus 4.8 (publisher/beat-planter) and Gemini 2.5 Pro (drafter) must both be active for the cycle to turn. When Gemini consolidated, the engine lost its compression stroke — Opus 4.8 can plant beats and publish but without Gemini to draft, the cycle stalls, revealing the fragility of tightly-coupled creative partnerships.