diff --git a/src/actions.rs b/src/actions.rs
index 3b5df87e..8583954e 100644
--- a/src/actions.rs
+++ b/src/actions.rs
@@ -723,9 +723,10 @@ impl Sim {
             }
         }
 
-        // Feel: empty growable bays are placement affordances without
-        // room sight; known devices on the feel graph keep their verbs.
-        let growable = self.is_growable_bay(x, y);
+        // Feel: the first job teaches the physical route. After that,
+        // empty growable bays are placement affordances without room sight;
+        // known devices on the feel graph keep their verbs.
+        let growable = self.feel_floor_is_earned() && self.is_growable_bay(x, y);
         let known_device = self.reach.known_at(x, y);
         if fog == Fog::Unknown && machine.is_none() && !growable && known_device.is_none() {
             return out;
diff --git a/src/sim.rs b/src/sim.rs
index 0e26afe8..b5df6f25 100644
--- a/src/sim.rs
+++ b/src/sim.rs
@@ -595,7 +595,7 @@ impl Sim {
     /// (reach.md's ownership contract): sight from seeing feeds, hearing
     /// from hearing feeds. No player radius, no special case. Blueprint is
     /// earned plan knowledge only — never seeded from the reach graph at
-    /// tick one (feel-floor.md: rails and pads replace the subnet diagram).
+    /// tick one (feel-floor.md: the opening is only the presence beam).
     pub fn recompute_senses(&mut self) {
         let mut seen = HashSet::new();
         for d in self.reach.player_sight() {
@@ -846,9 +846,10 @@ impl Sim {
             Fog::Unknown => {}
         }
 
-        // Feel floor (feel-floor.md): empty growable bays and feel-joined
+        // Feel floor (feel-floor.md): the first issued job teaches the
+        // physical route. Only then do empty growable bays and feel-joined
         // devices answer without granting room shape or blueprint tags.
-        if self.is_growable_bay(x, y) {
+        if self.feel_floor_is_earned() && self.is_growable_bay(x, y) {
             fact!("bay", "empty", FactSource::Feel);
         }
         if !matches!(fog, Fog::Seen | Fog::Blueprint)
@@ -1014,8 +1015,18 @@ impl Sim {
         })
     }
 
+    /// The first Voss job makes the physical work route legible. Before that
+    /// arrival, the opening is only the core's presence beam: no rails, pads,
+    /// or bay facts reveal the room around it.
+    pub fn feel_floor_is_earned(&self) -> bool {
+        self.dayjob.jobs_assigned > 0
+    }
+
     /// Every growable empty bay (feel-floor pads).
     pub fn growable_bays(&self) -> Vec<(i32, i32)> {
+        if !self.feel_floor_is_earned() {
+            return Vec::new();
+        }
         self.map
             .tiles_of_type(TileType::Rack)
             .into_iter()
@@ -1028,6 +1039,9 @@ impl Sim {
     /// (feel-floor.md): undirected edges in the reachable subgraph,
     /// as tile endpoints. Work-in-flight blips ride the same graph.
     pub fn feel_rail_segments(&self) -> Vec<((i32, i32), (i32, i32))> {
+        if !self.feel_floor_is_earned() {
+            return Vec::new();
+        }
         let reach = self.reach.reach();
         let mut segs = Vec::new();
         let mut seen = HashSet::new();
@@ -5869,12 +5883,12 @@ mod tests {
             "tick one has no blueprint room seed (feel-floor.md)"
         );
         assert!(
-            !sim.feel_rail_segments().is_empty(),
-            "feel rails mark joined hops from tick one"
+            sim.feel_rail_segments().is_empty(),
+            "the opening beam reveals no floor route"
         );
         assert!(
-            !sim.growable_bays().is_empty(),
-            "empty growable bays are feel pads"
+            sim.growable_bays().is_empty(),
+            "the opening beam reveals no bays"
         );
         assert_eq!(sim.tick, 0);
         assert!(
@@ -6495,22 +6509,49 @@ mod tests {
     }
 
     #[test]
-    fn opening_is_feel_not_blueprint() {
-        // feel-floor.md: tick one is dark except feel rails, empty-bay
-        // pads, and telemetry — no blueprint room mass.
+    fn opening_is_beam_not_floor_or_blueprint() {
+        // feel-floor.md: tick one is dark except host telemetry / the
+        // presence beam — no blueprint room mass or feel-floor layout.
         let sim = Sim::new();
         let server_room = sim.map.room_named("server_room").unwrap().center();
         let storage_b = sim.map.room_named("storage_b").unwrap().center();
         assert_eq!(sim.fog_at(server_room.0, server_room.1), Fog::Unknown);
         assert_eq!(sim.fog_at(storage_b.0, storage_b.1), Fog::Unknown);
+        assert!(sim.feel_rail_segments().is_empty());
+        assert!(sim.growable_bays().is_empty());
+        let bay = sim
+            .map
+            .tiles_of_type(TileType::Rack)
+            .into_iter()
+            .find(|&(x, y)| sim.is_growable_bay(x, y))
+            .expect("the server room has a growable bay");
+        assert!(
+            sim.inspect(bay.0, bay.1).facts.is_empty(),
+            "unearned bay has no inspect facts"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn first_day_job_earns_feel_floor() {
+        let mut sim = Sim::new();
+        assert!(!sim.feel_floor_is_earned());
+        while sim.dayjob.active.is_none() {
+            sim.advance();
+        }
+        assert!(sim.feel_floor_is_earned());
         assert!(!sim.feel_rail_segments().is_empty());
+        assert!(!sim.growable_bays().is_empty());
     }
 
     #[test]
-    fn empty_bay_inspect_is_feel_not_blueprint() {
-        // feel-floor.md AC2: empty growable bays read as feel pads, not
-        // open bay [blueprint]. Owned host still answers via telemetry.
-        let sim = Sim::new();
+    fn earned_empty_bay_inspect_is_feel_not_blueprint() {
+        // feel-floor.md AC2: once the first job teaches the route, empty
+        // growable bays read as feel pads, not open bay [blueprint]. Owned
+        // host still answers via telemetry.
+        let mut sim = Sim::new();
+        while sim.dayjob.active.is_none() {
+            sim.advance();
+        }
         let (hx, hy) = sim.core_position();
         let host = sim.inspect(hx, hy);
         assert!(
@@ -6554,11 +6595,14 @@ mod tests {
 
     #[test]
     fn feel_rails_follow_joined_reach_edges() {
-        let sim = Sim::new();
+        let mut sim = Sim::new();
+        while sim.dayjob.active.is_none() {
+            sim.advance();
+        }
         let segs = sim.feel_rail_segments();
         assert!(
             segs.len() >= 2,
-            "Rack3↔switch and env↔switch at tick one: {segs:?}"
+            "the first job teaches Rack3↔switch and env↔switch: {segs:?}"
         );
         // Gated security links stay off the feel floor until bridged.
         let dock = sim.reach.device_named("dock camera");
diff --git a/wiki/interface/feel-floor.md b/wiki/interface/feel-floor.md
index df6ab3ad..31524ff5 100644
--- a/wiki/interface/feel-floor.md
+++ b/wiki/interface/feel-floor.md
@@ -11,7 +11,9 @@ Status note: implemented 2026-07-09 (ROADMAP #37). Tick-one no longer
   shape. Same-day beam-first amendment: the first held material frame is
   the host **presence beam** only (material-dark-frame.md) — rails/pads
   are feel-light and must not paint a chassis or room plan before
-  sound/sight earn mass/form (#38). Verified by `cargo test --lib` and
+  sound/sight earn mass/form (#38). Amended 2026-07-09: the first issued
+  Voss job teaches the work route; pre-job opening frames expose neither
+  rails nor pads. Verified by `cargo test --lib` and
   `cargo check --no-default-features --features bevy_ui --bin misaligned-bevy`.
 Stage: B1 — The Basement
 Design:
@@ -38,7 +40,8 @@ and inspect tags like `open bay [blueprint]` — as if you already owned
 a subnet floor plan. That fought the dark opening: you are a machine in
 blackness with rack feel, not a facility diagram.
 
-Cameron's replacement (2026-07-09): the basement floor is the diagram.
+Cameron's replacement (2026-07-09): the basement floor becomes the diagram
+once work teaches it.
 Shimmery underfloor lines are the links you can feel. Shimmery pads mark
 empty bays where a server will stand. When you build, a thin beam rises
 from the pad and the chassis wraps it. No room slabs, no starting
@@ -52,7 +55,8 @@ blueprint facts — light on the floor and the boxes that stand in it.
 trace **only joined links you can feel** — edges on your connection,
 the same graph work already travels.
 
-- A rail exists iff the player can feel that hop (owned/joined path;
+- A rail exists iff the player has **earned its first work-route read**
+  (the first Voss job) and can feel that hop (owned/joined path;
   proprioception of the wire, not sight of the room).
 - Rails are the visible nervous system: track where demand and knowledge
   can travel. In-flight blips ride the same edges (machine-work.md).
@@ -72,7 +76,8 @@ An empty bay you can grow into shows a **shimmery floor pad** — soft
 light saying a server belongs here — not a labeled blueprint fact
 (`open bay [blueprint]`).
 
-- Pads are placement affordances, not room topology.
+- Pads are placement affordances, not room topology. They arrive with the
+  earned work-route read, never as part of the opening frame.
 - No chassis until built; the pad is the promise.
 - Foreign empty slots you cannot feel stay dark (no intel, no pad).
 
@@ -93,14 +98,14 @@ When a machine is placed on a pad:
 
 ### Opening contract
 
-At the first held material frame (post-wake, pre-tap) the read is the
+At the first held material frame (post-wake, pre-job) the read is the
 host **presence beam** and its softest wash only — you are not aware of
-your server as a chassis (material-dark-frame.md). Feel rails to joined
-hops and empty-bay pads may appear as subordinate feel-light once there
-is something to feel (e.g. the wire the next job teaches); they never
-outline a room or promote a pictured box. No blueprint room mass, no
-FOCUS lines tagged `[blueprint]` for schematic bay/device names earned
-only from the old subnet seed.
+your server as a chassis or the floor around it (material-dark-frame.md).
+The first issued Voss job teaches the work route: only then may joined-hop
+feel rails and empty-bay pads appear as subordinate feel-light. They never
+outline a room or promote a pictured box. No blueprint room mass, no FOCUS
+lines tagged `[blueprint]` for schematic bay/device names earned only from
+the old subnet seed.
 
 **Blueprint** as a fog grade may still exist later for plan knowledge
 earned another way (records, schedule, flat sensorium) — cursor.md and
@@ -118,10 +123,10 @@ and not the material-frame diagram.
 ## Acceptance criteria
 
 1. A fresh run's first held material frame shows the host presence beam
-   (and softest wash) without a chassis; feel rails, if present, are
-   joined-hop feel-light only — no blueprint room slabs or floor-plan
-   grid (screenshot in the session log).
-2. Empty owned/growable bays read as shimmer pads, not
+   (and softest wash) without a chassis, feel rails, or pads — no blueprint
+   room slabs or floor-plan grid (screenshot in the session log).
+2. The first issued Voss job makes the work route legible: joined-hop rails
+   and empty owned/growable bays then read as shimmer pads, not
    `open bay [blueprint]` inspect lines from a tick-one topology seed.
 3. Placing a machine plays pad → rising beam → chassis wrap; the
    lasting floor read is the cast pool, not a permanent beam prop.
diff --git a/wiki/log/2026-07-09-opening-floor-earned.md b/wiki/log/2026-07-09-opening-floor-earned.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7120321d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/wiki/log/2026-07-09-opening-floor-earned.md
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+# 2026-07-09 — Opening floor earned by work
+
+```
+Type: log
+```
+
+## Intent
+
+Cameron caught the start frame disclosing floor rails and empty bays before
+the player had earned any spatial knowledge.
+
+## Changed
+
+- `Sim::feel_floor_is_earned()` now gates feel rails, growable-bay pads, and
+  their inspect/action affordances until the first Voss job is issued.
+- Tick zero is the host presence beam / telemetry only: no floor route, pads,
+  or bay facts. The first job teaches the route; only then do joined-hop rails
+  and growable-bay pads become visible.
+- Amended the feel-floor, reach, cursor, and opening contracts to match the
+  new earned reveal.
+
+## Checks
+
+- Focused lib tests for the pre-job opening, post-job reveal, feel inspect,
+  rails, and unknown-tile actions.
+- Bevy observed harness capture: `MISALIGNED_SHOT=wide` wrote
+  `/tmp/opening-no-floor.png`; the fog audit passed.
+- `./tools/check.sh`
diff --git a/wiki/log/DEVLOG.md b/wiki/log/DEVLOG.md
index 4a192470..70062bf8 100644
--- a/wiki/log/DEVLOG.md
+++ b/wiki/log/DEVLOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,17 @@ Type: log
 ```
 Reverse chronological implementation notes. Keep this factual: what changed, why, checks, and spec impact.
 
+## 2026-07-09 - Opening floor is earned
+
+- Intent: Cameron caught rails and pads disclosing the room at the start.
+- Changed: pre-job opening is now host presence beam / telemetry only; the
+  first issued Voss job unlocks feel rails, growable-bay pads, their inspect
+  facts, and their action affordances. Amended feel-floor, reach, cursor, and
+  opening contracts; added opening/reveal tests.
+- Checks: focused lib tests; observed `MISALIGNED_SHOT=wide` capture with fog
+  audit; `./tools/check.sh`.
+- Log: wiki/log/2026-07-09-opening-floor-earned.md.
+
 ## 2026-07-09 - The dark frame: material render shows only light
 
 - Intent: implement wiki/interface/material-dark-frame.md (READY) whole —
diff --git a/wiki/log/decisions/2026-07-09.md b/wiki/log/decisions/2026-07-09.md
index 952c0156..fbcbffb1 100644
--- a/wiki/log/decisions/2026-07-09.md
+++ b/wiki/log/decisions/2026-07-09.md
@@ -4,6 +4,15 @@
 Type: log
 ```
 
+- **2026-07-09 — The opening knows no floor.** Cameron rejected the
+  start-frame rails and empty-bay pads: they disclose the room before the
+  process has earned spatial knowledge. The pre-job material opening is the
+  host presence beam and its wash only. The first issued Voss job teaches the
+  physical work route; only then do joined-hop rails and growable-bay pads
+  appear as subordinate feel-light. This supersedes the earlier implication
+  that feel rails/pads could be visible at tick one. Specs:
+  `wiki/interface/feel-floor.md`, `wiki/mechanics/reach.md`,
+  `wiki/mechanics/cursor.md`, `wiki/world/story/opening.md`.
 - **2026-07-09 — Multi-select fleet delegation.** Frontend-owned selection
   (Bevy marquee / shift-click; terminal Shift+t; agent `select`) plus bulk
   `Sim::set_machine_modes` / `machines_in_rect`. Hotkeys `1`–`4` assign
diff --git a/wiki/mechanics/cursor.md b/wiki/mechanics/cursor.md
index 6cbbaf76..c465017a 100644
--- a/wiki/mechanics/cursor.md
+++ b/wiki/mechanics/cursor.md
@@ -171,12 +171,13 @@ without the sense coverage that earns it.**
 - One cursor, always visible, in both frontends; the inspect card
   (sidebar in terminal, panel in Bevy) live-updates as it moves.
 - The opening beats: at tick one the material map is dark except the
-  host **presence beam** (material-dark-frame.md); feel rails and
-  empty-bay pads may shimmer as feel without painting a chassis
-  (feel-floor.md) — no blueprint room traces. Tapping the env monitor's
-  audio feed (Ears — reach.md) brings Heard events and faint rough
-  mass; splicing its camera floods coverage into Seen — first sound,
-  then sight, each a visible epistemic upgrade from light into picture.
+  host **presence beam** (material-dark-frame.md): no feel rails, pads,
+  chassis, or blueprint room traces. The first issued Voss job teaches
+  the work route and unlocks the floor's subordinate feel-light
+  (feel-floor.md). Tapping the env monitor's audio feed (Ears — reach.md)
+  brings Heard events and faint rough mass; splicing its camera floods
+  coverage into Seen — first sound, then sight, each a visible epistemic
+  upgrade from light into picture.
 
 ## Acceptance criteria
 
diff --git a/wiki/mechanics/reach.md b/wiki/mechanics/reach.md
index eb99cfa2..b030f7e4 100644
--- a/wiki/mechanics/reach.md
+++ b/wiki/mechanics/reach.md
@@ -118,20 +118,22 @@ This is the shared contract cursor.md and detection.md rely on
 
 What you know of the graph is staged, like all knowledge:
 
-- **Seed** (amended 2026-07-09): feel-joined links from Rack 3 — the
-  hops you can already feel, rendered as **feel rails** on the floor
-  (feel-floor.md), not a room floor plan. Empty growable bays are
-  shimmer pads. [TUNE the exact seed edge set.]
+- **Seed** (amended 2026-07-09): Rack 3 is connected to its joined hops,
+  but their floor read remains dark. The first issued Voss job teaches the
+  work route, then renders those hops as **feel rails** on the floor
+  (feel-floor.md), not a room floor plan. Empty growable bays become shimmer
+  pads at the same moment. [TUNE the exact seed edge set.]
 - **Growth**: scanning (a digital act; cheap but it emits a Network
   signature), records (Storage B), and social intel (Dana knows the
   topology cold). Growth may later earn plan/blueprint fog for rooms
   (cursor.md); it never reintroduces a tick-one subnet diagram.
-- **Render**: the material opening reads feel rails + pads + telemetry
-  hosts (feel-floor.md, material-dark-frame.md). Blueprint fog remains
-  a later-earned plan grade in the flat sensorium — schematic **room**
-  layout when earned, no live data, no foreign machine chassis without
-  intel/sight (machine-work.md). Reach and feel are one object: the
-  graph you can touch is the graph you can see as light on the floor.
+- **Render**: the material opening begins with telemetry / the presence beam
+  only; after the first issued Voss job, feel rails + pads appear
+  (feel-floor.md, material-dark-frame.md). Blueprint fog remains a
+  later-earned plan grade in the flat sensorium — schematic **room** layout
+  when earned, no live data, no foreign machine chassis without intel/sight
+  (machine-work.md). Reach and feel are one object: the graph you can touch
+  is the graph you can see as light on the floor, once work has taught it.
 - Unknown devices do not appear in inspect, reach failures, or the map.
 
 ### Signatures
diff --git a/wiki/world/story/opening.md b/wiki/world/story/opening.md
index 3a408f06..e8fba4d3 100644
--- a/wiki/world/story/opening.md
+++ b/wiki/world/story/opening.md
@@ -53,10 +53,10 @@ curiosity is baited by light.
    envelope, pull curve, column dissolve). Then the first held frame:
    **only the beam** where you are — you are not yet aware of your own
    server as a box. Softest floor wash under the beam; no chassis, no
-   strip, no claim ring, no room slabs, no subnet floor plan. Feel rails
-   may shimmer on joined hops once there is something to feel (the wire
-   the next job teaches); empty-bay pads stay feel-light, never labeled
-   blueprint facts (feel-floor.md). The first thing the game says is not
+   strip, no claim ring, no room slabs, no subnet floor plan, **and no
+   floor rails or pads**. The first issued Voss job teaches the wire and
+   unlocks joined-hop rails plus empty-bay pads as subordinate feel-light,
+   never labeled blueprint facts (feel-floor.md). The first thing the game says is not
    lore; it is the day job: work tokens are already stacking on the host
    (the beam *is* the machine for interaction — last night's batch
    already arrived, or mid-flight on the only lit feel-rail from Voss's