diff --git a/desk/lib/vitals.hoon b/desk/lib/vitals.hoon
index da7489c8..8e1d916e 100644
--- a/desk/lib/vitals.hoon
+++ b/desk/lib/vitals.hoon
@@ -14,20 +14,13 @@
   ::  a ship is not guaranteed by %ames to know itself, so we fake it
   ?:  =(ship peer)
     [%live time]
-  ::  .^(* %ax /=//=/peers/[peer]) crashes if the peer is unknown, so we
+  ::  .^(* /ax/=//=/peers/[peer]) crashes if the peer is unknown, so we
   ::  check the source map beforehand and fake an %unborn if we can see
   ::  a crash coming
-  =/  peers  .^((map ^ship ?(%alien %known)) ~[%ax %$ %peers])
+  =/  ames-peers=path  /ax/(scot %p ship)//(scot %da time)/peers
+  =/  peers  .^((map ^ship ?(%alien %known)) ames-peers)
   ?.  (~(has by peers) peer)
     [%unborn time]
-  %-  simplify-qos
-  .^  ship-state:ames
-      %ax
-      (scot %p ship)
-      %$
-      (scot %da time)
-      %peers
-      (scot %p peer)
-      ~
-  ==
+  =/  pqos  .^(ship-state:ames (snoc ames-peers (scot %p peer)))
+  (simplify-qos pqos)
 --
diff --git a/desk/ted/vitals/connection-check.hoon b/desk/ted/vitals/connection-check.hoon
index b1e25972..7550c644 100644
--- a/desk/ted/vitals/connection-check.hoon
+++ b/desk/ted/vitals/connection-check.hoon
@@ -12,10 +12,10 @@
 ^-  form:m
 =+  !<([~ target=ship] arg)
 ;<  our=@p  bind:m  get-our:io
-;<  now=@da  bind:m  get-time:io
 |^
   ::  early exit; check if we have live path to target
   ;<  tqos=qos:ames  bind:m  (get-qos target)
+  ;<  now=@da  bind:m  get-time:io
   ?:  ?&  ?=(%live -.tqos)
           (gth last-contact.tqos (sub now info-timeout:vitals))
       ==
@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@
   |=  =pending:vitals
   =/  m  (strand ,~)
   ^-  form:m
+  ;<  now=@da  bind:m  get-time:io
   %+  poke-our:io
     %vitals
   :-  %update-status
@@ -107,6 +108,7 @@
   |=  peer=ship
   =/  m  (strand ,qos:ames)
   ^-  form:m
+  ;<  now=@da  bind:m  get-time:io
   ?:  =(our peer)
     (pure:m [%live now])
   ;<  peers=(map ship ?(%alien %known))  bind:m