My test script now returns   
# io3 fast, cin: 0, cout: 1, cerr: 0
# stdout, bytes read: 26 at offset 0
#> 4d 61 73 74 65 72 20 72 75 6e 6e 69 6e 67 20 28 70 69 64 3d 34 30 34 29 0d 0a                   | Master running (pid=404)..
# io3 fast, cin: 0, cout: 1, cerr: 0
# stdout, bytes read: 0 at offset 26
# leaving _io3()
# _waitpid(407) => pid: 407, rc: 0, err:
main::(./ark-config.pl:142):    say "Logged into Node";
  DB<1>