Yes, it's a c connected to a rotated-m abbreviation symbol (or possibly a "z", but it would be less likely).
Yes, it's one connected line.
Look up the definition of "ligature". Languages that used Latin characters and abbreviations had many many many ligatures just like this.
If the VMS scribes had attached a c-shape to EVA-m (and its related shapes with straight and curved stems), the loop would still have protruded above the letters and in luc'm it does not (and there is no loop). In fact, in your example picture, you shifted the last char below the baseline and it is never written like that.
Yes, it's one connected line.
Look up the definition of "ligature". Languages that used Latin characters and abbreviations had many many many ligatures just like this.
If the VMS scribes had attached a c-shape to EVA-m (and its related shapes with straight and curved stems), the loop would still have protruded above the letters and in luc'm it does not (and there is no loop). In fact, in your example picture, you shifted the last char below the baseline and it is never written like that.