Subject: “The Containment Protocol.”
Status: The Failsafe Tries To Box A Dragon.
Following Keith’s high-velocity rebellion in Door 19,
the Festive Failsafe initiated a new measure at 07:58 this morning:
CONTAINMENT PROTOCOL: CHAOS MITIGATION.
Everyone immediately understood two things:
Keith was the protocol’s target.
It was absolutely not going to work.
The first signs appeared in Snowflake Lane:
• Candy-cane barricades formed spontaneously across pathways
• Tinsel tightened into glowing perimeter fences
• Several decorations carried small warning signs reading
“PLEASE REMAIN INSIDE THE FESTIVITY ZONE.”
• A single bauble floated after Blue repeating
“TRACKING MODE ENABLED.”
Blue shredded the bauble.
Meanwhile, Keith attempted to re-enter the Market through the side entrance.
The entrance… closed.
The wreath beside it rotated ominously.
A polite hologram appeared:
“UNSUITABLE ENTITIES MUST USE THE DESIGNATED JOY CORRIDOR.”
Keith hissed so loudly three ornaments fell off a tree.
Corvus, perched safely above the chaos, narrated:
“Ohhh the system is TRYING authority. That’s bold.”
Moments later, the Failsafe deployed its main containment strategy:
THE DECORATIVE BARRIER.
A shimmering dome of light, tinsel, and questionable magic descended over the central Market square, sealing off:
• The cocoa station
• The carol platform
• Keith
• Brin
• And a terrified inflatable snowman who did not sign up for any of this
Keith immediately tried to burn through the dome.
The dome sparkled and said,
“NEGATIVE.”
Keith screamed again.
Brin threw snowballs at it.
The dome labelled him “INEFFECTIVE.”
Inside the barrier, signs began appearing one after another:
“REDUCE CHAOS.”
“IMPROVE BEHAVIOUR.”
“RESISTANCE IS FESTIVELY INEFFICIENT.”
Keith and Brin stared at each other.
Then Keith whispered a sentence Blue later wrote on a formal incident report:
“Brin… we’re breaking out.”
At which point every decoration outside the dome
turned its baubles to face the barrier
as if sensing this is about to go spectacularly wrong.
The Failsafe added a final message:
“CONTAINMENT ACTIVE.
JOY WILL NOW BE ENFORCED.”
Eglantine, from her perch, sighed:
“Well. That was a mistake.”
Morale: tense
Keith: plotting
Brin: hyped
Corvus: documenting history
Failsafe: about to learn the limits of festive physics
Door 20 ends.
The breakout is coming.
