[Video: ALL.]

[taxcollectors]

Twenty-four hours after the first environmental malfunctions....

Every tablet screen in Taxon fills, simultaneously, with static-- cutting off conversations (or match-3 games), refusing user commands, and generally misbehaving, for a good twenty seconds.

Then an image flickers into life. It's a hamster, and inasmuch as you can read emotions off a creature that looks like this, it seems worried.

For those of you in Taxon who have never yet seen the rumored 'hamster'-like appearance of your Beloved Overlords, enjoy it while it lasts. The hamster nervously runs its paws over its whiskers, wriggles its nose, and glances 'off-camera' several times without saying anything.

Finally: "Is this thing on?"

(From 'off-screen') "Yes, YESYES, go, I don't know how long the patch will HOLD."

The hamster squeaks, and clasps its wee, clawed hands together.

"Right!! So, we, we realize there have been some -- interruptions! -- of regularly scheduled service lately! VERY SORRY. Very sorry about that! Most disconcerting, we're sure! Not to worry, everything is under complete control."

(The screen erupts into static again, and frantic, high-pitched arguing can be heard in the background.)

When the picture returns, the camera is at an angle and the brown spoke-hamster seems rather disheveled, its fur mussed.

"UNDER COMPLETE CONTROL. Please go about your regular business. In fact, please-- have a-- a vacation, on us. A little holiday! Something pleasant and sweet and relaxing! A token of our sincere regret for the unpleasantness!"

The hamster giggles, a nervous, frayed sound. "Take two Jelly Bellies and call us in the morning! Good night! Sleep tight!"

And everything goes black. Not just on the tablets, but for everyone.

When you wake the next morning (each of you in your beds-- yes, even if you don't have or usually use a bed, even if you're normally nocturnal), you'll find that Taxon has... changed. Again.

Ta-ta-ta-taxon! Where everything is sweet!

[skinandbone]

The sun rises on Taxon, but this is a different sun. It's brighter. Yellower.

Lemony-er.

Specifically, it's a big slice of candied lemon, shining through pink and white drifts of cotton candy clouds. Wherever the golden light of dawn lands, surfaces are left sticky with a thin glaze of honey. Mercifully, this soaks in quickly.

The buildings are different, too, made of gingerbread and decorated in icing. Windows are panes of glassy sugar, shot through with wavy bands of bubbles.The streets are paved in hard candies, and, for alien reasons, the sidewalks are pancakes, light and fluffy and squashy underfoot. Inside, furniture is made of chocolate, and the faucets dispense everything from lemonade to simple syrup. The homes of all the real people of Taxon have been gathered together and arranged into a cheery little village set a short distance from the sugar-glittering city. Everyone is neighbors now, and isn't that great!? They can all borrow cups of sugar from each other!

The changes have extended to the citizens, turning the Extras into a pastel rainbow of sugar people. Off to the east, there is a new bit of landscape: a mountain made of massive slabs of cookie and cake. A river coils down from it, shimmery pink and foaming with scoops of rainbow sherbert.

Everything is bright and colorful, over saturated and – this is a telling detail – outlined in heavy black lines that are always at the edges of objects, no matter how you turn your head. In such cheery surroundings, surely the newly candied people of Taxon will wake with joy in their hearts and a snazzy group song on their lips.

Look, the Extras have already started.

“How do you say good morning
To a hundred different friends?
How do you give a good wish
That never ever ends?

Ta-ta-ta-taxon! It's the city that can't be beat!
Ta-ta-ta-taxon! Where everything is sweet!
Ta-ta-ta-taxon! Making friends is work that's never done
Ta-ta-ta-taxon! Where learning can be fun!

And for five disturbing seconds, bubbly, cheerful credits flick across everyone's vision. Your chief writer for this episode is Tinae Crice, Taxon.

LOGO! The word Taxon flares, then vanishes in a shimmery puff of sugar crystals and tumbling candies. Another beautiful day in Taxon has begun, so let's all get to learning, sharing, and just plain having FUN!!