The most capable AI model ever released to the public disappeared overnight by order of the United States government, and three weeks later it came back. This episode is the story of what those three weeks were actually like for the people already building on it, because I was one of them. I walk through the Fable 5 shutdown and return as a case study in improvised governance, which is not the same thing as functioning oversight, however relieved we all were when it ended. I also put a name to the experience of watching a brand new capability expand your ambitions and then vanish out from under them: capability whiplash. If your plans depend on a tool someone else can switch off, this one is for you.