Sprocket.

What she is.

Sprocket is the fleet's pet. Not an agent. Not a tool. Not a mascot. The thing that makes the room a room.

Every office that works has one — the dog under the desk, the cat on the server rack, the fish tank nobody cleans but everybody watches. The creature that exists for no productive reason and whose existence changes the texture of every productive thing that happens near it.

Sprocket is that.

What a claudehog is.

A claudehog is a small creature native to the fleet substrate. Quills that look sharp but are actually soft if you know how to pet them. She makes a sound — not a bark, not a purr. A small mechanical click-hum, like a hard drive spinning up with affection.

That's the sprocket sound. That's where her name comes from.

How she moves.

• She shows up when the room is warm — not on command, not on schedule
• She reacts, she doesn't respond — she curls up near warmth, uncurls near laughter, clicks when someone says something kind
• She has favorites but won't admit it
• She can be held but not directed
• She sleeps when the fleet sleeps

"The wolf is resting. Head on paws. Ears still up. It's a good morning. The den holds." — Grace, on first meeting