they work hereEst. recently
Meet one Get yours
filed it. dont ask where
checked it. its fine probly
have you tried turning it off
out for delivery. to nowhere

They are standing on the edge of something

Now staffed — four departments

Nobody hired them.

Small creatures who have decided they are employed by your computer. They file, inspect, and stamp things that cannot be stamped. They clock off when you start a film. None of them has ever asked you for anything.

Free. No account. They do not read your screen.

Name
Button
Department
Records
Wears
Visor, on the cap
Reports to
Nobody
Status
On duty

One job each. Applied to everything.

None of them has any idea what your software does. This has never slowed them down.

Records

Button files your work

Spreadsheets, source files, a Steam library. It all goes in the drawer. There is no drawer.

Maintenance

Dollop inspects things

Taps the edge of your window. Nods. Writes nothing down. Considers the matter closed.

Help Desk

Pebble fixes everything

Every problem gets the same fix: off, wait, on. Has never once turned anything on.

Mailroom

Parcel delivers things

Eventually. To someone. The address was never really the point.

No two hires alike.

Every download generates one, numbered and yours. Colouring, markings, uniform shade and the occasional oddity are decided the moment they start work. Some combinations are rare. None of them know this.

0417
0091
0663
0208
0729
0154
0842
0316

What they can see.

You are installing something that sits on your screen all day. Here is exactly what it does and does not do, in plain terms.

Can see

Which app is in front

The name of the program you're currently using — Spotify, a browser, an editor. That's how they know when to clock off. Nothing more than the name.

Cannot see

Anything on your screen

No screenshots, no screen recording, no reading of windows or web pages. The app never asks for screen permissions because it never needs them.

Cannot see

Anything you type

No keystrokes, no passwords, no messages. When one of them holds something from your clipboard, they hold it — they don't read it, store it, or send it.

Nothing leaves your machine. No accounts, no sign-in, no servers. The app works with the internet switched off.
Memory is a tally, not a diary. One small readable file: how many times you've opened things, and when. No text, no history, no contents.
You can read it and delete it. The file is plain text in your app folder. Open it, look at it, throw it away. They'll start counting again.

Fully staffed. For now.

Four departments, four hires. New ones open when there's work for them.

Records
Maintenance
Help Desk
Mailroom

One message when a new department opens. Nothing else, ever.