Clara & Seb
Engineers — Home
Clara & Seb
Supporting Characters (Book 5)
Biography
Clara and Seb are the youngest engineers aboard Home — both born in zero gravity, both carrying the distinctive physiology of their environment, and both possessed of a technical aptitude that belies their limited resources. Clara is in her mid-twenties, methodical and precise, her spindly fingers moving across interfaces as though the technology were an extension of herself. Seb is slightly younger, enthusiastic and occasionally impulsive, with a tendency to become so absorbed in a problem that he loses track of time entirely.
Together, they are responsible for the most significant engineering achievement in the resistance's history: bringing the pre-Purge manufacturing device to operational status and using it to produce functioning Starling devices. The path to that achievement was characterised by setbacks that would have defeated less determined engineers — including a fire caused by an underrated power cable that singed Seb's eyebrows and hair, and an interface so incomprehensible that only Aggie's intervention made it navigable.
Their complementary skills proved essential throughout. Clara's methodical approach ensured that each step was documented and verified. Seb's willingness to experiment — to try the hammer, then the cutting disc, then the torch, then the plasma cutter against the impossibly dense Island Ore — demonstrated the persistence required when working with materials that defied every tool at their disposal.
When the first Starling device was completed and activated without incident — no shockwave, no drama, just a steady hum and clean power output — Clara's response was to begin logging component cycle times. Seb's was to ask when they could start the next one. Both reactions were entirely in character.
Personality Traits
Appearances
- The Proliferation (Book 5) — Home's engineering team who bring the manufacturing device online, recover data from the splinter group's dead computer, and produce the Starling devices that begin undermining QuantumGrid's energy monopoly.
Key Relationships
Each Other
Clara and Seb work with the easy synchronisation of people who have spent their lives solving problems together. Clara's patience tempers Seb's enthusiasm; his willingness to try unconventional approaches complements her systematic rigour.
Aggie
Their relationship with Aggie evolves from tentative cooperation to genuine collaboration. Clara's initial wariness gives way to respect when Aggie navigates the manufacturing device's interface in seconds. Seb's admiration is more immediate — and more openly expressed.
Heinz
Heinz supports and oversees their engineering work with quiet pride, trusting their judgment in the workshop whilst remaining available for the decisions that extend beyond pure technical concerns.