Spoiler, it&#x27;s a swibble, and the reason that the DHOS dosen&#x27;t know about them <i>now</i>, is because they are from the future.<p>&gt; SWIBBLE: some kind of device to control the &#x27;politically correct behaviour&#x27; 
of citizens. It is &quot;an artifically evolved telpathic metazoan.&quot; It&#x27;s 
purpose was to stop war by ensuring that everyone maintained the same 
ideology, that everyone agreed. The last war was fought between those who 
wanted swibbles and those who didn&#x27;t. When the main character asks the 
wrongly directed time-traveled repairman what happened to those who lost 
the war, the answer is wonderfully simple, &quot;Why,&quot; the repairman said 
gently, &quot;the swibbles got them.&quot;:Service Call, vol 4.