Autopilot Kill Switch

Current Holder: Fitted to The Albatross's dashboard

Origin: Built by Shackleton Magellan during the Session 7 hyperspace transit

Overview

A manual switch Shackleton Magellan wired, duct-taped to The Albatross’s dashboard, and labelled in plain handwriting: “Autopilot On-Off.” It exists because the Corwin autopilot seizure was no malfunction — Shackleton’s dig through the comm logs proved that something attached to the ship’s communications array had received an external signal, relayed it through the alien device, and issued a direct command to the navigation computer. Somebody outside the hull flew their ship.

The signal has stopped coming. The switch is the crew’s answer if it starts again: a physical break in the circuit between the navigation computer and the autopilot, which no signal can argue with. An absurd solution to a sophisticated alien problem, and exactly the kind of thing that might actually work.

Properties

• Physically disconnects the navigation computer from the ship’s autopilot.
• Manual, unpowered, unhackable — the point.
• Complements (rather than repeats) Ronin Sanchez’s Session 6 wire-pull, which severed the cube’s navigation feed; this governs the autopilot linkage and can be thrown from the pilot’s seat.

Appearances

• Session 7 (Session 07 - The Goodwin Contract) — Built and fitted during the four-day transit to the Eris System, immediately after the hijack discovery.