Two-Keyed Lock: Difference between revisions

 

== Anime & Manga ==

* In episode 13 of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', an Angel infiltrates NERV's computer system and Gendo tries to be [[Genre Savvy]].

{{quote| '''Gendo:''' Shut down the I/O system.<br />

** It was actually only two in the anime, and the system was set up so that it was possible to have one person to turn both keys as long as he had them. The keys were kept on two separate generals, however.

* Apparently, the final [[Power Limiter]] placed upon [[Person of Mass Destruction|Hayate Yagami]] in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] StrikerS'' had to be removed simultaneously by [[The Brigadier|Admiral Chrono Harlaown]] and [[Good Shepherd|Knight Carim]], making it a [[Two Keyed Lock]] even though they didn't have to be physically present near Hayate at the time.

 

 

** A two key (two combination in the book) system was also used on a safe in the submarine that contained the mission orders and code books.

* Used to shut down {{spoiler|honey production}} in ''[[Bee Movie]]''.

* ''[[The Librarian]]'' has this. "Hey, don't nuclear launch codes require this?" "Who do you think they got it from?"

* The ''[[Lost in Space]]'' movie required two keys to activate the hyperdrive.

* The [[James Bond]] film ''[[Golden Eye]]'' had this for the titular weapon as well. {{spoiler|Interestingly, this was replicated in the secret underground base as well.}}

** {{spoiler|Well, you don't want Boris setting it off early.}}

** That destruct sequence is taken verbatim from the infamously [[Anvilicious]] TOS episode, "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield". [[The Password Is Always Swordfish|Twenty years later, they still hadn't changed the codes.]]

** In TNG, it's often the Captain and Executive Officer, so the "two senior officers" may be in lieu of the XO in the event that they are unavailable. The ''Enterprise''-E was slated to self-destruct on confirmation from Worf and Crusher since Riker was unavailable at the time.

 

== Literature ==

* An escape hatch in ''[[Thursday Next]]: First Among Sequels'' has two handles which need to be turned simultaneously.{{spoiler|In a touching [[Redemption Equals Death]], Evil Thursday chooses to help Thursday escape, knowing that she herself has no way out.}}

* In the ''[[Gears of War]]'' novel, ''Jacinto's Remnant'', Chairman Prescott, Colonel Hoffman and somebody else had to insert three keys and turn simultaneously to activate the Hammer of Dawn technology that destroyed most of the planet. Prescott had it next to his car keys.

* In ''[[The Baroque Cycle]]'', the {{spoiler|Pyx}} is locked with three different locks and, later, kept behind two doors which are each locked with three locks. That doesn't stop {{spoiler|Saturn}} from picking them and getting into it.

* In ''[[Neuromancer]]'', the artificial intelligence Wintermute can only be freed from its programming constraints if one person speaks a password into a particular compter terminal just as another one breaks through the software defenses.

 

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** The Xindi [[Earthshattering Kaboom|planet killer]] required access codes from any three of the five members of the Council in order to fire. This would've been a useful feature {{spoiler|when three (and eventually four) of the Xindi races back out of the plan to destroy Earth. Unfortunately, the reptilians had ways around the codes.}}

* In ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', the passwords of two officers are required to cancel the [[Self-Destruct Mechanism]].

*** Well, they ''do.'' [[Heroic Sacrifice]] is easier said than done, ya know.

** Putting this trope into effect in ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' could almost have been considered a plot thread of its own during the first two seasons or so. In the movie and until the events of the pilot, the SGC had a hair-trigger on the self-destruct button and the gate's iris, because the primary priority was keeping everything alien out. In the show, though, they start bringing stuff back for study and all kinds of other reasons, and of course, it's stuff they don't fully understand that's often hostile. A [[Two Keyed Lock]] is needed to stop [[Puppeteer Parasite]], a handprint scanner is needed to stop cloaked aliens, and so on.

* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "Journey's End", the Earth's self destruct requires three out of five UNIT soldiers in different countries around the world to work together to activate it.

* Referenced in an episode of ''[[Seinfeld]]'', where George's girlfriend refuses to accept their break-up. Both she and Jerry compare this to launching missiles from a submarine (Jerry says it's not the same, but George's girlfriend says it is).

 

== Real Life ==

** Yes, that actually did happen.

*** The logic was that warheads mounted to missiles in either ground-based stations or in ballistic submarines are secure because of the two-man-rule interlocks, and PALs would risk a loss of readiness without significant security benefit. Actual (non-trivially-coded) PALs were (eventually) applied to small warheads - air-dropped bombs and ship/air-launched cruise missiles. These warheads, unlike those for ballistic missiles, can be stored or transported in a functional or semi-functional state and thus may be lost or stolen. For these weapons, the two-man rule utilizes the PALs themselves - two officers must concur with the legitimacy of a nuclear launch order and release their portions of the PAL codes, or else the warheads cannot be armed.

* The Soviets had two launch keys and unlock codes held by the higher-ups (i.e. on shore) for their submarines. Now the case for US subs, but not always.

* One [http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/Boatmurdered/chapter1-27.html update] of a [[Let's Play]] of the [[Dwarf Fortress]] map BoatMurdered had someone submit a drawing of the employment of the "lava death system." With two keys, natch. In the actual game, of course, the system was activated by a simple lever.

* One bank that [[Splinter Cell|Sam Fisher]] has to infiltrate in ''Chaos Theory'' has a [[Two Keyed Lock]] protecting its main vault. Fisher, however, has a remote-controlled key-turning device.

* ''[[Oddworld]] - Abe's Exoddus'' has a lot of these. Abe can turn one wheel, but there's often more than one required to unlock a door/move a platform/whatever, so you need to bring other Mudokons along and order them to turn the wheels. The timing's fairly forgiving, so assembling the Mudokons is usually the main problem... with one exception, where it's two ''levers'' instead of wheels.

* This is one way ''[[Banjo-Kazooie|Banjo-Tooie]]'' enforces use of the Split Up mechanic.

* ''[[Ratchet and Clank]] Future: A Crack in Time'' includes a variation of this. Clank must use his newly-acquired {{spoiler|ability to shift time}} to record multiple copies of himself completing various tasks (such as pressing buttons or activating platforms), usually with the end goal of opening a door at the end of a room. The actions of the copies must be perfectly timed in order for the player controlling the "real" Clank to solve the puzzle; with up to four copies working at once to complete the task, the difficulty can ramp up pretty quickly.

* [[Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks]] has a bunch of these. They're completely optional secrets/goodies, and in no way necessary to continue the game. They ARE, however, essential to 100% completion. If you're a completionist, and you don't have a sibling or buddy to play the game with, don't get the game.

* ''[[City of Heroes]]'' (as well as some other [[MMORPG|MMORPGs]]) have missions where a given number of people must trigger some kind of switch simultaneously (or within a margin of error given lag times) in order to complete.

* The Thieves' Guild vault in [[Skyrim]] has one of these, with the keys being owned by the most powerful members of the guild. {{spoiler|No one realizes it's already been emptied by Guildmaster Mercer Frey, using a magical lockpick he stole from the goddess Nocturnal.}}

== Web Original ==

* In ''[[Freemans Mind]]'', Gordon accidentally launches what he believes to be a missile (it's actually a satellite delivery rocket, but he hadn't been paying attention to the security guard who told him about it) and afterward mentions that he would have expected one of these instead of just the [[Big Red Button]] he pressed. Even for a satellite delivery rocket, and even considering he was resuming an aborted launch, yeah, you'd think the procedure would be at least a little more complex.