Two-Keyed Lock: Difference between revisions

''(beat)''<br />

'''Hyuga:''' [[Captain Obvious|WE CAN'T SHUT IT DOWN!!!]] }}

** In fact, this is how the MAGI self-destruct works: the three cores vote among themselves. Starting or cancelling the sequence requires unanimity of all three; cheating is impossible since any attempts at one core hacking another are immediately discovered. If two disagree and the third is undecided, they'll ask the human crew.

* The Cyclops system in ''[[Gundam Seed]]'' was so inhumane (and probably expensive, considering that it was one-shot only) that it required at least ''five'' top Earth Alliance generals' keys to turn on.

** 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.

* Rare example not involving nukes: in an episode of ''[[Alias (TV)|Alias]]'' set in a Romanian mental hospital, the door to get out is double-keyed, one lock on the wall to either side of a wide maintenance door, too wide for one person to turn both keys with their hands. {{spoiler|Sydney deals with this by acrobatically turning the other one with her foot.}}

* 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).

* In the ''[[Andromeda]]'' pilot episodes, Dylan gives four people he barely knows positions on his ships - because, apparently, one person cannot launch the Nova Bombs.

 

* [[Truth in Television]], this, especially in terms of US ICBM silos. The two key slots are far enough apart that one person can't turn both at the same time. Plus you'll need the launch codes, if they're not [[Broken Arrow 1996 (Film)|set to 00000000...]]

** Yes, that actually did happen.

**** [[Vindicated By History|Well, their trust appears to have been well placed.]]

*** 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.

[[Category:Military and Warfare Tropes]]

[[Category:Two Keyed Lock]]