Dead Reckon Timed Vault Core

The core bolts into a locker or strongbox and refuses to release until its clock, credentials, or emergency conditions agree. Installation leaves a faint sealant-and-ozone smell around the door seam. Keep its backup cell dated, its mechanical override under separate custody, and its time source isolated from casual shipboard updates. It is middle-class security: too serious for a footlocker, too visible for old money. The lock protects medicine, weapons, payroll, or evidence from impatient hands. A wrong schedule can imprison supplies during a crisis; a shared override code converts expensive steel into theater. Dead Reckon includes a mechanical status tab beside the electronics, because power loss should not erase the last useful fact. Long-route crews like that stubbornness. Spire clients generally prefer something quieter and twice the price.