Quadrant lock

"Oh... I uh.. this is a bit embarrassing... I've lost my keys..."

A quadrant lock is capable of sealing off a region of space, both preventing outsiders from entering, and cutting off those inside from the rest of the universe. The device appears as a giant gateway floating in space, with a rectangular metal frame surrounding a flat energy portal.

Its purpose is to isolate a region of space from the rest of the cosmos. The occupants within the "locked" sector were incapable of seeing the stars beyond their world. In essence, it prevented the affected planet from evolving and sealed them in an almost permanent dark age. Only an isolator key was capable of opening a quadrant lock.

Fiction

The Transformers cartoon

The Quintessons made use of a quadrant lock to seal Quadrant X which held the planet Zamojin, whose natives the Quintessons feared for their starlight based telepathic abilities, which would have been nearly limitless had they evolved further.

Galvatron uncovered the quadrant lock, unaware of its purpose, and wanted its secrets. The Quintessons attempted to stop him from damaging the lock when the Autobots arrived. Fearing defeat, the Quintessons opened the lock and accidentally trapped themselves along with Rodimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Blurr, Perceptor, and Cyclonus. The Face of the Nijika

Alternity

Following Carly's evolution into a powerful telepathic being due to Binaltech technology, the Quintessons quadrant locked the Earth of the BT World to trap both humanity and the Binaltech Autobots. Outlier The planet was frozen in time until the Alternity were born and broke through it 900,000 years later. Alternation

Notes

Foreign names

• Japanese: Quadrant lock (クアドラント・ロック kuadoranto rokku)

See also

• Quantum lock