Remote Activator

The remote activator, also referred to as a portal device, allows agents in the field to operate their portal generator remotely.

This is essential because, once a mission has begun, the agent team is not permitted to return to HQ until it has been completed, barring emergency circumstances. This is because of the danger of "losing their place." When agents enter a Word World, they modify it just by being there, and when they leave, the fic's Words may return to their Sued version of normal and any work the agents have done made useless. It can even be impossible to find a way back into the fic.

The danger can be much reduced if only one agent leaves the fic, letting the other remain behind.

But, if both agents need to travel from one location to another in a fic, and they don't want to risk hopping a wild plothole to save time, they can use a remote activator to open a stable portal from their location to another in-fic location, instead.

Description

The remote activator itself is a handheld device linked to the portal generator back in HQ. As the name suggests, it can be used to remotely activate the generator, allowing for portals to be opened within the mission either to travel around the Word World, or to return to HQ at the end.

The exact appearance of the RA is inconsistent—as with most HQ tech, "standard" is something of a foreign concept—and seems to have changed over time. In its earliest appearances in the Original Series, it is simply referred to as a "trigger" or "button." In TOS mission twelve, however, Jay taps coordinates into it, indicating there must be pushable keys of some sort, and the coordinates can be very exact: Jay configures the destination time and place, and the portal's height above the ground, which trips up the unsuspecting Acacia. The name "remote activator" is first used in mission five, which also marks its first use for traveling between points within a fic rather than simply going back to HQ.

A TOS-contemporary remote activator used by Agents Amy and Brent looked like a jury-rigged remote control.

Another, near-contemporary remote activator was cylindrical, with three numbered dials around the circumference and a large button on one end. The dials could be set to define the location, and the button was pressed to open the portal. According to this description, the remote activator code for HQ is 112. However, as other descriptions involve setting portals to lock onto locations or specific people, either this describes a simple version of the RA (the one in question was sent to a recruit to allow him to reach HQ), or the dials are very, very versatile (likely, as at least one Intel agent used one). Some models include a display.

In another, more modern description, the RA resembles a generic smartphone. The screen's display includes a slowly spinning wireframe globe, as well as numbers displaying coordinates. The ability to warp to MST-style movie theater described in scriptfic is a simple hotkey away.

According to other descriptions, RAs have a "Home" button which opens a portal back to HQ.^{[source, please!]}

Some more modern RAs may warn agents if they are about to enter first-person perspective. This feature was included in an upgrade Gall Knutson got to her RA in early 2018.

The remote activator, like other pieces of iron-based technology, does not work in the home of the Discworld elves. It is possible to portal in, but not out.

Remote activators have been known to malfunction and drop agents—or Mary Sues being transported—off in unexpected places. It has also been demonstrated at least once that an RA will not work while inside a plothole, instead displaying a "Service unavailable" message.

The Department of Internal Security had their own version of the remote activator, designed to lock onto a specific subject of surveillance and allow the Guards to portal straight to it. It is unknown if the Department of Internal Affairs issued a similar variant to its officers, but it's possible.