Squidget

The  was the Symbiotic Engineer for the Rintlekk escape pod, and acted as the links between the engine controls. Dorothy dubbed it the Squidget as it was a "Squidgy Gadget".

Appearance
The Squidget was located inside the propulsion unit of the pod, and would draw itself into it when the unit was shaken or moved, looking like a coral growth when it did. It would chirrup at random intervals, and was mostly composed of thin tentacles that pulsed and shimmered when Dorothy touched it

When the Squidget was activated, and told to mesh with a machine in order to take control of it, it drastically increased in mass that appeared to come from nowhere, filling all the available space it was given with small, hair-like feelers that would erupt from every pore in its body, and thicken and harden. (PROSE: At Childhood's End)

Capabilities
The Squidget would respond to voice control, and Dorothy was able to use it to control most of the equipment in her workshop. When let loose inside the Virgil, it took less than a minute for it to bypass the entire ignition subroutine and hardwire itself into the propulsion control systems. Although it could do all this, it at first did not understand Earth technology, confusing the controle for the brake and throttle when Dorothy first wired it into one of her motorbike engines. (PROSE: At Childhood's End)

History
Several years before January 2020, Dorothy recovered the Squidget from the lake under Wasdale Head, and began to dismantle the Rintlekk escape pod that it was it. Discoovering the Squidget, she wired it into one of her motorbike engines, which 'made for an interesting test drive' when it confused the brake and throttle.

In January 2020, she took it in an Aluminium travel case to the Space Defence Centre to show Will Buckland, where it took control of the Virgil and flew it into orbit around the moon. (PROSE: At Childhood's End)