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In space, no one can hear you scream. Unless they're using an Everything Sensor.
The Everything Sensor comes standard on the Cool Ship, and it does what it says on the box: It can detect and analyze anything. Literally anything. The Negative Space Wedgie, the Lost Technology, the Green Rocks, or whatever other Unknown Phenomenon our plucky explorers of space happen to run into. (Odd since, if it's an Unknown Phenomenon, how would the ship designers know to install something that could detect it? Those are some Crazy Prepared engineers there...)
It will always come with an Enhance Button. Sometimes its Readings Are Off The Scale.
If for some plot-based reason you need it to not see something, this is usually excused at the climax by "we didn't set it to scan for that in particular, but now that we know what we're looking for..." In rare cases, the Everything Sensor can't see the Techno Babble directly, but it can detect some byproduct of it. And if nothing else, you can always recalibrate the sensor by Reversing the Polarity.
Star Trek is easily the biggest abuser of this trope.
Also, Metroid Prime: Incoming Scan Data...
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