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"I identify with the weak person; this is one reason why my fictional protagonists are essentially antiheroes."
- Philip K. Dick

Mass Pointer  
  Tells you where the really large (star-sized) masses are while you travel in hyperspace.  

The mass pointer is a big transparent sphere with a number of blue lines radiating from the center. The direction of the line is the direction of a star; its length shows the star's mass. We wouldn't need pilots if the mass pointer could be hooked into an autopilot, but it can't. Dependable as it is, accurate as it is, the mass pointer is a psionic device. It needs a mind to work it. I'd been using mass pointers for so long that those lines were like real stars.
Technovelgy from Crashlander, by Larry Niven.
Published by Del Rey in 1994
Additional resources -

From the short story At the Core.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Crashlander
  More Ideas and Technology by Larry Niven
  Tech news articles related to Crashlander
  Tech news articles related to works by Larry Niven

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