"No," Saito said, not looking up from the manual. "It points to true north. The axis of the Earth. The spin of the planet itself. Magnets are for children's toys."

Tanaka came up with coffee. "Captain? The auto-helm is acting strange. It keeps trying to correct two degrees to port."

He installed it himself over a quiet Tuesday. The Third Mate, a boy named Tanaka who watched TikTok on the bridge wing, asked, "Captain, does it still point to magnetic north?"

Then came the deviation.