HPDBC Chapter 164 This Codex Is Alien
Chapter 164 This Codex Is Alien
"What kind of alien are you?"
"What are you talking about?" I asked, completely bewildered.
Bimic pointed at my Codex that was still on his workbench, "This thing... Is completely unusable by a normal human."
"Eh?" All three of us muttered at the same time.
He nodded, "Here, let me show you."
He picked up my Codex and slipped it onto his wrist before tapping on it. Find your next read at My Virtual Library Empire
Normally, that would cause a screen to pop out which was akin to the main menu of the game minus the settings and exit menu but nothing happened despite him continuing to tap it a few more times.
He then slipped it off his wrist and handed it over not to me but to Amber.
She realised what he wanted and peeked at me, which took me a moment to understand that she was asking for permission.
I nodded and she took it to slip onto her wrist to tap on it as well, only for it to have the same result.
"But... She could use it the last time though?" I blurted out, remembering how she manipulated the screens in front of me when we were looking for jobs to do at one point.
"Mmm... If I remember correctly, you were still the one wearing it on your wrist though? I never actually started it up myself," Amber recounted.
Oh yeah, that's true...
Lea then stepped forward and reached out her hand as well, "May I try as well, Captain?"
I nodded and Amber handed over the Codex to the Alv, who also slipped it onto her wrist and tried tapping on it.
The results were the same as the other two where it gave no reaction.
When Lea handed it back to me and I tapped on the Codex just like I always do, it immediately reacted and the familiar screen appeared.
Amber then came over to me and I angled the Codex towards her so that she could touch the screen and sure enough, she could move it around and interact with it without any issues.
I then took it off my wrist and it immediately shut itself off.
"So... What does this mean?" I asked.
Bimic scratched his head, "That's the thing I don't understand... It has some kind of function that only allows certain people to use it. But when I cross referenced its rules for the type of people that could use it, nothing came up. Are you even human?"
"I'm... Pretty sure I am?"@@@@
"Then what do you even need a Decoder for?! Even this one would have taken at least an hour to break through the security on that lock box!!"
I pointed at the data chip, "I mean... I couldn't read this with my personal terminal but the Decoder could..."
He gave me an incredulous look, "Isn't this just an issue of your personal terminal not having the same input socket as the data chip's? I admit that this data chip is using a rather old and already phased out connector, but all we would need to do is just install one on your personal terminal right? Your goddamn thing is already several times better than any Decoder I know in existence!"
I stared at him, "Err... Ok... Then can you help me install one?"
"You could have just gone to any hardware store and asked for it, you know? Heck... You could get this done for less than fifty Credits..."
"But... It still involves opening up the personal terminal and changing some parts right?"
"No? Wait here."
He went over to his workbench and started digging through the pile of stuff left at the side of said workbench.
He then pulled out something before coming over to me and placing it in my hand.
"What's this?" I asked, looking down at the piece of weird looking metal in my hand.
"It's a socket adaptor... Just plug one end of it into your terminal and then plug the data chip into the other side..."
...
Holy fuck I actually forgot that adaptors like this could exist.
I took the adaptor, plugged it into my personal terminal, then plugged the data chip into the other end of the adaptor.
A new screen popped up and it was basically the hacking minigame that I would usually do and I quickly unlocked it to reveal the data chip's contents.
Oh my god... It was that simple all along... I feel like an absolute idiot now...
Bimic then gave me a look, "So... I'm not that big of a fool to try and ask you for a million Credits just for something as stupidly simple as that... But could I just ask that you help me with something that I'm working on as payment for this?"
I raised an eyebrow at him after copying the files on the data chip into my Codex, "You want me to help you hack something for you?"
He nodded, "I have been trying to break through the security on this one file for the past few months but I've not been able to make any progress. I feel like this would contain quite a bit of information I need for my current job so I really need this file opened."
Amber butted in, "Sounds like you'll need to pay her if she succeeds in doing that."
Bimic nodded, "Yes, yes. I will definitely pay my dues if it's successful, don't worry about that. How do you think I managed to stay down here all this while without being found out? It's not like I don't need food and water down here to survive, you know?"
Oh yeah... How is he getting his food and water?
Guess I'll ask him later. Before that, I suppose I'll see whether I can hack that file of his.