Xenophilia - Simon - Pt. 02

He'd turn his attention away from the server room, however, to lay eyes on one of the main control stations against the glass wall, overlooking said server room. Its screen was flashing red, and immediately, Simon realised that perhaps this was why the alien brought him here.

"Oh hell," he muttered. It was never a good sign when things start flashing red. He made his way over to the console, the alien's tail slipping from his wrist was ease, the female creature trailing after him. He sunk into the chair and spun it around until he was facing the computer screen, tapping away at the keyboard to find out what the alert was. The alien watched on with a quizzical expression across her lips, standing over him, but not interfering with his efforts.

The keyboard, looking and sounding like it was from the 20th century -- much of the engineering in colonies such as these seemed old outwardly as a reliability thing -- clacked away with each button press, until Simon was able to diagnose the problem, and paled just a little.

"Oh shit."

According to the diagnostic reports, there was a fault in one of the power substations. Whilst it was highly unlikely the fusion reactor that powered the entire colony, and the atmospheric processor primarily, would go critical, the substation's malfunction could cause a cascading failure within the colony's power systems; whilst safety mechanisms would trip, it could cause power conduits, light fixtures and other powered equipment to short, ignite and quite likely catch fire, if not explode. Furthermore, there were no currently functioning secondary substations, their construction still unfinished; they weren't available to ease the burden. The damage would potentially be... extensive, even fatal.

Simon rapidly tapped away on the keyboard, trying to diagnose the exact nature of the fault in the substation. But he had little luck in doing so, and he wasn't sure he'd be able to fix it in time, especially if he had to go there and perform repair work manually... something he had neither the time nor qualifications to do. Yet he had to think of something, lest Victor's Post be rocked by destructive power overloads. He wasn't sure what, though. If he could just route the power through another route...

He paused. He knew of one network that would've been able to take up the slack of the failing substation, though it would force the system to drop to emergency power, and cause a lot of other things to stop functioning, but he knew the failsafes to prevent damage were far more robust than in the rest of the colony. Besides, it's not like they were going to need it any time soon.

He started tapping away on the keyboard, until he brought up an access to the Laboratory network; the Weyland-Yutani Lab existed on a semi-independent power and information network, with its own server farm and specialised substation, drawing from the base, but still isolated.

Which meant it'd be difficult for him to do what he needed to do; he was no hacker. But he did have another plan.

He turned to his alien companion, went to open his mouth, and then held his tongue, grimacing; he wasn't even sure if she would be able to understand what he was about to say, despite how simple it was. At the very least, it required a measure of caution and finesse, lest it all go wrong. It didn't matter if she possessed such when it came to lovemaking, he needed her to apply the same attention to what he was about to ask.

"Look, I don't know if you can understand me all that well, but I need you to listen very closely. I need you, to go in there, and to a specific server, and when I say, I need you to pull the information relay box and grab data cables from one of the other servers and hook them up when I say," he said, causing her to cock her head like a quizzical dog. He groaned, feeling a little frustrated, thinking he was going to need something else to explain it to her; she understood some things, but he wasn't sure she was able to do what he wanted, and he had to stay up here to pull it off.

He breathed out, and calmed himself, before clacking away at the keyboard, and bringing up a simple animation of a representation of a single server, used as part of a digital manual. It was interactive, so he was able to point out the exact parts he needed her to know.

"See this?" he said, physically pointing to a flat, ten centimetre by 30 centimetre by 20 centimetre rectangular box, slotted into the server vertically. "I need you to pull it out when I tell you, and only when I tell you." He made sure that she was at least listening, but she only gave him a sympathetic 'look', reminding him that she didn't have eyes. At least, not any that looked like his own.

He slumped his head on the desk, before she tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to different parts of the screen. He wasn't sure what she was doing, until he realised she was pointing between different colours, before moving to slide her hands around the edges of the monitor, without actually touching it. Could she make out colour and shape, but not flat details? It was certainly an interesting way of seeing the world, but it was a bit troublesome right now.

Still, that she'd outlined to him how she saw things was helpful in a different way, and also revealed that she could understand things with more complexity than they let on. He could still do this.

"Alright, what you're looking for, is a flat box. It'll be white and red striped," he began to explain, the alien looking at him attentively. "I need you, to pull it out, when I tell you. Once you do that, you need to grab cables from the server I specify. You'll find them in an open slot on a reel. They will have pointy leads. When I tell you, I need you to insert them into the plugs at the back of the slot you pulled the box out of at the first server, but only when I tell you. Then, you need to pull the lever below the slot. Do you understand me? Raise your thumb if you do."

She nodded... and much to his relief, gave him the thumbs-up.

"Right... let's get to work... uh... do you need a coat?" he asked, remembering how damn cold that room could be, and her constant nakedness. But she only gave him a knowing smirk before leaving over the console and making for the door, apparently already knowing where she at least needed to be.

Now it was up to him to guide her further. He typed in a code on his keyboard, and the door she was at made a clanking sound, before swinging open with an alert. Cold air billowed in, and she slipped inside within seconds, before the door had even barely finished opening, reminding Simon just how slippery her kind probably was, and why they were able to so efficiently infiltrate the colony... but if they were only after sex, what had they done with the other colonists?

He brushed those thoughts aside, focusing on the task at hand. He needed to direct her to the necessary server. He typed in some more commands into his computer, and the server, an entire server housing dedicated to connecting the network of the lab with the Intranet of the Colony, with all the encryption that came with it, lit up brightly. What he planned to do was trick the system and also trip a failsafe by making it assume it had lost connection to the intranet at a vital time, allowing temporary workarounds to be allowed for software maintenance and redundancy purposes. It was a short window, but he'd be able to access the laboratory's power network, and use it as a substation to feed the base. It would cause power shortages, but it would mean the colony didn't go up in flames.

His alien friend detected the light, and made a beeline for the server. He watched how she moved, crawling across the floor on all fours, almost serpentine, and rather sensuous, seeing how her spine undulated and her movements flowed like liquid. She effortlessly stood up in front of the server, and began traipsing her fingers across its surfaces, seeking out the groove that outlined the information relay. She felt around, until she was able to dig her sharp digits into the egress, before looking around and pausing.

Simon tapped a button on the desk, and swung a small microphone around from behind the computer, activating an intercom.

"Alright, can you hear me?" he asked, and she nodded in response. "Good. Now, when I tell you, pull that thing out. Don't break it though, you'll damage the plugs on the server, and we need them."

He began typing away, opening an access way to the Lab Network. Immediately, he was given an 'access denied' message, as expected. In the next moment, he flooded the blocked access point with information, and then shouted into the Microphone.

"Pull it now!"

She did so as quickly and cleanly as possible, sliding the information relay from the server. At that moment, numerous error messages appeared on Simon's screen, just as he'd planned; the information he flooded the access point with just as he had the relay pulled likely caused errors on the lab side of things. Now, he had a small window to create a temporary emergency access which the lab would accept before its security systems were able to reboot after the temporary fault he caused when he pulled the relay.

He began typing in various commands and opening up access ways; technically, he had no connection to the lab now, so he had to play things by ear. However, he was soon ready, for the next phase of his plan, and began typing away at the keyboard. In the next moment, he spoke into the microphone again.

"Alright, grab the cables from the server I'm lighting up," he said, tapping a button and causing another one of the servers to be illuminated. She nodded, and placed the Information Relay on the ground, effectively jogging her way over to the specified server, before looking at the glass wall, behind which Simon sat. "Grab the cables. It doesn't matter which order, just grab all of them."

She nodded, and felt around for the slot, finding it and grasping the cables within. From there, she returned to the first server and uncoiled the cables behind her. She waited once again.

Now came the hard part.

"Alright, plug in all the cables. Order doesn't matter," he said, and she complied, feeling around and inserting each of the plugs. Simon's screen lit up with various debugging and troubleshooting messages. He opened up several command windows, ready to pull off his plan.

"Now, grab the lever, and pull it..." he trailed off, tapping a button to execute a command. "Now."

She grasped the lever, and pulled it down. He lost connection to the lab network again, but this time, he'd placed several special commands at the access point. When he rebooted the server, he was hoping the information surge would bypass security, since it was likely looking for temporary emergency access. It wasn't the best system in the world, but it was meant for if things broke before construction of the colony was finished. He typed in a few more commands, and then whipped his mouth to the microphone.

"Alright, flip it up, now!" he shouted, and she slammed the lever upwards once more. At the same time, Simon executed the commands he'd prepared... and waited. There was nothing for a moment, and then...

Success. He'd gained access to the lab network. Much of it was still off-limits to him, but he didn't need to break data encryption, just reroute power. Within moments, Simon had power routed through the Lab Substation network, and sure enough, the overload in the other Substation ceased. It was still malfunctioning, but now that its burden was eased, it was no longer at risk of causing a cascading failure throughout the colony.

He did get a caution message stating 'Laboratory Cryostasis Tanks without sufficient power'. He wasn't sure why there were cryo tubes in the lab, but he wasn't worried; if anyone was in them, emergency failsafes would have thawed them out safely. He was just glad there seemed to be no one in the lab that tried to fight against his intrusion; it would've ruined his plan, and he had no way to communicate with them.

He slumped into his chair, and sighed out in relief.

"Disaster averted," he muttered, peering out into the room. He could see his alien friend standing in the cold, hands on hips and smirking in her usual devious way. She then stretched rather enticingly, before making her way back up to the door, leaping from the floor to the catwalk effortlessly. Simon let her in, and she strolled through without any signs of discomfort.

"Wow... it's like you couldn't even feel a chill in there," he remarked with a chuckle. She only smiled, sauntering over to him. His eyes were drawn to her bust, and he gulped, seeing the generously endowed globes jiggle with her each step. He could see vapour roiling off her body, going from a rather cold room, to one that was at least temperate in comparison. It made her seem even more unearthly than she already was.

"So... I guess you don't need me for anything anymore," he said with a small amount of disappointment; if that was the only reason they came for him, it was a little depressing.

Her response was to smirk, before whipping his chair around and making him face her, leaning over him before pressing a palm to his crotch, and beginning to firmly rub his junk through his pants. He jolted, and a red blush rapidly spread across his face, all as she licked her lips and 'looked' into his eyes. He gulped, smiling nervously, and with no small amount of delight; even if his computer skills were no longer required, it seemed she had more than enough desire for other parts of him that it didn't matter.

Boy, was he going to enjoy living with these things.