Hot Water

The door hissed open, and Raxip stepped into his room. It was fully morning, now, the artificial station lighting making a jaunty yellow-tinted glow across his chamber which didn’t match his mood. Rax’s face was grim, his eyes seeming unfocused, staring into the distance, past the solid bulkheads of his apartment. He stood still for a moment, as the door returned to it’s closed position, then leaned back against it. His head dropped down, and his legs folded slowly, sliding him down the wall to sit on the floor. Raxip rested his head on his knees, and breathed deeply for a few minutes.

His composure regained, Raxip got to his feet, and glanced about. The bed was unmade, empty, the sheets half tossed to the floor. He shrugged, and went to clean up. Resting on the pillow, though was a small datachip. Raxip snorted, and scooped his ‘pad up from the small dresser. Slotting in the chip, he brought up it’s contents, and found a small text message.

Rax where did you go? I woke up and you were gone. You didn’t even leave me a note.
If that’s the way you’re gonna treat me, I think we shouldn’t see each other anymore.
-Shiaen

Shrugging, Raxip hit the ‘wipe’ command on his pad, and tossed it on the bed.

~

The hot water ran over Rax’s face, and down his body, almost washing the insanity of the morning away, but not quite. For a moment he just stood there in the shower, his head bowed under the stream, but a little sound wiggled its way into his conscious, cutting through his trance. When he realized it was the high insistent beep of an incoming call from his communications gear, Raxip leapt out of the small enclosed shower and into his living area, slapping the Receive button. As the screen flickered with static while the connection stabilized, he composed his features to neutrality. The screen resolved into the image of a Sebiestor man sporting a mohawk, his features thin and seeming prematurely lined. His face looked weary, but his eyes were alight, a seed of madness resting in their depths. His eyes widened with recognition, then his mouth quirked up in a smirk as he glanced Raxip from head to toe.

"Raxi, buddy, if I knew it was this kind of call, I wouldn’t have rushed. I’ve told you before, I’m not interested in that way,” he said, a mocking tone in his voice.

Raxip’s brow furrowed with confusion, then realization that he had forgot to dress from his shower swept through him. He abruptly sat down on his bed, and pulled the sheets over his lap.

“Uh, Coffee, um. No, that’s not it. I wanted to hire you for something. You can... Find people, right?”

The Sebiestor man smiled, and steepled his fingers in front of his chin. “You’re a friend Rax, so I can look into it. But it’s still going to cost you.” His eyes widened, and he smiled broadly. “So, who am I finding, and you want him in one piece or what? Oh, and if he’s a capsuleer, it’s gonna cost extra.”

“No, he’s no capsuleer. Actually, I don’t know exactly who he is,” Rax said, his eyes narrowing to a glare, “But his name is Durynx, and I heard he’s out there somewhere. I wanna find him.”

“Alright, Raxip. I’ll see what I can do. I’ll get back to you when I have news.”. Coffee glanced off screen, and made a quick gesture, closing the connection.

Raxip sat there staring at the matte grey panelling of the wall where the screen was, before sighing deeply, and flopping down backwards onto his bed.

“It’s starting again,” he whispered to himself.