Galactic Forge: Nexus

"I patiently await the day you don't say anything cynical or abrasive."

A sharp beeping cut through the dark room, lit only by faint moonbeams cast through the small window.

Parker let out a loud groan, as he was roused from his sleep. Face buried in his pillow and set in a deep grimace, he rolled over and slapped his hand down on the computer resting on his bedside table. "Hm?" he held the screen up to his face and fought groggily to focus his sleep ridden eyes on the image in front of him. "Nex?" he mumbled.

His finger limply tapped the screen a few times, missing the answer button twice before finally managing to swipe over it with any degree of accuracy. The screen came alive with a video of Nexus in her pajamas, her face just a little too close to the camera.

"Parker!" she yelled with a hereto unseen degree of excitement.

The light from the screen made him squint his eyes while still struggling to wake himself up. "Ugh... What is it?" he asked in mid-yawn.

"I found a guy! An engineer!" she said, a crooked smile spreading across her face.

"What? But we talked about that like..." his eyes trailed down to the small clock in the corner of his screen. "Five hours ago." He noted the dark circles under her eyes and the steaming mug in her hand. "You haven't slept, have you?"

"Nevermind that! Get Max. Get him, get him, get him, get him!"

"Alright, alright. Geez, settle down." Reaching beyond the view of Nex's camera, Parker seemed to be giving something a shove off-screen. "Hey, Max. You're wanted on the phone."

"The hell!?" exclaimed Nexus.

There came a series of mumbled protests before Max peeked into view. He strained to see without his glasses, spotting a rather alarmed looking Nexus on the screen. "First you disrupt my work and now you intrude on my sleep. Will I ever be free of you?"

"I thought you two were brothers!?"

"Adopted," said Max, rubbing the strained muscles in his neck.

"And also, not doing that," Parker added, injecting himself back into the conversation. "We could only afford a one bedroom apartment... And one bed."

Nexus leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest before continuing. "Wow, you two are even worse off than me."

"That raises the question, exactly how do you make money anyway?"

"We're getting off topic," Nexus said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Max, I need you to find someone for me. You're good at that, right?"

"Are you offering me a job?" he asked, suddenly taking an interest and lifting the computer from Parker.

Nexus nodded, her smirk broadening as she beamed with pride. "Yep. An Aquarri by the name of Khamal. An engineer and a former professor at the Pantainous University of Science. There was an incident while I was a student there that got him booted from the academy, but he was highly respected in his field... Even though it is an inferior field for intellectually bankrupt minds."

"That should be a simple job. No more than a few hundred credits."

"Oh. You want me to pay you?" she said bluntly.

"Of course I want you to pay me! You did hear what Parker mentioned about the bed, right? "

"O-of course I intended to pay you," she paused, trailing off as she sought desperately for a work around, clearly scanning her vicinity for clues. "...With a really spiffy vacuum-cleaner robot I designed. It's a one of a kind prototype and-"