Free Chasm by Voila Grace

Razi has been digging into the past of the Alliance for years, but now that she has found the Oefric origin world, she has a problem. The world is disintegrating at an alarming rate so if they are going to find the origin of this species, they have to work quickly. Ailan and Eckhar are her assigned assistants and despite their being unfamiliar with dig sites, they have one other trait that irritates her, they claim that she is their own. A fall and interference from a determined AI change her attitudes toward her new mates in a way she cannot deny.

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    This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
    Chasm
    Copyright © 2011 Viola Grace
    ISBN: 978-1-55487-915-1
    Cover art by Martine Jardin                 
    All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
    Published by eXtasy Books
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    Chasm
    A Terran Times Novella
    By
    Viola Grace

    Chapter One
    Razi Nelson fought to keep her excitement under control. The ancient ruins were crumbling, but they were recognizable.
    She was on the Oefric origin world and if she didn’t hurry, it would be lost forever. She started her recorders, flicking them on around the huge expanse. When passing the doorway, she looked over at the two shuttles huddled side by side. Her companions hadn’t woken with the false dawn like she had, so she had the endless morning to keep her company.
    Back on earth, she had loved history. Being an archaeologist in the Alliance was something that she had never dreamed of back home, but after she volunteered, her life changed.
    She had a talent for the old and ancient, her mind fairly hummed when she got close to a new discovery.
    Finding the hidden files in the depths of an ancient ship’s navigation log had caused a stir in the Oefric community. While she was allowed to go on the first exploratory mission to the world depicted in the files, she had to bring two Oefric scientists with her.
    Ailan Dar and Eckhar Minkoss were not her idea of scientists. No nerd back on earth had ever sent her heart pounding in her chest, nor had they ever looked like they could have played football. These two were the standard Oefric height, well over six feet tall, and while they were of different families, both had inky black hair.
    Razi smiled and bustled about, her recorders scanning and catching every inch of the remains of the great hall. Dawn would come soon enough and with it, her new companions would rise, stretch and she would start drooling. She had heard from other Terrans that the right Oefric at close range was irresistible and she was beginning to suspect that they knew what they were talking about.
    With her machines scanning away, she returned to her shuttle for the matter of a late breakfast. She assembled her meal, put it on a tray and took a seat on her makeshift porch. The steps to her shuttle made a comfortable chair and she watched the morning caress the mountains of the dead world. Haskar would have been a lovely world if it had still been living and thriving, but now, shifts in gravity were pulling it apart and creating a new surface by