Free Chasm by Voila Grace Page B

around for them. Ailan was within earshot. “How did your people realize that their world was going to shift?”
    “Our animal forms are very sensitive to alterations in electromagnetic currents. When they had enough information, it was decided that evacuating was the best option.” He came closer as he spoke.
    “I see. I am guessing that there aren’t many records from back then.”
    He chuckled and sat next to her. “Not really. In a thousand years, most records turn into myth. We are as eager for this information as you are. We have no idea what really happened or how we came to our new home world.”
    She chuckled. “That must suck.”
    His grin was engaging and she spent a little too long on watching the chiselled plane of his jaw and the clear cut of his lips. He winked as he caught her looking.
    “Sorry. I can’t help it. I haven’t been this close to one of your species before.”
    “Ask anything that comes into your thoughts.” Ailan gave her a wicked grin.
    She laughed and asked the question just as Eckhar came running toward them. “Fine. Are you allergic to wearing shirts or is it just your audience?”
    Ailan barked a laugh and was going to answer when the ground shifted under her and a harsh rumbling took over her senses.
    She stood and turned to run, but before she took three steps, the floor under her feet gave way and she was falling. Hoarse shouts from the surface followed her while she flipped end over end and collided with the walls.

    Chapter Two
    The air was stale and dusty, her arm was throbbing as well as one of her legs and she wanted to be back in her shuttle and under the covers. Her head was pounding with her pulse and the coppery smell of her own blood was starting to take over everything.
    She heard the shrieking of birds and two large black ravens swirled over her head before landing at her side. The birds were huge, but the men they transformed into were blessedly familiar.
    “Stay still, Razi.” Ailan was on her left and examining her limbs.
    “Will do.” The words came out on a groan as his hands found the break in her arm.
    Eckhar grinned down at her with a worried tension around his lips. “You are going to kick yourself when you wake up, Razi.”
    She gritted her teeth and a high-pitched whine broke free. “Why?”
    “You have found the design centre.”
    Her focus gained immediate clarity that distracted her from Ailan’s hands on her leg straightening the limb. “The what?”
    “Oefric are a designed race. We know it, but have never been able to find our originating lab. Guess where we are right now?”
    Eckhar was doing an excellent job of distracting her. She tried to move her head and Ailan barked, “Stay still. Doctor’s orders.”
    She stilled. “I thought you were an anthropologist.”
    Both of them chuckled. “A necessary fiction. Our government did not think you would respond well to a doctor and an enforcer courting you.”
    She smiled, but the throbbing in her head became deafening. When he pulled her leg straight, blackness rushed toward her and swallowed her whole.
    A peculiar trilling accompanied her return to the world. When she tried moving her fingers with a slow and careful attention, the sound stopped.
    “So, you have rejoined us. Ailan will be happy. He nearly tore his hair out trying to get this old medical equipment running, but he did and here you are.” Eckhar lifted the hand with the wiggling fingers and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.
    She stared at the forearm where she was sure bone had pierced flesh. “There is repair equipment here?”
    Ailan entered the small bright room. “Yes. Antiques, but they still work if you splice components together with regular communicators and curse a lot.”
    “The cursing is an integral component I am sure.” Razi shifted her legs. While the previously broken leg ached, it felt almost normal compared to the remembered agony. “How fixed am I?”
    “A few weeks of light walking and you will be