Her secrets can set us free

After a disastrous laboratory accident, exobotanist Dr. ShaylaRam Gomez is desperate to redeem herself in the eyes of the scientific community, and more importantly, her beloved father. But now, with her carefully nurtured study of new black bean seeds in tatters, Shayla is banished to a dishonorable tour of the Obsidian Rim worlds with the man responsible for destroying her reputation — the brawny farmer from some backwater planetoid, Dr. Rahim Xie.

The people who freed Rahim from a lifetime of slavery are struggling under crushing debt to the Earth’s Conservatory, and Rahim has vowed to save these destitute Prithvi and Rim farmers. He’ll even steal classified research on sustainable crops from his irascible mentor Grumpy Gomez. When he discovers that meticulous Shayla has a hidden maverick streak, Rahim is tempted to enlist her aid. He needs more than her secrets; he needs her and her brilliant mind to help his cause. But how can he ask Shayla to join a revolution that will pit her against her own father — a man known for his political ruthlessness?

Forced together with their dogbot and humanoid companions, they'll travel to the edges of a decaying galaxy to fight the corporate greed that is slowly starving the worlds of the Rim. Are these scientists planting the seeds of their own destruction — or will their reluctant collaboration blossom into something beyond mere coexistence?

Shree C. Aier