Entangled Universe

When money trouble forces Clarity and her traveling companion, Irohann, to take on passengers, Irohann worries his secret identity will be revealed. He's a canine alien on the run from an empire of sentient plants, and their queen has a personal vendetta against him. But Clarity believes his fears are unfounded and the Doraspians gave up on him long ago. 

Against reservations and amid arguments, Clarity rescues a pair of Doraspian diplomats on the run. The two sentient plants and their reptilian advisor are keeping a secret that could make their own government turn on them and turn them into science experiments waiting to be dissected. In need of answers, Clarity and her crew head to Wespirtech, the foremost research institute in their corner of the galaxy, where scientists play with the principles of the universe like kids play with toys. 

The cyborg starwhal whom Clarity and her crew inhabit has become more than a spaceship or home to them. She's their friend. But while Clarity and crew are filling their starwhal's belly with a gengineered garden, the rest of the pod is still held captive by the Aether Gaia scientists who tinker with and experiment upon them like lab animals. The all-powerful AI, Wisper, who stretches across star-systems - inhabiting computers on every space station Clarity has visited - promised to free the other starwhals. But either she's broken her promise, or something worse has gone wrong.