Neal James is a space station navigator whose lover, Dylan Teague, left him for a starmapping mission. But when Dylan radios in a distant signal one night, Neal discovers that he hasn't managed to put the relationship behind him in the two months they've been apart. When he's one of the crew members sent to investigate the signal, he finds that his ex-lover feels the same.<br><br>The source of the signal is a lost colony ship. Only a handful of the original colonists remain, survivors of a deadly disease that killed most of their fellow shipmates twenty years ago. To keep the threat of disease to a minimum, the colony adheres to strict laws, including the prohibition of same-sex relationships.<br><br>When the same fatal virus seems to appear again, Neal and Dylan find themselves in the midst of an irrational panic and hate that threatens to destroy everything the colonists have worked so hard to attain.

Operation Starseed

Before he can say anything else, a sudden


burst of static rips across the channel and I wince as I turn down


the volume. Then Dylan’s voice comes through, louder than before,


but I can still hear the static beneath his words like an animal


testing the length of its chain. “The message?” he says, and I nod


as if he can possibly see me. “Have you decoded it yet?”


Dixon reaches the transmit before I do. “Not


yet.” Releasing it, he mutters, “Anxious, ain’t he? Is he always


I ignore him—he’s not getting another rise


out of me, I swear I won’t let him. When Dylan comes back across


the channel, the static threatens to drown him out. “There’s a part


that says something about S410, and correct me if I’m wrong but


isn’t that similar to the naming convention used on the Starseed


The rest of his transmission dissolves into


scratchy bursts and a high whine like feedback that pierces right


Chapter 7