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

Once the crew is settled into the carrier, I


retreat to the safety of the nav deck. I can’t sit in the cafeteria


with seven other people and pretend Dylan’s not there, not when he


looks at me the way he does, the hint of a smile on his face


matching the promise I see in his eyes. Every time he opens his


mouth to speak, I feel like a gawkish teenager, and I know the


others see this, they must.The way he makes me feel, the


way I stare at him, the way he watches me, like he didn’t sit on my


bunk two months ago and tell me we shouldn’t be exclusive, at least


not right now. Every time he laughs, I smile at him. Every time he


winks at me, I flush. When his knee nudges mine beneath the table,


I almost knock over my glass of water, I’m that jittery. I have to


So I mumble some lame excuse and hurry to


the nav deck, where it’s dark like a womb and I can hide away from


everyone else for a little while, at least. The only lights come


Chapter 15