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

myself, and I can live with Dixon’s ignorant remarks because I know


Dylan didn’t leave me for the mission, I know Dylan loves


me. I for one am going to love the look on Dixon’s face when he


hears that we’re back together again. I hope I’m there to see it,


and I won’t hide my smirk then, oh God no. I can hardly wait.


The next day finds me alone on the nav deck,


leaning back in my chair and staring out at the stars, thinking


about my boy and how he’s in the med lab right this minute with


Shanley, going over the inventory. If I sit up, I can see the nose


of Parker’s bird out to our right, giving the carrier a wide berth


as he keeps a steady watch. Around me the deck is filled with the


incessant beep beep blip beepof the signal, a tuneless


rhythm I begin to tap out on my knees, steady, regular,


Then it changes. I wouldn’t have noticed if


I wasn’t keeping time and my fingers missed a beat, another, a


Chapter 21