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

In the end we decide that only four of us


should go down, that’s it. Dylan, because he’s the captain and he


wantsto go— ”You can’t keep me from this,” he tells us as


Vallery configures the landing system. He leans back against the


control panel, one foot propped up on my chair by my thigh, his


arms folded across his chest. “I earned this. It’s my signal, they


spoke to me first, I deserve to go down there.”


ain’t.” He looks around at the rest of us as if defying someone to


challenge him. “I’m going to see if I can set up a long-range


transmission from this carrier. Dixon needs to know what’s going


“Fine,” Dylan says. “You do that. I’m


I touch his ankle, a quick gesture no one


else sees. “You said that. Who else?”


“One of the fighters,” Leena says, and


over the intercom, Milano interrupts, “Not me. I’m gonna stay up


here and keep my finger on the trigger, if you know what I mean.


Chapter 36