J.M. Snyder

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

“Clean,” Ellington grunts. He sounds


almost disappointed. Dylan stands in the rain on the other side of


Ellington’s companions—bodyguards,my mind whispers,


they’re bodyguards and they’re here to keep us away, if we’re


not what we claim to be.I don’t like that they’re between us,


they’ve managed to separate us and I step forward for their little


security check, I want to be on the other side of those men. I want


But Shanley steps up, too, and I let him go


first. Dylan winks at me from behind Maclin and Henry. “Love you,”


he mouths, and I smile and look away. Johnson was right, we don’t


have to stay here long. I’m already looking forward to climbing


back into the Semper Fiand leaving this dreary planet


They hurry us through the rain to the wreck


of the S410—Ellington at the head of our small troupe, then Parker


grumbling about the weather to Shanley, who shields his eyes with


Chapter 41