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

I don’t think he’s going to get the thing open, he’s just one man,


but the hatch slides into the wall just enough for us to enter.


Henry and Maclin reseal the hatch behind us.


We’re in an airlock but it’s old and the


walls are cracked, it’s not exactly sterile anymore. Still,


Ellington runs the system through a standard decontamination


bioscan just to be safe. Overly safe,I think, because he


knows we’re all clean. As we wait for the decon scan to cycle


through its course, Shanley comes over to me and holds up a small


bottle of antiseptic spray. “Let me see your hands,” he says.


I hold them out, palms up, and now they’ve


begun to bleed, drops of dark red blood beading along the


scratches, not very pretty at all. The spray Shanley coats them


with is cold and numbing, and as I watch, the white antiseptic


dissolves away, leaving my skin itchy and damp. I’m all too aware


of Ellington watching us as he pushes the hood of his poncho back,


Chapter 42