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

The disease didn’t crop up until after we set down on this


“About a month,” Conlan says, “before


the first person died. Before we knew there was a problem.”


Suddenly I’m thinking of my little fall on the way to the ship, my


bloodied palms and how long ago did the last person die of this


disease? How is it contacted? What if I get it—what if I have it?


What if—stop it,I caution. Beside me, Dylan frowns, he sees


something in my face that worries him. Just stop it right now,


you slipped and you weren’t even bleeding all that bad so don’t


“And the last person?” I prompt. My


voice cracks slightly and I hate that, I hate this fear pounding


through my veins. “How does it spread?”


“It’s mostly eradicated now,” Conlan


says with a grim smile. “No one left to catch it, I guess. It’s…


we’re not real sure how it jumps around. Airborne, the strain we


Chapter 46