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

“System specs,” the radio tech tells


I turn to Ellington, who’s watching us like


he thinks we’re going to break something. “Can I call the carrier


from here?” I ask. “Just to let them know what’s going on.”


mutters, tapping on the glass fountain in the middle of the room.


“When can we meet this committee of yours and get


“They said an hour,” Ellington reminds


us, “but with Marie like she is, maybe not tonight. Not until…” He


trails off and frowns at me, but I can read the unfinished sentence


in his haunted eyes.Not until the labor stops or the baby


dies,that’s what he was going to say. I’m glad he didn’t. I


don’t want to hear the words out loud.


Shaking the thought away, he nods at the


computer where Dylan’s standing. “Sure, hail your friends. You can


I glance at the radio controls and tell him,


“Yeah, I think so. It’s an older model but it can’t be too hard.”


Chapter 51