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

Sorry.” Before I can reply, she asks, “How’s it going down on your


“Hey!” he cries, but I laugh and tell


her, “More or less. You know how he is.” Then I give her a brief


overview of the situation, choosing my words carefully because I


get the impression that Ellington’s listening a little too closely


to what I have to say. So I tell her about the committee and how


we’re supposed to meet with them tonight and how we might not,


glossing over the complications that have arisen with Marie’s


pregnancy because that’s really none of our concern. “Shanley’s


helping out,” is all I say. I don’t mention the surly demeanor of


the colonists or the virus that decimated so much of the ship’s


population, and I sure as hell don’t tell her that Dylan’s mad


because they won’t give us a room to ourselves and he’s not going


to get a piece of me tonight, she reallydoesn’t need to


know that. But I describe the planet’s surface and the S410


Chapter 52