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

pregnant and beginning to show, I can tell by the way she sits back


from the table, her hands folded across top of her belly


protectively. Her name is Kelly, and she has short black hair so


dark it’s almost burgundy in spots and skin like chocolate, she’s


very pretty. I wonder if this is her first child. If the briox


works for Marie, will there be enough for the other women? Ten in


all—what kind of supply does Shanley have on the carrier?


Next to Kelly is a man Conlan introduces as


Ramsey—there’s something authoritative about him, something almost


scary. He looks older than the rest of us, with red hair cropped as


short as it can possibly be, tight against his scalp, so light that


it’s almost translucent near the top. He has ruddy skin and icy


eyes that I swear pierce into me, and a perpetual scowl that


deepens when Conlan says his name. As Conlan introduces us, Dylan’s


Chapter 60