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

Ramsey turns towards us as if seeing us for


the first time and God, Dylan,I think, watching the bunched


muscles in Ramsey’s jaw twitch. Can’t you just keep your damn


mouth shut for once? Please?Beneath the table I squeeze his


hand in a death grip and pray that this guy loses interest in us.


You’re fighting with Conlan, remember? Not us, him. Not us.


“Who the fuck asked you?” he wants to know.


“Ramsey,” Conlan says. Ramsey doesn’t


reply, just stares at Dylan until I’m sure he’s going to come


across the table at him, he’s going to tear him apart and I won’t


be able to stop him, I can’t take on someone like him, even if I


“Sit down,” Kelly says, her voice as


soft as Conlan’s. For a moment Ramsey wavers, I see the uncertainty


flicker in his eyes, and then she takes his hand and pulls him down


beside her. He sinks into his seat abruptly, as if his legs fall


out from under him. Kelly closes her fingers around his and


Chapter 61