J.M. Snyder

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

“Dylan,” I warn. I don’t like the way Conlan can’t quite look at


us—he watches Ellington set up the decon cycle for the airlock,


stares at the ceiling, the floor, anywhere but across the corridor


where we are. I catch Dylan’s hands as they smooth down my hips and


extract myself from his embrace. “Not right now,” I tell him.


He sighs, a sound so forlorn that I want to


kiss him and make it better and I can’t. I just lean against the


wall beside him, my hands folded behind my back, and try my hardest


to ignore his wounded pout. “So,” I say, hoping to disperse the


awkwardness that hangs across the corridor between the two of us


and Conlan. It doesn’t work—he still doesn’t look our way. “Why


didn’t you mention our landing would ruin your water supply?” I


ask. “We didn’t haveto land, if it was going to


Conlan shrugs. “It was a risk I was willing


to take,” he says softly. He’s turned away from me as he watches


Chapter 62