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

Before I can stop myself, I jump off the


bunk, press my face against the bars, try to see down the empty


corridor. “Hey!” I yell, and my voice rings off the steel walls.


No answer. Just my own voice, echoing away.


Can they even hear me? I doubt it. If Dylan’s down another corridor


and he cried himself hoarse and I didn’t hear a breath of it,


chances are I’m just wasting my time. I try to rattle the bars but


they don’t budge, they’re set too deep into the floor and ceiling.


Then I try to run the knife across them, like I’ve seen criminals


do in the old holovids from Earth, but the thin blade just plinks


over the steel, doesn’t make any real sound at all. Anger makes me


cry out again, “Hey!” Top of my lungs, long and drawn out until I


run out of breath and my voice warbles off and still nothing. No


For a few frantic moments I wave my arms at


the corner where the camera is—maybe someone in the guardroom will


Chapter 79