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

can’t—I’m not part of them, I’m outside their unity and he’ll never


trust us, never trust me.My best bet is to appeal to


Conlan, get him on our side, get him to talk some sense into his


friends. Ellington will listen to him, if I can just get Conlan


alone long enough to convince him that Shanley canland.


And we can go free,I keep telling myself as I follow them


Two techs man the radio, the woman who was


here when Ellington took us on his tour yesterday and a young


blonde man I don’t recall seeing before. “They’re still standing


by,” the woman says as we enter. She speaks in clipped tones that


leave no room for argument, and she doesn’t quite look at me, just


relinquishes her seat without a word as I’m led to the radio.


Trepidatiously, I sink into her chair. I


look up at Ellington—what’s he want me to do? Just hail them, say


hi? Who’s on the other end of this transmission? A little help


Chapter 83