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

When I feel the barred door in front of me,


I open my eyes, but I still can’t see anything. I didn’t think it


would be this dark. How much time did I lose disoriented in my


cell? Ten seconds, maybe, which puts me at almost a full minute


gone now, possibly more. I have to pick up the pace.


This door’s only partway open, too, but it’s


larger and I manage to ease through into the main corridor with no


trouble at all. Dylan’s cell block branches off the opposite wall—I


can sense an empty space in front of me, stretching out to either


side. What if there’s someone else in the corridor? Maclin or


Henry, that Tobin kid? I shudder at the thought of running into


thatfreak in the dark, with his lecherous hands and eager


grin. But you’re wasting time,a voice inside my mind


whispers. Don’t worry about what you can’t possibly know, focus


on what you’re after, on Dylan. Only him.


his lips tender and tentative on mine. The first time he touched


Chapter 89