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

serviceway—the only light comes from the end of the hall, which


opens out on the commons area. I can hear the faint rush of water,


and the walls around us dance with red dappled reflections, cast


from the fountain just beyond the doorway. I don’t know what I’m


expecting—angry colonists, maybe, armed with pitchforks and crying


for our blood, I can’t seem to shake that image from my mind—and my


heart begins to race with each step we take away from the stairs. I


have to fight the urge to turn and run away, back down the stairs,


out the airlock door and to the Semper Fi, and I don’t care


if I don’t know the new security code, I don’t care if I don’t know


the route, it’s safeback there. But with Dylan’s hands on


my waist, I can keep putting one foot in front of the other just


because I know he’s here with me, he’s going to stay with me, we’ll


Chapter 102