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

bed, soft light, quiet and hidden from view, theserooms


speak of a capacity for love, not just sex but something more, an


emotion they’ve managed to dampen like the flames of a fire but


haven’t quite extinguished completely. Something real, and I


can picture Conlan nervously taking Marie’s hand, leading her to a


place like this, standing above her awkwardly because he’s not


quite sure what to do. I can see her comforting smile, I can almost


hear her whisper it’s okay,and maybe they just laid


together the first time, heads side by side on one pillow as they


cuddled beneath the covers and talked in low voices. Ellington


would be outside, tapping one foot anxiously, waiting, waiting,


thinking only of the future and babies and moving on, while inside


the two friends would giggle for hours, time would stop, nothing


would matter and maybe, just maybe, Marie would let Conlan give her


Chapter 114