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

Dylan takes Conlan’s arm, leads him on


ahead, and I can almost hear the words he’s whispering so low. You


know how it is, when you want some time alone with Marie? What say


you talk to your friend, see if he can’t bend the rules just this


once, okay? It’s the least he can do after all that shit he’s put


With a sigh, I glance at Shanley and shake


my head, the hint of a smile toying at the corners of my mouth.


Only Shanley’s not right beside me anymore, he’s hanging back, and


I slow down to let him catch up with me. “Everything okay?” I ask.


From the look on his face, I have my doubts.


“I’ve been thinking,” he tells me, and


the way he says it suggests that whatever it is has been eating at


him for a while now. Shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his


jumpsuit, he says, “These people aren’t qualified physicians, Neal.


The briox will help, true, but so many things can go wrong during


Chapter 121