Navigator's Log

By J.M. Snyder

Tylar Daire is the navigator on a space mission whose focus is to discover a cure for a mysterious illness killing colonists on Terra. The crew consists of the captain, a soldier for protection, a scientist to study the virus, Tylar himself, and hot-shot ace pilot Rion Z'ev. From the moment Tylar and Rion meet, sparks fly. They try their best to keep their growing relationship from the others, but when they're alone on the bridge during the day, or holed away in the sleeping quarters at night, they can't keep their hands off each other.

Soldier Jareth is an old friend of Tylar's. When he begins to suspect he's caught the virus they're trying to cure, he swears Tylar to secrecy. But Jareth gets worse, until he can't hide it any more, and he collapses out in the field. Will the crew be able to defeat the virus, or is it too late to save them all?

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Jun 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9781935753162

J.M. Snyder

An author of gay erotic romance, J.M. Snyder began self-publishing gay erotic fiction in 2002. Since then, Snyder has worked with several e-publishers, most notably Amber Allure Press and eXcessica Publishing.Snyder’s short fiction has appeared online at Ruthie’s Club, Tit-Elation, Eros Monthly, and Amazon Shorts, as well as in anthologies released by Alyson Books, Cleis Press, and others.For more book excerpts, free fiction, and purchasing information, please visit http://jmsnyder.net.

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Navigator’s Log

By J.M. Snyder

Published by JMS Books LLC

This story is included in the print book Other Worlds Than These by J.M. Snyder.

Visit http://www.jmsnyder.net for more information.

Copyright 2010 J.M. Snyder

ISBN 978-1-93575-316-2

Cover Photo Credit: Photographer

Used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

Cover Design: J.M. Snyder

All Rights Reserved

WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It contains substantial sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which may be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published in the United States of America.

NOTE: Navigator’s Log was previously published by Torquere Press.

* * * *

Navigator’s Log

By J.M. Snyder

Log Entry 04.25.3021, 14:07 hours

There are five of us on this mission and we’re all nervous as hell.

Fifty colonists dead, two hundred more dying—how can you not be nervous? The Center’s got the World Health Organization out here already, and the area’s been quarantined since last week. So far there haven’t been any new cases, and a few of the infected even show signs of recovery, but we’re still on edge because we’re the ones out past the no-fly zone.

We’re the ones looking for the origin of the virus.

The mission captain is smart, quick on his feet, and always good for a laugh. He’s a stocky man, a fact enhanced by his short stature, and he has a scar running down one cheek from eye to chin. Every time he laughs, his face reddens and that scar stands out, livid and white, like neon. His name’s Paol Frisco and I’ve heard talk about him from other guys at the Center. They say he’s fun to pal around with, and so far he’s been pretty cool. He definitely knows what he’s doing, knows this planet like the back of his hand. When I asked how many times he’s been to Terra he told me only once, but he says he was born here. I guess that makes him our resident expert, no?

Then there’s Ansel Eris. He’s the pathologist, specializing in botanical contagions. I’ve known him for a while now, and he’s good at what he does when he’s not being a dick. He’s so damn serious all the time, barely even cracks a smile and heaven forbid he ever actually laugh. He’s tall and skinny, lanky in a way that makes you think he hasn’t broken a sweat in years, and despite the military-style buzz cut he favors, he still looks like a geek. Add in those safety glasses he always has on, and you almost expect to see a Kick Me sign pinned to the back of his flight suit whenever he walks by.

Ansel is wicked smart, though, a fact he won’t let anyone forget. After all, he was the one who isolated the gene for this disease after the first outbreak five years ago.

It’s a filovirus like Marburg or Ebola, but for some reason it doesn’t respond to the typical hemoflush treatments. On the flight over I read up on the bug, but there’s not much data on the thing—no one knows the host plant; no one knows the cure. This go-‘round, it surfaced first in a little girl, eight years old, playing out in the wastelands with her older brother. When she got sick, her brother was too scared to remember where they had been. That’s when we came in.

I said five of us, right? There’s me, Tylar Daire, navigator. I don’t usually sign up