Unalone

“Go ahead. Ask it.”

Why did your parents have an offspring?

She didn’t expect this kind of question. Loved One must have scanned the contents of the book on genetics and found it wanting.

“I supposed it was because they loved each other,” she mumbled, shifting positions to get comfortable again.

Love is important in cloning?

“What? No, it’s not necessary at all when it’s done in a lab. Only for sexual reproduction.”

And that is how most humanoid species reproduce?

“Yes, yes it is.”

Did you love Jakob?

Space cargo pilot Calinda crash lands on a desolate world during an intra-galactic conflict. Bitter and injured, she doesn’t expect to live long enough to be rescued. Then she encounters a strange non-corporeal being who can mimic anyone she imagines—who can read her secret thoughts and still loves her as she is. Can a loner truly love an alien being who lives inside her mind? Can Calinda truly come to accept what it means to become “unalone”?