Trust (Riggin)

Kira, a twenty-year-old transline worker, directs spaceships in transit to Earth. An alien captain, from a planet whose citizens are so secretive no pictures of them exist, starts getting friendly. The two talk through the transline, holding long conversations. Kira admires his thoughts, but wishes she knew what he looked like. Although she's never seen him, she's falling in love.

Kira marries an alien through a proxy wedding, having fallen in love with him via conversations over the communication system where she works. When the alien lands, Kira and Cegan meet in person for the first time. Their love is not long impacted by alienness, but their relationship is stressed by cultural misunderstandings, the hounding of the media, Kira's distraught father, and a government, which is horrified that alien technology allowed Cegan to slip through their warning systems. But more worrisome, are the secrets the alien hasn't yet revealed.