Kara didn't know how long she had been standing there, but she suddenly shook herself and turned her gaze away from the rising Sun. There was now enough light to see this new world on which she had found herself. The ground was covered in green vegetation. All of the plant life looked uncultivated and there were no signs of artificial construction. It was entirely possible that she was the only person on this planet. A rising sense of loneliness threatened to overwhelm her, but she fought it down. She had to keep busy, keep thinking about things in order to keep her mind occupied. The first thing she needed to consider was her own survival. She was alone on a strange world, she needed food and shelter.

Turning round, she looked back down the hill she had climbed. At the bottom, laying at the end of a long score mark it had dug into the ground, was the small craft she had arrived in. There might be a medical kit or some other supplies in there and, even if there wasn't, she might be able to disassemble the craft and use the parts to construct some useful tools.

As she made her way back down to the ship, she was able to give it a closer examination. The nose of the craft looked fairly intact, apart from some scorch marks, presumably from the re-entry heat. The tail of the craft, one the other hand, was a different matter. Kara walked around the craft to get a better look. The rear of the craft was a tangled mess of metal and rock. It looked like an asteroid had smashed into it. It was amazing that craft had survived at all, let alone made it to a habitable planet. If the asteroid had been a little bigger or travelling slightly faster, she would have simply died in space. She felt nauseous again.

Kara turned and began to walk back to the front of the craft, but stumbled and fell to her knees. She felt suddenly dizzy, her limbs felt heavy and the nausea was getting worse. She looked at the craft again, trying to get her eyes to focus. As she looked at the rock sitting between the twisted metal of the back of the craft, she noticed that it had a slight green tinge. Horrible realisation dawned. This was no random space rock, this was a piece of Krypton. Radioactive. Killing her.

She had to get away. She turned and hauled herself back onto her feet. She took a few wobbly steps away from the craft before collapsing again. She took a few moments to catch her breath, then pulled herself up again and continued to move back up the hill, away from the deadly radiation. As she moved up the hill, each step became easier. By the time she was at the top, the dizziness and nausea had almost subsided.

Kara took deep breaths until her head cleared, then looked back down at the small craft she had arrived in. She could never go back to it. She was stuck on an alien world with no supplies and no equipment. She stared at the little craft for a moment longer, then turned away. Kara picked a direction and began walking.

As she walked Kara looked around at this new world. Plant life grew everywhere and small animals flew through the air or sat on the larger plants, making twittering sounds. Wild plants and animals had been rare on Krypton, even rarer on Argo, where the only plant life had been grown for consumption. It had been a quiet and dark place to live. This place, however... a rolling floor of green under blue skies, full of the noise of animals and the rustle of wind against plants, it all seemed so... alive.

Kara's thoughts snapped back as she came across a worn patch of ground which stretched away into either direction. Some sort of track, possibly made by animals. Kara turned and began to follow it. Where there were animals, there would be water to drink.

By the time the Sun was higher in the sky Kara had come across something else which made her stop. The dirt track had lead her to another larger track. This new track was coated in hard black substance with white and yellow lines painted onto it. This was clearly not a natural occurrence, this had been made by intelligent life.

As Kara followed this new track her mind buzzed. Alien life! How would she communicate? How would they react to her? Would she be able to eat their food?

Kara stopped as she crested a small hill and, looking down the other side, saw a large number of rectangular blocky buildings. She began to walk towards them, first contact ideas spinning through her head. She could draw shapes, or simplified mathematical equations, or-

Kara's train of thought snapped back to the present as she drew up next to one of the outlying buildings. There was movement and sound coming from within a large open area in the side of the building. She looked inside. Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw. A Kryptonian was in the large open room, working on some sort of machine. Sounds were coming from a small box sitting on the table next to him. Kara had almost run forward with a shout of relief to start explaining how she had gotten here, but she stopped herself. How could this be a Kryptonian? This was clearly a different world.

She stared at the man, he looked Kryptonian, but... She realised that the sounds coming from the little box were voices, but the sounds were totally alien to her.

The man noticed her. He raised his head and said something. The words floated past her without meaning. Kara turned and swiftly walked away, her head reeling. In the distance now she could see other figures moving about. They also looked Kryptonian. Were these aliens or not? If they were aliens, why did they look like her own people? She stood for a moment considering her options, then moved further into the settlement.

As she moved through the settlement she walked past several of the local inhabitants. Most of them watched her as she walked past, but none approached her. Kara tried to think. She needed to learn more about this planet. As no one seemed to want to stop her, she decided to explore the settlement. She began to wander up and down the roads which ran between the oblong buildings.

This place was so different to her home, it was so full of noise and movement. There were bright colours everywhere and strange sounds and smells. Kara spent the day wandering, until the Sun was low in the sky and the shadows lengthened. As the Sun disappeared behind one of the buildings, Kara's thoughts turned to where she would sleep that night and she suddenly realised how hungry she was. She would need to find and food and shelter. But how could she, if she couldn't talk to these people? And could she even eat their food? Would she be able to digest it?

But she had been awake since before dawn and she hadn't eaten since Argo. There was no choice, she would have to make contact with the locals.

Even though the Sun had gone down, she could still feel it's warmth in her body. The feeling gave her some measure of confidence. She found a group of people standing outside of one of the buildings. She took a deep breath and made her way towards them.

Mike had been working on his pickup when he had looked up and saw a girl staring at him. She was wearing a white one piece outfit, covered in mud, a red cloak and no shoes. He stood up and wiped his hands on a rag.

"Can I help you?" He asked

She stared at him for a moment, then turned and walked away. Mike shook his head. 'Weirdo' he thought. Probably from the big city, you got all sorts of strange people from places like that.

He turned back to his vehicle. He wanted to get this finished tonight, so that he could head out tomorrow morning. He had seen a meteorite come down last night, east of here, and he wanted to go and check it out.

Who knew, he might find something interesting.