A few more slight questions followed, about what she arrived in, and why she was there. While she spoke, her eyes took in the looks of her hostess. She was somewhat frail, yet wiry, with blue and white fur.

“We need to find the wreckage of the pod.” All her words were simple, yet made their point.

“Why? It’s mostly shattered, and there were no supplies. Believe me, I checked.”

“This planet is a sterile wasteland. We take everything that lands and put it to use. We waste nothing, even in the rare cases that it is not ours to waste.”

“What do you mean?” Cobra had an uneasy feeling about this whole thing.

“You are the first being to ever survive a crash on this planet.” The words hit her full force, and she closed her eyes to shield their changing colors from the rabbit.

However, her hostess did not suspect anything, and took her reaction as mere shock. “Not many can survive the artic climate. Generation after generation of my people have buried everyone to set foot on this planet. Except…” Her eyes filled with pain temporarily. “Never mind. We must get back to the pod soon, otherwise others might find it.”

Others? What others?

Well, the less that had a chance of knowing her secret, the better.



“How do you live out here? Where do you get food and water?”

“Water we get by melting the ice crystals. Food, we grow inside our caves. They know nothing of the outside world, and would die in the heat. However, the forever light of our lamps provides them slight heat; that is all they need to survive. Generation after generation has fed upon them, and they have not let us down.” As she spoke, she gestured to some brown plants that Cobra had not noticed earlier.

“Why were you sent here? Who are you? Why didn’t you answer earlier?” Evidently they needed some information on her, for what reason she did not know.

“As I said, I was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time.” She could feel the blood creep up to her face as she did her best to keep her eyes the same color.

“What do you call yourself?”

“What do your people call you?” She cursed inwardly for trying such a childish tactic.

“Yehella. It means G-d is merciful.”



What luck. They were religious too.



“I am known as Cobra. My real name brings up too much pain to tell, so when I first met my people I called myself Cobra, after the serpent whose poison had hardened me and killed my compassion in harsh past times. I have been known as that ever since, and in my mind it has almost replaced my original name.” A lie, a blatant lie. They weren’t her people. She was an alien, one of the last of her species to, darn it.

“A serpent…We have tales of those creatures. Vile and crafty, always ready to trap those who it can trap.” Yehella’s eyes shone with the light of fond memories.

Cobra almost laughed. She had been cruel and vile in the past. She had lived up to the cursed name in every possible way.

“I have no intention of trapping you.” She smiled, as did Yehella. “All I want is to be with my people again.”

Yehella sighed, and looked down.

“What’s wrong?”

“You speak of meeting with them…but how? We know of nothing other than our planet, and what we have gleaned from wrecks.”

“Do you have a S.O.S beacon?”

“A what?”

Cobra sighed. Things were getting hopeless. “Can I sort through what you have?”

Yehella drew in a breath sharply. “How can I trust you?”

Cobra beat herself mentally for being so naïve. “Forgive my foolishness. When are you going out to the pod again?”

“As soon as I can get some others ready to go with me.”

Cobra opened her mouth; then listening to her best discretion, she closed it. Maybe she could mentally summon one of her friends to save her. But, it wouldn’t work unless they were nearby.



Darn this whole thing.



She sighed softly and rubbed her eyes with one hand. Certainly she had been brought here for a purpose, but the reason evaded her, irking her immensely. Yes, she only knew less than half of what was going by, and even less in the Divine perspective, but she could see nothing out of her dilemma, save that she was stranded on a cold, unforgiving planet, with hardly any possibility of getting off.



She sure hoped that whatever reason she was here was worth it. Being stranded on frozen planet on a whim of fate was not her ideal way of fulfilling her life. But, neither was her previous plan.



Maybe this was a good thing…