Atlas Phase IV

Phase IV

When the deposits close to the surface were mostly depleted, Command shifted focus towars deeper-laying veins that were difficult to access. Drones were sent to cut shafts down to a selection of underground ore clusters and equipped with material dissolving chemicals to etch out the bores to fit our harvesters. Slowly but steaily, the surface of Atlas became speckled with holes close to a kilometer in diameter. Harvesters were refitted for underground operation and personnel moved down into the hellholes, myself included. Many wouldn't see the surface again. The brittle desert ground soon collapsed on the caverns, shaken by the reckless harvesting underground, burying man and machine operating under its dome. On the night-side the heat of the mining process melted the frozen soil around the edges of the hellholes, flooding mines with mud, leaving dark craters scattered across the icy landscape. Inevitably, sooner or later something had to go gravely wrong. In the process of cutting a tunnel the drones hit a gas vein, lighting up the whole deposit. Within fractions of a second, the surface of Atlas was shaking and a blinding green flash illuminated the freezing night.

 

I built this scene for the Atlas collab with @JakobKaiserMOCs, @exluse and @Oshi. I made the scene with my TV as background and J.K for edited he picture.

Hope you guys like it and thanks to @JakobKaiserMOCs for making this collab possible.

Done