The field stretched on for acres - fed by a massive geyser. The naturally high abundance of chromate on the alien world fed the demand for cheap corrosive plating in the machinery now used throughout explored space. Strange flora and fauna lived around the geyser, feeding off the near constant supply of chemicals it spewed.

Habitat 26 sat at the edge, manned by a team of twenty working in cycles to funnel resources to the station in orbit kilometers above.