SteelSpill (2017)

Storyline

Exoplanets are often shipped long interstellar distances for mineral extraction, terraforming, and warfare purposes. Gravitational slingshots around stars are often used, and the forces this puts on a planet are extreme. Teleportation technology is used to insert a superstructure directly into the crust (and sometimes the mantel and core) to increase structural integrity. The atmosphere, along with any flora/fauna is inevitably burned off during its trip. Exoplanet VVC 546520 was an early testing ground for superstructure insertion. A miscalculation created jumbles of continental rebar to be scattered uselessly across and into the surface. The changes to the magnetosphere caused by the chaotic grid of ore allowed solar radiation to kill off most life on the planet, but the natural beauty of the bare rock remains for any willing to climb out of the wreckage to the surface.