The Take-Off

"As my shuttle took off, heading for the supply fleet in orbit around the nearby moon, I couldn't help but think about those poor lads down there, whose job was to prepare the base for our return. They only had a few ships, a dozen of robots and seventy tons of raw steel, and they were supposed to make something civilized out of this piece of weird rocks we were gently asked to call "home" for the next five years."

The background is a photography of a sand rose (that can be seen here : [link]), all the other elements were designed with Bryce. The postwork was made with Photoshop.