The rusting hulks of aged terraforming machines stood like gigantic metal trees, their foundations plunging into the murky waters of the planet's lowlands. Dead vines and brittle, lifeless vegetation clung to the decaying structures, relics of a long abandoned project.

Jak stood on a balcony jutting from one of the derelict machines, squinting as he peered through the thick mist. Through a brief parting in the fog, he spotted the machine he needed to reach.

Clambering down from his vantage point, Jak boarded a makeshift skiff and navigated through the mechanical wasteland. He reached the massive old machine's base and located an access hatch. With a grunt, he wrenched it open and slipped inside.

Pale shafts of sunlight filtered through gaping holes in the machine's outer shell. Jak's footfalls echoed through the cavernous chamber as he descended deeper into the bowels of the structure. Ducking under sagging panels and shimmying through narrow passageways, he followed the route etched in his mind.

At last, he reached a sealed door, dull gray and imposing. With a few taps on his wrist display, the door groaned open. The control room glowed an eerie green from the ancient displays. Settling into a chair that protested with a screech of rusted metal, Jak tapped at the console, willing the antiquated systems to respond.

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First, the atmospheric regulators. A low hum built as he diverted power from the fission banks. Gauges twitched to life. Lights flickered on in a cascading pattern across the curved ceiling. The machine shuddered as the massive atmospheric scrubbers roared to life for the first time in generations. Next, the solar mirrors. Aged servos struggled to position the mammoth panels.

One by one, the orbiting structures angled themselves, slowly harvesting the scarce light struggling through the dense clouds. Giant beams of refracted light began to stab through the mist. Where they intersected, the fog vaporized, burned away by the concentrated energy. For the first time in living memory, shafts of pure sunlight touched the waterlogged surface.

The long-sealed ventilation ducts exhaled a rush of air. Jak smiled briefly. The terraforming process he had just initiated would take decades, but it was a start. A chance to undo the catastrophic mistakes of the past. To make this world habitable again.

As he watched, the shafts of light began to dim. A fresh bank of clouds was rolling in. Jak rose, checked his rebreather, and prepared to venture back into the misty world. There were a hundred more machines to restart. A hundred more rigged terraforming systems to stitch this wounded planet back together.