i09 posted an image of a downed NASA Shuttle Carrier Aircraft circa 1980 with the prompt of "create your own short story."  So the call to create a short story in a dystopia of Science Fiction overcame the inertia of creating my own i09 account, and I did just that.

The result is below:

It had taken them decades for anyone from The Ark to return to the planet's surface after the event, and they'd barely made it this time. It was grave circumstances that forced Commander Shepherd's to allow her crew to raid Southern California for supplies; their target: The Jet Propulsion Laboratory.





"We've got time, Cap'n. They might have information that will keep us from walking into a trap - who knows if one of those rover bands took control of JPL once we left," the major said before adding, "We need the intel."

"And if they're hostile?"

"We kill them."