Free END of LINE: Humanities Last Stand - part 3 by John Short

matters, like making sure things like tax leans and utility payments were made on
    the house and surrounding 120 acres of forested mountain property. Then came changing the name on all the accounts while making sure that money was
    channeled into his aunt's account to insure she had whatever she needed. Jon also took out a line of credit for himself to use while he was off planet
    rather than relying only on his military pay. You never knew when he might need to actually own another house on a distant planet. It just would not be
    proper to invite a guest in for an important business luncheon only to have them meet you at the mess hall on a Peacekeeper base that was mostly a bunch of
    dirty tents or roofed over holes in the ground.

    Jon decided that if he did not “steal a few days for himself” he would end up working through his entire leave time. When he woke up this morning he was
    starving. Not so unusual in itself. He seemed to constantly be hungry these days, but today was more like a craving. He simply had to have those delicious
    waffles made only at the diner in town. He jumped out of bed and went in to take a shower when suddenly there came a low growl from out on the deck.
    Pulling back the curtains, he saw a huge solid black saber-tooth tiger sitting there looking back at him.
    “Get down from there Talga!” Jon shouted. “You know better than to jump up on the deck. What would auntie say if she saw you? BAD kitty!” Jon frowned as he
    went downstairs to tend to the cat. He had not been home in months and no one seemed to know exactly when aunt Gala had left for Sanctuary. Even the video
    she had left for Jon explaining why she had to go didn't tell him when she went, only where. The cat was probably going mad thinking it had been abandoned.
    Taking out the fresh milk he had bought last night, he poured the entire gallon into a bowl and placed it outside before calling the animal to him. He'd
    need to hire someone to come out once a week and give the cat fresh milk.
    Happily purring, Talga paced over to Jon. Big cats do not simply walk, they pace, pounce, run or jump. The Tiger forcefully bumped into him hard enough to
    knock him down. Then it gently held him down with its front paw as it licked his face. It was very happy to see its human again.
    “Alright Talga. Go drink your milk and let me get a shower. I'm going into town for food and will be back. Then we can play at the water if you like.” Jon
    told the cat as he roughly scratched behind its ears.
    With the animal taken care of, Jon grabbed a quick shower and then got dressed in his black leggings and silver tunic with the black edging. He didn't
    remember when he had started wearing his family colors everyday, but he decided that he actually liked them now that he could get out of his military
    uniform. Taking the stairs two at a time, he ran outside to the pad and took the top off of the sporty little 2 seat hover car. Within seconds, he had the
    motors fired and the small craft was almost bucking under him to be airborne and flying after sitting so long on the pad. He kept the craft low to the
    ground while he followed the twisting road that wound its way from the town of Jonsville all the way up to the Lodge and the Royal's Summer Palace just
    past that.
    He was enjoying the sheer pleasure of the combination of speed and tight turns as he approached town. Suddenly he had to pull up on the controller forcing
    his craft up and over to avoid slamming into the rear of a much slower craft. Who the heck can that be? He wondered. There weren't any scheduled meetings
    at the Lodge this month, he'd checked. It was too early in the cycle for the King to be at the Palace. Maybe it was a delivery for one of the Palace
    servants. He hoped it wasn't for that crook that had stolen over five million credits from his company. Oh well, it was time to slow down anyway. He
    was coming up on the town line. That meant his max speed could not exceed 80 kph. Right