END of LINE: Humanities Last Stand - part 3

Jon Patrick Connell, or as his family called him JP, walked his final history exam paper to the teacher's desk at the front of the class before walking out
of the classroom and leaving the school building. This exam was the last one he would ever take in his high school career. He was due to graduate in
another week and this exam was all that stood in his way. Of course he already knew he had aced the test. After all, he had grown up with the history of
Haven being drilled into his brain since he was ten cycles old. That was when he had come to live with his aunt and uncle after his parents had been killed
in an accident on the high-speed monorail. The accident had also taken the life of the Lexonian Queen, but she was not as important to Jon as were his
parents. Even all these cycles later, he still felt their loss.

It was also when his life started to change, as he was the very last pureblooded human being in the known universe. He was the only child of the last mated pair
of the human race that had once been forced from their home world when a rogue planetoid had destroyed it. That planet had been called Earth. Its location
in the Sol system was now just another lost piece of historical data stored at the Library in the center of the bustling capitol on Haven. The place that
had started out as a small community of survivors had now, after two hundred and fifty cycles, been turned into a major city with a population of over five
million souls. The detailed history of the discovery and settlement of Haven was available for anyone to examine. No one even bothered to visit the Library
more than once or twice in a lifetime these days and those times were mainly on school trips when they were very young. Jon still remembered the teacher's
lectures on those trips even though his mind was more focused on the pictures of the early settlement and the huge shining transports used to carry goods
from the Depot up to the Summer Palace. Like most other little boys, the trucks and the men who drove them spellbound him. Now everything was carried on
hover craft that had none of the sweeping lines or fancy chrome that adorned those first trucks.

His uncle had died three cycles ago in a fire onboard the cargo shuttle he flew. His Lexonian aunt had taken charge of him until he graduated. His aunt
was kind and loving. She had raised him as if he were her own child and Jon loved her very much. However, his human genes took over and within just two
cycles from the time he’d come to live with his aunt and uncle, Jon had grown to be a full head and shoulders taller than any of his classmates. He enjoyed
daily workouts that built up his muscles so now he was just a few weeks away from being considered an adult and was taller than any other adult on Haven
and was solid muscle to boot. In a different time and place Jon would have been considered a prime specimen with his raven black hair, deep blue eyes,
broad shoulders, narrow hips, and flat stomach. In the here and now, after a couple of centuries of interbreeding between humans and Lexonians, Jon's pure
human genes turned him into a freak of nature. The mixed race offspring were all smaller than him by a good six to eight inches. Some of the pure Lexonians
barely grew over five foot three inches tall at best. At six foot ten inches and two hundred twenty five pounds of solid muscle, he basically towered over
all of his classmates. He was the only giant among smaller beings and they never let him forget it.

To make matters worse, he had grown up carrying the added burden of being the direct descendant of the original
Jon Connell
and carried the same
name as his famous ancestor. That
Jon Connell
was a legend. According to the most reliable histories of the time, the man had taken a huge star
carrier into battle against a race of machines bent on wiping out all living things and destroyed them. He had prevented several attempts on the Lexonian
King's life and he had also discovered the secrets of an ancient race known as the Umins. It was said that some of the original humans who had survived the
destruction of their home planet carried the genetic markers that allowed them to operate Umin technology. The star carrier was a Umin ship
that the Earthlings had found in orbit around their moon. Many cycles later they used it escape their world before a rogue planetoid slammed into their planet turning it into nothing but rubble. Of course nothing remained of the technology because the original
Jon Connell
had sent it away and hidden the ship where
no one could find it. Several attempts had been made, but none had succeeded. Either the expeditions came back with nothing or they simply never came back
at all. It was also said that he had been the first to develop the tactics now taught by the Peacekeepers when engaging targets in space. Even though the
exploits of this other
Jon Connell
was the reason for the upcoming holiday, Connell's Day, no one actually believed most of the stories. There had
never been a spaceship built that could destroy an entire planet, or one that was over five miles long. This ship named Leviathan supposedly was that big
and did indeed destroy planets. There had been a question on today's exam about the legendary ship and Jon had been wise enough to provide the answer that the
teacher wanted rather than what he knew to be truth. The teacher had insisted that the Leviathan was nothing more than the over active imaginations of
those early settlers. Not the fierce Warship of some unknown race of god-like beings who had once conquered the galaxy.

The Jon Connell of today knew the stories were true. His home up on the mountain was the same house that the original
Jon Connell
had built for
his Lexonian wife, Leadora. It was a large “A” frame structure that was set back from the roadway and was bordered by a crystal clear lake deep in the
forest. The school had taken a trip to show young pupils some of the historical places around Haven and when they came to his home in the forest, one of
the class bullies started making fun of how the building only had a front and back wall. Claiming that whoever built it didn't know any better than to let
its roof come to a point at the top. Jon had been so upset by the mean remarks that his uncle had demanded that their house be taken off the school's list
of places to visit in the future. This had caused a huge outcry by the school. In the end, his uncle had petitioned the Haven Council and the house had
been removed from the tour. Naturally, this caused even more trouble for young Jon when his teachers started to make snide comments in class about his uncle and
their home. Jon still smiled whenever he thought of those days when the school ran out of power crystals because his uncle had blocked their delivery for a
week. His uncle owned the company that held the mining rights to the crystals on the outer planets of Haven system and so controlled who could buy them.

In the house, young Jon had found a peculiar painting of the original
Jon Connell
standing beside Leadora, a beautiful Lexonian female who wore
the multicolored gown all the Connell females wore as she held a human baby in her arms. The painting almost seemed to come alive whenever Jon stared at
it. That Jon Connell held the female who, legend said, he had built the house for so he could keep her safely away from males who wanted to cause her great harm. In
the painting he held a flaming sword. Young Jon had found the sword, and the musical notes that caused a magical multicolored bridge to appear across a
deep ravine out in the forest surrounding his family home. He had learned the secret of the sword and how to make plasma flames shoot from the mouth of a
carved dragon on the hilt. His uncle had been so surprised when he walked in and found Jon with the flames running along the blade that he had forbidden
him from touching the sword again, telling him, “If you can make the dragon breathe fire my young son, that means you have a special responsibility. You
must never think your ability makes you better than anyone else. If you would honor your ancestor, your life must be lived in sacrifice to protect the good
and honorable people. Never for personal gain.” The following day a tutor was hired to teach Jon true swordsmanship in the ancient traditions.

The magical multicolored bridge only appeared when certain notes were played on an antique violin that had been in his family for the past two centuries.
It had belonged to his ancestor and was one of the only things still surviving from the original cargo brought from Earth aside from some of the things on
display in town at the library. Young Jon had taken an entire summer learning to play the instrument just to see if the bridge would appear. He was
overjoyed when it not only appeared but also held his weight when he tried to cross it. He had also found all the items listed in the data banks that the
original
Jon Connell
had discovered hidden deep inside a cave. Young Jon had crossed the multicolored bridge and found the cavern on the other
side. However, apparently all of the cave's secrets had been removed. He had found all of them safely stored away at the local Museum in town or at the
house that in another three weeks would be transferred to his name as the sole property owner. Following the walkways inside the cave, he had found the
golden bridge leading to what had been recorded as the learning chamber. Whatever had been taught in that room was forever lost, nothing in there worked
now. All that remained was a dust filled room with what must have once been white marble walls, floor, and ceiling.

As he grew older and was allowed to explore more of the forest around his home, he'd also discovered an abandoned workshop in the valley floor where the
bridge appeared. He'd spent countless summer hours alone just wandering in the many rooms but whoever had once used this place had taken everything with
them when they left. All that remained were empty rooms, a few very large machines designed to do some kind of metal work and a few empty desks. The single
most astounding place in the building was a huge empty room that stretched the entire length of the valley floor. The room was easily over six miles long
and more than three miles wide. It went up overhead to such a height that he had yet to see the ceiling structure overhead from the main floor. He’d
located the walkways built around the space at different levels and was able to see that the ceiling was built with huge arms that would open the entire
roof to allow massive structures to be lifted out or lowered into the empty space below.

Jon had also been the brunt of a lot of insults growing up because of his size and the stories about his famous great, great, great grandfather. He had
been banned from taking part in school sports by age twelve because other parents were afraid he would hurt their younglings due to his size. So he had taken classes in
swordsmanship from a private tutor until now he was considered an eighth degree master swordsman. The highest ranking awarded to any student of the sword.
His interest in swordplay stemmed from learning of the special swords called the Dragon’s Breath and his ability to activate them.

The girls refused to go on dates with him because they didn't want to be seen going out with a freak. So between studying his family history, practicing
his swordplay, becoming an expert marksman with a plasma rifle and pistol, and exploring space with his uncle, not to mention his natural talent with the
violin, Jon had learned to find a small amount of happiness without the need of friends at school. Maybe one day he'd find some real happiness out among
the stars.

While Jon loved his aunt with all of his heart and her insistence that he learn about his family, it was his yearly trips to the outer planets with his
uncle that he missed the most. His uncle had taught him to fly the family ground flier on his fourteenth birthday and the following year had taken Jon up
into space for the first time. He had learned to fly a cargo shuttle and by the end of that summer had his full pilot's license complete with a
Faster-Than-Light or FTL certification. When the accident happened a year ago that cost Jon's uncle’s life, he started laying his own plans for his future.
He'd hire on as a cargo shuttle crewman, then after a few cycles working his way up, apply for a pilot's slot. Maybe he could land a berth on one of the
interplanetary transports carrying trade goods between Haven and the other worlds. Now with graduation just a few days away and his admittance to manhood
coming up in just another three weeks when he turned eighteen, Jon was looking forward to putting his plans into action. Little did he know that like even
the best laid plans of mice and men, his would soon go awry as well.

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