Page 2 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

The planet’s atmosphere was as hot and muggy as I had anticipated, so I was incredibly relieved that I wasn’t wearing the damn camo suit.

Already, my scales had lifted in patches to form air gaps across the armor on my back, allowing fresh air to help cool me.

Still, it wasn’t enough to make me feel less miserable in the thick heat.

Eyeing the small lake Akri had dropped me off next to, I contemplated taking a dip. It would feel good to stretch my muscles in a rigorous swim, and that flat rock over there would be perfect for a sun-drenched nap afterward…

I’d been down on the planet for a good four hours by now.

My scanner was filled to the brim with scans of the foreign plant life, initial notes on the movement patterns of the primates I’d come to study, and photos and videos of the hunting trails I’d discovered.

The humanoid species covered hunting grounds far more extensive than I’d expected, which was quite exciting.

Though the trails were old, which meant I thankfully posed no risk to their society by lingering here for another hour.

“Akri, can you scan for lifesigns of the primates within a sufficient radius around me? I’m going for a swim.

” The ship responded over my implant, as crystal clear as it would have been had it been down in the planet’s atmosphere with me.

To reduce the risk of contaminating this planet, Akri was not allowed to land for anything longer than dropping me off or picking me up.

“You never can resist a good swim, can you?” the AI asked, and then added after a short moment, “Or a nice flat rock for a nap?” The last was another of my ship’s typical teasing comments, and I snorted, “Nothing wrong with a nice warm rock.” “All clear. You can go ahead and pamper yourself, Your Highness,” Akri replied.

Laughing, I shook my head while carefully stripping off my clothing and rolling it into a tight bundle.

“You can’t call me that, Akri. I’m but a lowly, unbonded male with no family.

” Though I’d long gotten over that fact, it still hurt sometimes to know I’d never have a female of my own.

Sampling sex with unbonded females was encouraged and normal in Lacerten society, after all, how else could one find the female who triggered our bonding drive?

I had reached the age where I should have found her, and the free females had moved on to younger, more eager males.

No wonder at all that I was one of the few allowed to leave Lacerten and study the species out in the wider galaxy.

As long as I never, ever led anyone back home.

Our advanced society was hiding out; with our extensive cloaking technology, we’d managed to hide our entire planet and its population.

No one was allowed to risk exposing us to the other advanced species out there, but that didn’t negate our thirst for knowledge.

I was grateful for my mission, my chance to explore; it gave me a purpose in life.

“Ziame, you have family. I’m your family,” the AI suddenly said, breaking into my thoughts with its surprisingly solemn tone of voice.

I felt a warm rush of affection for the ship.

“I know, Akri. Family and friend.” After that, neither of us spoke, and I worked to cache my things high up in a tree to make sure no primate could stumble across them by accident.

The water was crystal clear and pure; the lake had a sandy bottom, and it wouldn’t get much deeper than up to my shoulders at any point.

I’d already scanned it when landing and knew there would be no dangerous wildlife in it, not that you wouldn’t be able to see them approach in the clear water, regardless.

With zero hesitation, I dove in, slicking the spikes on my skull, spine, and arms back to make myself sleek.

With my tail out behind me, I could easily navigate the shallow water, using my arms and legs to propel myself forward.

Within moments, I’d gone from feeling muggy and overheated to deliciously cool, and the exercise was fantastic.

Having been cooped up in the small confines of Akri’s hull, where the type of exercise I could do was limited, this was a real treat.

A few laps around the small lake and a curious encounter with a rather sleepy, bottom-dwelling fish, and I found myself back near the big, flat rock I’d spotted earlier.

Still chuckling over the flat fish that had been lying in the sand at the bottom of the lake until I’d disturbed it, I climbed onto the sun-warmed rock and lay down.

Acting mighty offended, that fish had flounced over a short distance and then settled itself back in the sand with little wriggles.

Sprawled on my back, I stared up at the purple and pink sky above, two distant suns glaring down onto this lush jungle.

It had been weeks since I’d been outside—somewhere I wasn’t constantly observed by my ship—and now that I’d cooled down, with the warm rock beneath me and the sun above, the climate actually felt nice.

“Akri?” I said. “Why don’t you do those deep diagnostic scans you’ve been wanting to do since we flew through that solar storm two days ago?

” The loyal AI hadn’t wanted to dip all its processing powers into maintenance when we were so close to reaching our destination.

Instead, it had worked tirelessly to complete the final FTL jumps to get us here, and then spent countless hours providing scans of the planet’s surface to help with my research.

“Are you sure, Ziame?” it asked, and I reassured it that we were alone in this solarsystem and no one was interested in some barely evolved primates like I was.

“Go do your diagnostics while I take a nap. Pick me up in a few hours.” Once the ship had agreed, I closed my eyes and relaxed.

It was good to be by myself for a change, too.

Akri was a fine companion, but after months of close quarters, you could wish for privacy even from an AI.

At least, I could from mine, maybe it was different when you knew the AI was just a computer subroutine, a few lines of code, and nothing more…

Sliding the nictitating membranes over my eyes, I didn’t need to squint in the heavy sunlight.

For a moment, I tilted my head this way and that to assure myself of total privacy, and then, with a sigh, I slid my hand down my flat stomach, across the ridges that made up my abdominal muscles, and finally, I gripped my cock.

Squeezing it, I gave it a firm stroke, feeling the bumpy but soft texture of the small, nearly pebble-like scales there; they rasped against the fine texture on the insides of my palms. That felt good, so I did it again—slowly—letting myself enjoy the moment.

For once, I wasn’t in a rush in the lav, because it was the only damn place on my ship with no direct camera feeds for Akri.

I’d still get comments about my racing heartbeats or some such, but I hoped this time it would be too busy to notice.

I took my time, building up my strokes as I remembered what it felt like to sink into a warm, female cunt.

To softness, the heat, the wetness. Even after months of forced abstinence, I still recalled those sensations in vivid detail.

When my balls tightened in anticipation, my leg muscles tensed, and I curled my tail around to flick the agile, prehensile tip against the tight skin beneath my sack.

My free hand slid across my pectoral muscle to tug on the gold bar that pierced my left nipple, in time with my strokes.

With a final tug and a hoarse cry, I came in spurts across my belly; ropes of cum shot from my tip with sharp lances of pleasure. I blinked lazily as, with a final stroke, I dropped my hand down onto my thigh, only to startle when Akri inquired, “Your heartbeats are elevated, are you alright?”

“Damn it, Akri! I thought you were running diagnostics!” There was a long silence, and then Akri made a sound that was clearly a sigh.

“Were you masturbating, Ziame?” I groaned but didn’t deny it, there was no point.

Akri didn’t understand boundaries, since I was still teaching it those.

In fact, there had been moments over the past few months when the ship had suggested I masturbate, as I seemed tense.

That was something else… dealing with that.

Sometimes, I felt like Akri was the annoying little sibling I never had growing up.

“I will leave you to it, then. Enjoy yourself,” the AI told me, and with that, I knew the connection had been dropped and I was alone again.

Shaking my head, I ran my hand over my left horn and gripped it in frustration.

That had certainly ruined the afterglow; I might as well take another dip now and clean up.