The whole continent had been put off limits when the colony ship first landed. They had tried to explore briefly but they considered it to dangerous and to alien. In orbit were sats that watched the edges and armed drones from an automated carrier patrolling the borders. For over the last hundred years no one was allowed to enter.

With the new emperor came a new life to the empire. Men seeking fortune and fame dreamed they would find it on the continent. A petition that took on its own life reached the emperor. He had no idea about the restricted continent on our planet but opened it for exploration. A month later over one hundred people were missing.

We had ten times that many confirmed dead using sats. I was not interested in exploring or finding treasure or riches that were rumored to litter the ground. I was not a great hunter seeking the ultimate game. What I was is lonely and willing to follow a girl. Not just any girl but Pepper, she was a feisty blonde who wanted to explore with her father.

He was a scientist type and more than a little forgetful. She needed help and I leaped to be the one to do it. I could have gotten regular floats or even commercial floats but I was thinking of being in a wild place. So instead of floats I got cases that attached to carts that I put large solid tires on. It would be rough and harder to pull but I did not think they would fail.

Instead of a rail or plasma rifle I got replica chemical rifles. They were made of composites and lighter than the originals but just as deadly. We brought a few slim sonic barrier poles and a generator and camp equipment. The last I made sure would work even if we did not have power.

A large floating base had been set up with a long dock to the shore. The rest of the party had floats and all kinds of energy devices. They had plasma rifles and lasers and sonic lances and an hour into the strange land it all died. Everyone was talking and bitching and I pulled the linked carts passed them and nudged Pepper and her father.

She grinned and turned to catch the handle and helped pull the carts, “nice choice Sky.”

I kept looking around and searching for anything that might be a danger, “the sonic barrier is not going to work so we need to either find a cave or a tree.”

She gestured ahead and in the air, “or find a way onto the floating islands.”

I stared at them and swallowed, “okay ... um ... yeah we can use rope and climb up one of the falling vines.”

She giggled, “you do not like heights?”

I looked at her quickly and then shifted our direction to the south a little, “it is not heights so much as rocks floating in the air with no explanation for why or how.”

I stopped and pulled her around to my other side as I stared at a tree, “Mr Drew would you move around to my left please?”

He looked up from a plant he was examining, “why?”

I looked around, “because that tree to the right moved and has half a body in a crack.”

He looked, “I need to...”

I shifted, “no. Danger bad. Think remote examination.”

Pepper giggled as her father looked at me, “remote ... oh I can use a stick and...”

I shook my head, “stay back and toss it.”

He did and a branch stabbed down and wrapped and we jerked and moved back as the tree shook and the roots pulled up. I pulled my chemical pistol when it started to creep towards us and fired into the trunk. There was a high pitched scream and it shook and seemed to slid back and kept going. Pepper hissed, “mark that one as very dangerous.”

I nodded and her father agreed and I put the pistol away, “time to keep moving.”

We saw slinkers that looked like they had a few hundred legs and a mouth at both ends. There were bushes that had eyes and shot poison thorns. Ten legged bags of jelly that traveled in groups and stripped the forest clean. There were what looked like armored reptiles as large as a house that ate leaves out of the trees.

It was afternoon when we reached one of the groups of falling vines. Half were thicker than I was tall and the rest were or seemed to be younger. Like in the few distance vids there was a cloud thickening over the floating islands. I tied a rope to the carts and made sure everything was secure. I pushed Pepper and she jumped and started scooting and climbing.

Next I got her father going and then I lifted each cart to the top of the vine. I started to climb and searched for any threat. I scooted and pulled the carts and after a few hundred meters the vine was to steep and we were climbing. I pulled out half of an ancient fishing pole and hooked the thousand kilo strength line to the carts.

I climbed and let out the line and kept going until I struggled onto a thick moss covered ledge. Pepper grinned and her father was examining a bush. I turned and used the pole and began to reel in the carts. It was not easy but Pepper helped and we finally pulled them onto the ledge. I turned and growled at her father because he was climbing up and into the middle of the island.

I watched the bushes and the few trees and pulled the carts after me. In a small open area I stop, “this is camp.”

Like the ledge the whole island seemed to have a thick carpet of moss. Light rain was falling as the sun touched the far horizon. First I set up a couple of tarps and then the large screen tent under them. I set out more tarps to collect water while Pepper heated rations. Before it was dark I explored the floating island and returned.

To the northeast was a group of falling vines that had tangled with others from a second island. Slowly newer vines had reached out until now there were thick vines reaching straight across between the islands. The ends always turned after anchoring and dropped off the island. I was thinking of maybe using the vines as a bridge to the other island.

I came back to the tent and found Pepper waiting and her father already in a sleep sack wearing a chem filter that induced sleep. She shook her head when she saw me, “strip out of those wet clothes.”

I blushed but she gestured, “now.”

She was wearing what looked like a long tee shirt and I undressed to my undershorts. She shook her head, “those too.”

I turned and pulled them down and off. She stood and turned and began hanging my clothes from the folding poles holding up the tent. I sat and started to reach for my sleep sack when my eyes looked up under her tee shirt. I stared at her bare pussy and she finally turned. She shifted her legs apart and I looked up to see her looking at me.

I reddened and started to open my mouth but she took steps until her feet were on each side of my hips. She caught my head and pulled my face to her pussy, “lick my pussy and then you can fuck it.”

She rolled her hips and I caught her and pulled and licked. I loved the taste and she shivered. I began to flick the tip of my tongue back and forth on her clit and she moaned and started to hump. I pushed my tongue into her and then covered her clit and sucked and then squeezed it. A couple of minutes and she shuddered and stepped back.

She smiled as she knelt and then laid back on her sleeping sack and spread her legs, “nice and deep Sky.”

I looked at her pussy and moved over her and lifted. She guided my cock and I pushed and she gasped and grabbed my hips. Her eyes were wide as I forced my cock into her until it was buried. She shook her head and whimpered and clutched me as I settled. I looked into her face and hesitated, “Pepper?”

She bit her lip, “slow?”

Her pussy was extremely tight and slow was good. So was keeping my cock buried and pressing into her. It was a few minutes and her pussy was slippery and she began to shudder and moan. I humped and shivered as I pulled back and slid my cock into her again. She hugged me and her hips lifted, “ooohhhh!”

I started to fuck her and used long strokes. Several minutes and she was panting and lifting her hips, “aaaahhhh!”

She twisted and bucked and I started to use firm thrusts and press into her. Her pussy clenched and she thrashed and clung to me, “yyyeeeesssss!”

I shoved into her and held her as I gushed sperm. She jerked and her pussy kept grasping, “mmmm!”

I was kept pressing into her and shuddered with each spurt. When I stopped I relaxed and she sagged to the sleep sack under her. She grinned and her pussy squeezed, “roll over so I can be on top.”

She fucked me and I came in her again and then I did her from behind and ... I woke to the hint of dawn. I looked outside the screen and sat up quickly. The bushes that had been further away were right up under the tarps and next to the screen. The slight breeze outside smelled like ... I looked at Pepper, like her pussy.

I grinned and then shook her, “hey.”

She opened her eyes and looked at me. I gestured, “we had watchers.”

She sat up and looked around and I leaned and kissed her and whispered, “smell.”

She took a deep breath and frowned, “um...”

I stood and started checking my clothes, “it smells like your pussy.”

She giggled as she got up, “makes me want to lick it.”

She washed after I brought water in and then we woke her father. I was careful about touching the bushes when I packed up. I did touch each one gently and got plenty of scent samples before I pulled the carts after me, “this way.”

At the edge of the island I tested the vines and then gestured and Pepper carefully moved out on one. Her father waited and then followed while I lifted and pulled to get the carts onto one. I pulled them slowly and kept twisting and looking ahead and back. The height would have terrified me if I had time to think about it.

When I reached the other island Pepper was holding her father back. She smiled and they helped move the carts off the vine. He shifted, “this is fine but we need to be on the ground to study...”

I shook my head, “and have you thought of using the focus glasses around your neck to look at the ground?”

He looked at his chest, “oh ... not yet.”

I pointed down and to the north, “look down there.”