You may have noticed the name of the story has changed, kinda. Well I think by mentioning 'trolls' in the title I can attract more attention to people who are interested in reading about them. After all the trollian species is just one facet of the epicosity which is the Homestuck webcomic.


~ CHAPTER 55 ~

Green Sun on a New Horizon

"Ah Dwayne…" A gentle nudge. "Dwayne, you awake?"

"No… Jasper…" The Jade Blood rolled around in bed, obscenely comfortable where he was. He kept his eyes closed.

"We're leaving in an hour. Wesley said I should wake you."

"Wesley…" Dwayne groaned and stretched under the covers. "What… time is it?" He blinked his eyes to alertness, daylight filtering in the room from the circular window. Turning his head he spotted Jasper sitting on the bed opposite and leaning over. His hair was even more untidy and he was bleary-eyed himself.

"It's eleven o'clock. We're going at noon."

"Jeez, really?" Dwayne rolled around in bed and rubbed his eyes, then he blinked at the ceiling. He became aware of a loud rhythmic snoring and turned to where Camila was bunched up with her mouth hanging open.

"Wesley said to just leave Camila…" Jasper added.

"Yeah." Dwayne looked around at all the other empty beds, no one else was in the room. The covers and sheets were all in a mess from last night's pillow-fight-tag match. The teen yawned "I suppose it's too late for me to make everyone breakfast, oh well."

"Kaylah did that."

"Really?" He blinked and then sat up, turning to Jasper who now leaned back. A pause.

"Yeah."

"Huh." Dwayne looked forward. Fancy someone else taking over the household duties for a change.

"Ah Dwayne… there's something else I need to tell you." Jasper looked a little worried as he reached back to rub his shoulder. "Torrie's going to flip out today. I had a vision."

"Oh…? Do you know why she's going to?"

"I can see multiple reasons."

"I don't follow."

"Torrie, um… can't deal with her emotions well, I don't think. She kind of bottles up, gets grumpier until the point where she explodes about something. Then she's sorry about it and calms down. It's like a cycle."

"Okay." Dwayne paused thoughtfully. "How long do these cycles of hers go for?"

"About three weeks."

"Is there anything we can do?"

"Not really. Just stay out of her way and when it passes everything will be alright."

"Hm." Dwayne nodded.

"The thing with my power is…" Jasper paused to explain. "I can get impressions of the future, in my mind, if I know what to look for. When considering options for example, or even like playing a game of poker. After Torrie first spazzed out I made sure to check every morning for her future that day."

"Sounds like a responsible way to use your power to me." Dwayne commented.

"Yeah. If something comes entirely out of the blue it's much harder for me to notice it. I see possible future paths, the more likely something is to occur the more vivid it is in my mind. Like now," Jasper turned away. "I can make out a dozen blurry things: Sawyer giving an off comment, Camila not putting her bowl away, Wesley leaving the milk out… but they're all just vague possible triggers surrounding a very vivid Torrie hulking out."

"Is she actually comparable to the hulk? Or is that just you all joking?" Dwayne asked and Jasper just stared at him.

"Well… you'll see. Maybe it's better you all get to see it sooner rather than later."

"Okay… well… thanks for the warning. I'm going to have a shower."

"Cool cool." He pushed off the bed and went to leave the room. Dwayne swung his legs out and itched his head, thoughts on the Asian girl. He took just another moment before pushing up and searching the floor for his jeans. Once zipped up he walked out and shot another glance at the comfortably snoring Camila.

The sounds of activity elsewhere in the hive muffled down the corridor. Dwayne walked half its length before turning into an unused bedroom to take out some of his fresh clothes. Pausing he moved to wave his hand by the sensor, the metal door sliding shut with a mechanical whoosh. Then pushing aside the closet door he gripped the tallest shelf and slipped his foot in the middle one, lifting himself up so he could reach. Scooping up the blanket he pulled it to his chest and carefully lowered himself down.

Moving the blanket apart he examined the Matriorb, the alien egg that their entire mission hinged upon. It was about the size of a bowling ball, grey and with orange-yellow horns sprouting all over its surface. He frowned, cradling the thing like it was delicate – which it was. Dwayne had read enough on their biology to know how important the mother grubs were to their race. Every female human was designed with the necessary parts to potentially birth life. Their only chance at rebuilding this race was contained inside this egg. Dwayne knew that despite his caste, hatching a mother grub and raising it to maturity all on his own was above and beyond what any Jade Blood had been expected to do on Alternia. But it was his mission to try.

"Hey there, little guy." He cooed at it. "Girl." He corrected himself. For a few more minutes he cradled the Matriorb and whispered to it, pacing around the room before wrapping it back up and climbing up to stash it back into its hiding place at the very top of the cupboard. He doubted anyone would ever have reason to go up here. He planted a single kiss before hopping back down and closing the door.

Carrying his pile of clean clothes to the nearest bathroom Dwayne had the auto door slide shut and lock itself with a wave of his hand. He started to run the shower and stripped his clothes, his brain was still foggy as he let the hot water run through his hair and trail down his body. Staring at the drain for a moment he kept thinking about what they could do about Torrie when suddenly it hit him.

The recuperacoons! Maybe that sopor slime can calm her down?

With new enthusiasm he washed his hair and then soaped himself off. He wanted to be around while Wesley and Sawyer discussed the where and how of their move plan. Once out he dried off and slipped on a pair of white trousers and a light grey cardigan over a plain shirt. He was drying his hair with the towel when he opened the door and came face-to-face with Torrie. He couldn't help jumping.

"Dwayne." She was clutching her head and she did not look happy.

"Hey Torrie," He started calmly. "What's up?"

"I woke up with a headache. Wesley said you would know where you guys keep the drugs. So, since he's too busy to help me-"

"I'll take you there." Dwayne said quickly and squeezed past. He led her down the hall and she continued probing at her temple, grimacing all the while. He hesitated before speaking calmly. "I'm sorry to hear about your headache."

"Yeah, I got barely any sleep last night cause you guys kept me up even when I specifically told you not to."

"Sorry about that." Dwayne apologized weakly when they entered the main room and walked over to the big metal double-doors that they always left open now. They went through and headed toward the glass prison cells. Dwayne could feel the animosity and frustration radiating off the girl as she massaged her head. He silently prayed that she wasn't going to lose it with him right beside her.

"I suppose it wasn't you who was keeping me up though…" She added in an afterthought.

Dwayne led her into the medical room, the place he'd bandaged up Reagan after she'd stabbed herself in order to escape. He went straight to the glass cabinets but couldn't find the Panadol. Opening the shelves by the sink he flicked through labelled folders before finding about twenty boxes of headache tablets.

"Here… this should do." He unsealed the box, popped two out onto a little paper toffee cup and handed them to her. Then he took out a plastic cup from a stack and ran water in the metal sink, passing it as well.

"Thanks," she grunted and swallowed them down. Dwayne watched her. Torrie paused and then handed him the cup. Dwayne tossed it in the little bin.

"You know you really ought to try out the relaxation tanks we have here. They work wonders when you're stressed. Recuperacoons they're called."

"Mmm suppose so." She grunted. As much as Dwayne wanted to talk more with her he could tell she wasn't in the mood for it. He suddenly remembered something.

"Oh crap what's the time?!"

"About half-past. Why?"

"There's something I need to do before we leave. Torrie I really can't recommend those pods enough. You just go back down the corridor and it's the first door on the left. Promise me you'll give them a try?" Dwayne was already standing in the doorway.

"Yeah, why not."

"Awesome! I'll see ya." He whipped out and headed quickly back into the main room.

The colourful banners that Dwayne had set up after the mother grub's death still lined the edges of the doorway, and beneath them were the flowers and plants he'd been able to save and continued to water. Even so they were beginning to wilt. He picked out a big sunflower and then moved to press the red button that led to outside, waves of heat rolled in from the central Australian desert and Dwayne made his way down the ramp.

While he paced the distance to where the mother grub had been cremated by lighter fluid, Dwayne thought about everything that'd happened since they'd been here. Turning around he had to shield his vision as he stared out to Uluru, Ayers Rock was the other way at the edge of the horizon. The sun was directly overhead and Dwayne was amazed at how quickly he was sweating. The sand was hot under his bare feet but he pushed on until he made it to the spot where they'd disposed of the mother grub's corpse.

There was no carcass, thankfully. Her body had been thoroughly burned to ash, leaving only a stain of black and bits of her charred exoskeleton poking out of the desert. Lowering himself to the ground he sighed again, feeling a little sentimental as he clutched the flower.

They had to urgently transport here when Reagan was captured to escape her cronies. Then they needed to recover from their trauma in the weeks that followed. Dwayne nursed the mother grub until her death. Then Reagan got out and didn't kill them. They all stayed put for a while, made a plan and then finally lucked out when the other four joined them. In retrospect, simply staying put for long enough without teleporting was smart considering it gave other trolls enough time to find them. The remaining four trolls probably couldn't find them on their own however – it was about time for them to finally leave this place.

Dwayne could only bear to stay under the hot sun for another few minutes. His ass was burning through his jeans and soon he'd be getting a headache like Torrie. Standing up he held out the sunflower for one last goodbye.

"Thank you… for everything." He tossed the flower down and a small breeze of hot air played with his face. It wasn't hard to imagine that in some way she was still there with them.

Dwayne made his way back to the hive, hopping painfully now across the sand. Looking up he saw Jasper standing in the open front door, he hurried down the ramp to catch Dwayne.

"Hey!" He called out excitedly. "The future's changed! With Torrie, I don't get it."

"Don't worry about it." Dwayne smiled and they made their way back inside. Jasper punched the button and the door slid closed, the temperature started to decrease back to a comfortable amount. The two of them walked through the centre doorway and followed the corridor to the main leisure room. Dwayne explained sopor slime to the other boy on the way there.

"Morning," Kaylah sat comfortably at the dining table with a mug of coffee. "Dwayne there's food for you on the counter-top." She pointed back with her thumb toward the kitchen. "I wrapped it in foil."

"Thanks Kaylah." Dwayne blinked, he still wasn't used to having someone else doing stuff like that for a change. "But ah first I think I should find Wesley and Sawyer, find out what's going on with this move."

"They're in the control room." Kaylah lifted her mug and took a sip.

"Righto. Thanks." Dwayne turned back and left them, Jasper wandered off toward the kitchen.

Dwayne had only ever been in the control room like once. It was rather small, with only three seats fitted in on spin-chairs. It had a daunting amount of buttons and levers, counter tops with screens and monitors regulating various unknown thingies. Dwayne had seen the mother grub use it the very first night he'd arrived here.

When Dwayne made his way there he was a little surprised to see both Sawyer and Wesley going through the maps and guidebooks calmly, looking completely at ease with the silence and in each other's company.

"Oh hello." The blonde boy's eyes flickered up as he noticed Dwayne. Wesley spun around in his chair.

"Hey…" Dwayne walked up. "Do you guys seriously know how to get this thing to work?" He gazed at all the confusing technology.

"It's what we spent all of last night figuring out." Sawyer replied.

"Thanks…"

"Dwayne, check this out." Wesley splayed the map and pointed. "We've decided on here. The Nerang Forest Reserve. It's massive, no one will notice if we teleport in here plus we can use the camouflage equipment to keep us hidden."

"Hmm." Dwayne lifted up the large map with a bit of difficulty. "It's… quite close to civilisation. Like literally in the middle of it."

"Five kilometres West of the Pacific Highway, twenty kilometres North-West of Surfer's Paradise." Sawyer explained.

"But what if we get caught?"

"We won't." He swivelled in his chair to face the other teen. "We'll be in a forest reserve. There are only specific paths visitors can take and we'll be completely hidden from them. It won't be so good for the trees that get cleared aside to make room for us, but our mission is more important than that."

"Yeah…"

"Don't worry, Dwayne." Wesley spoke up again. "We won't be in the base anyway. We'll take the scuttlebuggies out at night and stay in a motel or something. Then we can start hopping around the state when we're ready."

"We've spent this entire time working through the technicalities, you don't have to worry." Sawyer added since Dwayne was still frowning.

"Alright. I trust you."

"That's good, cause Wesley…" Sawyer spun around in his chair and reached over to flick a switch. "It's about time we get this show on the road." Leaning forward he pressed a few other buttons and the machinery started to hum. There was no doubt or second-guessing in the taller boy's assured movements, Dwayne watched on a little nervously.

"You sure you know what you're doing?"

"I read the manual about the teleporter mechanism back-to-front."

"In one night?"

"In one hour. You really do worry too much Dwayne." Sawyer commented off-handedly as he turned another lever and began entering his co-ordinates. "Let's see now… 3,750 kilometres minus 1,230 is 2,520." He mumbled to himself. "Thirty degrees that way… longitude and latitude…" Some more button presses. "Square area range, 16 by about 30 metres, 480 metres squared. The average diameter is 23 metres and we need to tack on at least another 5 as a safety margin… area of the circle would be about 43.96… Okay. Let's do this, shall we?" He turned in his chair to look between both Wesley and Dwayne.

"Are you absolutely sure all that's correct?" Dwayne asked.

"Positive."

"You don't want to, like, work it out with a pencil and paper to be sure? I don't want us teleporting into the Atlantic Ocean or through a building or something."

"Dwayne I'm positive."

"Just do it already." Wesley pushed and Dwayne barely had time to cringe before Sawyer reached forward and pressed a green nobby button with a star shape on it.

A brief flash of radioactive green from the glass ceiling above. No noise. An odd sensation in his stomach that lasted half a second and then it was gone, they were suddenly in a different time-zone. Dwayne looked up at the overhanging tree branches now outside.

"Well," Sawyer spun around in his chair again. "Welcome to Queensland."


Thanks to reviewers KalypsoKari87, Tooncow and Ozzy! I've been feeling like making a new cover picture too, for now you just have that little name-colour thing. If everything goes according to plan you should get your next exciting twist on Chapter 60.