Mark has the look on his face that suggests that he has been here before- told about something only to not have it materialize- remember the bats with the White Nose Syndrome?  Mark never saw a single bat in all the time (months to the poor readers) spent in the cave system… and yet he still wrote a story on it?

Yup, because that what ants will do… right Abbey?  The move in, take over and, well, there goes the neighborhood…  But again, I thought this was a rocky little atoll.  It now appears that we have stumbled into a full-fledged rain forest…  Yeah, I’m scratching my head too, Mark.  I wonder how many Blue Hawaiians Cherry has ordered up by now… She had the right idea.

Wow, I could have sworn I posted something yesterday… but I guess not… a draft post awaited me this morning with nary a comment.  Just the strip.  I’m sure I stared at it a few times and nothing came… which is not unusual these days…

But today there is, ummm, intimacy?  Awkwardness?  Why, a woman hasn’t used the Trail as a “landing spot” since the cave adventure…

So as Mark Billy-goats his way along the rocky outcropping and with that strange bit of touching, we are all left to feel just slightly uncomfortable…  and to wonder what Abbey’s true motives are…

As  Abbey, ummm, mounts the boulder, Mark looks on with curiosity and wonder,  wishing he had brought his rock climbing gear, but alas, he lost it in the cave adventure…

Nice list, Abbey.  Reminds me of how many ways, according to Benjamin Buford  “Bubba” Blue, one can prepare shrimp…

We had almost forgotten you buddy!  And it would seem that you are the only one that has any common sense… but then you made it out of the ‘Nam in one piece, so you can be assumed to have good instincts…  and following a Nature Writer and an “Agent” of the USDA (hey, she can pretend, right??) into the Hawaiian wilderness is probably something you should avoid…

So with Cal’s ears growing, and Abbey’s face changing by the day…

Or simply the deft use and re-use of the same unrecognizable face…

…but at least in Mark’s case, the little forelock hairs are slightly different… sort of like the Slylock Fox Comic that asks the reader to point of what is different between to seemingly identical pictures…

And with that, the longest sentence fragment ever in the history of the blogosphere, I leave you all to wonder what will happen once Mark and Abbey hit the “Trail…”  Ha!  See what I did there??

As opposed to the the Domestic variety?  They must have hailed from somewhere at some point- had to be indigenous before they became invasive… Looks like they came from South America originally…   Lest I appear to any readers as being cavalier about invasives, let me assure you I am not.  But we really can be our own worst enemy sometimes…  the “Bighead” or “Asian” Carp that is knocking on the door of the Great Lakes system is a real threat and brought to us courtesy of the catfish farmers down south… who started introducing this species into their catfish ponds to help keep them clean.  One flood later and poof, the genie’s out of the bottle and there’s  only so much we can do to stop them.  Another example is the Buckthorn Plant… deemed a noxious weed in Minnesota by our own DNR, various versions can still be purchased over the counter at you local nursery or home center…

But, but, but… I thought Abbey already retrieved a specimen?  I’m so confused.  Whatever.  And hey… I have an idea.  Why don’t you both board the Helicopter and have Cal fly you up there?  I’m sure he could hover precariously as you both execute a tetherless rappel (I just made that one up…) which to the uninformed would look like two people leaping out of a helicopter onto a small outcropping.  No risk there…

It just occurred to me, looking at the pained and manufactured expressions on the faces of Mark and Abbey, that they are styled after Kabuki…

While Mark maintains the Trailian visage (seen in panel one) more that anything else, we have also seen him, through facial expressions, go for other emotive states- irony, sheepishness, cluelessness, anger, all the way to ‘hey I just made a joke here…’ But that’s nothing compared to Abbey’s transformation in both emotion and facial shape between panels two and three…  Anger to sadness and resignation almost in mid sentence.

So as it becomes apparent that the ants have taken the high ground, and therefore have strategic placement advantage, I’m guessing that Mark and Abbey will be climbing the same precarious slopes that Abbey earlier slipped and fell down.  Good luck with that!

…seems that you have done all the research…  and it seems as though the USDA database is replete with details…  about the comings and goings of every American (we assume they are American, heck, they looked American…)  Is anyone else concerned?  So with finger wagging, Abbey recounts all the details of the “mystery…” which leaves us to wonder, “what’s next?”

And are we to believe that every ship that puts into a given harbor is given a thorough inspection for invasive species?  Drugs, I understand, but invasive species??  What with all the fresh fruit loaded onto cruise ships throughout the world, are they inspected?  I suppose so.  But it appears that in the U.S. we more concerned with human trafficking than invasives…  but depending on what side of the immigration argument you are on, invasives can come in different shapes and sizes…

But a quick check of the procedure in New Zealand suggests that the inspection is quite thorough… including a six-step biosecurity inspection and clearance…  So it’s conceivable that the ants were discovered upon reaching New Zealand and a complete history of their travels documented!  How could I ever have doubted!!  But how on earth do you live on a boat, no matter how big, with ant colony??  ick.

And I’m sure… a picnic lunch…  we all know what they really did on those white sand beaches…

Geez, Mark you really are full of yourself, aren’t you…  Are you just trying to impress Abbey, or what?  Your pilot?  Please. In the span of an afternoon, Cal has not become yours…  Abbey Powell, breathless in the presence of The Trail, isn’t helping with all this…

And what’s with all the sudden vegetation?  Fully grown palm trees and flowers?  This was a rocky, volcanic outcropping until you showed up and then poof!  Cue the Palms!

With various forms of wildlife enjoying cameo roles (hearkening back to the Trailverse of old) we see the long-shot approach and the eager anticipation that is meant to create a modicum of expectation for this story.

With the island not shaking anymore, and Abbey back on her feet with her glasses on, Mark makes his grand entrance (with Cal’s help, of course…)

I will say it again- what’s missing in all this is the bad guy (or gal) that threatens to lay waste to fragile ecosystems, to poach rapaciously the innocent fauna that might be hanging by a thread.  While I should probably care about invasive species and man’s role in spreading them around, there’s no story line in it.  At least not for me.  Bring back Big Mike, or the corrupt Senator’s aid, or Dirty Dyer the Rhino Horn trafficker,  or that skinny milquetoast who wanted to mine titanium oxide from the Great Dismal Swamp…    anything… please…

OK, kids,  we’ve seen this before…  Abbey Powell taking a bad step, and a random earthquake RRRUUUUMMMMMBBBBBLLLLLEEEE…  at least this is more plausible here than in the cave story.  Appears that Earthquakes are a daily thing in Hawaii, although registering only 1.0 – 2.0  on the Richter scale…

Abbey Powell needs to have a word with James Allen.  If he going to feature her (a real person with a life, presumably with ambitions,) she can’t allow him to continue to portray her as a stumbling oaf…  Hey, I mean, I have daughter, probably about Abbey’s age, trying to make her way in the world of science, and this kind of portrayal helps no one…

So pick yourself up and dust yourself off, Abbey… blow the coral dust out of your nose and pretend this never happened, right??