The Cybersybils present En-Train-Ment

Episode Sixteen
En-Train-Ment

I've been on a calendar, but never on time.
Marilyn Monroe

A high-speed German train traveled through countryside littered with chalets and cows, en route to Salzburg, Austria, the destination point where Juan Carlos, Miss O and the newest Sybil, Briella Camenbent, intended to disembark and make a connection to the ancient city of Rome.

The trip was flying along, thanks to the excellent picnic packed by the Prof for his daughter and her companions, as well as a merry conversation peppered with fits of laughter as the duo of Juan Carlos and Brie discussed various topics of an erotic nature.

“I’m so glad we get along and think so much alike,” Cheezy giggled, oblivious to Miss O's glare. “The past two weeks we've spent together prove you're like my soul mate, JC! Being a Sybil is going to be a breeze, as much fun as reading a fairy tale! Even all the maids back at your house think like us - it's totally rad.”

“No, it’s the principle of entrainment,” Juan Carlos joked. “No pun intended.”

“Entrainment?” the brunette inquired.

“Yes, the physics phenomenon of resonance, Brie. Maybe Miss Olivia will tell us the name of the scientist who first observed the principle?”

Olivia stuck her tongue out at the pair, then answered, “Why, yes, Mr. Jackass, the scientist was Christian Hugyens, a Dutchman who came to Paris - he was also the lover of that famed intellectual courtesan, Ninon de l’Enclos - a woman who possessed a brain, imagine.”

"Ah, Ninon!” the pimp exclaimed. "What an earner, Brie – she would have made a fine addition to Château Columba - as your maid, of course. Getting back to entrainment - Hugyens discovered that when two clocks were placed on a wall next to each other and their pendulums were swung at different rates, that eventually the pair would swing together, in time, just like us. So see, people, when they think alike, might transform positivity into negativity.”

"It’s the universal tendency for two oscillating bodies to lock into phase so they vibrate in harmony, and it doesn't work on negativity, idiot..."

"Yes, Olivia, Miss Queen of the May," the Jackal yawned, leaning against a comfortable seat cushion and extending the banquette upwards so he might rest more comfortably up against the latest conquest, "and with that, it’s nap time...wake me when we get to Salzburg."

"Let him sleep," the Peyton girl whispered to Brie, who was reaching out to caress Juan Carlos' hand. "Remind me to give you a book, a novel that JC has read one too many times, compulsive assassin that he is..." Miss O laughed lightly, then finished with a knowing look, "Shibumi."

"Shi-what?" Brie mouthed almost silently.

"Ah, shibumi is...well, effortless grace? Virgo perfection projected with ease? Shibumi is a sense of..."

"Sex?"

"No, not that. Understanding rather than knowledge, great refinement lacking airs – that is shibumi. And Don Juan Carlos wants to discover that elusive quality without even knowing so himself."

Brie winced as she reached out to wipe away a single tear rolling down a rouged cheek. "That's so like wicked awe-some," she cried softly. "Carlos is such a dude."

Taken aback, Olivia froze, unable to respond. Was Brie really that stupid? Composing herself, she found a piece of paper and wrote, "Get a grip!" in large print, shaking her head as she did so.

"K, smiley faces," Brie scribbled back, making Olivia shudder. "Did you like do it with him?" she managed to scrawl.

"MYOB"

"That’s fair," the dark-haired mergirl sighed, too simple to be offended by the rebuff. "I never talk about my sex life...except when I'm at Esperanto el Libre and people see me getting it on in the fuego circle - it's for Afro-dye-tea - so like cha...get it? That's a joke...right?"

"Athena, please deliver me from this...Hades," Miss O mumbled, turning her face so it pressed against the window. "Go to sleep, okay? I'm tired."

The female duo then fell silent, Brie gazing at her hero before drifting off to never-never-land.

"Ladies!" JC sang. "Wake up, we’re in Salzburg! C’mon, we've only got thirty minutes to make it to another platform and get that train to Italy! Too bad we left La Pimpernelle back in France, or we’d be in Rome by now."

"How true," Olivia scoffed. "Brie, you take the picnic gear - I’ll grab the books and bags..."

"Yeah, you kids get the luggage," the lazy Jackal ordered. “Meet me in jive-five by the kiosk, over there. Stop runnin' your big yaps and get movin'.”

JC then exited the train, vanishing into a crowd that was dressed in hues of loden green and brown.

Locating the baggage handler, the Jackal directed the helpful man to guard a cart loaded with three duffles and Brie's prized collection of Britainé makeup bags. Tipping the porter, the hit man was about to return his change to its pocket when a small voice asked in broken German, "Good-and-tags...…"

"Sprechen sie Englisch?" Juan Carlos replied fluently. "Was ist los?"

"I'm lost," a waifish looking teenager dared to manage. "Are you American? I’m so frightened...my boyfriend left me a week ago here, by myself...I have no money...and I think I'm pregnant...you're not a Mormon, are you, 'cause I am..."

"He deserted you?" Juan Carlos asked, hoping for an affirmative answer. "You poor thing – did you contact the U.S. Embassy?"

"No, my father worked for the government back in D.C. and I hate those jerks. I'm nineteen and my parents don't understand me at all,” she began to cry. "What am I going to do...the only good thing that’s happened in three days is a nice old lady gave me this ring..." whereupon the bereft stranger held up a hand to display a silver wolf’s head set with red crystal eyes.

"That’s her!" a voice pierced through the hub-bub of the station. "Olivia – I like told you, 'membah? It’s her – the girl with the like ring."

"Well, what’s all this commotion? JC, is Brie correct, have you located another Pisces Pythia? What’s your name? Come on, get up off the ground."

Meeeeww!

"What in Hades? Is that your stomach Miss...what is your name, anyway?"

"Alexandria. That noise is a kitty...I put him in my backpack because he was lost and cold and hungry, just like me..." came the confession across a trembling lower lip.

"A-licks-and...something?" Brie enunciated. "That's a cool name, yo. I'll probably just like call you Lix and stuff, if that's okay. My name's like Brie. Like the cheese."

"So I'll just call you like cheezy...and stuff," Alexandria taunted.

"Sure, everybody else does..."

"Silence!" Miss O snapped, bored beyond belief.

“My name's Olivia. JC, will you find the little lion cub back there? You’ll come with us, for now, Alexandria. We have food and wine and we're heading to Rome. From there we’ll call your parents to arrange...”

“NO! Shut up, NOW!”

"She’s like supposed to be the new Sybil,” Brie informed with indignation. “I told you so, 'membah?”

“I am SO going to double-clown-punch both of you in two minutes if you don't be quiet – do you have the cat, JC?”

“I always have the pussy, baby. Have you named the kitty, sweetie?”

“No, I can’t tell for sure if it’s a boy or a girl,” the newcomer frowned. “What do you think?”

“We’ll name him on the way to Italy,” the other three suggested, pulling their newfound compatriot along as they rushed to secure their cabin on the Rome Express.

On the exciting journey through the Alps, Olivia discovered much about the young lady who had appeared out of nothingness and seemed destined to be a Cybersybil according to the fickle Laws of Universal Portents.

The daughter of a former high-ranking U.S. government official with ties to a clandestine military organization, Alexandria was no stranger to the ways of subterfuge. The troupe learned that at a tender age she had been used as an experimental participant in a study involving Special Ed children thought to perhaps possess extrasensory powers, manipulated by her alcoholic father who wished to quickly climb the slippery ladder of political success.

“They drugged and shut me in a room with no lights,” the American teen revealed. “The meanies asked me to send thoughts to a girl named Briella - like, what a stupid name! It was so bizarre – then I started to have dreams about Pooh and Eyore.”

“Pardon me, you said the name Briella? Are you certain?” Juan Carlos queried.

“Y-yes...why? Did I say something wrong?”

“No, you said something right – our Miss Brie's real name is Briella - tell me you're a Pisces,” JC enthused. "I love mermaids!"

“I think I am, if you want me to be – I also go into trances – it's sooo scary. Then, I got this strange power...I could write really wicked cool poems.”

"You have got to be kidding me!" Olivia mocked, about to go mad.

“That's sooo phat,” Brie prompted. "Let's like write a poem about...fairies!"

“Yeah, that like totally rocks, girl,” her intellectual match exclaimed.

“Yo, ladies, lighten up!” the Jackal suggested none-too-gently, changing the subject to one of food. “Let’s eat lunch, feed the cat, have a bottle of wine, and see what happens on the way to the Forum...."

"Good plan if you leave me out of it,” Olivia agreed, stroking the soft fur of a purring kitten. “I think we should name you Gemma Tana,” she cooed to nobody in particular. “Gemma because we found you on the road to Italia and you are a little treasure – Tana for the goddess of plenty.”

"She’s like a he,” Brie informed. “Trust me.”

“I wonder if he’s a Virgo and perfect,” Juan Carlos chuckled, ruffling the brown-striped kitten’s white chin.

“No, he’s a Gemma-ni, I bet,” Olivia joked. “It’s October now and he looks to be about four months old.”

“I suppose we’ll have to like rename him Gemmo,” Brie insisted. “I’m telling you, he’s a boy.”

“Maybe he could be Geronimo,” Alexandria frowned as the cat bit a finger trying to feed him a piece of sausage. “Because you know, my mom always said I was part Apache.”