Sparrow & Tulip
Copyright© 2025 by Mad Homer
Part 6
May 24, 2041
East Ground Approach, Echo Training Facility
REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED
Emma and Theo Cosineau knelt on the booth seat, looking out the large window. As the RV crested a ridge, another dusty valley spread out below them. Part of the rim of a giant hole was coming into view. Emma put her arm around Theo’s waist and his arm went around her shoulders.
“Almost home,” she said.
Theo looked down at an immense open pit mine as Jonesy carefully followed a dirt track down into the valley. He didn’t see any signs of life, not even any cars. He looked back at Emma.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I guess nothing. If this is home, I’m glad to finally come back.”
She smiled. “Actually, you’ve never been here before. After Jenkins, the place we lived was abandoned. Aunt Amanda brought everyone here. That’s Echo down there.”
Theo looked down at the pit again. Nothing moved in the glaring sunlight. He glanced at Kawehi and saw she was holding back a smile. Rachel was doing the same thing. As the RV negotiated a sharp bend, a small town came into view.
“That’s where you live.” he said, seeing the joke.
“Not quite,” Emma said. “We live underneath.”
Theo didn’t say anything else, he was trying to figure out what the joke was. They continued down and ended up on a ledge. It wasn’t much wider than the RV, it was only a couple feet between the wheels and a long fall to the valley floor. Butterflies in his stomach, Theo turned away from the window, realizing why Emma had stopped watching.
“Finally,” Jonesy said after several more hair-raising maneuvers. “This boat was never made to deal with this.”
The RV turned directly toward the cliff face. A ribbon of black appeared in front of them, widening quickly to become a wide opening in the side of the cliff face. They drove through and Theo saw the door rolling back down behind him. After the actinic sunlight, the dim interior of the cave was a welcome escape. Squinting, Jonesy slowly crept forward and someone waved the RV toward the end of a row of other beat up cars and trucks.
“And welcome home, officially,” Rachel said and kissed him.
It was a very sisterly kiss on the cheek, but Theo’s face looked sunburned. Kawehi looked away, putting a hand over her mouth. Emma laughed and hugged him tighter.
“What’s wrong? Smooches? You’d better get used to it, you’re the long-lost boy in a house with three women. There’s going to be smooching. And hugging, lots of it.”
“Theo, you’re always welcome to trade places with me,” Jonesy said. “A few days of getting hugs and kisses would do me a world of good.”
“Eww,” Emma laughed.
“Really, man of mine?” Marisol looked fascinated. “And did you consider who will be giving said hugs and smooches?”
Jonesy’s grin faded. “No ma’am, I did not. You’re on your own, kid.”
“Didn’t think so,” Marisol said. She winked at Theo and he grinned back.
Someone opened the door from outside and people began climbing out. When it was Theo’s turn, Emma was right behind him, holding his hand. They stepped out into a surprisingly cool cavern with a concrete floor. Several electric carts were arriving, carrying people in what looked like military uniforms. When they got out, Theo’s stomach clenched at the guns they were carrying.
“Ok, folks, who’s checking in?” one of them with short blonde hair asked. He didn’t look much older than Theo or Emma.
“Chief Sergeant Gutierrez, Incursion Response Troop 12-8,” Marisol said.
“Welcome back, Chief,” the blonde said, checking his tablet. Then he looked at Kawehi and Nate.
“You’re not part of this team, where do you belong?”
“Section Tango. You don’t have clearance to know where we belong, infant,” Nate said.
Theo saw Kawehi roll her eyes as she pulled out a small folder and showed it to the guard. “Contact your watch officer, Cadet. They’ll give you instructions.”
All the guards were standing straighter now and Theo wondered what Section Tango was. Another guard, this one with black hair, had been staring at Emma, obviously waiting. Now, with a nasty smile, he pointed at Emma.
“Cosineau, you’re under arrest. You want to put the restraints on? Or we can do it for you.”
Theo was already stepping in front of Emma and the guard’s eyebrows went up. “We got more than one set of cuffs, chummy,” he said, stepping forward.
“Cadet!” Marisol voice was like a whip crack. “Before you touch either of them, you need to confirm it with your watch commander.”
“Ma’am, she went Unauthorized Absence two days ago. Standing orders, she’s under arrest. I don’t need to check in with...”
“You really do,” Kawehi interrupted. “Just humor us.”
He shrugged and stepped away, pushing some buttons on his wrist tablet. He explained what he was doing but the voice on the other end interrupted him every time he tried to speak after that. The guard turned back around.
“My mistake,” he muttered. “You’re to report to the Director’s Suite when you’re ready.”
“Hey,” Marisol said, coming over. “Welcome home, Theo. It was good to meet you.”
“I think I should say the same to you,” he said, shaking her hand. “Thank you for everything, I owe you my life. If you ever need anything...”
“C’mon, don’t get all weepy. Lots of people owe me their lives.”
“She’s impossible,” Deidre said, laughing. She hugged Theo, and then Emma. “We’ll be around for a while waiting for Shepherd to mend. Come see me.”
Theo found himself promising everyone that he’d visit before they deployed again. After much hugging and handshaking, Kawehi and Nate walked them to one of the carts.
“We’ll come along to make sure you find the right door,” Kawehi said with a wink.
Theo’s head was already spinning but as Nate drove the buggy deeper into the garage, things got stranger. The collection of beat-up cars was left behind them and the passage narrowed. He caught sight of strange looking tracked vehicles with weapons. Another bay was lined with racks of weapons. Another was full of people and gym equipment.
“We’re going through the spaces that the teams like Marisol use,” Kawehi said over her shoulder.
The strangeness didn’t stop there. The tunnel got narrower and began to slope downward. The arched ceilings were at least twenty feet overhead, but the tunnel was wide enough to make them seem low by comparison. Several other electric carts passed them going the other way and at a junction Nate had to stop at a flashing red light. Some kind of train-looking thing crossed in front of them, the driver leaning back in his seat. He waved and disappeared down the cross tunnel.
“How big is this place?” Theo asked Emma.
“I don’t know exactly but it’s huge.”
Her voice was strange, and Theo could see a lot of nervous tension in her shoulders. He took her hand.
What’s wrong? he tapped.
I was already in trouble when I snuck out to come meet you. Probably in a lot more trouble now.
Together, he replied.
Emma nodded and squeezed his hand. Doors began to appear, carved into the limestone walls. There were more electric cars down here and Nate had to slow down. Pedestrians also appeared, walking behind rails that separated them from the traffic. Skylights and mirrors on the ceilings reflected light everywhere, giving the tunnel the appearance of a street on a sunny day.
Finally, Nate pulled in and parked the cart. In front of them were doors that looked like they’d been taken out of a bank vault. They were fully open and the four of them walked through and into a small gallery. Emma pointed at one of the large wooden doors that opened out of the wall.
As they went in, Theo was hit with another surreal moment. Instead of being in a tunnel, they were in a fancy office with a thick carpet and a large wooden desk. A woman stood up from behind the desk, smiling widely.
Amanda and Mirjam had been notified of the twin’s arrival and it had been difficult not to rush down and meet them. Amanda knew she wouldn’t get anything done and they were waiting in the official office, too large and too ornate to be much use. There was a quiet chime from Amanda’s tablet, making both of them jump.
“Lady Tulani, your niece and nephew are here to see you,” Lily said from the reception desk, obviously delighted.
“Send them through please,” Amanda said.
Mirjam hurriedly entered the confirmation code to open the heavy door but made a mistake and had to start over.
Amanda smiled as she watched. She’d never seen her partner this excited before.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
The muscular blonde woman looked embarrassed. “ I’ve missed Theo a great deal.”
“And he was your favorite,” Amanda teased her.
“I do not have a favorite,” Mirjam protested.
They walked across the large office and Mirjam entered another code on her tablet. The outer door swung open ponderously.
Emma came in holding hands with a slightly gangly, male version of herself. His eyes were wide, and he was looking around as Emma all but dragged him along.
Theo saw two women waiting, one very tall with black hair and bright blue eyes. Next to her was a woman with very short blonde hair and a deep tan. Theo dropped Emma’s hand and stared at them. There was a fragment of a memory, almost like recalling a dream. He’d seen this before, the two of them standing together. They were always together. The taller woman had tears on her face but was smiling and names that he’d known as well as he knew own ghosted across his mind.
“Mandy and Murra?” he asked quietly.
“Welcome home, light of my heart,” Amanda said, her usually composed voice breaking.
Theo’s eyes flooded and he went to hug her. Amanda took him in her arms and pressed her cheek to his. They were still for long moments. Mirjam smiled slightly, watching them. Then she looked at Emma, knowing that Emma would have recognized her hand twitching toward her pistol when Theo had rushed toward Amanda. Mirjam nodded slightly, half greeting and half acknowledgement. She was ready for Emma’s scorn and hoped she had enough self-control to not make a huge scene about it right this moment.
But instead, Mirjam saw the sad acceptance that was in Emma’s eyes and the half shrug. Mirjam nodded again, impressed. Maybe the kid was finally growing up.
When Amanda finally let go of Theo, Mirjam didn’t hesitate to hug him just as tightly.
“My soul sings now that you’ve come home,” she said in her low voice. When she let him go, Mirjam held him at arm’s length, looking him up and down. “You’ve gotten taller, little goblin. And managed to keep yourself booger-free. I’m impressed.”
Amanda laughed as Mirjam hugged him again and kissed his forehead. Behind them, Kawehi cleared her throat. She was standing just inside the heavy vault door and Nate was visible behind her in the lobby. Abruptly, Mirjam had let go of Theo and was suddenly standing with Amanda. Surprised, he looked at Emma. She gave him a funny smile and a shrug.
“Lieutenant Moana, how can I ever thank you for bringing Theo back?” Amanda asked, walking over to take her hand.
“Lady Tulani. I’m happy I was here to help,” Kawehi said. “Getting to know Theo was an unexpected but complete pleasure. I apologize, I wouldn’t intrude on your reunion unless it was something that couldn’t wait.”
“Please call me Amanda, Lady Tulani is far too stuffy and mostly meaningless. Is it too urgent to come in and sit?”
“And my name is Kawehi. It isn’t urgent just now, because I’m near Theo. But we should sit down and talk this over.”
Theo’s heart began to thud at her words and the smile Kawehi gave him. Emma frowned and took his hand.
What’s going on? she tapped on his palm.
I’m in love with her
Emma gave him a sharp look but didn’t say anything.
“I’d like to close the outer portal,” Mirjam said. “Would you ask your associate to step inside?”
“That’s my Warden, Nathan Durant,” Kawehi said. “It would be best if he waited outside.”
Emma looked at Theo again, raising her eyebrows. He shrugged, not having a clue what was going on. The women sat down on the little couches, but Mirjam sat behind Amanda on a small chair. He and Emma sat down on the third love seat.
“Again, I apologize for intruding on a private moment,” Kawehi said. “There’s no easy way to start, so I’ll be direct; Theo is probably an emotive Talent. After it was discovered that Theo was carrying a control device, I asked a friend, Dr. Isram Aeolus from Showcase Whistle, to join us in the field to examine Theo’s implants.”
“I read that he was able to perform a microsurgical intervention in the field?” Amanda asked.
“I’m not sure what his protocol was exactly,” Kawehi said carefully, trying not to even think about the illegal tech Aeolus had used with Theo.
A small smile appeared on Amanda’s face. “I understand. Please relax, there isn’t a Yffliad who bothers with any rules but their own.”
“You know them well,” Kawehi said. “During his examination, Dr. Aeolus noticed that Theo carries both the bloodborne chemical markers as well as the neural structures of an Emotive Talent. He took pains to make it clear that the improvised control device did not interact with these areas.”
Theo stared at her. “A what?”
“An Emotive Talent,” Kawehi repeated. “A Talent is someone with special skills and some of them run in families. Your aunt is a Talent for example.”
Amanda nodded. “Your father and I were both rated as Talents, Theo. We were ... intuitive mathematicians is the most accurate term.”
“Instead of mathematics, you have the potential to affect the emotions of others,” Kawehi said. “We will sit down and I’ll show you how to control it for now.”
“Why didn’t you say anything before?” Theo asked her.
“You didn’t have enough on your mind already?”
He half-smiled at that and nodded. “Okay, that’s fair.”
“I’m also an Emotive Talent, like you,” Kawehi said. “Which brings us to the another, more sensitive, issue. I was urged strongly to keep Theo’s recovery as gentle as possible. I’ve had some success in the past using a simple trust and affection broadcast to the hostage. Obviously, I had no idea that Theo was a Talent as well.”
“I apologize, Kawehi. I’m not at all familiar with your gift,” Amanda said.
“Not many people are, we’re fairly rare. There’s always some ... backscatter between a caster and recipient but it can be avoided. However, Theo’s Talent seems to be quite powerful...”
“What is the end result here?” Mirjam asked.
“Apologies, this isn’t easy to admit.” Kawehi was actually blushing but she kept her voice calm. “The end result is that Theo and I fell in love at first sight.”
The room was completely silent for a long moment.
“Damn, Sparrow,” Emma said, leaning over to bump against her brother. “ I’m impressed. I mean, obviously we’re hot, but during your own hostage rescue?”
Mirjam and Amanda both frowned, but Kawehi and Theo laughed with her.
“That’s why I felt so weird when I met you?” Theo asked.
Kawehi nodded. “I’m very sorry. I was just trying to make you feel a little better about being kidnapped.”
He laughed. “It definitely worked! But there’s nothing to be sorry about, is there?”
Kawehi was still smiling but there was definite sadness in her eyes. “It’s a question of consent Theo. It affected both of us but I already knew how to deal with it. You’ve never had a romantic relationship, correct?”
“A girlfriend? Not like you’re thinking, no. But it doesn’t matter.”
“It matters a lot,” Kawehi said. “For one thing, there is an age gap between us. More importantly, you didn’t come to these feelings on your own. It was accidental but I took away your right to choose.”
“Then what if I choose to keep my feelings for you?”
Kawehi chuckled. “That’s not how it works. We’ll start removing the chemical response your body is having soon and get this resolved.”
Theo felt tight bands across his chest suddenly but nodded. He looked down, unsure how he was expected to deal with this. Emma tightened her arm around him. Kawehi got up and knelt in front of him.
“Hey,” she said gently. “It’s not the end of the world.”
“Will I remember you?”
“Of course you will. We’re not changing your memory, just fixing some chemical signals to work properly. We’ll still be friends, promise.”
“Did the same thing happen to Nate?”
“No. Nate is my Warden, think of it as a special bodyguard.”
“Mirjam and I met when she was assigned to be my Warden,” Amanda said, smiling at her partner.
He looked between them. “I thought you were friends or married or something. Murra ... sorry, Mirjam, has been around since I was a baby.”
“Since before you were born,” Mirjam corrected. “Claire, your mother, was Ollie’s Ward when he came to Earth.”
Theo saw surprise and anxiety on Amanda’s face and Emma shifted slightly. Kawehi just looked amused, like always.
“You mentioned that Theo’s gift is strong?” Amanda asked.
“When he and Emma were reunited, he cast to an entire parking lot full of people, including me and most of Marisol’s IRT. It was an emotional event, but even taking that into account, the effect was powerful.”
“That strong,” Amanda murmured, giving Theo a strange look. “Let’s come back to that. I think that Theo must have a lot of questions about what’s going on. Unless you covered the situation already, Emma?”
She shook her head. “I’m not that much of a fuck-up.”
Theo was surprised by the swear word and saw reactions of amusement and surprise. Emma sighed as she realized what she had said.
“I regret that my wording was inappropriate. I apologize to everyone here.”
Amanda chuckled. “Thank you for remembering security, Emma. We’ll let that one go, but I’d appreciate a more circumspect approach in the future. Theo, this must all seem surreal so let’s start at the beginning. My true name is Tulani...” Amanda’s voice rolled off a long name in a language that sounded French to Theo.
“ ... and I am your father’s twin sister. We were born far away, on a planet called Garradya Hoh. Our people were known as the Garragh.”
Theo glanced at Emma who nodded slightly.
“Your mother was from a small town called Wyalusing in the state of Pennsylvania,” Amanda continued. “Your father and I were assigned Wardens when we first arrived here on Earth and that’s how I met Mirjam and Oli’vehndra met your mother Claire. They were married and not long after that, a set of twins was born to the Tulani. You were named Tulani Chevarista-Elouan; Ynnyth Jaanthelme Thonya. But on your Terran birth certificate you were given the name Theophile Gautier Cosineau. Your sister, called Tulani Chevarista-Elouan Évariste Linyae Myrhaien was given the Terran name of Emmaline Placide Cosineau.”
“What happened to them? My parents I mean?”
Amanda sighed. “It’s still difficult to talk much about that awful day. I had just come back from home. Then we found out another world had come under attack. The people there are called the Ta’avi and they were close friends and allies of our people and we both had friends there. We were working on a transportation system that was able to evacuate some of the Ta’avi and bring them here. I set up a beacon to help our equipment here hold on to the gate better. Your father took it from me, he was braver than I am, not to mention he was far better with hardware. But, of course, Claire wouldn’t allow him to go alone and followed him through the gate. The place they landed was more populated than we’d guessed, there was a yearly festival going on there and they were able to evacuate almost two thousand people. But suddenly Ollie shut the gate from his end. We found out that something large had been about to hit. He would have realized that the energy released would travel through the gate just as easily as people. Their sacrifice saved the lives everyone in our lab and the rest of the building. Somehow, I know that they were really thinking of you and Emma. Your school rooms were right below our lab.”
“Is that when I was kidnapped?”
“It was a few days later,” Mirjam said. “The woman, her name was Nina Jenkins, kidnapped you and set up explosives in several labs, including the one that Ollie and Amanda used. The High Energy Physics labs were an obvious target, kidnapping a child on top of that, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. I think there was more going on that we didn’t understand.”
“A rogue operative isn’t necessarily logical,” Amanda said. “And it was nearly both of you but Emma caught a flu and she had been in a separate area to avoid spreading it.”
“I’m really confused,” Theo said. “Why is any of this happening? People don’t normally live underground, do they? And you have people with guns working for you. And how do you attack an entire planet?”
Amanda smiled. “This is where things become rather involved. Have you studied the evolution hypothesis before?”
“We weren’t allowed to use that word,” Theo said. “I kinda know what it means though. Like humans being born from monkeys, right?”
“It’s far more than that, but if you’re not familiar with it, describing this will be a little easier. What we know is that Earth, along with other eleven other planets, were taken over by a civilization we know as Old Ones or Ancients thousands of years ago in order to create colonies. The Ancients didn’t settle on the worlds they had claimed, they created proxy races to do that. Taken together, those races are known as the ‘prefcoria,’ whether they call themselves Human or Garragh, or Ta’avi. Earth was one of the very first, research shows the Ancients here about fifteen thousand years ago.
Theo blinked. “That’s a long time.”
Amanda nodded. “To us, certainly. But very advanced races like the Ancients and a few others are essentially immortal. Most of the others have found technologies that prolong their lives. So these other kinds of people don’t view time the same way we do.
“Garradya and the Ta’avi world called Te’varvfathi were the last two colonies to be established, they’re only a couple of thousand years old. That was the same time that the beings we call Ancients began to disappear. That caused the empire they had created begin dissolving.”
“What happened to them?” Theo asked.
Amanda shrugged. “No one knows. In fact, we don’t even know what they called themselves. There are Others who were alive when they began to disappear, two of our allies are immortals, but they don’t discuss the Ancients very much. Even back at the height of their empire, the Ancients kept themselves wrapped in mystery. There are a small number of entities that dealt with them directly, but none of them left a record of the experience.”
“What happened to the empire?”
“Many different races decided that they liked the stability the Ancients had provided and a new coalition was created. There’s a very long and grandiose name, but we call it the Commonwealth. They were kind enough to include the prefcorian our ‘new’ colonies and their own more advanced civilizations. But as the Commonwealth organized itself, Earth was lost, along with any worlds they had created previously. As far as people here knew, they were alone in the universe. Okay so far?”
Theo nodded, fascinated.
“That is how things have worked for the last two-thousand years. Earth faded into legend for the prefcoria and none of the older races had anything to say about this colony, nor any of the others that had already faded into myth. Then, in 1936, an automated mapping probe picked up radio transmissions from the inner planet of an obscure solar system. Very quickly we realized that a missing colony had been found. The colonies put together a contact team and sent the mission to earth. After studying the planet from orbit, they picked four places for their ships to land; the southwestern desert of the United States, a site in northern Europe, another in Ethiopia, and one within the borders of the old Soviet Union. They kept the landings unnoticed and made their first contacts with the leaders in each of these places.
“The goal of the contact teams to was avoiding the possible social upheaval that the existence of extraterrestrials had caused on other contacted worlds. They had a carefully worked out, long-range plan to gradually get everyone used to the idea before any public revelation was made. Unfortunately, the first steps of a global war had already been taken. The visitors couldn’t come up with a plan that would stop the war. So, they stayed out of sight, ready to begin the contact process once the fighting was over. They were shocked when two nuclear weapon was detonated at the end of the war. Following that, there were dozens of tests.”
“They were afraid of the nukes?”
“I’m sure that was part of it, the resulting geo-political situation wasn’t terribly stable. But the real fear came from the repeated detonations. The energy pulse sends extremely specific ripples across space-time. Something was watching and must have noticed those ripples. The Ancients also left us with old and bitter enemies of theirs, including something known as the Black Swarm. We don’t know when or why the Ancients started battling the Swarm or why they were never defeated. What we do know is that ever since the Ancients disappeared, the Swarm have been systematically finding every planet aligned with the Commonwealth and destroying it.”
“And they especially like wiping out our colony worlds,” Emma said. “That’s how they killed mom and dad.”
“Are you sure they found out about Earth though?” Theo asked. “The universe seems pretty big.”
“There were a number of accidents that looked suspicious to the planners of the contact project,” Amanda said. “Then, in 1961, a troubled young man was being transferred between prisons. Something happened during that trip between prisons, the transport was late and the guards refused to ever talk about why. Looking back, we know that they were intercepted by a team of hostile offworld entities and it included at least one Yffliadi neuro specialist.”
“Dr. Aeolus is a Yffliadi,” Kawehi said. “It sounds to me the Good Brother was one as well.”
Theo shuddered at the memory of that screechy voice. “What did they do to the guards?”
“They seemed fine,” Amanda said. “Later on, both faced significant mental health issues caused by the invasions into their minds. Neither one was the target though. It was the prisoner these invaders were targeting. His name was Charles Manson.”
“He’s the one that killed all those people,” Theo whispered.
“He was the ringleader of the people who did the killing. It happened at the worst possible time as well. The Contact Project was in the process of revealing our existence here on Earth. I don’t understand social engineering well enough to explain the details, but the publicity of the murders and the resulting trial derailed their plans. Specialists that got close enough to examine Manson confirmed that his mind had been heavily tampered with. Once there was proof, the First Contact mission of the Commonwealth ended. Instead, the focus became the long-term defense of humanity. This place, it’s called Echo, is one of the training facilities that produces the specialists needed to keep humans safe.”
“That’s all those wars all over the place? Y’all fighting?”
Amanda shook her head. “While some have been started by our enemies, neither side is works in the open. We’re working to create places where humans will be safe and they’re fighting just as hard to keep humanity divided and confused.”
Emma noticed the look on Theo’s face and put her arm around his shoulders. “It’s the ultimate ‘I’ve got some good news, and some bad news’ routine, kiddo.”
Theo raised his eyebrows. “Kiddo? We’re the same age, Emma.”
“Actually, no. I’m eight minutes older than you are.”
Kawehi started to grin as Theo rolled his eyes but his face went abruptly pale. The happiness he saw in Mirjam had evaporated and her body language had shifted to edge-of-the-seat wariness. When he glanced at her, Theo saw her eyes were locked on him. And Aunt Amanda looked uneasy and upset. He looked at Tulip and even though she tightened the arm around his shoulders, he could feel her weary sadness.
“So, am I the next Charles Manson?” he asked quietly.
“No,” Kawehi said firmly. “He was already having some mental health issues brought on by the disintegration of his childhood.”
Theo looked at the floor. “But they weren’t too nice to me sometimes,” he said. “I still have nightmares about it.”
“Yes, he does,” Emma said. “I’ve seen them, it’s the first place we found each other. Theo, even if they were planning to do something like that to you, another Yffliadi took that crap out of your head.”