Divergence Eve [TV]

In the year 2017, a satellite on Earth detects a gravitational imbalance in the direction of Lyra, initially believed to be a black hole. Its suspicious X-ray emissions are subjected to noise removal algorithms, revealing the voice message recorded aboard a fictional future Voyager spacecraft, still in the solar system. Before the cause can be determined, additional identical signals are detected throughout the year from other distant gravity-based phenomena. This is considered proof of faster-than-light travel, and the wormhole responsible is pinpointed to be in the core of Saturn’s moon Titan. By temporarily entering a baby universe still in a state of cosmic inflation, the signal was able to bypass the known laws of physics and travel at infinite speed. The wormholes themselves became known as Inflation Holes.
Human travel follows almost two centuries later in 2197. With a tunnel dug into Titan’s depths, and a prototype Inflation Drive on board, two astronauts make the first manned faster-than-light voyage, travelling almost 3 parsecs. Further exploration of Inflation Holes finds a planet 10 parsecs away with a wormhole core similar to Titan’s, formerly inhabited by an extinct alien species. The planet is in a bizarre “apple core” shape, with all of the equatorial planetary mass consumed by frequent alien use of Inflation Drive technology. Three giant longitudinal rings surround what is dubbed as the Quantum Core, and ruins exist upon the fragmented Core itself, but electromagnetic radiation inside the Core is severely limited, making exploration slow and difficult.
By 2246, a base has been built on the planet and dubbed Watcher’s Nest. A 12-member expedition is in progress when an unscheduled arrival is detected by command, but the expedition is already inside the Core and radio signals cannot reach them to deliver the recall order. The expedition team thereby encounters their first Ghoul and are wiped out. Later encounters also follow. Autopsies in 2252 by a group called Alchemy reveal artificial genetic modifications, and these genes become the main focus of research into the Ghoul. When applied to monkeys, the genes expand the scope of the animal’s senses, but scientists cannot determine how or why.
After two decades of research, by 2272, one of the lead scientists, Doctor Kessler, is frustrated with the project’s slow progress on animals. Believing the gene sequences to be a message from an advanced alien species, he leads the effort to begin creating genetically modified humans, to witness the effect on humans as the Ghoul intended. In 2275, Alchemy objects to the use of human guinea pigs, and officially shuts the project down — but not before at least one test subject and one of the only successful Human/Ghoul hybrids is removed by persons unknown.