Dr. Cochran, a renowned geophysicist, is recruited by the secretive Radiant Branch of the US Federal Geological Division to investigate anamolous sounds originating from deep within Earth's mantle. Under the shifty Director Barron Moreland, he's taken to an excavation site and assigned to record graphical data of the noises in the Mantle. Unfortunately, the team encounters a system crash in which all data is lost, but Cochran is sent home with compensation. Several days later, he receives letter from Radiant whistleblower Professor Townsend, who provides evidence of the atrocities Radiant has committed: torture videos and corrupted drone footage of the entities, telling Cochran that he is a target. Within moments of finishing the letter, he's accosted by men in suits, demanding he forget everything. He realizes Townsend's claims were in fact true—horribly true.