The Source of Terrigen (Audio File Set)

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**The Source of Terrigen** is a collectible Intelligence series. It consists of eight files.

## Files

### Monica's Notes "Taking Inventory"

It's taken a little more time than I would have liked to get back into the old routines. If anyone has noticed that I'm a bit slower or unsteady on my feet, they've avoided mentioning it. It's a weakness I can't afford to show for much longer.

I'm taking more of an interest in the alien artifacts that remained in AIM control following George's little tantrum. We have enough fragments and pieces of the extraterrestrial automaton to safely make a variety of conclusions.

Spectrographs confirm the obvious, it's constructed from material originating outside our solar system. It's bipedal, suggesting its creators either share a similar structural morphology with us, or that they wanted to show a familiar form to the natives. It was also damaged at some point in the distant past, presumably when it was made to lay dormant beneath the bay.

Given the presence of Terrigen in the automaton, I would say the connection to the creation of the Inhuman genome in the distant past is likely.

Our need for Terrigen is only growing, but we need to be cautious drawing anymore from the remains of the automaton. There are too many unanswered questions here.

### A Message from Thor "Kreesdøtur Saga"

--because I refuse to write it down.

I've told you this before, Banner. This is the domain of a skald, not a scribe. These things are not to be trapped in twisted lines on paper. You will make do with legends in the way legends were meant to be told: half-forgotten with bawdy details added.

We know that before gods journeyed to Earth, something else visited this world and laid their hands upon humanity. But where we Asgardians cast ourselves as your protectors, these visitors had other aims for mankind.

They came to Midgard not from the nine realms, but from the cold stars beyond. Know that they were already a great empire in the stars, when time itself was young.

No, I will not attempt to "affix a date to that statement," and I resent the request. May I?

The visitors took whole tribes of man and left an invisible mark upon their very flesh that continued down through generations. We Asgardians could sense this glyph on some humans, like as artist's signature, but we did not know what it meant.

But it seems, you now know exactly what it means. They are your "Inhumans."

### Monica's Notes "Toba Bottleneck"

To the extent that it's possible, I'm keeping the various project heads working on this research silo'ed and ignorant of each other's findings. It means I have to do most of the synthesis on my own, which takes time I resent spending. But I don't think most of them are ready to accept the implications of what we've uncovered.

We have direct evidence of an alien race having visited the Earth nearly 70,000 years ago. At the same time, we have a subspecies of human arising, presumably through intentional extraterriesterial genetic modification.

But there's another unpleasant alignment. The modification of Inhuman DNA occurs at the same geological time as the Toba event, the largest volcanic eruption in 25 million years. In the decades long winter after, Human populations dropped to as low as 1000 individuals.

All things told, triggering a volcanic eruption of that size would not be terribly difficult for AIM today. It would just be suicidal. So it seems, in order to ensure rapid Inhuman propagation, our alien visitors either took advantage of the genetic bottleneck caused by a global catastrophe... or they created it on purpose.

### A Message from Thor "Stjörnutröll Saga"

We knew these unseen artists would return to see their great work unfold, but we waited millennia. We fought mighty wars with Jotunheim, and still we waited. We drank and fought and caroused across the realms. We saw the rise and fall of Atlantis, and still we waited.

No, no "follow ups about Atlantis," that's not what this story is about.

We believed we were ready to face them. We were wrong.

They came from the stars, as a single warrior. A champion of iron and glass that scraped the clouds, and strode across the world in one mighty bound. We gathered, all the heroes of Asgard, to defend Midgard from the Star Giant.

Many brave Asgardians entered Valhalla that day. The Star Giant fought with weapons unknown and fierce, and we grappled across the sky, through day and night. At last, we cast the Star Giant down beneath the skin of the world. There, he would slumber until the eve of--

I am concerned that you're taking these tales at face value, Banner. That is most decidedly NOT what these stories are for. Yes, I was there. yes we conquered a giant from the stars. But if you're looking for truth... I'm afraid it's long lost in the glory of the telling.

### Monica's Notes "Prime Directive"

Assuming the aliens who created the Inhuman genome are the same species who created the automaton beneath the Bay, that gives us a rough timeline.

The visitors arrive just before or just after a global catastrophe that reduces the human population of the Earth to only a few thousand. They take a portion of the survivors and alter their DNA for some unknown reason. This Inhuman genome lies dormant until activated, and human populations begin to grow again, both Inhuman and unaltered alike.

Thousands of year later, they send the automaton. I surmise it was to observe their experiment. The automaton has weapons unlike any we've ever seen, but the vast majority of its systems are geared towards observation and recording.

But when it arrived, someone here on Earth put it down, forcing it to hibernate beneath the bay. I don't like that unknown. There's another player on the board.

Finally, just before its destruction, it sent a transmission. We're still trying to make sense of the chaos in the signal, but we can tell where in the sky it was pointing: somewhere in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

All of which leaves us with a near inescapable conclusion: Sooner or later, they're coming back.

### A Message from SHIELD

Here's what we know, thanks to AIM's pilfered research as well as my own rough tests. At some point in the past, aliens visited this planet and altered the DNA of some humans. I know. I had a similar resistance to that, but I can walk you through the various proofs if you need. It's true.

I'd always shrugged off the pulp "Ancient Aliens" theories because they reeked of post-colonial racist condescension. No one ever second guesses the architectural achievements of ancient peoples in Europe, but they have a hard time believing humans closer to the equator could have built a pyramid. Transparent, really.

But, it seems inescapable that aliens did visit. The Inhumans are a result of alien interference. We can test of the Inhuman genome, and we can map it. Beyond that, I don't know how to prepare for the future. They're literally everywhere, all over the world, lying dormant, not even knowing what they have inside of them. They may never activate in their lifetimes, or we could have another A-Day tomorrow. I don't know.

These are uncharted waters.

### To: Bruce Banner | From: Kamala Khan

Hey doc, uh... I thought about your offer a bunch, and I just wanted to let you know that I have definitely and definitively decided that I am not ready to make a decision about it yet. SORRY.

I just don't know if I could let my family be tested for the Inhuman gene without their consent. I know you would tell me to get samples without them knowing, just by like digging through their trash or whatever but honestly that feels even worse?

And what if one of them does show up as a carrier? So I learn where this unique DNA in me comes from. Maybe my mom has it. What do I even do with that information? What would WE do with it? Does it go on yet another list? How long until that happens it it hasn't already?

Huh. Sounds like I talked myself out of it. Okay: Thank you, but no. We can't change who we are, or what we're made of. I'm all in favor of knowing all you can, but that's a decision someone has to make for themselves. All we could learn is who in my family has the potential in them, the potential to be great. I guess I prefer to assume that we all do.

### To: Bruce Banner | From: Maria Hill

I appreciate you keeping me in the loop with your research, Doctor. I don't particularly like the long term implications of what you're telling me, but that's not your concern.

Fury and I made it our business to know about the locations and potential of all individuals above the baseline. If I'm being frank, the Avengers was as much about keeping you all where we could see you as anything else.

Now, of course, those numbers have skyrocketed following A-Day. That alone is a headache worthy of on of Thor's little stories, but it's worse than that, isn't it? There's thousands more of them out there. Just waiting.

I know you don't want to hear this, but what we need is a database of known carriers of the Inhuman gene. I'm not proposing we violate any one's civil rights, but we have a portion of the population carrying alien DNA and a hidden potential for massive destruction.

If we're not willing to be prepared, we are guaranteed to be caught off guard.

Just think about it. Please.