Voss froze. He hadn’t sent any distress ping.
Thorne nodded. “The alien sphere didn’t kill them. It replaced them. Each death triggered a perfect mimic—but the mimic didn’t know it was dead. So it kept sending ‘all clear’ signals. Kept telling Earth everything was fine. Kept the mission alive long after the crew was gone.” kia ddms
Voss didn’t answer. He’d seen that acronym once before, in a classified briefing that didn’t officially exist. Voss froze
Against protocol, Voss ordered a rescue skiff. They found her in the escape conduit: Dr. Aris Thorne, senior xenopsychologist. She was catatonic, murmuring the same phrase over and over. “The alien sphere didn’t kill them
But the briefing warned: DDMS ghosts don’t know they’re dead.
Voss felt ice crawl down his spine. “DDMS,” he said.
“One by one, my crew just… collapsed,” Thorne whispered. “No wounds. No toxins. Their brains flatlined. But their fingers kept moving. They kept typing into the ship’s log. ‘All fine.’ ‘Proceeding as planned.’ ‘No anomalies.’”