"Sidney! This is wrong, something's wrong!!!"
Michel shoved the door open and shouted.
Sidney stood before the ship's control console, drenched in sweat, and paid Michel no attention at all.
Since the expedition flotilla consisted entirely of ships, with no fixed docks or buildings, it had suffered less of an impact than the seabed and the Shallow Zone.
The turbulent seawater had little effect on them. Ships were meant to travel through the sea; they were merely rocking more violently than usual.
But that was not the only problem.
[All detectors burned out, all probes lost. The Expedition Fleet has lost all sensory capabilities and is now relying solely on navigators guiding it by sight!]
Lady Camilla spelled out the words in a rapid rush. Despite her mechanical body, there was a trace of anxiety in them.
"Send orders to the fleet. All ships are to remain in place on alert. No movement without permission. They may retaliate against any attack, including but not limited to attacks from Dream Creatures!"
[Unable to transmit. All communications equipment has been destroyed!]
Sidney gritted his teeth and turned to look behind him. "Get the Machine Priests here immediately!"
Holly turned and rushed out. Sidney's gaze swept toward Michel. "You go too!"
"I..."
"Go!"
"All right!"
Michel could no longer worry about his status and hurried away to relay Sidney's orders.
Only then did Sidney look back. "Run a system diagnostic! Determine the type of attack we suffered... Lady Camilla, could this be an ambush by Dream Creatures?"
[Hard to say. Contact with the fleet's other ships was lost in sequence. The ships closer to the Abyssal Sea and those that had dived deeper were hit first.]
"The Abyssal Sea?"
Sidney rushed to the porthole and looked toward