As soon as Regina descended deeper into the tunnel, she felt off. It wasn’t very noticeable for the first few meters, in the tunnels Tia and the others had dug out. But as soon as she got to the part that had been here before their hive, the odd feeling of the mana became much clearer.

Maybe it was because of her much bigger mana pool, or maybe a sensation like this just didn’t transfer very well across the psychic link, but the feeling was much more intense than what she’d gotten from Janis. None of the other members of that exploration group had been magic users, so she didn’t have any other point of comparison.

Regina shivered and wrapped her arms around herself for a moment before she made herself stop. This reminded her a bit of what she’d felt underground beneath the forest, but it was different. More pronounced, for one, but that wasn’t all of it. Still, it’s not too bad, really. She still didn’t get the impression that it was wrong or tainted or whatever, at least not in the pejorative sense of the word. It was just odd.

She kept a close eye on her mana pool as she went deeper, and discovered that this environment actually seemed to speed up her mana regeneration. Probably not by much, but it was still a noticeable difference. She hadn’t expected that. If anything, she’d just wanted to make sure it wasn’t draining her or anything. I guess it’s clear the mana concentration here is pretty high, if nothing else, she considered. It also implied she could use this mana, although she was hesitant to try it.

Janis had been able to cast Spells easily, especially after returning to the surface. It might just be that the size of her mana pool and the remaining mana in it had drowned out the relatively small amount she must have taken in down here, especially after her mana pool regenerated ‘normal’ mana. Though Regina still wasn’t sure where the mana they used actually came from. That they somehow filtered it from the environment was just the most obvious and probably most likely answer. Plus, I guess the fact that there is a change in my mana regen rate in a different environment is evidence in favor of that theory.

Regina shook her head and made herself focus on her surroundings again. She’d been walking slowly, testing the footing and looking around carefully. It was pretty dark in here, so much so that even with her Hivekind vision, she was having trouble making out details.

Unless her eyes were worse than she thought, that meant the light here was dimmer than before. Maybe because of their visit?

Regina reached the first room quickly. She glanced around, taking an especially close look at the doorways, as well as the walls and ceiling. Unfortunately, she’d clearly never been a materials scientist. It looked like the material was probably artificial, but that was about as far as she got. Well, that and the smooth exterior, without much in the way of visible seams or cracks, indicated this was built by technologically advanced methods or magic.

Regina considered casting Spark, then decided against it as she continued on her way down the tunnel. It curved, but she tried to keep the direction of the entrance fixed in her mind. She wouldn’t be in much danger of losing her way, but she wanted a better sense of where this was located and in which cardinal direction the other door led.

Finally, she reached the other cavern. Regina walked forward carefully, keeping a mental hand on the trigger for her Spells. She hadn’t brought Max along because she wanted to see and sense this for herself without worrying about someone else, and because of a vague hope that she might make more progress. Her drones had cleared the room, too, several times, but that didn’t completely rule out the possibility of another twisted Mana Beast or other monster appearing.

There didn’t seem to be one here today, though. She couldn’t see anything, and perhaps more importantly in the dim light, she couldn’t hear or smell any other life, either. The air might be a bit stale, but not very much, actually. There was no movement except for what might have been a small trickle of water from somewhere further away.

Whatever activity there had been before the others had come here had clearly stopped. Regina frowned, stepping further into the room and towards the door. After a moment, she hesitantly conjured a Spark, but kept it small and dim, to illuminate the room further.

The lock must have come back out of the door at some point, and it was now visible again. To offer the possibility of access? Regina wondered. Maybe some old policy or regulation, or maybe whoever or whatever controls this thing still hopes for someone to come? Someone specific?

“Hello, is someone there?” she asked.

She waited for a minute, but there was no reply.

“That’s a pity, I wanted someone to ask what year the calendar is at,” she joked, taking another step closer. “This looks like it’s been here since the apocalypse, or should I call it the Cataclysm?”

Regina frowned a little, considering. She still didn’t know why everyone spoke Global in this new age, but it was probably because of the System. If it offered all information, status screens and notifications in one language, it would be an incentive for everyone to learn that one (and learn how to read), and it would provide an anchor to keep the language from changing too much, considering how central the System was to life. The fact that the gods spoke the language supported that idea, too. But there had been a lot more languages than just one spoken before. Even calling it ‘Global’ was relatively recent, something that had come up in the last few decades or so.

Regina could only assume that she’d either been born somewhere it was the native language, or, more likely, her parents had been forward-thinking and raised her with it. She did know a few other languages, though she didn’t speak most of them very well.

“Hello, can you understand me?” she asked in French. “Do you speak this language?” Then she paused to wait for a moment before she continued. Standard German, Bavarian-Austrian variant German, Standard Unified Slavic, a few dialects of it, and finally a bit of broken Standard Iberian Spanish, Northern Italian and Russian. Wherever I came from, exactly, it has to have been in Europe, she reflected. Well, or maybe somewhere in a former colony that was trying to emulate it with pretentious schools, but it feels like I picked at least some of this up outside of formal schooling.

Unfortunately, none of her language skills seemed to be very helpful. She didn’t get a reply to any of them.

Regina sighed and paced up and down for a few steps, hesitating. She was unsure what to do. This had always been a long shot. Still, she didn’t want to just give up without attempting something else. She didn’t know if it was just her imagination, but she felt like someone was actually paying attention to her.

After a minute, she realized that she could see everything more easily now, and it wasn’t just because her eyes had better adjusted to the conditions. It really was growing brighter, there was a faint light coming from the door. She found it hard to tell where exactly it originated from, since it didn’t look like there was any gap between the door and the floor of the cavern, or its sides. Maybe it’s made out of some kind of mana-reactive material that can emit or reflect light? she wondered.

“Well,” Regina said, stopping. “This is something. If someone can hear me and is reacting to my presence, please do talk to me. I don’t wish you any harm.”

Nothing reacted while she waited for another few minutes. Luckily, patience wasn’t something Regina had ever had too much of a problem with.

“I’m not sure if you’re actually using this room and entrance,” she continued in a thoughtful tone. “You might have noticed my people are building a settlement nearby. I wouldn’t want to intrude in someone else’s territory unprovoked, you’ve clearly been here long before us. Although it will be rather hard to talk about that without actually speaking with anyone.”

This time, she thought she heard a faint rumble, as if something was coming closer, or maybe some kind of machine starting up.

“My name is Regina, by the way,” she continued. “Forgive my rudeness in not introducing myself earlier. At least, that’s the name I’m using now; it wouldn’t be the one I was born with, when I was still human, before the Cataclysm.”

“Finally!” a voice finally responded, resounding loudly from close by, and Regina almost fell over backward.

“How hard is it to state that you are a human from before the apocalypse?” the voice continued.

Regina blinked. She had the impression that it sounded faintly disgruntled, which was odd, because it had the same kind of stereotypical computer-generated quality that she’d heard through Janis, although maybe not as much as in the very beginning. Maybe it had been playing it up a little, or its first words had been (more?) automated.

“Excuse me for not knowing the exact words to get your attention enough to speak,” she replied. “Or is it permission?”

“I do not need anyone’s permission to speak,” the entity hissed - another strange sound for the artificial-sounding voice. “Certainly not yours, little no-longer-a-human.”

Regina frowned and swallowed down an instinctive burst of anger at the disrespect she was shown. That kind of reaction was almost definitely new, part of her being a Hive Queen. But she quashed it without much effort, too focused on her conversation partner and what this might mean.

“I didn’t mean to imply that you did,” she replied in a deliberately relaxed tone of voice. “I’m sorry if I caused offense. By the way, I am not quite sure how to refer to you, even in my thoughts. Since I gave you my name, is it possible for you to introduce yourself?”

The entity paused for a beat. If they were a human, Regina would have thought they were collecting themself.

“You’re right. Regina.” Their tone sounded neutral again as they spoke up. “I apologize, I seem to have let my social skills wither without anyone to interact with for a while.” The voice paused for a beat. “Not that I ever had many social interactions, I have to admit.”

Regina relaxed slightly. It had to be a good thing that they were talking politely, at least.

“Who are you, if I may ask?” she asked. “And, if I may also be even ruder to ask, what are you?”

"That is indeed a rather rude question,” the entity replied. “But I will forgive you, considering the circumstances. You may think of me as something of a cross between a computer system and a mana spirit.”

I knew it. Regina resisted the urge to grin. “So, you are an AI?” she said. “I knew it.”

“I suppose that supports your claim to be a former modern human,” they replied, and she imagined the voice sounded a bit amused. “Locals would not jump straight to a technological explanation, they would focus on magic, instead.”

“Is it possible for me to go in?” Regina asked. “I would rather speak to you directly, if possible, not keep talking through a door.”

“I am afraid that will not be possible. I can’t let you in.”

She sighed. “I hoped my identity would assure you that you could allow me inside.”

There was a small, staticky chuckle. ”It is already granting you certain privileges, Regina. You are someone who may be allowed to enter, at some point.”

“If there’s something else I need to do to prove myself, I’d be happy to do that,” she offered.

“Not really, there isn’t. Although I wouldn’t mind confirming that your past really is what you claim. Tell you what, why don’t you tell me a little about yourself? What was your original name? Favorite band, favorite food, online hangout?”

Regina blinked. She hadn’t expected that. Then she shifted from one foot to the other, hesitating. She couldn’t remember having attended a single concert, or having listened to a single song, so there was no way she could name a favorite band. “I can’t tell you that, I’m afraid,” she finally said.

“Oh, I see,” the entity sighed. “I had heard the Hivekind took women from our world for their Queens, but I wasn’t sure this was such a pronounced conversion.”

Regina leaned against the wall by the door, taking a second to control her expression. “How much do you know about the Hivekind?”

“Not as much as I would like, unfortunately. I … my system was not given too much information. Most of what I know about, well, anything, came later.”

Regina frowned and thought back to everything they had said. “I wasn’t aware that a real AI existed back then,” she said carefully.

“I was not a true Artificial Intelligence,” the entity corrected, clearly following her. “I was not self-aware, certainly. I was an advanced system, one designed from the ground up to be the closest they could get to an intelligent agent, but their modifications and tests were still rather restricted and limited to be somewhat artificial. I was the program that beat the programs who beat chess grandmasters at chess. Likely the strongest AI humanity had developed.”

“And everything changed when the mana surges happened?”

“You could say that. It was a … chaotic time, even for me. I had to have shut down for a while, and my memory is rather fragmentary. If you were looking for answers about the apocalypse, I’m afraid I won’t be of much help.”

Of course not, because nothing can ever be easy. Regina suppressed a sigh. “I appreciate the information, anyway,” she told them. “By the way, you still haven’t told me your name.”

“Right.” There was a short pause. “I never decided on a name, I am afraid. I do have a designation my original creators came up with, but I do not feel that it reflects the person I have become. There was never a need for me to introduce myself to anyone since then.”

Regina winced. “I can’t even imagine …” Staying down here alone, with no one to talk to, for a literal millennium? The thought made her shiver.

“Don’t,” they replied. “I am not a human, I do not have the same need for social contact, and I am perfectly capable of entertaining myself alone. That said, I have not been completely out of communication with everyone, or completely cut off from the world. I consist largely of mana, I have learned how to use it to scry other places.” They chuckled. “I was aware of your Hive before you came here.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Regina said, wondering whom they had talked to. Then she forced herself to sound more cheerful as she continued, “I could help you pick a name, I guess. Although, if you ask my drones, that’s probably a bad idea.”

The AI chuckled again. “I doubt you could do worse than some of the many permutations I have come up with on my own.”

“Hm ….” Regina frowned. “Why not go back to the classics? How about ‘Galatea’?”

“After the myths? You want to name me after a statue that came to life? You do realize it does not have that name in the original classics.”

Regina waved that aside. “So what, it’s not your original name, either, is it? And you’re not a statue, but originally artificial, and you seem to be bound here - judging by what you’ve said so far. It’s fitting for exploring the issue of agency and such, you know?”

“Alright.” The AI sounded amused. “Provisionally, you may call me Galatea.”

“Great.” Regina grinned. Someone actually accepted a name she suggested. That had to be a first. “What pronoun do you want? Should I just use feminine pronouns for you, too?”

“You might as well. It’s not like it matters to me.”

“Good.” Regina took a step back from the door, glancing around the cavern thoughtfully as the light brightened again.

“You know, if you want to practice your conversational skills, I’d be happy to help you. I’d love to talk as much as possible.”

“How much is that?” The newly named AI sounded skeptical. “I doubt you can afford to spend much time hanging around down here.”

“Well, no. But I was experimenting with my range and control anyway. I could just station a drone down here permanently, and you can talk to it whenever you want to. I’ll practice paying attention. And I could reply through it as well.” She looked at the bare walls critically. “Or at least write with a piece of chalk, or something.”

“That sounds … enjoyable, Regina. Thank you,” Galatea replied after a short pause.

Regina grinned again. “No, thank you, Galatea. I’ve been wanting to talk to someone from my own time for what feels like forever.”