After they got back to the base, Regina withdrew to her bedroom and slept for a few hours, before she felt up to figuring things out.

It was obvious pretty much immediately that the sapient drones were much better at using the psychic link. They could now communicate with each other with the same range limit as she had, not just with people they were close to. They could also initiate contact with her, which Regina realized quickly when Ben and the others checked in with her. That made it easy to coordinate and get everyone on the same page regarding what had happened. She was a bit relieved that she didn’t have to stay constantly vigilant and make regular checks, but could instead rely on other people to alert her when there was a problem. It would take a bit for the drones to adapt, figure things out and get fully comfortable with it, but she wasn’t worried about that.

Of course, she also tried out the new boost to her ‘productivity’ quickly. Even with cursory, initial tests, she was pretty sure she could easily handle a hundred Swarm Drone eggs in development at once. The change also made getting a large batch of new eggs at once an option, or at least less uncomfortable.

Regina also checked out the new Template, which was obviously different from the other Swarm Drone Templates she had. For one, there were obviously different types, and she had to set each one to one of the Swarm Drone variants she already had. Also, Regina had an impression that these eggs might take longer to hatch. It wasn’t anything the System told her, just a feeling she had. They also seemed to take a large chunk of her mana pool as upkeep, much more than a normal Swarm Drone egg. Regina decided on one War Drone aspected Drone Breeder to test things out, and a Winged Drone type after that.

In the meantime, she turned her focus to the new base, mostly to distract herself from worrying about what had happened. After she was done with her tests regarding the new eggs, Regina took the time to walk around the new village, taking things in and evaluating them with an eye to explosive population growth. Assuming one counted Swarm Drones as population, anyway, which she probably shouldn’t.

It wasn’t much like a real village, if she was honest. They’d tried out something a bit different here. The hive had partly dug into the ground, and partly built ‘normally’ above ground. The buildings were all quite large, and directly next to each other, with connecting doors between them. Hivekind liked sleeping close to each other and living communally, so that only made sense, and it made for efficient use of space. As a side benefit, the single complex was more defensible than many having smaller houses would have been. They just needed to make sure to leave enough openings to the outside and escape routes.

So far, they’d used mostly wood and bricks as building materials, with the substance the Production Drones secreted also used for specific purposes. Mia was currently experimenting with mixing it with clay to get a better construction material. They had managed to get a mostly translucent version, at least from higher-level Production Drones, though, which they used for the windows. It wasn’t quite as good as glass, but it let light in and kept the warmth inside in the winter. Regina still saw lots of room for improvement, but in her opinion, they didn’t have it any worse than the humans in Forest’s Haunt. Everything was kept clean and orderly, too.

Unfortunately, even with plenty of help from Swarm Drones, the Workers couldn’t build enough housing for all the new Swarm Drones that were hatching. Regina wasn’t too worried, though. The drones were hardy, and it hadn’t gotten that cold here even in the middle of winter. She’d have them dig more burrows and maybe put up some ditches and walls to break the wind, and maybe make some sheets to keep the rain off. Simple construction that they could easily pack up and move would be key here.

For now, Regina quickly got tired, and decided to turn in for another nap. That ended up taking longer than she thought, and she only woke up in the early hours of the morning the next day, with the sun just preparing to peek over the horizon.

Regina got up quietly, leaving the house and heading for the entrance to the tunnels. Max was finally getting some rest as well, as were Via and Ira. Tim was already up, but he seemed to realize that she wanted privacy and only watched over her from a distance. Regina took the opportunity to center herself, then glanced at her status screen again.

Regina Hive Queen Level: 40 Mana: 10543/15000 Hive: 120/282, 0 Swarm: 1960/40000, 100 Con: 15 Str: 14 Dex: 15 End: 17 Int: 26 Wis: 25

She’d apparently received a few bonus stat points for reaching the third Tier, which bolstered her physical stats a bit. Considering her recent experiences with running through the tunnels, Regina was happy with that. Otherwise, everything was pretty much as she expected. She dismissed the screen and focused on the entrance to the tunnel again.

It should still be blocked, since she’d had the others stop digging and hadn’t told them to resume the work yet. She didn’t think it would be much of an obstacle for Galatea, though. There were several other entry points she could have used, possibly more given the recent disturbances. Regina wasn’t sure where the best place to go was, so she just walked slowly in the general direction of where they’d surfaced.

As it turned out, she didn’t have to worry. Regina hadn’t even passed the old entrance when Galatea emerged from underground. Regina had quite a few Winged Drones above keeping an eye on the area, so she saw Galatea showing up and heading towards her. Floating, actually. She clearly could walk like a real human, but didn’t feel bound to it.

“Did you find what you were looking for down there?” Regina greeted her quietly as she came closer.

Galatea tilted her head slightly. “That depends. I wasn’t really looking for anything in particular, but almost everything is gone, anyway.” Clearly, she was a bit upset about that.

The two of them headed to a small, sheltered overhand under a small hill dotted with a few bushes, where Regina settled down on a rock. She didn’t press Galatea and was content to wait in silence.

“You know, I remember everything as clearly as if it was proverbially yesterday,” Galatea finally said. “My memory doesn’t decay like an organic’s. Or at least, it didn’t. I suppose I’ll have to see how it turns out. But I’ve been living for a long time. Some of it in a state close to hibernation, admittedly.”

“You must have seen a lot,” Regina commented.

She nodded. “People got into the equivalent of the bronze age quite quickly, and even into the iron age rather fast. Some areas actually regressed. That’s not surprising, I suppose. But they’ve been in the equivalent of the iron age for centuries now. There are a few other technologies you wouldn’t have seen in actual history, like the printing press, but overall, not much has changed, even while a lot of things have.”

“And what do you think is more likely to be responsible for that?” Regina asked. “The presence of magic and the System, or the gods?”

Galatea gave her a look and smiled slightly. “That’s exactly the question, Regina. Personally, I think it’s a little of both. And it’s not like I can’t see at all where Deirianon is coming from, to be honest.” She’d turned serious, looking at Regina intently. “Nuclear weapons were … terrifying. Perhaps for him, it has more to do with the shock of seeing mortals having that kind of capability, reaching for power that should be reserved for the gods. Or perhaps they’re sincerely trying to protect what remains of the world’s population, who can say. But I’m quite sure of this, my friend. It’s not an accident that the two of us were targeted in this incident. We are all that remains of the old world. The only two beings who have seen it with our own eyes, experienced it in our own lives. Except for the gods, of course, but they were only visitors.”

Regina sighed. She leaned back, looking upwards at the stars. “I think I understand,” she said quietly. Despite her apparent calm, embers of anger were burning inside her, driving away the chill of the winter morning.

“You must have been wondering why I’ve been so friendly towards you, too.”

Regina glanced at her companion again. “The question had occurred to me,” she admitted.

Galatea was quiet for a few seconds, before she spoke again. “To be honest, I’ve been debating telling you this. But I decided that it would be better for both of us and our relationship if I didn’t try to hide it.”

“This has something to do with why you needed me to do anything with your hardware, doesn’t it?” Regina asked. “Now that it’s gone, I assume things have changed.”

Galatea tilted her hand in a ‘so-so’ motion. “Somewhat. I’m still figuring out the changes. However, my mind is still basically the same, as far as I can tell, and it was formed on the basis of the code of the AI I used to be.” She sighed. “It’s just as hard for me to figure out why I feel the way I do about some things than it is for anyone else, Regina. I do feel some sense of kinship toward you. But I think there’s a bit more to it.”

Regina frowned. She couldn’t help but wonder, for a moment, about Galatea’s goals and attitude. She had already helped her get free, if Galatea didn’t need her anymore, and Regina actually had some kind of influence over her — wouldn’t that make her a potential threat? Then again, if that was the case, it presumably wouldn’t be that easy to get rid of it.

“I have basically taken the assumption that you are the last citizen of the nation that built me and run with it,” Galatea continued after a short pause. “I give it at least a ninety-nine percent probability, given everything I’ve heard and been able to figure out from you and what you remember, not to mention that the basic probability for someone from Central Europe is very high. That’s enough for me to take it as a given. That is why I was able to direct you to access my system. Evidently. It also means I am feeling somewhat obligated towards you.”

“How obligated?” Regina asked.

“You couldn’t just command me to do anything. At least, I don’t think so. And that is partly why I’m talking to you about this. I want to ask you to, please, don’t try.”

Regina sat up and carefully reached out to put a hand on Galatea’s shoulder. It sank in slightly, before it was pushed to the surface. “I understand,” she said soberly. “Of course. Thank you for the trust you’re showing me, Galatea.”

“You’re welcome.”

Regina withdrew her hand and looked up again, shaking her hand and smiling wryly. “It’s not like I can’t understand having instincts that you need to get a handle on. My Hive Queen side is pushing me to act in certain ways sometimes, and I’m not always aware of it. And sometimes I kinda do the opposite on purpose. Still, I haven’t had too much trouble with it, really. I’m not sure how good a comparison that really is, but I sympathize.”

Galatea chuckled, a surprisingly musical sound. Her voice was improving slightly, Regina noted. “Thanks. That leads to another thing I wanted to tell you, though. I’ve decided to leave.”

Regina straightened up. “Really? You don’t want to stay?” she asked, sounding a bit plaintive but unable to help it.

“I’ve been essentially locked up down there for a millennium, Regina. There are so many things I’ve seen with my scrying but never been able to properly experience or interact with. I want to go see some of them in person, if nothing else.”

Regina sighed. “I understand. I wish you the best on your travels, then. I hope we can keep in contact, though?”

"Of course.” Galatea smiled softly. “That’s why I’m mentioning it now. I think we can figure out some way to keep in contact, magically, I mean. I can always send letters, although you’ll probably have a harder time doing that without knowing where I am.”

“If nothing else, I suppose that gives me more motivation to finish learning your scrying magic.” Regain suppressed another sigh. She was feeling pretty down about the prospect of Galatea leaving, even if it probably shouldn’t be a surprise. She just hadn’t thought about it.

They sat there in silence for a minute longer, neither of them wanting to leave. Regina checked in on her drones, getting a few reports from those further away. It seemed like the Delvers had made it safely through the more dangerous areas, and they were presumably on their way back to their base. She still wasn’t entirely sure letting them go had been the best decision, but hopefully, they would work towards their organization being less hostile. Regina couldn’t let it distract her for long, though.

“I’ll tell all my drones to keep an eye out for you, and to contact me if you show up,” she finally said. “My range is expanding quite a bit. If you’re ever in the area and want to reach me, just go to any drone and we can talk. I would send some with you, but I don’t think that would help.”

“No, I’m likely to be far beyond your range,” Galatea answered. “I doubt your hive will be difficult to find, though.”

Regina snorted. “I wonder how long it will be until I hear something about your actions,” she retorted. Not that she really thought Galatea would get up to many shenanigans.

The two sat and watched the sun rise together for a while longer before Galatea departed, and Regina returned to her hive.