Chapter 175: Chapter 165: Even More Exploration

Regina had heard that the Hivekind were technologically advanced, more so than anyone else had been, but she supposed it hadn’t really sunk in what that meant. Maybe that was because the technology of the gods and ‘newcomers’ didn’t strike her as very impressive. Now that she was actually seeing the Hivekind’s remnants, though, she realized that they were clearly using, … well, advanced magitech was the only real term she could think of. She didn’t know if their purely mundane tech had been as good — it had probably all been destroyed in the Cataclysm — but it was still remarkable.

The doors leading deeper into the large building housing the Hivekind base they’d found opened on their own, and Regina felt hints of what had to be magical scanners brushing past her and the others. She also caught faint hints of magic in the floors and walls, possibly measures against intruders.

Luckily, they seemed to pass without issue. Regina couldn’t be sure, but she suspected that just being a Hive Queen was enough to give her clearance. Maybe there was some kind of blacklist that could override it, but she couldn’t have been whitelisted, since she hadn’t even been hatched yet, so she probably counted as a Hive Queen in good standing by default. Not that she would expect the old Hivekind to be very concerned about traitors in their own ranks.

The security measures were only the first part of the magitech she found, though. Unlike the other base, they clearly hadn’t had the time or opportunity to completely clear this one out. It seemed to be a fair bit larger, and they emerged into a large central area subdivided by walls that often didn’t extend all the way to close off a room or had open doorways. Probably a communal area. It could have housed hundreds of drones.

Regina and her group spread out and took a quick look around, careful not to touch anything. To the side of the entrance area, where they’d come in, they found what looked like offices. They didn’t contain any computers, although there were weird fixtures on the walls that might have been versions of electrical sockets. Most of the furniture also appeared to be broken or missing, although they found some half-intact desks and tables.

Continuing on from there, Regina slowly walked through the central section, taking note of both the layout as well as anything left in terms of appliances or things left behind, which wasn’t much. None of the others spoke, at least not out loud, and she didn’t pick up on much psychic chatter, either. Being inside an old base like this — what most of them probably thought of as their first glimpse of a ‘real hive’, at least subconsciously — had a sobering effect on everyone. Personally, Regina found herself thinking about how she would use this space, and what it might say about any differences between them. It was easier than remembering that everyone who’d ever set foot here before was dead, just like the rest of the city.

The central section didn’t contain that much magic, and what it did have seemed more subdued. Most of it was too decayed to get much out of it. That was her interpretation, at least. She couldn’t make heads or tails of most of it, but it did seem like they were bare remnants of what should have been.

Regina spent what felt like a few hours poking around here. It was hard to tell time without any change in lighting, let alone clocks, though, so her estimate might have been badly off. She examined everything as best she could, but for a lot of it, she was still stumped. She wished she had an experienced mage with her to ask about the mana patterns she saw, although they would probably not be able to understand it very well, either.

There was also another section at the back of the building. This part actually seemed squished, the walls were partly caved inward slightly and there seemed to be too much clutter and debris in the rooms. It made her suspect that there had been some kind of space-expanding effect that had failed. There might have been a similar one back in the main section, too, though probably not as strongly. Not that either of them could have been that expansive, though.

From the layout, it looked like the right part of the back section was personal quarters. Considerably larger and probably more well-equipped than the communal areas she’d seen before. Regina paid close attention to the layout, and from what she could tell, there seemed to be five separate suites here. That gives me an estimate on how many Hive Queens they had, she considered. Assuming this really was their space. And that they weren’t just used as guest quarters. It would also depend on what other houses they used. She trailed her hand across the wall. Still, there should probably have been at least one or two for visiting Hive Queens if they weren’t all here anyway, so it still implies there weren’t that many of them in the first place.

The suites wouldn’t have been used exclusively by the Hive Queens, anyway; she assumed there would have been space for assistants, at least. The layout was actually not that different from what she had in her own hive. Regina wasn’t sure if she was just seeing similarities where she expected them, though.

In contrast, the part of the base opposite these quarters was one large room, but it was divided into several sections, two of them set up like a typical auditorium, with seats going up or down, and circles put into the floor in two other paces. Regina wasn’t quite sure what to make of them. This seemed like some kind of shared workspace or command center, and possibly a space for magical endeavors, as well. But for all she knew, it might just be their school.

Regardless of where in the base she and the others looked, none of them found even a scrap of paper or other written records. Regina supposed that made sense, since expecting it to stand the test of time was pretty stupid. And the Hivekind probably didn’t use that much paper, since they had psychic links, anyway.

Which brought up an interesting question. Could they also communicate with each other, or were different hives’ psychic links completely separate? Was there a way to link them? Maybe even some kind of greater gestalt? Regina had never had to deal with Hivekind outside her own hive, so she obviously couldn’t answer those questions. She was still curious, though.

"This is eerie,” Max muttered, finally breaking the silence for the first time in minutes.

Regina glanced at him. She was currently leaning against the wall in the small foyer separating the two parts of the facility opposite the entrance, taking a break to think about what they’d found so far. “It kind of is,” she agreed.

“What have we really found here, though?” Ira asked. “Don’t get me wrong, this is all really fascinating. But can we get any useful information from here?”

“Good question. I think learning more about our species is generally useful. Even details that seem insignificant now. If we learn more, they might contribute to a better understanding.” She paused. “That said, I definitely wouldn’t object to finding some actually useful old tech.”

The others grinned in response.

“I’ve gotta admit,” Max said. “I was almost expecting there to be some kind of big, dangerous monster lurking here that we’d have to defeat.”

“Some kind of boss monster?” Regina grinned at him. “I guess you might have a point. After all, Leian clearly didn’t want us to go here before because it would be too dangerous. And this place probably has more magic left than anywhere else, even if it was well hidden.”

Tia and Ira exchanged a look. “Actually,” Tia started, clearly hesitant. “Not to imply you’re wrong, my Queen, but did she really not want any of us to go here before now? For the past few months, I mean. Or did we just not?”

“Huh.” Regina tugged on her mandibles. “You’re right, she did just tell me that I wasn’t ready one time months ago, when I was still at a lot lower level than I am now. I just didn’t really come back or come close to this area of the tunnels until now.”

And they had encountered and fought a level fifty monster. If she’d still been at the level she was back then, they might not have won against it.

“Except for that incident when a certain god apparently opened that door,” Max added. “The monster we fought with the Delvers back then might not have been that bad, but what we saw of whatever those modern weapons were seemed a lot more dangerous. I still think those have to be in some kind of insulated location, by the way.”

“Or we would have to deal with combat robots or whatever the hell?” Tia asked wryly.

“Good point,” Regina said before they could start to get off track. “It does raise the question of why Leian wanted to bring us here now. Do we have to deal with those things today?”

The others exchanged glances again and shrugged in unison. Regina sighed, then dusted off her clothing and pushed off the wall, ready to resume their search of the base. The others followed.

She was a bit distracted, however. Regina felt like she was missing something. Maybe she’d made a mistake or just overlooked some detail. She couldn’t put her finger on it, though.

A few hours later, they met up again in the central section. At first, the group had stayed together, but after it had become clear that they weren’t in danger, they’d spread out more to search the building. The exception, of course, was Max, who remained glued to Regina’s heels.

“Not exactly a big haul,” Tia muttered, looking at the ‘haul’ they’d put on the mostly intact remains of a table with a frown.

“I’m just happy anything survived at all,” Regina answered.

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Privately, though, she was inclined to agree with Tia. Most of the objects they’d found were perfectly mundane, the kind of thing they’d probably just bought from stores or the Internet in this world. They’d also only found things made of durable materials that would endure the passage of time, obviously. That said, there still wasn’t as much as she’d have expected. Maybe someone had looted this place before.

They did find a few things that Regina couldn’t place as objects from her world (which didn’t necessarily rule it out, if they were just rare). Several electronic gadgets of uncertain make appeared to have been burned out completely, to the point that their casings had partly melted in places.

Only three objects actually showed magical traces big enough for Regina to detect. The first looked a bit like a smartphone, maybe modified and enchanted? The others were harder to place. One was a box with interlocking plates and rivets as well as what she presumed were several locks tightly linked together. They’d have to be very careful trying to open that. The other object came in a more mundane case of mostly rotted wood, and looked like a crystal ball of all things, with strips of a rubber-like material wound around it and studded with several bits and pieces of different materials, some of them possibly miniaturized gadgets in their own right.

“We’ll need to take these back to the Hive, carefully,” Ira said.

“Definitely,” Regina agreed. “I hope you were all documenting what you saw, as well?”

They nodded. “As well as we could,” Ira replied. “We don’t have a Keeper here.”

Regina sent them a mental assurance and then focused on the objects in front of her, trying to take in every detail and fix it in her memory, before pushing it into the psychic link. They didn’t have a dedicated ‘space’ for it, and she knew there would be some distortions and loss, but it was the best she could do.

Do you need help, my Queen? Jem asked over the link.

Regina stopped focusing on it and instead turned more of her attention to him. If you could, that would be great. I’m not sure it’s going to help, though.

Unfortunately, they quickly discovered that he really couldn’t do much. Regina had to form the impressions herself, although he could help a bit in stabilizing them and fixing them more firmly to the psychic link. It still wasn’t as good as just having a camera, but she’d have to deal with that.

I’m looking forward to seeing if we can tease out any secrets from these, Jem commented when they were done. Regina had opened the connection to include the others with her in the conversation.

Me too, Tia agreed.

We should at least get something from coming down here, Max grumbled.

Regina paused for a moment and looked at him. I guess you have a point, she admitted. In terms of productiveness, this probably wasn’t the best thing we - I - could have spent our time on. She switched her focus back to Jem. Is there anything back at the hive that needs my attention, by the way?

Not really, my Queen, he responded. At least not as far as I know.

Regina nodded. The conversation lapsed around her as she turned her attention to the psychic link, reaching for other drones, some of them further away. Tim was still in the mountains with some drones, and the healers she’d sent to the rebel army were busy there as well. She shuffled mentally through her Swarm Drones, getting an impression of their status.

“Shit,” Regina muttered.

The others tensed. “My Queen?” Max asked.

Regina stood up. “I think I may have been looking at this the wrong way,” she said, tugging on her mandible again. “Maybe we weren’t actually supposed to do anything or find anything down here. At least not anything important.”

The others set into motion as well, sensing her agitation, and Tia and Ira started packing up what they’d found.

“Then why?” Max asked, but she could tell he’d realized what she was going to say.

“Leian just wanted me out of the way.”

There was a short moment of silence. “But we only came to the forest on short notice,” Tia pointed out. “Could she have predicted that?”

Regina shook her head. “Maybe they had some other plan. Or maybe us, or me, leaving has something to do with this in the first place.”

“But why?” Ira asked. “Is the Hive going to be attacked or something?”

Regina exchanged another look with Max. “If so, she’d have probably just warned us,” she said, with a little more confidence than she felt. “Maybe it’s about hiding my presence, but I don’t think we could tell.”

That did seem to reassure the others a little, but not very much.

Regina sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “I can’t sense the king’s army’s encampment from here,” she mused. “All Winged Drones in the area would be outside our range and direct control.”

“Maybe this isn’t because of the Hive at all,” Max suggested. “Maybe it’s more about you being a psychic.”

Regina nodded. “That’s what I was thinking. Maybe I actually am the only one with real psychic powers for a few hundred kilometers after all. Normally, at least.” I could be completely off base here, too, but … Maybe Leian did just not want to risk me sensing something, and anything we learn here is a bonus.

The group paused, then everyone started hurrying their preparations to pack their findings and leave.

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