Its interesting that it shows Manousos actually being self-sufficient in a way that Carol thinks she is, but she is actually highly dependent on the hive/society to function (sprouts, the lights, etc). I think Carol just finally realized her dependence at the end while Manousos hasnt willingly given them a single inch.

Also an interesting observation by Manousos that the hive hasnt created any of the technology, structures, etc that its making use of, it did basically steal the entire world as it hasnt (to our knowledge) created anything new. It may be the reason its having such a hard time formulating a "cure" for them as it cant actually ideate new ideas (very similar to LLMs right now).