It should go without saying a lot of this is conjecture

I don't think the Mind-Flayers serve the Absolute, I think they're getting something in return, lost knowledge or some such (I remember that WotC made a point of mentioning in interviews how making Nautiloids was lost to the Illithids). Though the dead Illithid in the temple does seem to connect the Absolute with Mind-Flayers...maybe, the unknowable aberrations' motives and thought process can be hard to peg sometimes

I liked one of the early theories about the Githyanki Artifact being an infernal puzzle box containing a contract between Vlaakith and Tiamat for the service of red dragons, but more than that I don't have any good ideas about it. The only thing we really know is that it blocks out the influence of the Absolute.

dumb, pseudo-intellectual and polite homophobe