Blue Crystals

"Insufficient power?" Jax asked.

He stared incredulously at the small AI. Who would believe that an AI could function without massive amounts of energy in reserve?

"Main generators and backup systems require new fuel sources. Please obtain at least 15 kilograms of element 234 Lizasphophyllite, most easily found in mineral Blue Laridrite." The AI said flatly.

"Lizaspho-what??? Blue Larid-huh???" Jax asked confusedly.

The AI girl paused, looking at Jax for another minute before speaking again.

"Confusion detected, rephrasing in layman's terms. Please go get 15 kilograms of a Blue Crystal that grows in mountainous caves."

Now Jax understood, if he wanted to fully power up this AI he would need to get those crystals.... for whatever reason. It's not that he didn't understand that they were a power source, it was just that he had never heard of element 237 or Blue Laridrite. After all, he was just a simple cargo worker, with only the most basic of general education.

After seeing that Jax understood, the AI disappeared again, most likely to save on power. Jax was once again alone on this planet.

Deciding that getting those crystals would be the most important thing at this point, Jax ran back to his cave as quickly as possible. Passing through the metallic doorframes and through the small cavern, Jax returned back home. Picking up his backpack and leaving the cave, Jax saw forgot that it was still nighttime. The moon was still high in the air, and that meant that the winged beast was flying around somewhere.

Choosing life rather than the risk of sudden death, Jax returned to the cave. He would wait until morning and then set off to find some Larid-whatever.

Laying back on the couch, Jax soon fell asleep again, dreaming of what secrets the mysterious facility held.

....

Some hours later, Jax awoke, ready to begin his search again. Leaving the cave again, Jax could see it was still early morning and that the sun had just fully risen. The AI girl told him that the blue crystals grew in mountain caves. Looking up at the cliff Jax's cave was situated in, he could see a grand mountain rising above just past the cliff. Eating some fruits and packing a few for the journey, Jax began to precariously climb up the cliff.

There were many cracks and caves to stand on the cliff, allowing Jax to easily, although slowly, climb up. Once he reached the top, Jax saw the mountain before him, sparsely littered with trees on its surface. He set out towards the rocky areas, hoping to find some caves along the way.

Walking where he could and climbing where he needed to, Jax began to circle the mountain, all the while attempting to mark his path in case he would get lost. For some reason, this side of the mountain seemed fairly smooth, with almost no caves at all, not even small cracks in the ground. It wasn't until Jax had reached a quarter of the way around that he finally found an entrance to a cave.

The cave was enormous, reaching maybe 5 meters in diameter, tunneling into the rock and soil below. It sloped downward fairly steadily, allowing Jax to carefully descend, all while looking for blue crystals. Deeper below, Jax reached an underground lake, which gave off a similar blue glow. The glow barely illuminated the dark cave, allowing Jax to spot the crystals he was searching for.

Above the water, dense clusters of an opaque crystal grew, giving off a slight blue glow. There were tons of the stuff, more than enough to fulfill the little AI girl's request.

....

"But how do I get them down?" Jax wondered.

He hadn't thought this far ahead.

The cave had thinned, with the crystals being only around 3 meters away from the ground.

Firstly he tried throwing rocks to dislodge the crystals. Unfortunately, Jax had no skill when it came to throwing, missing almost every rock he threw. Of the ones that hit, no damage was done to the crystal.

Next, he could try and find some other source of the crystals. He threw this idea out quickly, as he didn't want to search further and get lost.

Finally, Jax had a brilliant idea. He raced back to the surface, formulating the best way to achieve his goal. Seeing daylight again, Jax ran up to the largest tree he could spot, attempting to break off a branch large enough to use. He would take this branch back, and smack those crystals right off the cavern ceiling!

Getting back to the cave, Jax swung at the crystals wildly with his stick, knocking many onto the ground and into the water.

Jax stopped once he figured he smacked enough off the ceiling. Gathering them up, Jax could easily tell that he not only reached his 15-kilogram goal but actually doubled it. There were almost 30 kilograms of blue crystals, not including the ones that dropped into the water.

Filling up his backpack with as many as he could carry Jax set out to make his way back home.

There was no way he could climb down the cliff with this much weight, so Jax tried to see if there was a hill or slope that led closer to the lake. Taking a winding path, making sure to stop many times along the way to catch his breath, Jax reached the cave right around sunset, almost five hours since he left the blue crystal cave.

Exhausted, Jax continued through his cave, down in the cavern, and past the metallic doorframe. The long hallway greeted him again, and at the end, the small AI girl appeared once more.

"Lizasphophyllite particles detected, please place crystals inside the container," the girl said, as a rectangular obelisk rose out of the ground.

The obelisk had a section cut out, where could Jax place the blue crystals. After being filled with crystals, the obelisk quickly sank into the ground, before a vacuum sound sucked the crystals away.

"27 kilograms of Blue Laridrite detected, purity levels at 96%. Beginning refueling procedure." The AI girl stated.

The walls of the facility began to pulse with blue light, indicating that power was being restored. Main lights activated, giving Jax a better view of the room. It was fairly large, equivalent in size to the cargo bay he had previously worked in, with the cylinder situated towards the front. The rest of the room seemed empty, aside from various technological instruments and lab tables.

Finally, the cylinder lit up with blue light, showing the energy pulse through its blue circuits. The AI girl's voice spoke suddenly, but she did not appear like before.

"Energy Levels Sufficient. Individual "Jax" deemed non-hostile and a non-threat. Deactivating cryogenic stasis unit"

"Huh? Stasis... Unit?" Jax muttered, realizing that he had just helped wake something up.

Jax might have just made the worst mistake of his life.