Anti-gravity that lifted her grav truck did so by negating gravity, one gravity plus one anti-gravity cancels gravity and the device floats. Now add one gravity and two anti-gravity and the device floats up because there is positive one anti-gravity. Slowly, very slowly, if you wanted to go up faster you needed more anti-gravity and you paid for that in electricity.

Simple but then you add weight. Place a large weight on top of the two anti-gravity and it floats down. The weight pushing down causes you to need more anti-gravity and again you paid for that in electricity. Also the energy cost went up drastically the more gravity your anti-gravity had to counter act or from the weight was the grav plates were lifting.

The common solution was to spread the weight between more grav plates. Grav plates that were smaller, each one lifted less, produced less anti grav, and could not handle a lot of electricity before the circuits fried, but, working together, could lift more using less power, strength in numbers.

Ellie had a different idea. She took one of the grav sleds, three of the grav plates, and a fusion reactor form the pile. Ellie slowly soldered the three grav plates in parallel, linking them together.

After that, Ellie soldered in the fusion reactor for power. Done with her work Ellie placed this contraption on the grav sled stacked one on top of other. She wirelessly controlled the grav sled and flew it a hundred feet from her to a small mountain of trash. Ellie ducked behind the grav truck for added safety and then activated the grav plates.

Her jaw dropped when the trash shot up like a rocket, then it expanded out before raining down. Ellie and her salvage were just barely out of the dangerous area of falling debris. The trash that hit her grav plate field shot up again. Ellie quickly shut off her device.

“That was unexpected Ellie. Each grav plate, even together like that, should not have caused an explosion. And it was not the small fusion reactor; it barely has enough electricity to power two grav plates let alone three you wired in.”

“I know Xander. But wasn't that noving cool!”

“Each grav plate produces a micro variation that means no two grav plate fields are the same.” Ellie rushed to explain to Xander. “Running them in parallel means they each get the same amount of electricity and produce the same grav field with no variation. Even that would not be a big deal but stacking them one on top of the other amplified the field. So even through each one was weak, together they did this!” Ellie shouted in glee waving grandly at the blown apart mountain of trash, giggling she jump up and down in glee.

“I do not think anyone has looked at it that way before. It is most impressive, and added with your age, even more impressive.”

“Thanks Xander! Now we needed to fine tune the power to lift ratio and we can free the ship.”

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Rubbing her hands in glee she went to install a commpad and a monitoring AI on her contraption. A dozen blown apart trash mountains later and Ellie had the correct ratio.

“Now Xander please monitor the trash piled on top of ship.”

Ellie had built ten more of her amplified grav plate sleds and was now going to make a tunnel to the ship. She had Xander recall the twelve sensor drones to surround the ship and monitor the debris. Ellie really needed to find Xander more sensor drones. Sighing at how long her list of needed parts was, Ellie perked up as she activated the first grav plate sled, the trash shook, groaned, then slowly lifted up, screeching in protest.

“And it didn't blow up!” Ellie said excitedly.

“Yes Ellie, not blowing up something is a good thing. Even in the military.”

Laughing she set the first sled to hover. It would keep the trash from falling back in. Ellie sent in the next grav plate sled. Slowly Ellie created a tunnel ten feet high using six of her grav sleds before she reached the cargo bay, the one she entered so spectacularly a few days ago.

Ellie shuddered as she remembered flying through the air chased by an avalanche of trash. Ellie would create a permanent tunnel through the rubble later, besides the grav plate sleds made for a very good defense, anyone entering her tunnel without permission and Ellie could just turn off the grav plates, leaving the enemy buried under tonnes of rubble. Ellie shuddered at the thought.

Walking into the bay she was greeted by the sight of Andy. Throwing her hands around the bot, she hugged it tight.

“Andy I missed you!”

“Andy does not understand the question.”

Laughing, Ellie set about using her four remaining grav plate sleds. Ellie slowly pushed the trash that had rushed into the cargo bay, out the cargo bay doors, using the grav plate sleds as shovels.

Ellie then set the four grav plate sleds evenly apart, form the ceiling to the deck, hovering in the air. The grav plate sleds faced the cargo bay doors and kept the trash from falling back in. Ellie had just cobbled together a gravity shield.

Ellie gave Andy the task of cleaning the bay of trash that remained scattered around. The happy bot started on it right away. Grinning in fondness as it picked up the first piece of trash; Ellie turned and went back outside.

The cargo bay doors were only three feet from the ground, so it was an easy hop down. Ellie walked through the tunnel and to her grav track. Ellie loaded all the remaining salvage in with the items she bought form Tom, then she flew the short distance to the cargo bay and landed.

Getting out, Ellie unloaded the bedding, water, and food first, setting it near the door into the ship. She would have Andy haul it to the captain's cabin later, along with the food she already had. Next she put the military tent near the crashed grav cart. Ellie would have to move the broken grav cart soon.

Putting that job off for tomorrow, Ellie quickly unloaded her salvage and organized it into the neat piles Andy had started. That task complete, Ellie flew outside. Loading the large cargo pod full of Q607's into the back of the grav tuck, Ellie returned to the cargo bay.

Unloading the pod and setting it in a corner out of the way, Ellie commed Xander.

“Xander have you seen any cryo pods?”

The cryo pods were used to ship food by freezing it and then keeping it frozen throughout the long journey through space.

“I am marking a likely spot where you could find a cyro pod.”

A yellow mark appeared on her heads up display. It was a little over a half a mile away and Ellie was impressed that Xander had gotten that far in his grid search with just a dozen sensor drones.

“Thanks Xander. I'll stay on the lookout for the sensor drones you want.” Getting thanks in reply, Ellie set off to investigate the yellow mark.