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"I was involved in a cloning project. .. to send me into outer space along with a lot of other people. Not the whole me - just a hair from my head, while I still had some. I would thus pop up in another galaxy in the distant future."
- Arthur C. Clarke

Flitter  
  A small craft used for short-range journeys.  

Then all three went out to the flitter. A tiny speedster, really; a torpedo bearing the stubby wings and the ludicrous tail-surfaces, the multifarious driving-, braking-, side-, top- and under-jets so characteristic of the tricky, cranky, but ultra-maneuverable breed.
Technovelgy from Vortex Blaster, by E.E. 'Doc' Smith.
Published by Comet in 1941
Additional resources -

Compare to the skimmer from Roger Zelazny's 1966 novel This Immortal, the skitter from Frank Herbert's 1977 novel The Dosadi Experiment and the single seat scooter from Jack Vance's 1964 novel The Star King.

And, of course, the landspeeder from George Lucas' 1978 novel Star Wars.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Vortex Blaster
  More Ideas and Technology by E.E. 'Doc' Smith
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  Tech news articles related to works by E.E. 'Doc' Smith

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