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"Cyberpunk worked when the Internet was in its hand-wound crystal radio phase, when you had to be a sort of hobbyist to do e-mail, and it all had a very steep learning curve. Those days are over."
- William Gibson
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| Floater (Vehicle) | ||
| A gentle conveyance distinguished primarily by antigravity power. |
As far as I know the first real use of this term in science fiction, although the word is used earlier in Nowlan's Armageddon—2419 A.D. published in 1927 to refer to devices that let individuals float in mid-air.
| A dark shadow drifted slowly across the room, and they turned to see a five-passenger floater sinking slowly, gently, to Earth. The nude figures about the pool below were scampering from beneath it. It landed gently, as, all about the city, other floaters were landing gently, but surely, despite the efforts of human occupants.
As the one below landed, there was a soft boom, and a sharp hiss, a cry of surprise and fear as half a dozen people. crowded into the little machine, tumbled out. Then more cracklings, a few snapping sparks, then silence. |
| Technovelgy from The Machine,
by John W. Campbell. Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1935 Additional resources -
|
Another quote, this time from Installment Plan (1959) by Clifford Simak:
One instant it was floating level, a thousand feet above the ground, descending gently, with its cargo stacked upon it and the riding robots perched atop the cargo. The next instant it tilted as first one motor failed and then a second one. The load of cargo spilled and the riding robots with it. The floater, unbalanced, became a screaming wheel, spinning crazily, that whipped in a tightening, raging spiral down upon the base.
THE mishap came at dusk, as the last floater was settling down above the cargo dump, the eight small motors flickering bluely in the twilight.
(Floater in 'Installment Plan' by Clifford Simak)
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'...there's a narrow belt where the climate is moderate.'
'... with the Master-operator all you have to do is push one! A remarkable achievement!'
'Not like me. A T-1000, advanced prototype. A mimetic poly-alloy. Liquid metal.'
'It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'
'The massive feet working the pedals, arms and hands flashing and glinting...'
'There were cubic miles of it, and it glistened like a silvery Christmas tree...'
'Jason had been guiding the caravan of cars as usual...'
"The robot solemnly hit a ball against the wall, picked it up and teed it, hit it again, over and again...'
