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"I've taken some stick for passages in Altered Carbon which people complained had sickened them, but then violence should be sickening."
- Richard Morgan
 |
| Platform Flyer | ||
| A small craft suitable for journeys close to the ground. |
| "Gersen dressed himself in an airsuit, left the ship. Opening the forward hatch, he winched down the little platform flyer,... set out...skimming low to the ground,the thin atmosphere keening over the windshield." |
| From The Star King,
by Jack Vance. Published by Berkeley in 1964 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the flitter from 'Doc Smith's 1941 story Vortex Blaster, which is one of the earliest implementations of this idea.
Thanks to an anonymous reader for contributing this item in comments.
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'It drew its power from six square yards of sunpower screens on its low curved roof.'
'...lifted themselves to skimming flight upon whirling helicopters."
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I don't need it to go fast, it just needs to amble along.
'The program raced up the screen one scan line at a time, subtly smoothing, deleting and coloring.'
'... a sound tape to supply the noise'
