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"I long ago realized that I could reach far more people by writing something, than by walking down the street with a banner."
- John Brunner
 |
| Aircab | ||
| A flying autonomous taxi cab. |
As far as I know, the first use of this word in science fiction.
| Dropping his aircab from the night traffic level and hovering over the place at dawn, Peyton could see nothing about it to justify the fears of his companion. |
| Technovelgy from The Barrier,
by Harl Vincent. Published by Amazing Stories in 1934 Additional resources -
|
H. Beam Piper also used this in Time Crime:
"Which landing stage, please?"
Vall leaned forward and punched at the buttons in front of him. Something in the cab's electronic brain gave a rapid series of clicks as it shifted from the general Paratime Building beam to the beam of the Paratime Police landing stage, then it said, "Thank you."
The building below seemed to rotate upward toward them as it settled down. Then the antigrav-field snapped off, the cab door popped open, and the cab said: "Good-by, now. Ride with me again, sometime."
Compare to the tin cabby from the 1957 novel Cities in Flight by James Blish and to the automatic automobile from David H. Keller's 1935 story The Living Machine.
The music that the cab had been playing died away. "Paratime Building, just below," it said, in a light feminine voice.
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| Japan Automated Cargo Transport |
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'If you're one of those rarities who haven't attended a rocket-polo "carnage", let me tell you it's a colorful affair.'
'They filed clumsily into the battleroom, like children in a swimming pool for the first time, clinging to the handholds along the side.'
'a walking balloon proceeded with long strides of its aluminum legs...'
'There was nowhere on the planet where science and technology could not provide one with a comfortable home...'
'Most men updated their PIP on New Year's Day...'
'...a misshapen, many-tentacled thing about twice the size of a man.'
