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"I received a nice letter the other day from the Dalai Lama. He had read 'The Nine Billion Names of God'. It is about a computer at a Tibetan monastery."
- Arthur C. Clarke
 |
| 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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Science Fiction
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'...Anything was possible in my imaginary environment.'
'Somewhere in space, a chrome and blue automobile raced the green light of Earth.'
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair...'
'We had discovered that metal was relatively impervious to the telepathic effect.'
'Detailed plans for the construction of the Gundstetter-Halone warp drive were flowing.'
'Do not waste your priceless company on the unappreciative folds of a sleep pod...'
'...so we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties.'
'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
