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"[Science fiction is] nightmares and visions, always outlined by the barely possible."
- Gregory Benford

Sky-Scoot  
  A patch of antigravity foil used for flying.  

Dirk sat on the aircar wing again while he changed into the new boots and laced them up. Gwen unfolded the scoots, two small platforms of soft tissue-thin metal barely large enough to stand upon. When she spread them on the ground, Dirk could trace the crosshatched wires of the gravity grids build into their undersides. He stepped on one, positioning his feet carefully, and the metal soles of his boots locked tightly in place as the platform went rigid. Gwen handed him the control device and he strapped it around his wrist so it flipped out onto the palm of his hand...

"...The scoots are good for close-in detail work... ready?"

"You bet," Dirk said, and his finger brushed the silver wafer in the palm of his right hand. Just a little too hard. The scoot shot up and out, dragging his feet with it and whipping him upside down...

Unlike aircars, sky-scoots had no gyros.

Technovelgy from Dying of the Light, by George RR Martin.
Published by Baen in 1977
Additional resources -

Take a look at a similar item, the Hawking mat from Hyperion by Dan Simmons.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Dying of the Light
  More Ideas and Technology by George RR Martin
  Tech news articles related to Dying of the Light
  Tech news articles related to works by George RR Martin

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