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"It's hard to tell stories about critters that are not human. John W. Campbell tried it, in "Twilight," and everybody says it's a wonderful story, and nobody ever reads it twice."
- Jerry Pournelle
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| Flycycle | ||
| Combination flying motorcycle, kitchen and autodoc. |
Puppeteer-designed flying vehicle using thrusters for propulsion. Each has a self-contained medical unit, water distillation unit and a "kitchen", which can take organic matter and create edible "bricks" of food. It also contains a slave circuit that allows it to be controlled by another flycycle.
| The flycycles were miracles of compact design. Aside from their individualistic saddles, they were built all alike: a pair of four foot spheres joined by the constriction that held the saddle. Half the rear section was luggage space, and there was harness for stringing additional gear. |
| Technovelgy from Ringworld,
by Larry Niven. Published by Ballantine in 1970 Additional resources -
|
Surely these are the Harley-Davidson's of Known Space. Just think of it; trading the joys of the open road for the joys of the open - sky?
For a real-life version of a flycycle, see Paraglider to fly from Greece to Egypt.
See also the steel tortoise, a slower but equally cool vehicle developed about 35 years earlier for the story Coventry, by Robert Heinlein.
(Just a little looping video of a "flycycle" (personal flying vehicle from Larry Niven's Ringworld novels) flying over an alien planet orbiting a blue giant star. Software used is Imagine2 and Terragen. Thanks to Rids at Renderosity for use of his magnificent terrain Hallowed Ground, and to Torley Wong for the music titled Xristosphan.)
Compare to the aircycle from Buck Rogers, 2430 by Nowlan and Calkin and the saddle from The Big Front Yard (1959) by Clifford Simak.
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from Ringworld
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and Technology by Larry Niven
Tech news articles related to Ringworld
Tech news articles related to works by Larry Niven
Flycycle-related
news articles:
- Paraglider To Fly From Greece to Egypt
- The F-Bike Flies!
- Get Your Speeder Flying Motorcycle From Jetpack Aviation
| Futuristic Transit Elevated Bus Never Really Worked |
| Japan Automated Cargo Transport |
| Tesla Electric 'Giga Train' Operational In Germany |
| San Francisco Autobus |
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'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.'
'Oscar picked up a trowel. 'I'm the tool for the mortar,' the little trowel squeaked cheerfully.'
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'Aerostat meant anything that hung in the air. This was an easy trick to pull off nowadays.'
'The Ringworld had no horizon. There was no line where the land curved away from the sky.'
'An adjustment panel outside the door would cause it to extrude various appurtenances in memory plastic...'
