Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"By the time I can take people out to where Hubble is looking, they won't be human anymore, by a long way."
- Larry Niven
 |
| High Kavalaan Aircar | ||
| Flying SUV equipped with laser weapons. |
I'm really tickled by this one, since it neatly reveals the form and intent of the modern-day sport utility vehicle. This aircar could eat Hummers for lunch.
| He had seen a lot of types of aircars in his travels, but none quite like this one; huge and steel-gray, with curved and muscled triangular wings, it looked almost alive, like a great aerial manta ray fashioned in metal. A small cockpit with four seats was set between the wings, and beneath the wingtips he glimpsed ominous rods.
He looked at Gwen and pointed. "Are those lasers?" ...Gwen laughed. "Get in," she told him. "It is a perfectly fine aircar of High Kavalaan manufacture. They've only recently started turning out their own. It's supposed to look like an animal, the black banshee. A flying predator... very big in their folklore, sort of a totem... Every car built on High Kavalaan has weapons of some sort. The culture demands it..." She threw on the gravity grid suddelnly, touched the stick an dthe aircar wrenched forward and left the ground... |
| From Dying of the Light,
by George RR Martin. Published by Baen in 1977 Additional resources -
|
Compare to air-car from A Matter of Size (1934) by Harry Bates.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
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
| Autonomous Wheelchairs Improve Airport Mobility |
| Cybertruck The Solar-Powered Steel Tortoise |
| Vantablack BMW X6 Is Douglas Adams Approved |
| Jet-Powered Hoverboard Works! |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
'... designed for rooting in the metal make-up of the asteroids for vital elements.'
'...in the midst of this fluid, which is very dense compared with the atmosphere, shots could not go far.'
'This was to be roofed over, sealed, and an atmosphere provided...'
'Noiselessly, on rubber-tired wheels, they journeyed down the long aisles...'
'It drew its power from... sunpower screens on its low curved roof.'
