Sit back and relax. Listen to your favorite music on the stereo and clear your mind of everyday clutter. Let me take you into a dream, into a place and time in the future when there will be a hover bubble in every garage.
Picture it with me. It's a personal transport vehicle shaped like a large Plexiglass, flat-bottomed bubble. An array of sixteen cool-air jets cover the underside, jets that provide enough lift for the bubble to ride on a cushion of air about a foot off the ground. A rubber "skirt" with small water nozzles on its underside surrounds the array of jets to direct ground dust away from the vehicle and moisturize it for added dust reduction. A magnetic force field surrounds each vehicle and acts as a protective shield to prevent it from colliding with anything. Drivers and passengers don't even have to watch where they are going!
The hover bubble runs on solar power with sufficient energy storage capacity to operate all night. Solar cells can also be recharged with electricity -- available from any household outlet. Activated by voice or computer card, the occupant consults local maps and enters a destination into the on-board computer. The bubble then proceeds directly to that destination, over land or water, of course, because it needs neither roads nor flotation devices.
Hover bubbles come in different sizes to accommodate one or more people. They can be attached to each other, too, simply by reversing the magnetic force field on one side of each bubble so they adhere together, thereby temporarily increasing the capacity for cargo or additional passengers.
Can you picture it yet? The solar-powered hover bubble creates no air pollutants, a relief for Mother Earth's ailing atmosphere. Safe enough for a child to "drive," children will have their own bubbles with adult-programmed destinations installed. (Pre-programming prevents kids from taking off for Florida during recess.) Children's bubbles come equipped with special tracking devices, so parents always know where their children are. Kids can travel readily to and from school, daycare, friends' houses or the mall.
The hover bubble will change the world even more than the telephone, computer, car, or hula-hoop did. Now all we need, fellow dreamers, is an engineer to draw a picture or, better yet, build a prototype!
Just imagine. A few years from now, you'll be relaxing in your favorite easy chair, mind adrift and dreaming, when out of the corner of your eye you'll notice something float by the window. As you watch, astonished, it glides across the yard and slides into your garage.
You smile knowingly, remembering the hover bubble story -- then stretch back in the recliner and imagine a time when your dream car becomes a reality.