It was during this pass that Holtzman transmitted his Unified Effect Theory, linking the various phenomena together under the blanket term of "Holtzman Effects." He also hinted of further development to come. Unfortunately, Holtzman's fifth passage in 108 B.G. was his last: he arrived into the waiting jaws of the Butlerian Jihad, and was destroyed, THEORY AND OPERATION. Point-Source Nodes. Essentially, a point-source HE node is the "seed" for a higher-order effect: when one of the higher-dimension Holtzman Effect incarnations is discontinued, it collapses into a point-source Holtzman Effect node which has a location, and can be moved by gentle application of probability nudges, even though it has no physical existence whatsoever. When triggered back into HOLTZMAN EFFECT 311 HOLTZMAN EFFECT existence, the effect which arises from a point-source Holtzman Effect node is exactly the same as before. Debate has raged, ever since Haltzman's day, as to exactly how it is possible for something with no existence to interact with the real world. Arguments have ranged from quasi-religious claims that the node "knows" when it is being invoked, to involved mathematical theories that maintain that the node actually does exist, but in a spacetime "pocket" with no volume. Point-source Holtzmao Effect nodes ate caged and transported in devices known as "Laser Pens" to theorists, though the operation of these devices does not intrude upon the consciousness of the user of a Holtzman Effect device, such as a Shield. The construction of a Laser Pen consists of three pairs of microlasers emitting coherent radio waves with a wavelength or approximately one light-second. The six microlasers impact the location of the point-source Holtzman Effect node in such a way as to cancel one another out completely at that location only: the node is thereby kept at feat location and is not allowed to wander. To trigger the node, the microlasers switch simultaneously to a wavelength of approximately one angstrom, maintain that frequency for a single pulse, and then disconnect. At the same time that the microlasers disengage, the field's power is turned on, and electrical power is fed into the field from whatever power source is providing die necessary energy for the effect's maintenance. These power sources are usually mierobatteries for Defensive Shields, since they must be contained completely within fee volume affected by the Shield: for other effects, though, much more powerful external energy sources can be used. AH Holtzman Field Effects can he forced back into their point-source status either by discontinuing tile maintenance power, in which case the microlasers must reengage instantly or the point-source will wander and be lost, or by overloading the field, which requires an enormous amount of electrical energy to be grounded into the effect.