The electrical energy required to short out even a small personal Shield is more than the total consumption of the average Shire, If mis much power is brought to bear against any incarna- tion of the Holtzman Effect, though, the field will immediately collapse into the node for that effect, and, since the electrical jolt also generally fries the micrnlaser mechanismss the node is generally lost. (The existence of a "seed" was generally suspected when the suspensor-nullification effect was first developed, but no truly satisfactory theoretical proof could be developed to describe the nature of this ' 'seed'' until I V Holtzman revealed his theory of point-source nodes in 3832 B.C.) Holtzman Waves. The one-dimensional "Holtzman Wave" is not actually anything like a wave, but is rather a mathematical phenomenon which causes real space-time to form microcatastrophic folds along a selectable vector, causing the excitation of local matter such that long-wave radio emissions result, which can then be received on normal radio antannae. Like point-sources, Holtzman Waves cannot really be said to exist except as philosphical constructs which are remarkably immanent. Holtzman Waves are aimed by use of radio lasers: when the point-source is released, a single long-wave radio laser is aimed at the source, whereupon a Holtzman Wave is created along the vector defined by the laser beam. In general, these waves can be maintained for only a few minutes-one cycle of the radio wave being used-before the wave causes sympathetic vibrations in the laser crystal, leading to its explosion. As might be expected, the aiming of a Holtzman Wave is incredibly difficult, since relativistic considerations concerning the shape of the continuum between the sender and receiver must be fully mapped. In the case of the transmissions from system to system, inaccuracy is not insurmountable, because normal practice is to "flicker" the transmission over a relatively large area, and the holographic nature of the wave assures that if any part of the wave hits any matter more dense than interstellar hydrogen, the radio waves will be manifested. However, trying to send a transmission to a ship in transit is another matter entirely. The ship must be struck exactly, since the only matter which exists, so far as the ship is concerned, is that which accompanies the ship's suspensor- HOLTZMAN EFFECT 312 HOLTZMAN EFFECT null i tier (usually the ship itself and a few hydrogen atoms). For this reason, most ships have certain predesignated points (called "mail drops") where they drop out of the Void in order to send or receive messages. Theoretically, tfie range of a Holtzman Wave is infinite; in practice, its effective range is limited by the ability of the sender to aim the wave so that it will strike a large (planetary or larger) mass at or near the receiver. This requirement limits the useful range of Holtzsian Wave communications to approximately 230 light-years without re-broadcasting, It has been theorized that the background radio emissions which blanket the visible universe are transmissions, via Holtzman Waves, of civilizations in the Galactic Core, but this thesis remains unproven.