The suspensor-nullification effect was discovered by scientists in the First Empire, ten centuries after the empire first ventured from the surface of Terra. It was thought, until Holtzman proved otherwise, to be a "resonance effect" arising from coherent-light (laser) mechanics. The discovery is credited to one "Verifax Marktoo," who may have been a machine in the service of House Ceres (the Imperial House), though this theory is hotly disputed by theologians. [Nevertheless, the discovery at the Rakis Finds of a reference to an extremely ancient medal of commendation struck for this "Verifax Marktoo" seems to prove that he (it?) actually did *xist.~-4.] It took about a century of experimentation and guesswork before Imperial navigators learned how to operate the suspensor-nullifi-cattoa effect field with any degree of certainty. The delay was so long mainly because the eflect was considered to be an Imperial secret, and jealously guarded. Eventually the secret was leaked, and House Ceres and its most powerful and influential allies began a program of exploration and exploitation greater than any other since the beginning of the empire. House Ceres had no way of knowing it, of course, but this use of the sttspensor-nullifi-cation device doomed the first Empire, which collapsed after 3,000 years of continuous rule that had seen Terra develop from iron tools to space fravel. The ceatrality crucial to Imperial administration was impossible to maintain when there was no quick method of communication from one end of the Empire to the other-and until the discovery of Holtzman Waves, the only way to send a message was to send a ship, which made for impossibly expensive administrative costs, and diffused the power of the emperor irreparably. In 7562 B.C., I.V. Holtzman discovered the Holtzman Wave; in 7556 B.G. he passed on information necessary for its use to six planetary systems. Also in 7556, his research was interrupted and he was unable to resume it until his orbit brought him back withm panel range of his sun. In his second return (5694 E.G.), Holtzman kept silent; however, he evidently used this penod to discover the curious "existence" of the point-source node. On his third pass (3832 B.G.), Holtzman was able to communicate freely after some initial difficulties were overcome, and on that pass he published the theory that led to the development of the two-dimensional Holtzman Effect, the famed Defenshe Shield. The Defensive Shield attained current levels of popularity within a century, and, when the Superconductor Plague brought on the Machine Death and the Little Dark Ages, reliance upon the Shields became almost total, and was instrumental in preserving enough of the social fabric to limit the Dark Ages to less than twenty centuries. Holtzman's fourth pass was in 1970 B G., when, fortunately for the annals of science, the combatants at the Battle of Liesco XI called a two-month truce to accommodate Holtzman's passage.