There were no survivors. Records indicate that several systems malfunctioned at once, including all four of the fail-safe systems which would have shut down the trans-light operation. Had not another fail-safe system operated properly, the Salience would have vanished without a trace. But the dead-man switches of the fusion plants worked: when the supervising Mentals died and released their grips on the laser triggers, fusion immediately ceased. The Guild seems never to have conceded either human error or design flaw, although a few years after the disaster both the operating manual and the field-transmission wave lengths were modified. At least fifty-seven other heighliners are known to have disappeared in transit (one with an emperor aboard-Henoor VII in 9471). Nevertheless, the safety record of the heighliners, as of the Guild in general, must surely be one of the best in all the history and prehistory of public transportation. M.M. Further references: HOLTZMAN EFFECT; INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL; E B, Integer and Matrix in the Holtzman Formulae (Gmuzman: Isabel); Liu Chulo, Legends of ihe Spacing Guild (Caladan: INS), Thufir Dys, A Study of Heighliner Operation, tr L.S Shnmyan (Richese- New Caledonia St UP); Fidan?a Weishail, Into Dusk fnter-siellar Travel 9500-14500 (Loomar. Coei Institute), D P Kiiimporubang. The Hulks of Eta Ophiuchi (Centralia Johun UP) 307 HOLTZMAM. IBRAWM VAUGHN. (7593-108 B G ) Discoverer of die Holtzroan Effect Bom on Liesco II dunng the Great Dark Ages, I V Holtzman was the son of the planetary governor Young Holtzman was nearly lulled in a tragic accident in a racing 'thopter in 7565 B G and was kept alive only by the most heroic measures of the advanced medical sciences of Liesco He became the first of very few persons to undergo a brain transplant ms brain was placed in a prototype axolotl tank and wired into a large host computer with an unpro-grammed personality blank, on the assumption that Holtzman would imprint his own personality on the machine The process was marred by an induced psychosis afterwards, Holtzman suffered from intense paranoia and refused treatment Since Holtzman's was the first brain transplant ever performed, the extent of his powers was not fully understood When Holtzman tapped into the computerized production network and ordered the construction of a peculiar style of spaceship under the guise of (he chief engineer of House HottTman, no one noticed Similarly, when release papers were presented to the hospital, he was discharged without a second thought Finally, when the assembly that was Holtzman was placed aboard the odd new ship and connected directly to its systems, no one (bought it odd that takecff clearances arrived in the tower so promptly, or that the scheduling comp fed Holtzman into the take off 11 ne ahead of other waiting ships Before anyone could stop torn, Holtzman triggered &e sospensor-nullificauon device and disappeared into the Void He wanted time to think So with his ship, which was for all intents and purposes himself, he entered a comctary orbit aimed to attain perihelion m 7556 B G , nine years away For the next few years, the library camps of Liesco were plagued by unexplained interruptions in their transmissions Holtzman was covertly copy rag the data into his own storage to be studied at his leisure His mental processes retained then1 human nature while being sped up by an estimated factor of ten, needing neither sleep nor rest, Holtzman must have thought at least thirty times faster than a normal human He had been a mathematical genius before his accident and was most interested in the suspensor-imihfication effect In the time between his escape and 7562 B G , Holtzman learned more about it than the best minds of the previous fifty centimes He was evidently driven by a desire to remind his imagined persecutors that he was alive without revealing his position, because the first message transmitted via Holtzman Waves was a strange amalgam of random accusations The next messages, explaining Holtzman s discoveries, were emitted from the planetary mass of Uesco II itself to the intense but brief confusion of Governor Holtzman and his advisors As the nature of the discovery became clear, excitcmcn' seized the academic community of Lie&o But the Go\ernor realized that his son s insane genius could prove dangerous and came to the difficult conclusion that Ibrahim would have to be controlled or destroyed For the next nine years, the Governor's patrols searched the Liesco system In 7556 B G , a patrol scout received a radar image of the ship now known as the Mad Holtzman " The scout was immediately joined by two cutters, and all three moved m for the kill When Holtzman detected mem he sent a wave message to the six nearest inhabited systems saying 1 have developed an instantaneous interstellar communication device which Governor Holtzman of Liesco is attempting to keep for himself If you will rescue me I will share this knowledge with you The message, emanating from the primary of each system, was set to repeat while Holtzman tried to outrun the approaching patrol vessels By his instinctive action, Holtzman had proven that his discovery could reunite the Empire the ability to summon reinforcements instantly is the ability to win battles, and to win battles is to maintain an Empire Of the six systems receiving Holtzman s SOS, five responded immediately Holtzman's ploy almost worked his pursu ers got off a couple of extremely long range shots, npping up the manipulators for his suspensor-nulhfication field The stern of Holtzman's ship blew apart throwing it into an uncharted orbit and destroying its ability to maneuver Iloltzman was crippled, unable 308 to use his drives; he was rapidly drifting out of the range where his solar panels would provide enough emergency power to keep him functioning.