mnw@trwrba.UUCP (Michael N. Washington) (11/17/84)
>Hey! How about this: The shield DROPS completely when the >phaser is fired, but the process is pulsed according to a >random number sequence. You don't have to worry about generating >discontinuities in the shield to fire phasers through that >way. The enemy must pulse his shield/phasers in a completely >different random pattern to make the shield effective. Since >the chance of timing intersection (energy leak?) is (hopefully) >small, the two ships have to count on wearing each other's >shields down. > >Another thing: I THINK I remember from somewhere that there >are banks of 'shields', not a single shield that covers the >whole ship. So the ship is potentially only vulnerable at the >shield it's firing through. > >Does this make sense? >-- > > "Where can you find Ron Christian >a stale work environment Watkins-Johnson Co. > with excellent pay?" San Jose, Calif. > --bay area newspaper (...ios!wjvax!ron) This does make some sense. I remember some episodes where Kirk asks Sulu to protect a shield (No. 4 comes to mind), stating that it is buckling and should not sustain any more hits. However, I never understood why the entire shield had to be dropped for the transporter to function. "Live Long and Prosper!" Michael N. Washington TRW E&DS Redondo Beach, Ca. 90278 {ucbvax,decvax,hplabs}!trwrb!trwrba!mnw