In the Dune series by Frank Herbert, the Holzmann Shield generators were a literary device that scuttled the traditional sci-fi weaponry of projectile guns and laser beams and forced the use of hand-held melee weapons to reinforce the feudal motif of the series, since only a slow-moving blade could penetrate a Shield, and lasers would trigger catastrophic chain reactions. In the 1984 movie Dune, the shields were depicted as being generated by golden belt devices like the one above. The picture is over a replica shield generator I printed and gave to my daughter Macy, who is dressing up as a House Atreides soldier for Halloween this year, continuing her tradition of coming up with completely incomprehensible homemade costumes that speak to her own nerdy interests.