Alloy-resonance generator

The Alloy-resonance generator was an experimental invention of Tio Holtzman to be used by the League of Nobles against the thinking machines.

Principles
The concept was an expansion of some of the electromagnetic features he had used for his previous scrambler fields. Properly tuned, a thermal-field inducer would couple with the metals that consisted the robots or cymeks, and ultimately slam their atoms against each other until the machine shook itself apart.

History
Holtzman showed his designs to Norma Cenva, who, to his surprise, dismissed them immediately claiming that it would never work, being fundamentally flawed. Grumbling, Holtzman proceeded to the creation of the prototype, having already bought 80 slaves from IV Anbus and Harmonthep.

Too eager to test the machine by himself in 202 BG, he had invited personally Niko Bludd who came with five senators and a black-robed court historian and other nobles to witness the experiment. Unfortunately, Norma was correct and while the robot-model started to tremble, a secondary resonance fed from it into the laboratory dome's metallic beams and framework. Seeing the imminent danger, everyone walked towards the bridge leading to Holtzman's house, leaving the slaves back.

Before the first batch of slaves could cross, the bridge snapped and dropped into the river along with them, while a section of the vaulted roof crashed down, killing the slave leader who left behind, destroying the prototype generator.

The embarrassing failure took Holtzman years to get over. 28 years later, after Holtzman surrendered Cenva to VenKee Enterprises, he attempted to revisit the old concept and make it work, again resulting in an explosive result.

Appearances

 * Dune: The Butlerian Jihad
 * Dune: The Machine Crusade