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"I realized there was a heavy-duty change coming in biology, and I could write a really compelling novel about catastrophic evolution, punctuated equilibrium."
- Greg Bear

Needler  
  Small palm-sized weapon firing thin bolts of energy.  

The pirate’s shield had failed, and under the cataclysmic force of that horrible detonation the entire nose section of the enemy vessel had flashed into incandescent vapor and had added itself to the rapidly expanding cloud of fire... She was still fighting ; but ineffectually, now that all her heavy forward batteries were gone.

“Needlers, fire at will!” barked Kinnison, and even that feeble resistance was ended. Keen-eyed needle-ray men, working at spy-ray visiplates, .bored hole after hole into the captive, seeking out and destroying the control-panels of the remaining beams and screens. “Pull ’er up!” came the next order. The two ships of space flashed together — the yawning, blasted-open fore end of the once cigar-shaped raider solidly against the Brittania’s armored side. A great port opened.

Technovelgy from Galactic Patrol, by E.E. 'Doc' Smith.
Published by Street and Smith in 1937
Additional resources -

See also the needle gun from Slacker's Paradise, a 1941 short story by Malcom Jameson, and the more detailed description of the needle pipe from Ray Cummings 1928 classic Beyond the Stars.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Galactic Patrol
  More Ideas and Technology by E.E. 'Doc' Smith
  Tech news articles related to Galactic Patrol
  Tech news articles related to works by E.E. 'Doc' Smith

Needler-related news articles:
  - Palm Pistol Defensive Firearm

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