Steve Perry

needle-beam n.	2004 S. Perry & M. Reaves Battle Surgeons xxxviii. 289 Before he [sc. Jos] could change course, the droid’s right index finger, which was pointed at the stingwort, fired a needle beam of bright red coherent light at it. Without slowing his pace, I-Five carefully moved his finger back and forth, incinerating a one-meter-wide path through the dangerous growth as he passed through it.