Re: not emitting a visible projectile, and not seeing a pulse zap across
the room...you're used to seeing "lasers" that travel at about 60 mph in most
TV SF (and some films). When somebody fires a regular gun at someone, do you
expect to see the bullet fly across the room? No, of course not...so why do
you expect that on something that is moving a lot FASTER than a bullet? The
*reality* (and again, that's what we're going for here), is that you
*wouldn't* see it. You'd hear it more than anything else, and at most see the
muzzle flash. You're applying a TV and movie cliche which has nothing to do
with reality.

jms