The Jaunt (short story)
| Author | Stephen King |
|---|---|
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction short story |
| Published in | The Twilight
Zone Magazine (1st release), Skeleton Crew |
| Publication type | Periodical |
| Media type | Print (Magazine, Hardback & Paperback) |
| Publication date | 1981 |
"The Jaunt" is a short story by Stephen King first published in The Twilight Zone Magazine in 1981, and collected in the 1985 anthology Skeleton Crew. It belongs primarily to the genre of science fiction rather than King's customary horror, but is quite characteristic of King in probing deeply the minds of its characters when they are placed in incredible circumstances. The story takes place in the near-future where the technology for teleportation, referred to as "Jaunting", is commonplace, allowing for instantaneous transportation across enormous distances, even to other planets in the solar system.
Plot
summary
As a family prepares to be "Jaunted" to Mars, the father entertains his two children by recounting the tale of this crude form of teleportation's curious discovery and history. He explains how the scientist who serendipitously discovered it found out early on that it had a disturbing, inexplicable effect on the mice he "sent through"--concluding that they could only survive the "Jaunt effect" while unconscious. That, the father explains, is why all people must breathe in a special anaesthetic gas before using the Jaunt.
The father spares his children the gruesome semi-apocryphal account of the only human ever known to be Jaunted awake, a condemned murderer offered a full pardon for agreeing to the experiment. The man "came through" and immediately suffered a massive heart attack, living just long enough to utter a single cryptic phrase:
It's eternity in there...
We learn that about thirty people have been jaunted while conscious and that they either died instantly, or went insane..... After he finishes his little story, the family is subjected to the sleeping gas....
Intertexual reference
- The premise of the work is loosely taken from Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination, which is mentioned by name.
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| The Mist · "Here There Be Tygers" · "The Monkey" · "Cain Rose Up" · "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut" · "The Jaunt" · "The Wedding Gig" · "Paranoid: A Chant" · "The Raft" · "Word Processor of the Gods" · "The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands" · "Beachworld" · "The Reaper's Image" · "Nona" · "For Owen" · "Survivor Type" · "Uncle Otto's Truck" · "Morning Deliveries (Milkman No. 1)" · "Big Wheels: A Tale of the Laundry Game (Milkman No. 2)" · "Gramma" · The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet · "The Reach" |