The Jaunt

"The Jaunt" is a horror short story by Stephen King first published in The Twilight Zone Magazine in 1981, and collected in King's 1985 collection Skeleton Crew. The story takes place early in the 24th century, when the technology for teleportation, referred to as "the Jaunt", is commonplace, allowing for nearly instantaneous transportation across enormous distances, even to other planets in the Solar System. But the process is very specific, and has dire consequences if it goes wrong. The term "Jaunt" is stated within the short story to be a homage to The Stars My Destination, a science fiction novel by Alfred Bester.