The Horror of Eternal Consciousness | The Jaunt

The Jaunt by Stephen King is a short story set sometime around the year 2300. By this time humankind has begun the colonization of our solar system, this was made possible by a world changing piece of technology invented in the 80s, the Jaunt. The word “Jaunt” was first used in Alfred Bester’s 1956 science fiction novel, The Stars My Destination. In this novel humans have access to personal teleporters, teleporting was referred to as Jaunting in this novel. Stephen King takes the idea of the Jaunt and twists it into something, not merely dark but horrifying beyond comprehension.

The idea of teleportation has been common in science fiction for many decades, and the fears associated with it are not unexplored. Cronenberg's famous, The Fly explores the horror of a teleportation experiment gone wrong in which the main character's DNA is accidentally mixed with an insect. Teleporters have featured prominently in Star Trek since its original release in 1965, and it’s still never been fully clear if the teleporters allow for a consciousness stream of consciousness or if they are simply killing the original person and rematerializing an exact copy with copied memories in a different place.

The Jaunt also considers what becomes of the consciousness during teleportation but in a different way. To understand you have to learn how the Jaunt was first invented in this story, by a man named Victor Carune.

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[breadstick]

On extra detail left out, there was also a story where a guy threw his wife through the jaunt alive, but with no destination.. His lawyers pleaded not guilty, since she technically wasn’t dead. When everyone realised what that meant the guy got a worse sentence than for murder. I think that’s one of the worst fates in fiction, at least the kid and the prisoner eventually died, she’s just gonna be in the jaunt for an inconceivable amount of time, and it won’t ever end.

[MrJedimedic]

“Longer than you think” gave me chills after his dad’s description of eternity.

[PNW_Marxist]

This was one of my favorite King stories growing up. The sheer existential horror of it rocked me as a child, and it still gives me chills looking back.

[braedenhunt]

I remember discussing this in my high school Lit. class. Someone had the incredible thought that "longer than you think" could mean "longer than you *can* think." As in, there are only so many thoughts that you can possibly have, but the amount of time it takes to think those thoughts pales in comparison to the infinite time that you *must* think. You will think those same thoughts over and over again forever as you run out of what you can think of.

[flibber]

For me the horror is in the implications of "longer than you think". The dad had explained to his kids that one guy said it was eternity in there. The dad speculated that it could be an eternity of eternities in there. Think about that. An eternity of eternities. Then at the end the son says it's longer than you think. What could feel longer than an eternity of eternities? Whatever it is, it apparently doesn't destroy your mind. At least two people come through the jaunt and actually speak coherently, the son even recognizes his dad AND remembers their previous conversation. The shock of being back in physical form is where the problem comes in. This means you never are released from experiencing whatever it is you experience while jaunting. You will never be driven insane so that at least you have no idea of how much you are suffering. The kid retained his mind to the point that he could quantify that it was longer than his dad suspected. Now consider that in the story a woman was sent out on a jaunt that had no exit point. She's jaunting permanently...and it's longer than you think.

[trifectaofchris]

Had this as an assigned reading in a science fiction class I took in high school. I remember thinking the teacher was a mad lad for assigning such an existential and horrifying story to be dissected by 14 year olds. So incredible grateful for that class and opening me up to the larger genre of cosmic horror.

[thechaosmonkey]

Resting this story years ago has always made me wish that King played around with sci-fi more than he traditionally has.

[Hkari_]

I will alreays remember that short scene from a Black Mirror episode. It was about the end, where there was a simulation of a person in a device but it was conscious. The person who held the device could do basically whatever they wanted to the consciousness. The whole episode revolved about getting information out of it since it consciousness was a copy of a criminal or something, but after they were done the handler made the consciousness experience tens of thousands of years in the same vitual unchaning room with the flick of a wrist. For me this was pure horror and makes death seem like a even fair and necesssary thing.

[clearcutter]

"Jaunt" is such a perfect word for this story. Its normal connotation is a quick, enjoyable trip but King turns it into an eternity of horror, twisting a word that isn't supposed to be associated with horror into something terrifying. He's a master at finding horror where it isn't supposed to be (lawnmowers, vending machines, clowns, the family dog, etc...)

[FourthDerivative]

One of the best horror stories ever. No ghosts or monsters required- just the frailty of the human mind pitted against the impossible vastness of time.

[rafaelgustavo]

This concept reminded me a little of what would happen to the mind of Leto II, The God Emperor of Dune, each piece of his mind separated into several locations and in an eternal dream. This concept is fantastic, very fantastic. The idea of ​​you being everywhere and nowhere.

[foop]

Reminds me of "The Long Dream" by Junji Ito. It's a short manga about a guy who has increasingly long dreams. At first, they're no more than a day or two, but eventually they stretch to years and decades and beyond. I won't spoil any more than that, but it's a really great read for anyone looking to explore this concept a little more.

[Loreweavver]

I love the simplicity of this story. They aren't traveling through some clive barker hell demention that drives them mad but just... Nothing...

[jacobmullin]

The Jaunt is ultimately one of my favorite stories of all time. It is so simple and so deeply disturbing, when I first read it at 12 in the tent on my camping trip I was enamored and reread it immediately. It kept me up that night, and every so often keeps me up again.
Truly a great marvel of creative writing.

[jchampagne]

Never mind eighty-ish years, our minds begin to fray if we are conscious for more than a few days without the relief of sleep. I think that's the true horror of the Jaunt; an eternity of day-night cycles with at least the rhythm and release of sleep would be bad enough but imagine an eternity of CONTINUOUS consciousness.

[dmk]

My best friend (now passed) said that to understand death you have to imagine what is was like before you were born.

[ryanlegros]

The Jaunt is probably my favorite Stephen King story. The idea is truly horrifying if you can wrap your head around the idea around losing yourself slowly over time as it stretches on.

[kajjeletam]

I literally rewatched Cronenberg's The Fly three days ago and thought of this deeply unsettling short story. The description of the son is truly something horrifying. It also reminds me of the 1997 horrorfilm Event Horizon. I find these type of cosmic horror stories in which characters go through portals or enter other (hellish) dimensions extremely scary. Great video!

[willytingles]

I love reading horror, but rarely does anything I'm reading translate into that visceral ripple of fear that comes from an unconscious response to something terrifying.
I remember reading this story for the first time and thinking it was super interesting but more sci-fi than horror.... until the last few lines when the kid comes out of the jaunt screaming "Longer than you think!" over and over again. It really caught me off guard, and I felt a wave of goosebumps all over. Such a good piece of writing. Giving me goosebumps rn just thinking about it.

[archlich]

It reminds me of that storm the plane flew through in "The Langoliers." Everyone who was asleep crossed over, but everyone awake disappeared, leaving clothes, watches, fillings, etc.