The Barrier

by Anthony Boucher

Release: September 1942
Format: Short Story
Genre: Science Fiction
Audience: Adults
Content: Definite Time Travel
Original Language: English

A man, apparently dazed from running into a temporal snag, appears in a radio factory, whereupon (before returning to his own time) he makes a radio that’s actually a Twonky which gets shipped to a Mr. Kerry Westerfield, who is initially quite confounded and amazed at all it can do.

Because of the opening, I’m convinced that this Twonky is from the future. The “temporal snag” that brought him there feels like an unexpected time rift to me, although the route back to the future is an intentional journey via an unexplained method.

— Michael Main

“Great Snell!” he gasped. “So that was it! I ran into a temporal snag!”

DEBUT

“The Barrier,” Astounding Science-Fiction, September 1942.

VARIANTS

1 English variant

TAGS(SPOILERS!)

Groupings

Cited in Time Machines by Paul J. Nahin ()

TIME TRAVEL ITINERARY: We haven’t yet mapped out the time travel itinerary.