The Barrier
By Bryce Walton
If Stevens could cross the high velocity
barrier at the edge of space he would receive a
pardon on Earth. But would he live to claim it?
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy
February 1951
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
His features were twisted by the acceleration, and his sanity seemed to have gone.
There were maybe ten or fifteen people to see him off. They weren't cheering. They stood in the gray curtain of rain, hunched over with their hands in their storm-coat pockets. Behind them was the vague bulk of the Experimental Station. And beyond that, invisible in the night, were the mountains he would never see again.
"O.K., Stevens. This is it."