Paycheck (novelette)

"Paycheck" is a short story by science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, written on July 31 1952 and first published in the June, 1953 issue of Imagination.

Michael Jennings is an electronic engineer, one of the best in the world, who has accepted a bizarre contract with Rethrick Construction - to work for two years on a secret project, which would be erased from his memory. He wakes up to find that he has not been paid for his work - he traded away his paycheck for an envelope full of seemingly unrelated personal items.

He soon realizes that during those two years he worked on a machine that let people view the future - and take things from it. The government has been replaced by a police state, and the envelope contains everything he needs to ensure his survival. Each item serves a particular purpose or gets him through a situation that he saw in advance. The items are:

A length of fine wire (allows him to short out and open the door of a police car)
A bus token (allows him to quickly board a bus and escape the secret police)
A ticket stub (tells him where Rethrick's building is)
A green strip of cloth (a worker's armband, enabling him to enter Rethrick's building)
A code key (opens a rear exit from Rethrick's building)
Half a broken poker chip (permits entry to a gambling den where he hides from both the Company and the police)
A parcel receipt (permits access to material stored in a bank that allows him to blackmail Rethrick into protecting him from the government)

The story was later made into a 2003 film with numerous changes starring Ben Affleck.

See also