Paycheck by Phillip K Dick

Published in 1953, Paycheck dares to ask the question, how much of your life would you sacrifice for money? It reminds me of Johnny Mnemonic, the Johnny Depp film/William Gibson short story, where people carry sensitive information for corporations in their brain, but lose their memories as a result. In Paycheck, individuals are rented for a certain amount of years to complete a job. These jobs are sensitive, so once the job is complete, their memory is wiped. So, it begs the question, how much would it cost for two years of your life? In our story, we meet Jennings, an electrical mechanic who has exchange the last two years of his life for $50,000. We meet him just as he wakes up from his memory wipe, and is on his way to get paid. He's still trying to justify his decision and accept that he is suddenly two years older, which would no doubt weigh on anyone. When he goes to pick up his earnings, he is instead informed that during those two years, he decided to alter his contract. In…