The Variable Man

A note under the title of The Variable Man, by Philip K. Dick, describes someone who fixed things, clocks, refrigerators, vidsenders and destinies, but had no business in the future, where the calculators could not handle him. Security Commissioner Reinhart goes up the front steps into the Council building and gazes intently up at the central SRB computer, studying its reading. Sherikov meets Reinhart at the entrance to the Military Designs labs and says of Icarus "Remember the Greek myth? The legend of Icarus," while Reinhart advances slowly.

Cole crouches in a shelter as planes dive and white bundles fall and scatter like seeds, bundles that land and turn out to be men in uniform. A speaker says the variable man found what Hedge was after, and Sherikov continues that faster than light drive can now be used for space travel, as Hedge intended.