Galactic Pot-Healer — Philip K. Dick

There he was, Joe Fernwright, citizen of Cleveland (once "Ohio"), skilled mender--or, as he liked to think of it, healer--of ceramic pots. In a mostly plastic world, Joe was mostly unemployed, bored dizzy, and in a dangerous, try-anything mood.

That's when the mysterious, extremely powerful Thing made him an offer to visit a distant planet on a very chancy mission....