"Sure, let's go see this place! Did she mention where we can get our own copies of the laws? Besides the summaries, I mean the whole thing."

"We'll have to buy 'em if we want one, probably. They're on display at libraries and police stations, apparently, though."

"I guess that makes sense, with how big they are. Well, where to now?"

"There's a clearing house I want to visit, they buy and sell bulk stuff. Then wandering the lower city some, that's where all the workshops and industry will be probably."

"How do you know that's where they'll be?"

"Industries are heavy. Heavy things go to the bottom or it's all topsy-turvy. That's why the ballast tanks on my ship are at the bottom, too."

"That makes sense. ...I think you work around things more here. In Har they put things where they want them and make physics go away if it objects."

Clearing-house-ward?

Into the clearing house they go! It's centered around a huge board full of lists of prices for things. There's a crowd in front of the board, and rows of stalls at the edges, and all the conversations make for a buzz as active as any outdoor market.

"-Bulk iron at twenty two per kilo, any takers at twenty two-"

"-Quality machine weave and double stitches, cotton fiber shirts in bulk!"

"Anybody selling beef? Paying premium for beef!"

"Ooh," Nick says, "Lively place! I'll be in my element here - but are you gonna be okay following me, or d'you want to do something else?"

"Yeah, I'll get a feel for how much things cost here if I watch for a while."

"Sounds like a plan. Keep in mind these are bulk prices, though."

And they spend a couple hours in the clearing house selling all Nick's cargo.

It's not fun, but hey, now he'll have some idea how to tell if he's being cheated.

"Thanks, that was really useful. What'll we be looking for when we look at their industry?"

"Clever and ambitious people, if we see enough of the people to figure that out. A couple of the vendors I met will probably be good to distribute electronic tat with... Cheap space for rent, and to rent more or less immediately. A source of trash or cheap material we can buy for you to convert. We can look around for an hour or two and then I have to go back to my ship to unload the stuff and get it moved to long-term storage. And we should probably both find rooms and food and so on at some point."

"Sounds good. Do you think I know enough for us to split up, one of us look for trash and one of us look for a place to stay?"

"I think there's a chance you'll get confused, but probably not catastrophically so. You'll probably be fine. Just, stay on main streets if possible? Don't go down any dark alleys or follow people who say they've got a great deal if you follow them or something, the police don't have knowledge magic and aren't perfect so some people will try things if you look gullible."

"...Would it be a public service to have them pick me instead of a softer target?" he asks very quietly.

"No. Don't you go thinking like that, now. If you try to - honeytrap criminals or something, that is risky. Better to avoid trouble altogether and let the police do their job. Maybe I'll prioritize them for gadgets if you think that's best."

"Okay. I'll try to stay safe."

"Thank you. So, you want to look for rooms, or trash and junk vendors?"

"I'll look for junk and you look for rooms?"

"Sure. What do you want in a room? There'll be hotels of various quality, maybe an empty two-bedroom apartment that shares bathroom and kitchen and so on, or maybe I should find two single-bedroom apartments if you don't want to share a space."

"Private and soundproof would be good, I don't... I don't know if I care about anything else."

"I'll try my best. Meet up in front of that food stall there in an hour and a half or so? Looks like this intersection is called Vine On Level Three if you need to ask someone for directions."

"Thanks, see you then!"

He looks at things. Any businesses around that look like they must produce a lot of trash?

The businesses here are mostly shops containing elaborate clothes, or decorative things of various kinds, or tools that seem more built to be shiny and nice-looking than actually useful. That and a massive variety of restaurants, out of which delicious smells waft - and music, from a couple of them. (They don't have defense magic here - how fast does food go bad exactly?)

One bakery advertises 'day old loaf - 4c - two day old loaf - 2c - bread crumbs for compost 3c/kg'. (The 'c' references grams of copper here.)

Well, that price drop answers the question of how fast things go bad pretty well, doesn't it.

He hangs out near the bakery for a couple minutes to see how people haggle around here and maybe see if he can get a look at the breadcrumbs before buying any.