Counterfeit Monkey — 117 of 292

Section 4 - The Fish Market

[Inspired by a similar area in Marseilles and a few images from Nice.]

The Fish Market is northwest of Deep Street. The description is "Not very fishy at the moment, in fact: all the real trade happens in the early morning; then there is a period of tourist trade when the seafood sale tails off and most of the purchases are of polished conch shells and starfish; and then a little after noon the area clears out completely, leaving only briny rivulets on the concrete."

Rule for listing exits when the location is Fish Market and the Authenticator is in the location:

do nothing instead.

After going to Fish Market when the authenticator is in Fish Market and the player is hurrying:

let N be the number of entries in the path so far of the player;

if N is greater than 1:

say "[path-walked so far]";

otherwise:

clear the path-walked for the player;

now approach-destination is Samuel Johnson Hall; [make it seem like we haven't made progress, if approaching.]

[try going east.]

Definition: a thing is problematic:

if it is illegal:

yes;

if it is proffered by an illegal thing:

yes;

no.

Sanity-check dropping the plans in the Tin Hut:

say "It doesn't feel safe leaving the plans here even for a short period." instead.

Test tinhut with "n / e / drop plans / w / wave l-remover at plans / wave s-remover at plan" in Deep Street holding the plans.

Before going to the Fish Market from the Tin Hut:

if the Authenticator is not in Fish Market:

continue the action;

if the player encloses the plans and the plans are not in the closed backpack:

say "I don't think [you] want to show off the plans around the Authenticator." instead;

remove Authenticator from play;

say "I don't think there's anything showing that should get us into trouble. Timidly I open the door; the Authenticator has her back to us. [You] slip out. She makes one more turn in place [--] monocled gaze sliding across us without stopping [--] and then she strides away to the north."

The storage-exterior is in the Fish Market. The printed name is "tin building". Understand "tin" or "hut" or "building" or "rusting" or "corrugated" as storage-exterior. It fronts east. "Just east of here is a rusting corrugated tin building, which was built to house various possessions of the fishermen."

The description is "It looks very much as though it would like to fall down, but it has not done so yet."

Sanity-check doing something in the presence of the Authenticator:

if looking:

make no decision;

otherwise if going east:

make no decision;

otherwise if approaching the tin hut:

make no decision;

otherwise:

if the authenticator is police:

if waiting:

make no decision;

say "The movement catches her attention. She stares at us for a long moment. I have a moment's hope she's going to look away again, but something we're wearing or carrying tips her off. A moment later and she's signalled a backup officer to detain us.";

end the story saying "The subsequent attention is not enjoyable";

otherwise:

now authenticator-warning is true;

if going a direction:

say "You assess the distance and work out that there's too much open space between us and cover if we head [noun]. The tin hut to the east is the only real option." instead;

otherwise:

say "This is too dangerous [--] [you][']ve got to get under cover before she sees us." instead.

Authenticator-warning is a truth state that varies.

Before reading a command when authenticator-warning is true:

now authenticator is police.

Before going east in the presence of the Authenticator:

say "While the Authenticator's back is turned, we slip inside..."

The concrete floor is scenery in the Fish Market. Some briny rivulets are part of the concrete floor. The description of the rivulets is "Run-off from the ice on which the fish were shown, this morning."

Check waving the letter-remover at the briny rivulets when the current setting of the letter-remover is "s":

say "The letter-remover has a go, and for a moment the rivulets turn into a single, unified trickle. But the ground is so uneven that soon the liquid has diverged again into multiple rivulets. Some things can only be cleaned up the old-fashioned way, but fortunately this one isn't really our problem." instead

The Authenticator is a woman in Fish Market. Understand "tall" or "stern" or "woman" or "uniform" or "black" or "caped" as the Authenticator. "A tall, stern woman is standing in the middle of the market. She wears the black caped uniform of an Authenticator, and a monocle just like mine. And I don't think I want her to see us." The description of the Authenticator is "She isn't looking our way yet, but she will be any minute now."