Big Market, Jasper thought, was overwhelming. He had no idea how anyone could focus long enough to purchase anything. It filled the vast enclosure to overflowing with nearly a million merchant stalls and millions of things one could purchase. He was presently on the Market’s main street, open to the sunlight, but a quick glance around revealed that there were not just myriad shops, there were myriad levels. A lift zipped by to one side, ferrying beaming customers to new sights.

The cacophony of aliens of every description hawking things that Jasper couldn't even imagine filled his ears. Here, under a carved stone arch, a pale humanoid with an elongated head was selling small clouds, securely fastened by small rope lassos about their forms. A little storm was gathering inside one of them as Jasper passed.

A large blue alien with tiny eyes on large stalks stood wearing very human-looking clothes upon which were affixed an inordinate number of buttons. His entire shop, in fact, appeared