Last spark from the ashes

"Oh, yeah." Sorry, Verity, she's completely missed the intended implication. And also mixing up her bedtime stories, because legends about dragons are slightly different here. "You'd be pretty hard to trick into a bargain. Could still punch them for trying, though," she adds thoughtfully. The doctor stifles a smile.

"At some times, especially early in the City's history, reliable building materials have been very scarce. Dregplate is a catch-all term for recycled alloys that contain some proportion of metal from salvaged Fallen ships. It's actually the impurities from melting down large chunks of alien scrap that cause the reaction. Nowadays City regulations require it to be painted over and limits where it can be used at all. The Tower doesn't use it, for example."

"But don't rest bare skin anywhere the paint is peeling down in the City," the doctor adds. "I used to get terrible rashes as a kid from that."

Verity's appreciation draws a smile from him. "We have our friend the Ghost to thank for that. And ah, I think this will be your other set of vaccinations." This refers to a large set of antigens highlighted in blue - unidentified but friendly, so to speak. Dr. Saab studies them with some fascination before switching windows and highlighting things as he sets up a comparison. "I want to double-check there won't be any reaction with our immunizations, but at a first glance I don't see any conflicts."