The following few hours were spent in a slow, but steady, stream of calculations and tinkering. Samantha was coding on her screen, trying to organise the nanite sub-routines for future uses. Clark was laser-cutting microscopic pieces of material and piecing them together with care, while Erik was analyzing holo-projections of all nanite prototypes. Sometimes he would zoom in on one single version, then peruse its attributes and try to figure out where the faults were. Chatter wasn't out of the picture though, considering each one would occasionally need some data from the others. As for Doreen, they tried to help her catch up with everything that's been done so far, so that she may soon begin helping with the next phase in the project.
At one point, Samantha asked about Richard and Catherine, to which Erik replied "They're off on another exploratory trip on Planet Baja. I was told they'll be back next week."
"Shall we do some lunch?" echoed in Erik's mind, as he was just finishing up with another analysis.
He looked away from the hologram and then checked the time. Almost three in the afternoon. "Come to think of it..." - he began, while turning to Doreen - "I haven't eaten anything since morning." He rose up from his chair, then exclaimed "Lunch! Anyone else coming?"
Both Clark and Samantha denied the offer, saying they'll join up a bit later, once they're done with their respective tasks. As such, Erik took the lead and showed Doreen the way to the Research Academy's cafeteria, in the nearby tower.