A pleasant gesture - being offered a cup of coffee - but one that Erik always had to decline with an awkward apology. He simply didn't drink coffee. Afterwards, he silently listened to her entire comments. Hearing about most patients being alive and stable brightened his face quite clearly.
As she lead him through the ward and showed him her patients, explaining the issues, he commented after her "trust me on this one." ... "Trust isn't the issue. With or without your recommendation, security will have to check him first." and he ended with a chuckle.
To her question about Benjen, he replied "He was no trouble at all, only a bit confused in the beginning. If you want, I can call home so you can speak with him."
Once she presented the man missing an arm, Erik's eyes glittered with emotions between sorrow, concern and excitement. He let out a small sigh, then leaned back on the wall and began explaining... "Well. We haven't perfected the technology enough yet. As I've told you from the start, we still have to figure out a way to manufacture stem-cells within the nanites. However... I did think of something else for the moment, which might still be of good use.
Our third prototype in the series was designed to work differently than the final concept. Instead of creating entirely new stem-cells, it would clone and reprogram existing ones. As such, in order to make this work... we would first need a sample of stem-cells from the patient, most likely from a bone-marrow extract... and some DNA from his other arm."
After a moment of pause, he continued "But, before anything else, this is completely experimental. We need the consent of the patient first, before we attempt to reform his missing arm with these nanites." - as he ended his statement, he straightened back up and lead Doreen down the hall, to his makeshift lab. "This is one of my research colleages on the project, Samantha Valders. She and I will be ready to begin when you have a green light."
