Eric looked up, but Cliffs expression was impassive, unmoved. So he hurried on. “‘For example, in a horror movie, consciously the person knows that reality is simply moving images projected on a screen. He knows that what he is seeing is not real, but his imagination quickly begins to accept it as real, and his central nervous system reacts as though it was reality. He starts to sweat, his heart races, he grips the edge of his chair. It becomes real to him.’”

Eric looked up, then rushed on. “Note this,” he said eagerly. “‘Your nervous system does not distinguish between a real and an imagined experience. What person has not awakened in the middle of the night with pounding heart or cold with fear? A dream is a totally fictional experience, but if the mind believes it is real, the body will react accordingly.’”

He stopped, pleased to see that he had now captured Cliffs attention and erased the skeptical look from his face. “Hasn’t that happened to you, where you had a dream trigger a pain response?”

When Cliff nodded slowly, Eric raced on.

“So have I! That has got to be a key. If somehow we could make your mind believe—just even for five minutes—that operating on me is not wrong. Then once mine was out, I could do yours with no problem.”

Cliff was staring at the water, deep in concentration.

“But how? That’s where I’m stumped.”

Suddenly Cliff jerked up. “Hypnosis!” He nearly shouted it, then quickly looked around and lowered his voice to an excited whisper. “Hypnosis would have the same effect.”

“Hypnosis?”

“Yes, that’s it! Of course that’s it!” He grabbed Eric’s arm. “Listen. When people are placed under a hypnotic trance, they react in remarkable ways, do incredible things. It’s nothing mysterious or supernatural, it’s merely that the hypnotist is able to convince the person to believe differently about himself. He leads the subject to believe whatever the hypnotist says is true!”

Eric leaped to his feet. “Do you mean—”

But Cliff was too excited for interruptions. “I took a hypnosis class in medical school. We watched a dentist do a root canal without anesthesia. The patient was conscious the whole time and felt no pain or discomfort. Why? Because his mind believed there was no pain.”

“That’s it! That’s our answer. Can you teach me how to hypnotize you?”

For a long moment, Cliff was silent. Then finally he shook his head. “I don’t know. Somehow the whole subject left me a little nervous. I always felt we were toying with powers we didn’t fully understand, so I never used it in my practice. It’s been decades since I’ve tried to do it. But…” Again he was deep in thought. “We don’t need some deep and total trance, just enough to let me take your implantation out without feeling guilt.”