Nichols leaned toward me and whispered, “They have to connect the spinal cord to the new brain before they can remove the biological one, of course. Otherwise, body maintenance functions run by the lower brain, such as breathing and heartbeat, would cease.”

The spinal cord connection took two hours. Neural fibers had to be cut one by one and immediately replaced. Once Sutter completed the spinal cord connection, the lower brain functions of the body were severed from the biological brain. Emma’s breathing and heartbeat stopped. I looked at Nichols.

“It’s okay,” he mouthed.

The neuroprogrammer activated the software’s lower brain functions. Emma’s heart beat irregularly for three beats, then resumed normal functioning. Her breathing returned to normal. I let out a sigh and breathed as well.

Nichols leaned over again. “We keep the patient running on lower brain only until the surgery is complete. Then we bring the higher brain online.”

Sutter removed the biological brain from its cranial home. She placed the brain into a liquid-filled container. A nurse walked it over to a large stainless steel refrigerator and placed the brain inside.

“Temporary stasis,” Nichols explained.

Sutter returned her attention to the operating table. Her team had positioned the silicon brain inside Emma’s cranial cavity, placed her skullcap over it, and resealed the bone.

I turned to Nichols. “I thought the top of your skull was artificial now.”

He smiled. “It is. But that was only for the demonstration. We do return patients’ actual skulls back to them.”

The operation was complete. Sutter turned to a nearby monitoring screen and looked at her patient’s vitals.

“Everything is normal,” Nichols informed me.

Sutter turned to the neuroprogrammer. “Jim, you can activate the full substrate.”

The man input the operational commands, then looked at Sutter. “She’s running.”

Nichols was grinning from ear to ear. “She’ll be awake in ten minutes.”

We waited. Nine minutes later Sutter leaned over her patient. “Emma? Emma, can you hear me?”

The old woman opened her eyes. “Yes.” She looked at the surgical staff standing over her. “Yes. Is it done? Do I have my new brain?”

“You sure do. It’s all done. How do you feel?”

“I feel fine.” She looked around the room and beamed. “I feel—Mr. Nichols. There’s Mr. Nichols!”

Nichols took a couple of steps toward the table. “Just checking on you, Emma. I’m thrilled everything went perfectly.”

“Yes.” Emma turned to Sutter. “Just as I prayed for, Dr. Sutter. I asked the Lord—”

I looked over at Nichols. He was frowning.

A troubled look crossed Emma’s face. “I asked the Lord…”

Sutter patted Emma’s hand. “Yes, Emma. You were saying?”

She tried to rise from the table, but restraints kept her in place. “I was talking about the Lord, how—”