The Slats - Soviet Brain II

Some never get a chance to see a real human brain
At least, not while its language cortex is holding a conversation with you
And somehow remembering words, piecing them together into a sentence
Picking and choosing which sentence to speak aloud, and which to leave in the subconscious to gestate a little longer
To see the part of the brain that is causing the patient's epileptic seizures, the surgeon must remove a hand-sized piece of bone, opening up a window into the brain just above the line between left eye and left ear
The bone must be taken out in one large chunk, because it will be reinstalled in the patient's skull late this afternoon to close that window
Opening is a matter of drills and saws, and is consequently a little noisy
The patient gets to sleep through that
But it's over now, and the intravenous short-acting anesthetic has been stopped
Allowing the patient to wake back up
He needs to be alert during the next act
And there is very little to cause pain at this stage in the operation
Touching the brain's surface doesn't produce any sensations of touch
The brain itself has no sensors for that sort of thing
Although it receives messages from sensors elsewhere in the body
We ought to be ready for the handheld stimulator in a few minutes