Dal walked around the bed and looked down at the tracing, comparing it with the first one that was taken. "What do you think, Tiger?"
"It's no good. He'll never make it for five more hours."
"What about right now?"
Tiger shook his head. "It's a terrible surgical risk."
"But every minute of waiting makes it worse, right?"
"That's right."
"Then I think we'll stop waiting," Dal said. "We have a prosthetic heart in condition for use, don't we?"
"Of course."
"Good. Get it ready now." It seemed as though someone else were talking. "You'll have to be first assistant, Tiger. We'll get him onto the heart-lung machine, and if we don't have help available by then, we'll have to try to complete the transplant. Jack, you'll give anaesthesia, and it will be a tricky job. Try to use local blocks as much as you can, and have the heart-lung machine ready well in advance. We'll only have a few seconds to make the shift. Now let's get moving."
Tiger stared at him. "Are you sure that you want to do this?"