"Stanley G. Weinbaum - The Adaptive Ultimate" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weinbaum Stanley G)

He groaned. "Kyra," he said, shifting the subject sud-denly, "why do your eyes and skin and hair darken
in sunlight or when exposed to flashlight?"

She smiled. "Do they?" she asked. "I hadn't noticed." She yawned, stretched her arms above her head
and her slim legs before her. "I think I shall sleep now," she announced. She swept her magnificent eyes
over them, rose, and disappeared into the room Dr. Bach had given herтАФhis own.

Scott faced the older man, his features working in emotion. "Do you see?" he hissed. "Good Lord, do
you see?"

"Do you, Dan?"

"Part of it. Part of it, anyway."

"And I see part as well."

"Well," said Scott, "here it is as I see it. That serumтАФthat accursed serum of mineтАФhas somehow
accentuated this girl's adaptability to an impossible degree. What is it that differentiates life from
non-living matter? Two things, irritation and adaptation. Life adapts itself to its environment, and the
greater the adaptability, the more successful the organism.

"Now," he proceeded, "all human beings show a very considerable adaptivity. When we expose
ourselves to sunlight, our skin shows pigmentationтАФwe tan. That's adaptation to an environment
containing sunlight. When a man loses his right hand, he learns to use his left. That's another adaptation.
When a person's skin is punctured, it heals and rebuilds, and that's another angle of the same thing. Sunny
regions produce dark-skinned, dark-haired people; northern lands produce blondsтАФand that's
adaptation again.
"So what's happened to Kyra Zelas, by some mad twist I don't understand, is that her adaptive powers
have been increased to an extreme. She adapts instantly to her environment; when sun strikes her, she
tans at once, and in shade she fades immediately. In sunlight her hair and eyes are those of a tropical
race; in shadow, those of a Northerner. AndтАФgood Lord, I see it nowтАФwhen she was faced with
danger there in the courtroom, faced by a jury and judge who were men, she adapted to that! She met
that danger, not only by changed appearance, but by a beauty so great, that she couldn't have been
convicted!" He paused. "But how? How?"

"Perhaps medicine can tell how," said Bach. "Undoubtedly man is the creature of his glands. The
differences between racesтАФwhite, red, black, yellowтАФis doubtless glandular. And perhaps the most
effective agent of adaptation is the human brain and neural system, which in itself is controlled partly by a
little greasy mass on the floor of the brain's third ventricle, before the cerebellum, and supposed by the
ancients to be the seat of the soul.

"I mean, of course, the pineal gland. I suspect that what your serum contains is the long-sought hormone
pinealin, and that it has caused hypertrophy of Kyra's pineal gland. And Dan, do you realize that if her
adaptability is perfect, she's not only invincible, but invulnerable?"

"That's true!" gulped Scott. "Why, she couldn't be electrocuted, because she'd adapt instantly to an
environment containing an electric current, and she couldn't be killed by a shot, because she'd adapt to
that as quickly as to your needle pricks. And poisonтАФbut there must be a limit somewhere!"

"There doubtless is," observed Bach. "I hardly believe she could adapt herself to an environment