Stanley Grauman Weinbaum

The Adaptive Ultimate Stanley Grauman Weinbaum

The Adaptive Ultimate is a science fiction short story about an experimental medical treatment gone awry. Dr. Daniel Scott approaches his colleague, Dr. Herman Bach of Grand Mercy Hospital, looking for a human test subject. Scott claims that recovering from a disease or injury is merely a matter of adaptation. He has derived a serum from fruit flies, the most adaptable creatures he could find. Bach is skeptical, but has a patient only hours from death due to tuberculosis. With nothing to lose, a drab, plain woman named Kyra Zelas agrees to the treatment. The results are beyond Scott's wildest dreams. Within a week, Zelas is well and is discharged from the hospital. Shortly afterwards, she murders an old man in a park for his money...