Engineers = bee keepers?

When you got goo, a sapce ship and time and your hands...one would hope there is some depth and meaning to you daily agenda...Saying that, you just never know in sci-fi what to expect...

They covered this in the comics - royal jelly. An average idea at best, my preference is that the Engineers use the Xenomorph for the genetic material they extrapolate from their hosts.

...The hive mentality is a strong social and evolutionary mechanism. I see you theory and it could be, but if the Engineers do cultivate the Royal Jelly what are they using it for? I think this would make for an interesting side story... or even a new comic (Darkhorse are you listening?). Thanks that was a great idea... [img]http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/p582/mr_lincolnlog/KnowYourXenosign-2.jpg[/img]

Must check out the darkhorse stuff - Are the comics the official canon? Perhaps the engineers reaction on waking was so extreme as gaining access to the jelly would see humans emancipated-reinforced by david's request! Perhaps a better analogy is to think of them as snakes with usable venom

Good theory. I also remember that the "Royal Jelly" was used like a drug, enhancing humans but making them more aggressive. I believe that storyline was from Aliens Genocide by David Bischoff...

Here is an extract from the wiki page [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_jelly]Royal Jelly[/url]... [i]Royal jelly is a honey bee secretion that is used in the nutrition of larvae and adult queens. It is secreted from the glands in the hypopharynx of worker bees, and fed to all larvae in the colony. When worker bees decide to make a new queen, either because the old one is weakening, or was killed, they choose several small larvae and feed them with copious amounts of royal jelly in specially constructed queen cells. This type of feeding triggers the development of queen morphology, including the fully developed ovaries needed to lay eggs.[/i] An interesting idea, that could be used to further the reproduction elements already established. Furthermore if mixed with the idea of genetic material harvested from hosts (possibly being stored within the Royal Jelly), that may elaborate on both the Xenomorph and the Engineers in parallel. Intriguing...

I actually love this theory. It makes a tremendous amount of sense. The whole "What would you do for immortality" from the engineer's perspective. The risk of keeping the most dangerous organism in the galaxy vs. the payoff of eternal life. Would also seem to explain the resilience of the xenos.

And gives us a viable "medium" to store the aforementioned genetic material, while also fleshing out the relationship between the Engineers and their creation the Xenomorph.

No, the comics aren't canon they're extended universe/fan fiction. There's some interesting ideas there but nothing massive creative.