The not-so-perfect organism
Burke, Carter J.
MemberOvomorphJune 18, 2017So here's something that bugged me ever since watching Alien: Covenant.
I'm guessing if Ash had ever encountered the the Neomorph before, he never would have called the Xenomorph "the perfect organism".
Because man, those buggers are lethal! Their entire means of reproduction is almost flawless: An airborne spore emitted from a pod that doesn't look threatening to it's prey infects it's host without it ever noticing it. The Neo the develops very quickly, kills and destroys it's host upon birth and is vicious and lethal from the very beginning. No need for it to go into hiding. It matures just as quickly, within a matter of hours, and becomes even more deadly.
There are a few flaws here in comparison to the Xeno though: The infected host quickly shows signs of infection, very noticeably so, which gives surrounding people a chance of killing the host before the Neo can hatch. The Neo is soft and fleshy, even though it can take a beating, it lacks the acidic blood as a defensive mechanism. The Neo has a need for oxygen intake. We can see it breathing during it's encounter with David. And lastly, it apparently needs to feed. It consumes it's prey for nourishment.
Now let's take a look at the Xeno: It's reproduction is somewhat convoluted. First there's the Ovomorph, which by the way looks highly suspicious to begin with. A host has to come very close to the egg for it to hatch, admittedly to too different from the spore pods, which have to be touched or stepped on. The facehugger hatches in the hopes that it's prey even has a face. It then incapacitates the host while it lays it's seed. During this process it is very vulnerable, even though it basically hardens it's akin to protect it from it's environment. Now granted, when the host wakes up, it has no memory of what had just happened and it can vary the seed into more populated areas. Until the chestburster emerges, it doesn't know it's infected and doesn't even show signs of infection until the alien bursts from it without warning. The newly born chestburster is now highly vulnerable and needs to go into hiding immediately. Once fully grown, the Xeno is then superior to the Neo, no argument there. It has a exoskeleton, very hard to penetrate, and even if penetrated, it's acidic blood makes it almost more dangerous when it's wounded. It has no need for oxygen or even atmosphere at all and it doesn't need to eat or needs to eat only very little.
So in comparison, the Fully grown Xeno is more perfect then the Neo, but it's entire means of reproduction is so complicated, that the Neo seems to be the evolutionarily more advanced species.
Something of note here though, we don't know if the Neo can produce spore pod by itself, so if the pod really were a product of the ecosystem being exposed to the black goo, or a more refined product created by David using the black goo, then there's the one big flaw in the Neo's reproduction.
I wonder what Ash would have had to say about the Neomorph.
So what do you think? Which is the true "perfect organism" here?
I'm really an ok guy.
Working out through more science, biology, and related sciences-stuff than I really want to think about allowed me to come pretty close to an Organism in which 'It's structural perfection is matched only by it's hostility'.
Or 'The Perfect Organism' insofar as such a thing can exist in our universe.
ALIEN: Manticore will re-introduce you all to The Alien (not some knock-off 'xenomorph' bastardized droid-experiment) That's why I've been so scarce around here of late, I spend much of my day working on my books, and just because ALIEN: Manticore is fan-fiction does not mean I treat it as less-important, nor do I give it any less effort.
I am really looking forward to introducing you all to what I hope is everything Giger and R. Scott could want from their creation in it's being and biology.
IN SPACE THERE IS NO WARNING
