Eggs, Huggers & Energy -- The Making of a Truly *alien* Al..

OK, this is going to be one *LONG* post, because I'm going
to cut & paste a bunch of stuff I posted from the past, and try
to have it make some sense.

This is one of *my* pet theories about the aliens. (I have lots
of them!) I "back it up" with a couple of quotes from Giger
and Scott, but this is *just* an idea of mine. Call me crazy, I
don't mind, but I really like the idea even if I can't back it
up with pure science. But then again, I *prefer* a little mystery
and imagination unclouded by "facts". (As if scientists know
*everything*!)

If nothing else, I hope some of you get a chuckle out of it! :-)

There were a *ton* of posts back in the "good ole days" of this
ng, so this reconstruction may not be perfect.

It all started when David Cardinal said on April 5, 1999 in the thread
"Queen Facehuggers":

"The cucoon lifecycle is not sufficient. The queen is required even if the
cocoon lifecycle is available. Giger's plan says that an alien can create
only ONE egg. That means the aliens couldn't increase in number that way.
The regular alien can only replace itself -- one parent, one offspring. The
queen is required to increase the aliens' numbers."

Very much like I recently did, I countered that equation. I even had a quote
from Giger himself which was this (I scanned and posted the actually
article,
and many more to my website at the time):

==============================================
Ancient Astronaut Special Edition Fall '79
Star Wars vs. Alien
Article: H.R. Giger: The Nightmare Maker by Michael Moore

When asked if he thought the alien creature was intelligent,
he answered, <Giger talks about the final scene of the film
going on to say, and I quote . . . >

"There were different endings proposed, perhaps not as
nice for the audience. One was to have the movie end with
Ripley going to sleep; then in one corner you see an egg.
Thus the story ends in a cycle -- from egg to egg. The
scene was cut out for some reason. There was another
scene when it is discovered that the people the alien has
killed have been wrapped in cocoons, which become eggs.
We had a different name for each of the stage of the alien --
the face-hugger, the chest burster, the big alien, and the
cocoon; then it becomes an egg -- it's a cycle."
==============================================

And then I said, on April 5, 1999 (I changed the thread subject to
"Not Egg -- Egg*s*"):

--------------------------------------------------------------------
So in one simple statement, from Mr. Giger himself, we
have evidence for:

1 -- The eggs *don't* require live victims, he says *killed*.

2 -- Both Dallas and Brett were becoming egg*s*.

3 -- Even the alien itself is cocooned to provide yet
another egg.

This creature is completely efficient, and deadly. If it
wasn't for the fact that the Nostromo had a self-destruct
device, then the Nostromo could've cruised to Earth (or
wherever) with up to six eggs on board. (Dallas and Brett
already cocooned, Lambert and Parker still not cocooned
and of course Ripley, and the alien itself.)

In just this single case, with a little luck on the alien's part,
the cycle could've been 1 egg = 6 eggs.

BTW, there is no need for another drone on the Nostromo.
The creature is in a closed environment, with a limited
amount of resources. Why the hell would it create a second
drone?

And to answer the obvious reply: No, I don't believe it was
"just a stupid animal." *I* believe that the creature was not
only intelligent, but possibly "highly" intelligent. There is no
concrete proof either for or against that statement, it is
simply what I take away from the film. Once again, it was
Cameron who "dumbed" them down by making them nothing
more than "insects." That was *not* the original concept.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

And now that the cocoon scene *has* been on screen, that
pretty much seals the deal for the original life-cycle. The Brett
Soup idea aside, of course. :-)

On April 11, 1999 in the same thread, only re-named as
"Faithfullness in Sequels", Googs commented:

"This is a question i've always had. Best i've figured, i don't think
that they *do* eat, due to some as-yet-unexplained alien biology that
goes against everything we know of a natural order, thereby being even
*scarier*, what with their only existance being that to kill and
reproduce."

Which led me to actually thinking about that subject. I replied on
April 11, 1999:

-------------------------------------------------------------
Kind of what I always thought.

(With trepidation I return to the cocoon scene . . . )

I always thought that when they used a body to make
an egg, that part of the process was storing a lot of
that material as pure energy within the fh somehow.
(Taking care of the problem of one large body = a
much smaller egg.)

Then, the reason why the fh lingers far longer than
you'd think would be necessary to implant the egg
would be because it was transferring that stored
energy to the parasite. Along with whatever it could
take from the host (Kane's hunger), it would use
that energy for its tremendous growth. The fact that
the original cycle was so short would mean to me
that finding food wasn't a priority, just getting hosts
for more eggs/bursters. Perhaps *if* there *is* a
decent food source, the creature lives longer.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Googs replied:

"OOoooooooohh! A Direct linkage between Einstein's Theory of Relativity
& Physical Growth/Life!!

MANthat's cool!!

'YOU, sir, are a GENIUS!!'"

Errrmmmmm . . . I wouldn't go that far, even if my IQ is in the 160s. :-P

Googs took it in the direction of an "Atomic Alien" and that theory
was quite reasonably laughed at by some. I didn't mind, except for
the fact that Googs was attacked because he was "supporting" a
theory of *mine*. That aside, it is a bit strange and "different" and
not quite as easy to explain as I thought it would be.

So, at a later point, I tried to clarify it a bit.

On July 7, 1999 Covenant posted this comment in the thread
"Alien Resurrectin":

"Look at it this way, A coma-ed victim is more likely to carry the embryo
viabley
A non-coma-ed victim may *not* allow the embryo to settle..

Y'see, the problem is that we don't know *WHAT* happens during implantation.

The actual.. *Putting the embryo in* could be as simple as open mouth, tube
down throat, embryo down tube..

3 seconds. Syringe like..

And the rest of the time.... Gestation, ensuring the species continues to
the best of the facehuggers ability (And if the Aliens are good at anything,
it's ensuring the propogation of the species.)

I mean.. who is to say that the *tube* does not *stay* connected to the
embryo in a fully-mature implantation? And it draws sustenance *from* the
facehugger? (Perhaps that is why they die and become brittle and wasted??)

However...
Like I said before.

This is all conjucture.
I am only saying to look at it as a possibility, because it *is* a
possibility!"

I took the opportunity to expand upon my theory, with a reply
on July 7, 1999:

------------------------------------------------------------------
My thoughts exactly! I already posted this idea months ago, but I think
it might have gotten lost amid the big "flamewar" Bobanon and I had.
(And perhaps it got lost for a good reason :D Anyway . . . )

Yeah I'm going back to the cocoon scene in Alien. If you don't like
it, then I suggest you just stop reading right now. I don't care if
it was cut from Ridley's "offical" version because it was a *HUGE*
mistake to do so. One of the best scenes in the entire film, and it's
left on the cutting room floor. Tragic . . . but a different topic! :-)

My theory is that *after* the host is used as an incubator that it is
turned into an egg. Some people have a problem with the difference
in size -- an egg is smaller than a human being. But I believe that the
excess material is transform into raw energy which is stored in a
special organ in the facehugger.

This bring's us to your comment, Cov. I think that the facehugger
stayed attached to Kane so long because it was transferring that
energy to the parasite form. That energy, plus what ever it could
draw from the host without killing it (Kane's hunger), was used for
the tremendous rate of growth.

Another big question is whether the alien's "eat." Personally, I
don't think so. (Yeah, I know, I know. The silly eating/humping
thing in A3. Sorry, but I don't consider *anything from either
A3 or AR as canon. They forfeited those rights with their lack
of consistancy and respect. My opinion *only*, of course.)

Ummm . . . back to the point -- I don't think the alien's eat. They
live as long as they can on the amount of energy that was stored
during the egg and incubation periods. Certainly, they probably
*can* eat if there's oppertunity to do so, but I think the alien's
main priority is capturing hosts and preparing eggs. Anything
else would be secondary. Maybe if they have "control" of an
enviroment, such as being at the top of the food chain in a
planetary ecosystem, they can concentrate on other things
besides survival. But in the circumstances we've seen them, I
think that pure survival is enough to worry about.

Now I'm not a biologist, or a chemist, or an expert in any
scientific field so I can't explain exactly *how* it work. But I
do know that there are some pretty amazing things relating
to the storage and consumption of energy. (Just look up at
the sun for one example, and really think about what is
happening. :D) I don't think it's that farfetched to imagine
an alien creature with the natural ability to efficiently transform,
store, and transfer energy. How "perfect" that storage is is
questionable. Perhaps the alien's life in Alien was so short
because the egg had sat around for too long; slowly losing
its store of energy over decades (centuries? millennia?).

There has to be a reason the hugger sat on Kane's face for
so long. And there also has to be an explanation for the
"Brett egg" being smaller than Brett's normal size. Well, this
is my thought on it -- I'm not asking anyone to agree. It works
for me, but I'm sure everyone has their own thoughts and
ideas.

And it certainly isn't as ridiculous as "magically appearing
eggs" or "magically cloned parasites." :D
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Then, on August 21, 1999 Wmvrrvrrmm posted this comment
by Ridley Scott in the thread "How can the Aliens grow?":

==============================================
Sight and Sound v.48.n3/4.May/Jun 1979 Article by Dave Badger

"Loose on the ship, this new alien (its "father" had died planting the seed)
grows very quickly and begins to lay new eggs within the bowels of the ship.
It
lives to propogate and must find food for its next offspring - in this case
the
crew members of the Nostromo upon whom the young aliens can feed in their
eggs
until a new host comes along prodding the eggs. Then the cycle begins all
over
again.
" The scene which was cut was one in which one of the crew discovers the
bodies of the others being used as food. It was just too gruesome"
================================================

I replied, on August 22, 1999:

------------------------------------------------------------------
I believe some mockers owe myself and Googs an apology! :D
Ridley Scott says above *exactly* what I was saying before:
the body is used as a source of energy (food) until a new
host stumbles across the egg.

Next . . .

Examine this line carefully: "It lives to propogate and must
find food for its next offspring - in this case the crew members
of the Nostromo . . . "

Gee, sounds an awful lot like what I was saying. The alien is
still "feeding" off of the original source of energy and its sole
purpose is the creation of more eggs.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The same day, Wmvrrvrrmm wisely asks:

"I may have missed the thread on this one, how did you come to your
conclusion"

And so finally, I just kind of put it all together in one *very* long
post on August 23, 1999:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I try to stick to the general rule that the best explanations
are also the simpliest, no matter how unlikely they may
seem. I just follow a train of thought which is logical; at
least to me.

*I* see the alien as a parasite/predator that can focus
solely on survival when it needs to. (And I *hate* the
bio-engineered weapon thing, but that's another topic.
:D ) In a situation such as the one in Alien, the only
concern the single alien has is to propogate the
species. Otherwise, what's to be gained by spawning
one creature that kills up to six people and then just
dies? Nothing.

To me, one of the most crucial factors is that the
eggs (appearently) sit around waiting for hosts. If the
species is cunning enough to be that patient, then
they also should've evolved the necessary means
to take full advantage of any situation, because they
have to rely on "luck" in the first place. They got
lucky that the Nostromo, and Kane, came wondering
by, and now it has to capitalize.

Another factor is the short life-span we see in Alien.
We see similar life-cycles in some species here on
Earth. (I'm terrible at remember names and/or details,
so no I'm not giving an example.) IIRC, those species
survive because they concentrate on one thing only:
procreation. (I'm not saying *they* don't feed, just that
they are single-minded. And some might say that we
"long-lived" humans are no different. :-) )

So, we have an alien that a) needs to take advantage
of its situation and b) needs to do it *quickly*. I just
don't think it's going to waste time or resources by
"feeding."

The last final thing that really triggered this "theory"
of mine was when I finally got to see the cut cocoon
scene from Alien. One question that came into my
mind was "were was all of the extra 'matter' going?"
(Brett's body turning into a much smaller egg.)

And so it all kind of came together for *me*. The
alien takes a body (any body, even Kane's dead
one would've worked, *I* believe), "cocoons" it,
and then injects it with "something" that starts
the spore process. A certain amount of the
material is required to form an egg with a face-
hugger, so I'm sure that something like Jones
the cat would be too small. Any "excess" matter
is then converted into energy and stored in a
special organ in the facehugger.

At this point I'll just say "Don't ask me how!" I
don't care. It's an alien, and we (egotistical
humans) don't know *everything* about this
vast universe. It just does. And although I
appreciate Googs support on my "theory", I
cringe at the "atomic alien" label that got
attached to it. Again, even here on Earth,
there are multiply ways that energy is
processed and used. Photosynthesis is
quite different from human biochemistry.
Use your imagination!

OK, now that I've ranted, back to the topic . . .

The egg sits around waiting for the host.
If events had been different on the Nostromo,
this could've been anywhere from 2-6 eggs.
Dallas and Brett (if Ripley doesn't torch them),
Lambert and Parker (if it would've gotten the
time), Ripley (if it had caught her), and
possibly itself if it can use the process on
itself (which would be *very* efficient.) Either
by returning to Earth on autopilot or being
found by a "deep salvage team" these eggs
could've been found by other humans. (Or
by some other space-faring race.)

The facehugger "hatches" and attaches
itself to the victim. All that is "necessary" is
time to plant the embryo (I think), and if
worse comes to worse then it will have to
fend for itself; taking what it needs from the
host to grow and "birth" and then finding
food to continue it's growth and reproduction.
However, if the hugger has time, like it did
in Alien, then it will transfer the stored energy
once the embryo has developed the proper
organ to store it. Depending upon how much
energy that was (the size of the source matter)
the chestburster has "so much" time to fully
concentrate on capturing new spore material.

I would also think that the embryo would take
a certain amount from the host itself, but not
all that much.

So, in my theory, if the alien is in a "Nostromo"
situation, then it's on a "time limit." It solely
concentrates on hunting and "gathering" the
material it needs to create more eggs. If the
alien is in a different situation, especially if
it's born on a planet where the aliens already
have "control" of the enviroment, then there's
no reason to assume that it can't feed and take
on what we might consider a "normal" life.

That leads to another way in which I see the
aliens differently from most fans. I don't view
them as "pure killing machines." They *can*
be, when its required; but otherwise I see
them as cunning predators that would easily
dominate any stable enviroment through
"hunting." What would be the sense of
killing off every living thing and then having
to hope for more "visitors" to your planet, or
moon, or whatever?

Unless, of course, you want to believe in
the "weapon" theory. Then it makes perfect
sense. But -- even in the weapon theory,
why would you create a weapon that needed
to take time to "feed"? *I* would create it to
be as efficient as possible.

While Ridley Scott certainly doesn't take
things as *far* as I do, there is also nothing
in those comments which contradict my
theory.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Nobody replied except for some dude from the Netherlands who
thought that I was talking about little green aliens from outer space
coming to Earth in UFOs. :-)

Probably because no one except for Googs liked the idea.

No problem.

Anyway, there's the theory Keith. Dallas and Brett are becoming
eggs with a facehugger. The egg will eventually be "normal" sized
and all excess material is converted into energy and stored away
to be used so that the alien can quickly grow and reproduce if
time is short.

Nothing spectacular. Maybe not entirely logical. Definately "alien".
Much better than Brett Soup.

Have a great day!

Ahmed

On Wed, 26 Jan 2005 19:44:52 GMT, "ADWatts"
<adwatts DeleteThis @graphic-designer.com> wrote:

>So in one simple statement, from Mr. Giger himself, we
>have evidence for:

Does this mean commentaries are admissible as "evidence?"

>And to answer the obvious reply: No, I don't believe it was
>"just a stupid animal." *I* believe that the creature was not
>only intelligent, but possibly "highly" intelligent. There is no
>concrete proof either for or against that statement, it is
>simply what I take away from the film. Once again, it was
>Cameron who "dumbed" them down by making them nothing
>more than "insects." That was *not* the original concept.

Cameron didn't dumb them down. He demonstrated their intelligence
when he had them cut the power. One might even suggest that they
deliberately nested in a sensitive location where the humans couldn't
use their firearms without risking self-annihilation.

>Y'see, the problem is that we don't know *WHAT* happens during implantation.
>
>The actual.. *Putting the embryo in* could be as simple as open mouth, tube
>down throat, embryo down tube..
>
>3 seconds. Syringe like..

It would have to be significantly longer than that. In Aliens, the
colonists actually removed one of the facehuggers from a victim
"before embryo implantation."

>And the rest of the time.... Gestation, ensuring the species continues to
>the best of the facehuggers ability (And if the Aliens are good at anything,
>it's ensuring the propogation of the species.)
>
>I mean.. who is to say that the *tube* does not *stay* connected to the
>embryo in a fully-mature implantation? And it draws sustenance *from* the
>facehugger? (Perhaps that is why they die and become brittle and wasted??)

I like the Development Theory, which states the following...

"...the host body [would be] responsible for the creation of an embryo
in much the same fashion that an organ may be produced through the
creation and designation/specialization of various cells, via
restructured genetic coding. Under such an idea it is easily seen how
an Alien embryo would be able to adapt to varying host organisms, and
vise versa. This idea would also better explain the positioning of the
embryo in the host's mediastinum, when the Facehugger's mouthparts are
known to only extend part way down the host's esophagus."

>Another big question is whether the alien's "eat." Personally, I
>don't think so. (Yeah, I know, I know. The silly eating/humping
>thing in A3. Sorry, but I don't consider *anything from either
>A3 or AR as canon. They forfeited those rights with their lack
>of consistancy and respect. My opinion *only*, of course.)

That kinda puts the kibosh on any further discussion, IMO.

Keith