Alien—Something From Nothing

 

I saw Alien: Romulus while I was on vacation in Melbourne recently. I used to have frequent movie dates with my daughter when she was younger. But she's been pursuing her studies in Melbourne for some years now, and I haven't had a chance to do the movie thing with her for such a long time already. So when Alien: Romulus opened in a nearby cinema, I seized the opportunity to spend the afternoon with her at the cinema.

I've been a big fan of the Aliens franchise for so long now—in fact since I was a teenager. There've been so many movies spanning a few decades, and some of them crossed over with the Predator franchise, which is also another of my favourite. But this post is not a movie review. So if you haven't seen Romulus, fear not, there is no worries of spoilers here.

For some years now, I've been meaning to comment about the premise of this interesting creature. It is referred to as a "Xenomorph". The basic idea of its life cycle is quite similar to most insects—that is to say starting from an egg which then hatches into some sort of "larva". The latter then develops into a pre-adult form, and may have to change its exoskeleton several times before reaching adulthood. At least that's the general life cycle of most insects.

The life cycle of the Xenomorph is slightly different from that of the typical insect. An adult queen xenomorph lays the eggs. Each egg produces a spidery creature with a long tail, which requires a host to perform a second stage of egg-laying process. If it can find a host, it will lay its egg through the mouth. That egg will then "incubate" in that host and when it's ready for the next stage of development, it will burst out of the host, thus killing the latter. But after leaving the host, it has never been shown in detail how the creature would develop into its adult form. The only thing that the audience is shown is that the creature will go through at least one stage of cocoon, where it will form some sort of protective layer within which it will lay dormant while developing into its adult form. In the case of insects and crustaceans in general, there will be several stages of changing the exoskeleton, but I'm not sure if it's the same with the Xenomorph. In my mind, it is entirely possible that the Xenomorph may have to go through several stages of changing its exoskeleton before reaching full maturity, but I can find no source to confirm this.

Life finds a way, and although the Xenomorph is a fictional creature, I can accept the basic notion of its life cycle. In fact, I'm very impressed with the original story teller for his creativity in conjuring up such a process. I think such a life cycle is at least possible—it's not an idea that I would simply dismiss just because there is no such creature in the world. However, I've never been able to accept the developmental stages beyond the first host. I think there is simply no logic in it!

Science and common sense dictate that we need to have something to make something. The caterpillar, for example would need to find a source of materials or nutrients, say by feeding on leaves, before forming a cocoon to develop into the next stage of its life. Similarly, maggots would feed on rotten food source for its nutrients before developing into their next stage of life. These creatures need to have the "bricks and mortar to build bigger, stronger and more sophisticated structures".

The Xenomorph, however, consumes nothing after bursting out of its host. There is to my mind no nutrients to be used to grow, build exoskeleton, muscles, and other more sophisticated body parts. When bursting out of its host, it is very tiny. But it can grow so much larger (perhaps 50 times larger), stronger, and heavier into its adult form without requiring any material/nutrient for the process. It is no more, no less, a case of building something from nothing!

After so many movies featuring the Xenomorphs in a span of over 4 decades, no one has yet been able to explain satisfactorily this particular point regarding its life cycle. I said earlier that I'm impressed with the story teller for coming up with the idea of the fascinating life cycle. But I would be even more impressed if he can explain once and for all, how the Xenomorph can build something from nothing.