Theory for the Alien's fast growth

I think that when they cocoon themselves its like a butterfly and it takes a massive amount of energy they metabolize all at once for the transformation. Plus have you noticed that like certain insects the Alien will hide somewhere where its most vulnerable so no one can cause it harm without it being able to defend itself. They're bodies probably create a skin covering layer over their exo-skeleton and sheds it by tearing it apart like a latex glove but slimey and gross.

@Zetareticuli

I really like your question! Well I think I might be able to help here with this one. The Xeno eats but not in the way that we think. Sure it gobbles down an entire human. I think that we are dealing with more of a specialized machine here that can consume almost anything to get to the mass that it needs too. Think about cock roaches. Cockroaches can feed on just about anything. The Xeno could feed on many more things but it prefers tasty humans! Plus the Xeno is part machine which might make the things it could feed on almost endless.

Thanks Redant and Anunnaki, I agree with it not 'eating' as such, but assimilating materials in it's immediate environment. A sentient entity to do that would be truly 'alien' in every sense. Who are we to theorise a sustenance/growth methodology purely within our paradigms? That would also apply to the phenomenal growth RATE as well (as I mentioned in my post) about the apparently real existence of endless free energy in the Universe from which myriad things can be created. I think Nikola Tesla and Einstein dabbled with this bot on paper and in practice. I love this theory and how it could explain many things: spirits, ufos, planetary body formation, etc.

I don't think it eats anything. If indeed it is a bio-weapon then it would make sense that it is created to grow/develop rapidly without the need to consume any additional nutrients. I think it absorbs whatever it needs from the host before it's birth.

Assuming that it was created from the black stuff rather than the black stuff being created by it, would suggest that it's "DNA" is very concentrated with the black stuff.

We know that the black stuff mutates and makes whatever consumes it much larger. So i think it grows rapidly because it is biologically concentrated with the black stuff.

Depending on your view points of the composition of the black goo then there could be many factors that cause the Xenos rapid development.

If we think that the black goo is nano sized robots then yes it could rapidly absorb from it’s environment any type of elements and then recombine them to get to the desired structural formation that we see depicted in the movies.

If we want to think that there is even more science to this and in fact the black goo can form even more complex machines then yes it could draw an energy source right from the very fabric of mass around it without even having to chew on something.

It is interesting to note that the Xenos have those tubular structures coming out of their backs. I know that for pure aesthetics they may have been added to the original design of the Xeno to make it look more alien to us. However, I would like to think that there could be quite a bit more going on with these organs. They could be continually taking molecules out of the air and processing them as well as many other things.

I like everyone’s theories as to how the Xeno could maintain its size for what it does. One thing we have to be careful of though is not trying to make the Xeno to mechanically complex because it may defeat the purpose of having the functions that we see in the organism. I will say this and we should not take any of this for granted it is very important.

Years ago when the first Alien came out we are to believe that Alien takes place after Prometheus in the near future. When Ash analyses the face huger he makes every indication that the face hugger is part non-organic machine.

Ash: Umm.
Ripley: Hmm?
Ash: Well, as I said, I'm still... collating, actually, but uh, I have confirmed that he's got an outer layer of protein polysaccharides. Has a funny habit of shedding his cells and replacing them with polarized silicon, which gives him a prolonged resistance to adverse environmental conditions. Is that enough?
Ripley: That's plenty. What does it mean?
[Ripley bends down to look through the micro-scanner]
Ash: Please don't do that. Thank you.
Ripley: I'm sorry.
Ash: Well, it's an interesting combination of elements making him a... tough little son-of-a-bitch.
Ripley: And you let him in.

Which means it is more like a machine that is not like organic machines. For people in the 1970’s this type of premises is beyond advanced. The rate at which the face hugger was doing what it was doing was only for our limited scope or ideals about sci-fiction. In fact we know that nano machines and biological process can happen very rapidly and in some situations almost instantaneously. To even further the argument that we have to try to limit what we doing when we start to think about what exactly is taking place in context of the science it is important to think overall how sophisticated this technology is.

For example, if we hypothesize that the Xeno is using very sophisticated zero point energy conversions then it is logical to think that the Engineers have the technology to destroy an entire planet with more conventional weapons that are far more powerful and effective at destroying even an entire solar system.

Any race of beings that is hundreds of thousands of years more advanced than the development of a computer could easily harness the power of many suns and create a force destructive enough to effect many light years of mass. So the Xeno is all just for fun really…..do not take what you see in the movies
too seriously….there are much better ways to deal with an enemy. 

One of the aspects I didnt like in the later films is the presumption that the Alien eats flesh. I like the idea that this perfect organism has no need to actively eat. It has the means to absorb its necessary chemical requirements from the atmosphere in which it is born, enabling very fast growth.

We are yet to seen an Alien in its growth chrysalis, we were meant to in Alien three, or at least an empty chrysalis husk which Ripley thinks is the Alien.  How interesting it would be to see this growth phase....

@ brego

Agreed, it would be interesting to learn more about how the chestburster grows & develops.  Maybe there are different ways at different growth stages. A mixture of energy gathering methods, different molting and cocoon/chrysalis stages or something. 

Ash's line about the Alien being the perfect organism has always intrigued me.

I really like the idea of absorbing chemicals from the environment.  Processing the atmosphere for its benefit. Maybe the early stages need to acquire food before the more complex systems develop; then once fully grown it's better at building a better world for itself.

I'd also love to "find whatever cord" it is that makes David run...To learn what makes the androids tick... Perhaps the androids have found the key to free energy, and it takes the Aliens a little longer to begin to process it.

What's funny is that David is an android that eats. Bishop didn't eat ;) We see David consuming something in the early scenes.  Androids and Aliens might not always have to consume biotic materials.

I think David already understood some things about energy transfer: things being in constant motion, how the environment is in constant flux, & how all things are breaking down in nature. "He will never grow old & will never die", and can see the gears of the universe rotating in a way the humans can't perceive… The Engineers are mortal after all.  Maybe David and the Alien become immortal over time.

Maybe once the Alien is fully grown its mechanical aspects and tendrils process anything useful in the atmosphere. Chemicals/minerals in ice crystals are absorbed while floating in the vacuum of space, or on planets where there's no atmosphere to intake. They can tap into these alternate modes of energy gathering, sometimes leaving behind oxygen and water that's cleaner than Earth. Creating energy "out of nothing" or what appears to be nothing... "There is nothing in the desert, and no man needs nothing". The chestburster stage is still too close to man...Microprocesses are always going on unseen within the body. Just because something is small and unseen doesn't mean it's not there. LV-223 wasn't a garden world or their homeplanet because it wasn't developed enough, so they didn't need to terraform it all the way...they were producing death there at that desert outpost.

Every species consumes as it produces, each organism makes an impact on its environment. Microscopic change is always occurring underneath the surface. The environment helps shapes us and we shape it. The Engineers had to select a planet that had water to create life on. There's not much water on LV-223, but there's some.. Humans build monuments in their own images, but weather and time can erode and wear things down. The original Alien was said by some to have a short lifespan.  What if the Aliens are even better at terraforming and transforming their environment than humans or Engineers, & can overcome their surroundings, can breathe underwater & in space + process any atmosphere?

Indeed HiveMind... I imagine that the burster remains soft skinned after its "birth". It then expands and grows, sheds its skin to enable growth a couple of times over say 24 hours then hardens before undergoing a final mould, breaking out of its chrysalis and hardenning as a full blown Xeno....

I think also the acid blood may be a clue. Maybe waste disposal is burnt off and used as a resign by product.... Meaning they're hive is made of......

In the novel it eats like a pig though, it eats litterally everything from Twinkies to batteries. There is a scene where it gets into the food lockers and eats up everything. 

Oh, thats correct, I remember the food lockers. Had forgotten about that. Still dont like it.....