WEBVTT - The Monstrefact: Alien, Part 4 - The Neomorph

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Hi, my name is Robert Lamb And this is the

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<v Speaker 2>Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow

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<v Speaker 2>Your Mind, focusing on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters in

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<v Speaker 2>time our journey through the alien universe. This time brings

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<v Speaker 2>us to the mysterious planet for the rotting paradise of

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<v Speaker 2>Alien Covenant. Once an occupied world of the Engineers, the

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<v Speaker 2>planet suffered a mass extinction event at the hands of

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<v Speaker 2>the rogue android David. Descending from the sky in a

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<v Speaker 2>stolen Engineer starship, he unleashed a devastating bombardment of the

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<v Speaker 2>skeetide ampules eradicating most non botanical non fungal life with

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<v Speaker 2>the dreaded evolutionary accelerant agent A zero slash thirty nine

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<v Speaker 2>to fifty nine x dot ninety one slash fifteen. But

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<v Speaker 2>as we've explored already, the black Goo doesn't destroy everything

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<v Speaker 2>in such incidents. No, it also creates new dangerous organisms

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<v Speaker 2>to prowl the lifeless borders of devastation, and it tends

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<v Speaker 2>to find its way back to the basic form of

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<v Speaker 2>a xenomorphic predator, in this case, working its way up

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<v Speaker 2>from fungal and possibly insect life. The neomorph begins as

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<v Speaker 2>a fungal growth that produces small pods or egg sacs,

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<v Speaker 2>which release a swarm of moats upon disturbance. These moats

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<v Speaker 2>are able to move through the air by their own volition,

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<v Speaker 2>sometimes synchronizing in murmerations to zero in on a potential

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<v Speaker 2>host organism's vulnerable orifices. The moats are often compared to

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<v Speaker 2>plant pollen, though of course pollen depends on vectors such

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<v Speaker 2>as wind or other organisms to move from one plant

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<v Speaker 2>to the next. We might instead be tempted to compare

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<v Speaker 2>these moats to fairy flies or fairy wasps, the smallest

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<v Speaker 2>known flying organisms. As pointed out by Julius Klarr in

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<v Speaker 2>a twenty twenty four article for The Sierra Club, fairy

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<v Speaker 2>wasp body length can measure as little as zero point

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<v Speaker 2>one three nine millimeters, equal to the thickness of a

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<v Speaker 2>human hair, so it's not out of the question for

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<v Speaker 2>something so small to be capable of powered and deliberate flight.

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<v Speaker 2>According to Freeley Publishing's Alien RPG source books, the neomorph

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<v Speaker 2>moats make their way into a host's body, where they

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<v Speaker 2>deliver microscopic amounts of the black goo to the host's

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<v Speaker 2>blood stream, and then the moats die. In the blood,

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<v Speaker 2>the evolutionary accelerant mutates white blood cells, forming a tumor

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<v Speaker 2>like mass that rapidly develops into an embryo, referred to

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<v Speaker 2>as a blood burster. When this small quadruped is ready

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<v Speaker 2>to emerge from the host, it bursts out through whatever

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<v Speaker 2>part of the anatomy is most accessible the mouth, the back,

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<v Speaker 2>even an eye socket. It depends in large part on

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<v Speaker 2>where the tumor develops. If it survives, the bloodbuster rapidly

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<v Speaker 2>develops into a neomorph. These medium size pales xenomorphic predators

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<v Speaker 2>boast goblin shark like protrusible jaws, much like the deacon

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<v Speaker 2>that we previously discuss, along with a whipping spike tail

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<v Speaker 2>in a cluster of dorsal spikes, which, as a blood burster,

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<v Speaker 2>aids in its emergence. Let's talk a bit more about

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<v Speaker 2>those goblin shark jaws. Though the deep sea Mitsukarina ostoni

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<v Speaker 2>isn't alone in having protrusible jaws. Shark jaws are not

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<v Speaker 2>attached to the organism's cartilage skull and move as separate parts,

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<v Speaker 2>allowing for varying degrees of protrusion when attacking prey. The

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<v Speaker 2>goblin shark merely boasts the most extreme jaw protrusion known,

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<v Speaker 2>both in terms of reach and speed. According to a

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<v Speaker 2>twenty sixteen article by Nakaya at All published in Scientific Reports,

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<v Speaker 2>the jaw sling shots forward at a maximum velocity of

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<v Speaker 2>three point one meters per second to eight point six

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<v Speaker 2>to nine point four pcent of the total length of

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<v Speaker 2>the shark. They cited the phylogenetic evidence that suggests the

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<v Speaker 2>adaptation evolved in response to their food poor deep sea

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<v Speaker 2>environment and is a possible trade off for the loss

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<v Speaker 2>of strong swimming ability. It might not be able to

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<v Speaker 2>catch desired prey in an all out pursuit, but if

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<v Speaker 2>they get close enough, their jaw length can make up

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<v Speaker 2>the difference. As seen in alien covenant, neomorphs can act

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<v Speaker 2>as both pack hunters and solitary stalkers. While they may

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<v Speaker 2>enter prolonged states of hibernation, they're ultimately short lived and

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<v Speaker 2>don't seem to engage in any form of host procurement

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<v Speaker 2>or parasitic reproduction while alive. When they die or are killed,

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<v Speaker 2>their corpses simply produce more sporesas ready to release more

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<v Speaker 2>black moats when a potential host ventures near. Now, in

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<v Speaker 2>the natural world, we certainly have organisms that die after reproduction,

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<v Speaker 2>what we call simularity. These organisms reproduce but a single

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<v Speaker 2>time and then die. Pacific salmon are a great example

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<v Speaker 2>of this, along with certain insects and molluscs. The neomorph, however,

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<v Speaker 2>would seem to reproduce through death, which is of course

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<v Speaker 2>a fitting xenomorphic and gigresqu twist on everything it kills,

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<v Speaker 2>it dies, and through its death it ideally spreads more

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<v Speaker 2>of those motes that will produce new blood bursters and

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<v Speaker 2>new neomorphs, presumably until all life on a world is

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<v Speaker 2>reduced to just a few hibernating xenos and their weighting

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<v Speaker 2>fungal eggsacts, we might reasonably compare it to various pathogens

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<v Speaker 2>that spread via contact with dead hosts. That is the neomorph.

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<v Speaker 2>But hey, tune in for additional episodes of the Monster

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<v Speaker 2>Fact each week. Our Alien series will continue next week

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<v Speaker 2>with the classic xenomorph eggs, so we are going to

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<v Speaker 2>get into the classic xenomorph life cycle and biology. So

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<v Speaker 2>write in if you have thoughts on anything we've covered

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<v Speaker 2>thus far, and as always, you can email us at contact,

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<v Speaker 2>it's Stuff to Blow Your Mind dot com.

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