- "...the humandroid is a redundant, uneconomical duplication of effort. Why are we spending out time creating computers that think like humans, when we could be spending out time creating humans to think like computers?"
- ―Dr. Stanislaw Mayakovsky (from The Mind of Man and Machine: Conversations with Anna)
Doctor Stanislaw "Stan" Mayakovsky was a geneticist and scientific author who was working in the field of artificial intelligence and insect anthropology following the Alien infestation of Earth. He was the author of the popular work on ant socio-biology Cyberantics, in which he created a synthetic ant named "Ari" to infiltrate and an organic ant colony.
Biography[]
When diagnosed with a deadly disease, Mayakovsky developed an addiction to the illicit secretions from Alien Queens, a substance commonly known on Earth as Royal Jelly. Mayakovsky was then enlisted by a beautiful master thief named Julian Lish who, inspired by reading his book, recruited Mayakovsky into an illegal plan to try and secure a source of valuable Royal Jelly from a Grant-Corporation-held Alien hiveworld in space known as A6 454.
For the plot, Mayakovsky created XL1, a synthetic Alien that Julian called Norbert, to infiltrate an Alien hive. At first, the plan appears successful, with the crew unexpectedly finding that a Grant Corp. vessel, with a ruthlessly protective crew, were already on the planet harvesting the Jelly. The Grant Corp. operatives protected themselves from Xenomorphs by using an infrasonic suppression system, an advanced technology compared to Stan's wearable inhibitor device, powered by Royal Jelly. Immune to the suppression system, Norbert disposes of the Grant crew, allowing Mayakovsky to secure a harvest of Royal Jelly.
Myakosky and Lish then suffer a series of reversals. When Norbert infiltrates the Xenomorph hive, he fails to fool the Xenomorphs as Ari had in an ant hive, and it appears that Norbert is destroyed. Turbulent atmospheric conditions cause Mayakovsky's ship, the Dolomite, to crash. Lish and Myakovsky survive the crash only to find themselves marooned on a planet infested with hostile aliens, and their only defense is a dwindling supply of Royal Jelly. In desperation, the survivors race to reach the Grant Corp. ship before they run out of Royal Jelly, forcing them to travel directly through a Xenomorph hive. Despite the timely intervention of Norbert, badly damaged, but still functioning, Mayakovsky finds himself trapped in the hive. Resigned to their fate, Mayakovsky and Lish take a dose of Royal Jelly, sending them into a state of bliss, even as Xenomorph erupt out of their bodies.
Body of work[]
AI Experiments[]
- Viral Artificial Intelligence (2167)
Published works[]
- The Mind of Man and Machine: Conversations with Anna (2163)
- Cyberantics: A Little Adventure (2172)
- The Queen Bee Missing (2176)
Synthetic creations[]
- A7 a cybernetic ant (called Ari)
- B4 a cybernetic bee (called Barney)
- XL1 a synthetic Xenomorph (called Norbert)
Inventions[]
Trivia[]
- Both Stan's first name and the spelling of his surname differ between the comic Aliens: Harvest (and Cyberantics: A Little Adventure) and the comic's novel adaptation. In the former, his name is said to be Stanislaw Mayakovsky, whereas in the novel it is Stanley Myakovsky.
Appearances[]
- Aliens: Harvest/novel
- Cyberantics: A Little Adventure
- Aliens: Stronghold (mentioned only)
Gallery[]
