That's completely incorrect, you obviously don't understand it- it does not do just anything. We know this for a fact.
Spoiler
We know from various sources (Covenant, Advent, David's Drawings, Alien The Cold Forge, Alien The RPG) that the Pathogen is defined as so: At the beginning of Prometheus we see a substance used to create life, do not misunderstand, this is not the Pathogen- it is honeycombed in structure, breaks down the Engineer and is stored entirely uniquely. It is life creating, although requiring a sacrifice, while The Pathogen itself is referred to as death creating behind the scenes.
When the four liquid capsules in an Ampule (The Pathogen storage device) activate, presumably when deployed by a Juggernaut craft, it atomizes the particles to the air. The Pathogen is designed to empty a planet of life, how fast it affects a host in doing this depends upon dosage.
"The original liquid atomized to particles when exposed to the air."
"The pathogen was designed to affect all non-botanical life forms. All the animals, the 'meat', if you will... either kill them outright or use them as incubators to spawn a hybrid form, highly aggressive."
David refers to it dispersed as intended during deployment, but when it's not dispersed as intended and instead a host comes in contact with the Pathogen in it's liquid form it clearly also modifies the recipent until the host dies as the Pathogen eventually intended.
An example of Pathogen dispersement:
David, the artificial son of Peter Weyland sacrificed a population of Engineers against their will- wiping the planet clean, first because of the extreme concentration of the Pathogen during initial deployment it killed most Engineers in their Citadel immediately, then when the Pathogen settled into the air, it attached itself to pollen creating infected Fungus, the first step of bringing forth Neomorphs to finish the job. Presumably the Engineers had an antidote to end the Pathogen's presence on a planet when it's job completed. Whether it's the life creating substance or something else before that is introduced is unknown.
"From the eggs, came these parasites... shock troops of the genetic assault. Waiting for a host, entering the host... rewriting the DNA... and ultimately... producing,
these enviable unions." The Neomorph.
The lifecycle of a Neomorph can be equated to the titular Alien.
Spore Pod = Egg
Motes = Facehugger
Bloodburster = Chestburster
Neomorph = Adult Alien
In the Neomorph's case, when it dies it turns into more of the Pods responsible for it's creation, after 24 hours regardless- owing to it's accelerated life cycle.
The Pathogen is consistent in it's creation:
All creations feature:
-Acidic blood/saliva
-Pale, fleshy, translucent skin
-Elongated limbs
-Extra appendages; back protrusions, extra fingers and a pharyngeal jaw in the Neomorphs' case.
(The unfolding appendages around the head hiding an attack method in the case of the Hammerpede [A variation of the Neomorph born from a worm] and Trilobite [A potential stage in the creation of a Deacon, because of Doctor Elizabeth Shaw's infertility] much like the pharyngeal jaw.)
During the Prometheus' expedition to the empty world of LV-223 the crew discovered a massacre of Engineers by the Pathogen, infected by it in it's liquid form.
The process is seen in the numerous bodies of the Engineers, with combusted features, the decapitated Engineer, Fifield and Charlie Holloway. It's stated by the team behind Prometheus, that all three exist as stages of the one process.
Just as the decapitated Engineer, the infected Charlie Holloway carries identical symptoms with veins rising to the surface of his skin, complexion alteration, bloodshot eyes, pain and he also started becoming aggressive when crew members of the Prometheus tried to assist him.The infected Sean Fifield is a further stage of this, in addition he became bloated in the cranium, further aggressive and further violent. It's stated (by Alien The RPG) the penultimate stage is a distinct departure as it begins to develop further into something resembling a Neomorph, but only in terms of it's skin and the head becoming a shrunken hideous caricature, with a gelatinous cowl now covering any semblance of humanity. The end potential result is a horrific creature, with nearly every feature of a Neomorph, but most notably a now bulbous translucent cowl displaying partially hidden dark eyes or what used to be them perhaps- it's unclear, also pale translucent skin, enlongated limbs and possibly a new limb, additional back protrusions, extra fingers and a pharyngeal jaw. It also changes from a mostly bipedal stance to a quadrupedal stance. Charlie Holloway is the beginning, infected by a minute dosage and infecting others- with the potential to create a Trilobite and then Deacon with a sexual partner. With Fifield being the middle, transforming into a bulbous monster, with enlongated limbs and numerous features of a Neomorph, completely primal destroying everyone in it's path known as an Abomination. Then the Engineer, the end comes- often including combustion, a horrific death.
The above isn't my opinion, it's a logical conclusion based upon all the sources available. Prometheus, Prometheus BTS, Covenant, Covenant BTS, David's Drawings, the RPG itself and more sources than I'm willing to spend the time listing.
