I love the cover, despise the concept.
I'd much rather they were straight up "Neomorphs" in the story. If not in design, then in function.
True microwave Aliens, easier and faster to produce but less intelligent and prone to defects.
Which would explain why the Aliens don't just propogate like that in general, because it creates an inferior spawn.
But still a useful tool to work towards generating a "real" Alien, via eggmorphing if there's no pure Aliens left.
For instance.