1. Connect the boards so that the Awake Beast icon and the Human Miner icon are facing up, and place them between the players.

The player sitting in front of the terminal is the Miner, and the player sitting in front of the Bacteria tracks is the Beast.

2. Place the 3 Upgrade tiles on their matching action spaces on the Miner’s terminal.

3. Place the 4 Bacteria tiles on the starting spaces of their respective tracks on the Beast’s board.

Place the 8 Crystal tiles next to the board.

4. Give the Miner player the 3 action dice.

5. Shuffle the Stomach cards and draw 7 to randomly place on the spaces outlined between the Miner and the Beast. These spaces are collectively called the Digestive Tract.

6. Give the Beast 7 Stomach cards to form their starting hand.

7. Place the remaining Stomach cards in a face-down deck next to the board, leaving space for a discard pile next to it. The discard pile is NEVER reshuffled into the deck and may be inspected by any player at all times.

8. Give the Beast player the 9 Mutation cards.

9. Prepare the Immune Response cards by selecting all the cards with the Awake Beast icon on them.

Return the cards that only have the Hibernating Beast icon to the box.

Some cards have both icons, and are therefore used in all games.

10. Shuffle the Immune Response cards and place them in a face-down deck, next to the board.

Draw 3 cards and place them face up next to the deck.

YOU ARE NOW READY TO BEGIN!