So, you've been eaten.

Don't worry, this is just an occupational hazard. In fact, it is fairly common among Deep Space Miners (5th class), and most say that it is almost unavoidable. And, well, it is. Especially since the crystals that you are looking for happen to be inside giant space beasts. To mine for them, you need to, well, be eaten.

But, no reason to worry. We are here to help you deal with the physical and mental challenges of being consumed. This handy simulation/survival guide is standard issue for all recruits and can eventually lead to a productive, if not potentially brief, career in space mining.

Should you complete your objective and mine enough crystals to meet your quota, it is then cost-effective for the company to activate your jet pack and extricate you from the proverbial belly of the beast. While the beast's immune response is not enough to prevent its demise, its contribution to human progress and corporate profitability are most definitely appreciated.

In the off chance that the bacteria present in the beast overwhelm you and you are digested, do not worry. Your non-organic parts will ultimately be useful to future space miners. In fact, you may encounter such pieces of equipment in your expedition, remains of attempts by evidently less-than-qualified recruits.

Finally, it could transpire that you do not gather the necessary crystals by the time you reach the end of the beast's digestive tract. In this case — the so-called "ending #2" — you will then exit the beast from the end other than the one you entered: alive, yet forever changed. In this situation, and after a thorough decontamination and quarantine period, we will have to evaluate your performance versus that of the beast's efforts to consume you.

In So, You've Been Eaten., the Miner and the Beast face off against each other. The Miner gets points by collecting crystals, and the Beast earns points by developing immune responses and by its bacteria attacking the Miner.

The Miner will win instantly by collecting all eight different crystals, and the Beast will win instantly by digesting the Miner after the attack of four bacteria of the same type. Of course, there's always the possibility that the Miner will simply pass through the Beast's system, in which case the player with the most points wins the game!

So, You've Been Eaten. can be played as either:

• A game for 2 players, with a Miner player versus a Beast player.
• A game for 1 player, with the Miner player versus a sleeping Beast.
• A game for 1 player, with the Beast player versus a robot Miner.
• A game for 0 players, with a sleeping Beast versusa robot Miner.