While being Stuck on the MOON

In the near future, the energy crisis on Earth is solved by Lunar Industries, a company that has built a facility on the Moon to mine helium-3, which is used as an alternative fuel and the lunar soil is full.

Most machines in this facility are automated and only one man is needed to keep an eye on things, in this case, it's astronaut Sam, whose three-year contract will end soon.

Sam's only company is Gertry, an artificial intelligence that helps with the base's automation and does its best to comfort Sam when he needs it. The list of chores includes overseeing the harvesters and launching the canisters with the extracted helium-3.

but Sam also has other ways of keeping himself busy like keeping up an exercise routine, building a diorama with wood carving, taking care of his little garden, watching old movies and even some football matches that they occasionally send from Earth.

These recordings arrive late because there's no live feed, so he can only send video messages as if they were e-mails and wait a bunch of days to get an answer from his wife Tess, and his daughter Eve.

Tess thinks this break from each other is doing their relationship some good, and because Eve is still very young, she always tries to put her on the screen to show how much she's grown.

Sam is always incredibly touched by these messages and they put him in a better mood, and whenever he sees the video going through a weird cut he just blames it on the communication problems.

One evening, while taking a coffee break, Sam is shocked to turn around and see a teenage girl sitting on his favorite chair, but she disappears when he accidentally burns his hand under the hot water.

Gerty is worried about Sam possibly seeing things, but he dismisses it as a trick of the tired mind. That night, he dreams of happy evenings spent with his wife at home.

The next day, things get weird again when Sam sits at the computer to send a message with the daily stats and notices the screen fail for a second, showing him his face in a deplorable state.

The screen quickly comes back to normal though, and Sam decides to blame it on his imagination again. Sometime later, Sam goes out on a rover to recover a helium-3 canister from a harvester only to get distracted by the teenage girl appearing again.

This causes him to crash the rover against the harvester, and while he manages to put his helmet back on before the oxygen runs out, he still passes out. When he wakes up in the infirmary later, Sam doesn't remember the accident, but Gerty lets him know what happened and asks him to stay in the infirmary for a few days so they can run some tests.

Lying down without anything to do is incredibly boring though, and when Gerty goes away to take care of other things, Sam leaves the bed by walking on weak legs. He's about to turn around a corner when he overhears Gerty reporting to two people on Earth through a supposedly-impossible live feed, but it hangs up as soon as it hears Sam arrive.

Gerty pretends it had just been recording a message as usual and sends Sam back to bed since he can barely stand on his feet, and Sam lets the subject go because his head still hurts from the crash. A few days pass full of tests that irritate Sam, but he isn't allowed to go back to work until he's completely fine.

As soon as he checks on his chores he notices one of the harvesters isn't working but Gerty doesn't let him go check on it, instead, he sends a message to Earth to ask how they should proceed.

That night, Sam dreams of Tess again, but this time it turns into a nightmare when he sees the deplorable version of himself at the end of the bed trying to reach out to him. When the reply to Gerty's message finally arrives it comes with orders that forbid Sam from leaving the base since it could be a risk after the accident.

Gerty follows orders to a tee and doesn't let him even approach a door either, which irritates Sam because it feels like they're treating him like a kid. Taking the matter into his own hands, Sam uses his carving knife to manufacture a problem and then convinces Gerty to let him out to check if something hit the outer shell under the promise he won't go far.

Sam doesn't keep his word and takes a rover to the broken harvester, where he finds the crashed rover from the accident. There's something more he didn't expect: someone is inside this rover, and when he takes a closer look, Sam is shocked to discover his face.

Without hesitation, Sam picks up the body and takes it back to the base, where Gerty also calls this other guy Sam and takes him to the infirmary to take care of his injuries. When Sam 1 wakes up later, he remembers the accident and the mysterious girl that caused it, but Gerty tells him to sleep and rest because they can discuss things later.

Sam 2 watches from afar, not interfering for now and keeping himself busy with the usual chores, although Tess' latest message isn't very encouraging because she confesses she needs time to think about their relationship.

Sometime later when Sam 1 finally feels well enough to leave the bed, he sees Sam 2 in the rec room and immediately freaks out, thinking he's losing his mind. Gerty explains both of them are Sam, and that it hasn't told Earth that Sam 1's body has been retrieved alive, they still think he died in the accident.

Overwhelmed by this whole deal, Sam 1 takes a shower and changes before approaching Sam 2 to discuss the matter. Sam 2 thinks they're both clones, but Sam 1 refuses to believe it because he's sure he's the original. Since Sam 2 is constantly tense and isn't that interested in talking about this, Sam 1 goes back to his usual chores, although he does take a moment to thank Sam 2 for saving his life and eventually convinces him to play ping pong together.

When Sam 1 begins working on the diorama again, Sam 2 asks him about the process, and Sam 1 confesses not remembering building all of it, only the latest buildings, which Sam 2 recognizes from their hometown.

He remembers Tess too but he doesn't know about Eve - for Sam 2, this is the beginning of his three-year contract, and Eve hasn't been born yet. One afternoon, a message comes from Earth informing them they're sending a rescue unit ahead of schedule to fix the broken harvester, they'll be there in fourteen hours.

Sam 1 thinks this is his chance to go home, just in time too because he looks sicker every day, but Sam 2 finds the idea laughable: there's no way they'll take a clone back to Earth. Furious, Sam 1 yells at him and reminds him he's the original, but Sam 2 doesn't believe him.

He thinks there must've been more clones and they aren't the first ones to wake up, that's why the diorama had already been started when Sam 1 found it. There has to be some secret room where they hide the extra copies of Sam, which would explain how Sam 2 showed up so quickly in the infirmary after the crash.

Lunar Industries hasn't even fixed the live feed yet, which proves they're cheap twats that will do anything to save money including cloning the same man over and over instead of hiring regular humans with working rights.

Sam 1 thinks it's all a paranoid theory because he's been working on this base for three years and has never found a secret room, so he sticks to his chores while a furious Sam 2 searches the entire building to no avail.

The only place he hasn't looked is under the table with the diorama but Sam 1 refuses to move it, and this triggers an argument that ends up in a physical fight. Since Sam 1 isn't well, it isn't hard for Sam 2 to overpower him and push the diorama away, but there's nothing underneath.

After taking care of his injuries, Sam 1 goes to talk to Gerty, asking if he is a clone. Gerty confirms that he's indeed a copy with the memories of the original Sam implanted in his mind.

Overwhelmed with sadness and questioning his entire existence, Sam 1 goes to his room to spend some time with a picture of Tess. Sometime later in the kitchen, Sam 2 apologizes for having lost his temper, although Sam 1 keeps interrupting him by playing music because he still dislikes the guy.

After throwing the music player away, Sam 2 shares the fact he wasn't supposed to rescue Sam 1 and that Gerty had a live feed conversation behind his back, so communications being broken is a lie: they just don't want any Sam to contact Earth on their own.

Sam 1 still refuses to believe that the company has been tricking them all this time, but Sam 2 thinks the signal blocker may be nearby, and Sam 1 accepts to go out to help him look for it. The Sams take two rovers and drive in opposite directions, crossing for the first time the working perimeters that they weren't supposed to leave.

This allows them to find two antennas that are working as jammers, confirming the fact the signal is being blocked on purpose. At that moment, Sam 1 begins to feel extremely sick and rushes back to the base, where he throws up blood and even loses a tooth.

Starting to suspect what is going on, Sam 1 goes to the computer and tries to access old logs, but he's denied access. Because Gerty is programmed to help Sam with anything he needs, it comes forward and unlocks the logs for him, allowing him to find recordings of sick-looking Sams like the one he had thought he imagined many days ago.

There's no actual contract, three years is the time that it takes the cloned bodies to deteriorate. When their time runs out and they enter the hibernation chamber, they fall asleep thinking they'll be sent home but they're incinerated.

While Sam 2 finds more jammers outside the perimeter and takes note of the coordinates, Sam 1 goes to investigate the room with the hibernation chamber and finds a panel on the floor that he force-opens with the help of a tool, finally finding the infamous secret room.

When Sam 2 returns, the two men go down there together and find a huge area filled with thousands of sleeping clones. The sheer number of them freaks Sam 1 out, making him wonder how long this has been going on and giving him an idea.

After picking up a portable computer, Sam 1 takes a rover outside the base perimeter, and by leaving the jammers behind, he manages to call home. Surprisingly, the one picking up is the teenage girl from his hallucinations, who turns out to be a fifteen-year-old Eve.

When Sam 1 asks for Tess, Eve explains she died a couple of years ago, but then Sam 1 pushes with more questions and scares the girl, who calls for her father off-screen.

Worried about possibly seeing his real self, Sam 1 hangs up and breaks down in tears. By the time he returns to the base, Sam 1 can barely stand or talk, but he does tell Sam 2 that he thinks the rescue unit will kill them if they find them together.

After sending Sam 1 to bed so he can rest, Sam 2 checks on the portable computer and finds the call logs, getting to see teenage Eve as well and going through the same breakdown Sam 1 did.

Sam 2 accepts Sam 1 is right, they'll be killed if found together, and he comes up with a plan to save himself and his companion. This plan requires a third clone, and while at first Gerty refuses to wake up another one when there's a functioning Sam right here already, Sam 2 changes its mind by pointing out that Gerty must protect them from death.

Moments later, when Sam 1 wakes up, he finds the new clone sleeping in the infirmary and Sam 2 explains his plan: they'll put Sam 3 in the crashed rover as the rescue unit expects, and Sam 1 shall hide in the helium-3 transporter, that way he will be taken to Earth as he was cargo.

Sam 2 will stay here and do his three years like he's supposed to. Hours pass while they wait for the rescue unit to arrive, but Sam 1 is getting worse by the second and comes to terms with the fact he won't survive a trip to Earth, there's also the issue of him not being comfortable with the idea of killing Sam 3 just for the sake of their escape.

The plan is still good, it just needs a few changes: Sam 1 will go back to the crashed rover since he's about to die anyway, and Sam 2 can be the one to go home while Sam 3 can stay in the base when he finally wakes up.

Sam 2 is touched by the gesture and drives Sam 1 to the crashed rover while chatting about their memories of Tess to keep the mood from being completely depressing.

Unfortunately, Sam 1 falls unconscious before they can say goodbye, and Sam 2 makes sure to be extra gentle when he moves his friend's body into the crashed rover.

Once he's done, Sam 2 returns to the base, where Gerty points out a problem in the plan: everything that has happened is recorded in his database. Luckily Gerty also has a solution, offering to delete it all and reboot himself because he still wants to be of help.

Sam 2 accepts the offer and when there are only twenty minutes left before the arrival of the rescue unit, he says his final goodbye to Gerty and triggers the deletion before grabbing a canister of helium-3 to take with him to have funds when he gets home.

He also programs a harvester to crash against the jammers, that way Sam 3 can use the live feed when he awakens. By the time the rescue unit arrives, Sam 2 is hiding in the cargo transporter and Sam 3 is waking up to Gerty's welcome speech.

The rescue unit finds Sam 1's body later and the plan is a total success, now Sam 2 gets to live a normal life on Earth after learning he was the sixth clone to wake up and give his testimony about Lunar Industries' unethical practices, which causes the company's stock to plummet.