I’m skipping past some of the oh my god how is this possible talk after Riz introduced us to my alternate self. His name was Logan, which my mom had told me my dad had wanted to name me, only for her to veto it because it sounded like they were naming me after Logan Airport in Boston. I’m also pretty sure that Logan was so bombed that Riz could’ve introduced him to a cartoon character, and he would’ve said, yeah, sounds about right.

Logan warmed up real quick when he realized that we might be his ticket off this frozen wasteland. More on that later, too.

Just how did he and thirty or so other men get here? Here’s my best guess based on what he and Riz told me that night, then whatever else I could snoop by hanging out with some of the guys and reading between the lines.

They were all supposed to be stars.

Logan’s last superhero noir had netted the studio a few billion worldwide—never mind the toys, and licensing, and video games—so they’d basically given him a blank check for his next flick. I couldn’t believe how lucky he was. I couldn’t even imagine the kind of films I’d make if I had that freedom. Logan decided his follow-up would be an arty military space action-drama called The Jungles of Andromeda. But there were no more jungles in America and shooting in front of green screens was so unbearably over. Logan had a better idea: this would be the first film to shoot entirely on the moon.

The People’s Republic of Ménggǔ had offered to foot the production and host the entire crew in their new luxury hotel. They’d been trying to market a huge section of Luna One—their domed, terraformed habitat on the moon—as the newest over-the-top luxe travel destination and wanted the buzz of having a blockbuster filmed there. The studio had hesitated, at first, about following up Logan’s massive flick with a comparatively quiet film starring four leads and a bunch of background actors journeying on America’s first space battleshuttle to find a new homeland for their dying planet.

“That’s exactly the genius!” Logan had screamed in meetings. Think of the hype, the built-in marketing plan about the movie filming off-world. Never mind all the labor laws they could skirt in the legal gray area of another country’s satellite territory. Plus, he’d deserved a three-month shoot that would basically be a tropical vacation with a bunch of hot men.

He’d been really good at convincing people of things.