All language subtitles for One.Step.Beyond.s2.22..The.Explorer

- The amazing drama
you are about to see

is a matter of human record.

You may believe it or not.

But the real people who lived
this story, they believe it.

They know.

They took that one step beyond.

(dramatic music)

From the time of Erik
the Red and Leif Erikson

to the present, the
exploration of the unknown

parts of the world has held
a particular fascination

for the Scandinavians.

The Vikings visited China
centuries before Marco Polo,

and Leif Erikson set
foot in the New World

quite a long time
before Columbus.

The name Amundsen
is an important part

in the history of
polar exploration.

All brave men who venture
into uncharted waters,

who cross unmapped
lands, sooner or later

make this discovery:
there are two worlds,

the known world which can
be mapped and charted,

and that other world which
lies just beyond the mapmakers.

Our story begins
here in the home

of Felix Borgner,
geography teacher.

(doorbell ringing)

- Marta, the door.

(doorbell ringing)

Where is she?

Yes?

Dr. Hansen.

- And you're Mr. Borgner.

- Yes.

- May I come in?

- Of course.

- Thank you.

- What am I thinking,
please forgive me.

It is just the, the
surprise of seeing so famous

a man as yourself
here in Arenburg.

Won't you sit down?

- Thank you.

- Please.

May I ask, what brings
you to Arenburg?

- I came to see you.

- Me?

- You are Felix Borgner,
teacher of geography

of the common school?

- Yes, but,

does it concern the letter
I wrote to the Academy,

suggesting that more
courses of map-making be--

- No, it concerns your son.

- I have no son.

He's dead.

- Yes.

Eric is dead.

- You know his name?

- I knew him, Mr. Borgner.

- You--

- Felix, was that the bell?

I was sweeping the carpet.

Oh.

- May I introduce you to
my wife, Mrs. Bornger.

This is Dr. Einar Hansen.

- The Dr. Hansen?

- Yes.

- Oh.

- Does that distress you?

- Oh, no, it's, it's
only that my boy,

my Eric, oh he idolized you so.

If he could have seen you.

- He did.

That is why I am here.

- Oh, but ...

- Yes, but please go
ahead, Dr. Hansen.

- May I smoke?

- Oh yes, please do.

- Thank you.

Thank you.

As you know, our expedition

into the Sahara
began disastrously.

Our supplies were
late in arriving,

and as a result we had
difficulty in getting the guide

because it was nearly
the beginning of the
sandstorm season.

West of Arowan the
wind began to rise.

Of the 10 in our party, seven
decided to return to our base.

That left Professor Andersson,
Gus Carpus, and myself.

We had a native
guide and a camel.

We decided to press
on toward Kiefa.

The next evening ...

(dramatic music)

- Hassim!

(gun fires)

- Ilius.

Our Arab friend has just
resigned his position as guide.

Why, Andersson, why?

- Because he's a fool.

- Einar, I only
meant to frighten.

- Likewise our faithful camel.

- I hope you
realize the position

your bright young
professor's put is in now.

Well, do you intend to stand
here all night, doctor?

- What do you suggest, Gus?

- Go after the camel, of course.

- On foot?

- And what do you
suggest, doctor?

Are we supposed to wait until
the sand covers his tracks?

- He's right, Einar.

I don't look
forward to the walk.

- You two can stay
here if you like,

but where we are now,

all your money, all your glory,

won't get us more
water when we need it.

(dramatic music)

- Andersson, stop it now.

- I'll kill you for this.

- No, you'll thank him.

He saved your life.

- I'll take care of my own life.

- Once the sun came
up, you would not last

three hours without water.

You should know that, Gus.

- So we wait here until
we die, is that it?

But we'll last longer because

we're near the water
bag, is that it?

Not me, I'm going.

- We go together.

But not tonight, though.

- Why not tonight?

- Listen.

Wind is coming up.

We've got to move our shelter

to the lee side of
that dune and now.

By morning there's
going to be a sandstorm.

- You sure the wind will blow

the same way all night, doctor?

(wind howling)

(Gus coughing)

- My throat.

- No, we haven't
got water to waste.

- Why, you just tell me.

- Now that water's going to
have to last us a long time.

- Take your hands off me.

- Now Gus, it's gonna be
shared, and shared alike.

No extra rations.

Agreed?

- Agreed.

- Gus?

(Arabian music)

- Everything looks so different.

There was a hill there.

- You can't use sand dunes
for landmarks, professor.

- No, they're like
the ocean waves.

But those do not change.

We'll do our walking at night.

We steer down that cluster.

- I'll start getting
out the equipment.

- All right.

- Why west?

- Well why not?

It's impossible to go back.

We keep going in
one direction we

might come to a well,
an oasis, a caravan.

- Or we might not.

- That's right.

We might not.

- [Einar Voiceover] For 10
days we walked by night,

carrying with us the food
and water that were all

that stood between
us and starvation,

and the canvas that offered
us a measure of shelter

from the cruel heat that made
daytime movement unthinkable.

Distance is hard to
estimate in the desert.

By my own rough calculations,
we had traveled perhaps

50 miles, toward help we hoped,

away from it, I feared.

In any event, our situation
was becoming worse.

It was necessary to reduce
the ration from one biscuit

per day and a cup of water
to one half that amount.

We were becoming weaker.

Finally, just before
dawn, on the 10th day.

- What are you stopping before?

We still got an
hour before light.

- We're going to
gamble that last hour.

- Gamble?

On what?

- Shut up and he'll tell you.

- Don't talk to me.

- Be quiet, both of you.

Got to get help.

On top of a little rise,

fire can be seen for miles.

I've been saving
possession boxes.

- What makes you think
anybody will see it?

- But it is possible, a caravan,

another explorer, even
some nomadic native.

- And if this nomadic
individual does see it,

can you say for sure they'll
come and investigate?

- No, but I can say for sure

what will happen to
us if he doesn't.

- What is it?

- Look, look.

(Arabian music)

- [Einar Voiceover]
And it was there, sir,

that I first met your son.

He knew the desert as no
man has ever known it,

its topography,
geological structure,

and its history, and he told us

that we were wrong to go west,

that there was a well
40 miles to the south.

When he cited an ancient
Phoenician geographer

who had described the
well, we did not think

to question him, we simply
did as he suggested.

- Gus.

- Take this.

It is the tower of the sun.

These markings, it's Babylonian.

- It's just as you said, Eric.

You saved us.

- Not I.

I relied on what Daxes wrote,

nearly 30 centuries ago.

- Eric, Eric, how far
from here to the well?

- Two miles, three perhaps.

Even in this heavy sand
we should make it by dawn.

If we get started.

- Gus!

Come.

(dramatic music)

- It isn't fair.

We came so far.

It's his fault.

He told us to go south.

He's killed us all,
the murderous fool!

- Gus, it's no one's fault.

Eric.

- Daxes came here
from what he called

the Lake of the Camels.

- So 3,000 years ago
there was a lake,

and there was also a well.

- And 500 years later,
Herodotus spoke of

the animals' watering place.

If that lake lasted
for five centuries,

perhaps it lasted
for 30 centuries.

- Where?

- Further south.

- How much further south.

- I don't know.

Perhaps 60 miles.

Perhaps a hundred.

- Perhaps a thousand.

- You need not give up.

If we reduce the
water ration ...

- The water ration?

It's reduced.

I drank it.

I drank almost all of it,

while you fools were holding

your celebration at the tower.

Why not?

It was close to the well.

I was so dry inside.

Why doesn't somebody
say something?

Why doesn't somebody
say too bad?

It wasn't our fault.

Bad luck.

Bad luck!

I'll find you more water.

I'll find you more water,
I'll find you more water.

- Gus.
- More water.

- Gus, Gus.

- [Einar Voiceover] I can
hardly remember what followed.

I knew we headed south again,

on a ration of one ounce
of water per man per day.

In the end, it was Eric
whose strength failed.

- You want some water?

- It's not time.

- Please, take mine.

I had more than my share before.

- Your body doesn't
remember that, Gus.

- Please.

- Don't make me waste
my strength arguing.

I want to talk to Dr. Hansen.

- Eric, I would like
you to forgive me.

He wants to talk to you.

- All right.

- Doctor, in case
I don't make it.

- You will.

- In case,

the Devil's Body, the
Devil's Body still has water.

The map, follow
the map carefully.

- I will.

- Doctor, remember my name.

I told you my father
teaches geography

in a village school of Arenburg.

- I would like to
meet him someday.

- You will.

Tell him what happened.

- We will.

We all will,
including you, Eric.

We'll go together.

- Perhaps, doctor.

- Now, get some sleep.

- You too, doctor.

(Arabian music)

- Eric?

Eric?

Gus, Andersson.

He's gone.

He was a boy, a man rather,

who did what he
decided was right.

He never reproached
Gus who drank the water

that might have saved him.

He might be here in
Arenburg now if--

- He is.

- He is alive?

- My son died

last summer,
September 9th, 1910,

at the age of--

- How do you know the date?

- At the age of 22.

You never laid eyes on my
boy in his entire life.

- Do you think I'd make
up a story like this?

- Felix, whatever this is, I
believe he has told the truth.

- But how can it be possible?

- Perhaps some
other boy, who used

Eric's name for some reason.

- Perhaps, but it wasn't Eric.

This is our friend and
doctor, Heinrich Swansen.

He brought Eric into this world,

he took care of him
all his short life.

I want him to tell ...

Tell him, Heinrich.

- From the beginning,
the boy suffered

from a spinal disorder.

At about age 6, a
progressive paralysis set in,

affecting at first only
the lower part of his body.

At the age of 12, he
lost the use of his legs.

He never regained
his power to walk.

- What?

- For the last 10
years of his life,

Eric Borgner never
left that bed.

- But, but it is impossible.

I am here, Gus and
Andersson are alive.

We are the living proof.

- May I say something?

What Dr. Swansen
has said is true,

and yet not true.

- Now Mrs. Borgner,
I do not follow you.

- His body was confined,
but his spirit was free.

- It wasn't his spirit
that walked with us.

- His books took him everywhere,

to China with Marco Polo,

around the world with Magellan.

He called himself an explorer.

Yes, Eric's poor body
never left that bed,

but Eric himself,

Eric was an explorer.

- What Dr. Hansen says he saw

is impossible.

- Who supplied us
with the information
that saved our lives?

- The desert does
strange things.

Couldn't it have been a
sort of mass hallucination?

The others expected
you as their leader,

they believed what you believed.

Is it impossible that
they saw what you saw,

by some process
akin to hypnosis?

- No, doctor, scientifically
it is not possible, no.

- May I speak to you
for a moment, doctor?

- Of course.

Will you excuse me.

- I am glad for you.

- What?

- Because in time you
will be able to believe

completely my explanation

that it all was a
mirage after all.

But what about me?

I mean, you have
answered something

which has caused me
many sleepless nights.

- Doctor, what do you mean?

- On the death certificate,
I wrote natural causes.

I dared not write on it what
he really died of, because,

well, it was
medically impossible.

- Doctor, what did he die of?

- In this room, in this bed,

with a pitcher of water
beside him on this table,

Eric died of dehydration.

- Thirst?

- Thirst,

as though he were in
the middle of a desert.

- Now doctor, is there
a picture of the boy?

- Yes.

- He was in the desert.

Doctor, don't ask
me how, but he was.

- Perhaps the doctor's
first theory was right.

Perhaps Einer Hansen
and his companions

only imagined that which
they said they saw,

mass hallucination, too
much heat, hysteria,

and too little water.

Perhaps.

But what about
the way Eric died?

Well, I'm sure we can
think of something logical,

can't we?

In a moment, something
about next week.

Next week, and every week,
we'll be bringing you

the personal records
of the rarest kind

of human experience,
man's adventure

in the world of the unknown,

that mysterious psychic
world beyond our five senses.

This is your invitation
to take with us

that astonishing
one step beyond.

(mysterious music)