THE OUTSIDERS OF ERDE

Many lives are lost at sea every year. Large ships, small boats, sailing ships, fishing vessels, and aircraft of all types and sizes have disappeared over the centuries. Some were lost in bad weather, some when the weather was perfect, some leaving behind the wreckage of their misfortune, some seemingly vanishing into the air or water. Oftentimes, even when there was wreckage, bodies were not recovered. It is quite easy to conclude that the dead and missing have simply gone on to a watery grave, leaving behind only the question of what happens to the soul at death. John Dryden had an interesting observation concerning that question. He said, "To die is landing on some distant shore."

If you agree with Larry Kusche, author of The Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved, there is little doubt as to the final resting place of the men of Flight 19, or the Cyclops, or any of the other ships or aircraft mentioned in Mr. Kusche's book. As one reviewer noted, "This is the only book you can get that has trustworthy information about the ships that were lost in the Bermuda Triangle. Everything else is soaked with fiction."

I have to admit that in the last 200 years we've gained much information about life. So much so that now we can even clone it. But we can't produce life from scratch - from nothing. Nor do we have any idea of what happens when life ends. No more than we did 5,000 years ago. So if we must bathe ourselves in trustworthy information, I suggest we do it with a grain of salt. Even Mr. Kusche admits there are issues concerning the disappearances of ships and aircraft that are still beyond the scope of our knowledge. Perhaps John Dryden is closer to the truth then many realize.

You could say my work is about Mr. Dryden's "distant shore."

The idea of a planet that sustains human life in the same manner as Earth and is somehow connected to our world is not new. Other authors have traveled this ground before myself - the film Stargate for example. But instead of shifting from one side known universe to another via some technological portal, people travel from Earth to Erde via that very spiritual substance known to us simply as water.

Have no doubts that water has always been considered a spiritual medium. Edgar Cacey, for example, was told in one of his "readings" that he should locate his psychic hospital near water because such a location would enhance his psychic abilities. He chose Virginia Beach, Virginia. Even that most spiritual of events, Christian baptism, takes place in water.

What did that first person from Earth find after traveling through the water to this "distant shore?" About the same kind of physical circumstances that they left behind, I imagine. Life was pretty much the same. As year stacked up upon year it became apparent that they didn't age very much. They reproduced, both with each other and with the indigenous peoples of Erde. Their offspring, however, lived only the same approximately seven score years as their friends and relatives back on the good old Earth.

Is it possible that humans could live for hundreds of years? Prior to the great flood, the Bible tells us that people lived to ages exceeding 900 years. We know that our world is built upon physical laws. It is a world of order, not of disorder. What if the flood changed not only certain physical aspects of the land, but also changed the very framework of the physical laws that allowed humans to live over 100 years?

I would think that the physical laws of Erde must be slightly different than the physical laws here. Humans birthed in either place are able to live approximately 75 years. But humans who have traveled from one place to the other find themselves able to exist for over 900 years. This must be due to the physical laws that cause the breakdown of cells.

What are they like, these OutSiders of Erde who live so long? How does a person with a lifespan of 900 years differ from a person who feels fortunate to live 100 years? Surely their outlook on life must change dramatically. Especially since they must watch their wives and children exit life well before themselves, perhaps many times over.

What kind of world would such a people craft? Bringing their knowledge of Earthly morals, religion, and technology with them, what would they keep and what might they discard? What elements of this knowledge would they allow other OutSiders who came after them to keep? What would they force them to discard? What knowledge might they possess that is different from our own? Knowledge that they discovered and we have not, or that they have improved upon and we have not? The possibilities are certainly staggering.

The history of the OutSiders of Erde is similar to our own. It is filled with the rise of local governments, of conquest, of nationalization, of the rise and fall of empires. Of greed and a lust for power. This is the world that Captain Benjamin Spooner Briggs entered when his ship, the Mary Celeste, entered the realm of mystery in the waters off the Azores in December of 1872. This is when Captain Briggs became an OutSider, a member of the Empire of Uppsala. He certainly found himself on a "distant shore."