the sentient planet

A little while ago I had an intriguing science fiction dream. I don't normally dream about the future - my dreams normally feature me as I am now in the emotionally-loaded landscapes of my past, like school or old houses.

In my dream, I was one of the colonists on a new planet. The planet seemed like paradise - it was lush, green, perfectly adjusted to human life. But there was something strange about it. We soon realised that this planet took the Gaia principle to extreme proportions. Rather than emanating a vague sense of spiritual presence, as Earth does, this celestial body was fully conscious and fully sapient.

At first we thought we were going mad, until we realised the radiant presence in our minds was the planet, learning to communicate with us. As we started to settle there, it became apparant that the planet was willing to cater to our every need. We never went wanting. Had it been lonely for so long that it wanted to spoil us like a beloved pet? Or had it been inhabited before, until something dreadful happened? We wondered if we would ever find out. It may well not have always been inhabitable by humans. As we learned more about it, it seemed more probable that its balanced atmosphere and gravity were produced in response to our needs.

As we lived together the planet became more and more adept at predicting our needs. It started to provide for us before we even realised we were lacking something. It was a bit creepy, but most of the colonists welcomed it.

Except me. I, being kinky, had all sorts of desires I didn't necessarily want to be realised. In its desire to cater to our every whim, I often found myself violently assaulted by nature. As I was walking through the forests, branches of trees would reach down, sweep me up, and vines would wrap around my limbs to hold me in place while another tree dealt me a stinging whipping with the thin ends of its branches. I couldn't escape. The planet was right: I did want and need to be spanked. But my fantasies are always more extreme than what I wanted to experience in reality. My deepest desires were being plucked out of my brain and imposed on me, whether I wanted them to be or not.

It seemed like a nice place to visit - but I wouldn't want to live there.