Bill felt a strange sensation. Not pulling, or falling, but more as if he was growing larger and smaller simultaneously. On later reflection, he would liken it to what he'd read of Alice in Wonderland, but that was later.

When the sense of disorientation faded, Bill found himself suspended in a void. It wasn't black and empty, it was just nothing. He could feel his body and he could see, but there was just nothing to see.

As he was trying to orientate himself, the pressure that he'd felt started to grow steadily more intense; pushing on him. No, that wasn't right, pushing inside his brain. He suddenly realised that it was an internal, mental, pressure, not anything physical.

The more Bill became aware of the feeling, and focused on it more, the more he got a sense of ... presence. As if it was someone or something, that was causing the pressure.

With a sudden pop, like clearing your ears after a large change in altitude, the pressure diminished. Bill heaved a sigh of relief. It had been bordering on intense pain, which he hadn't truly realised until it stopped.

With the pressure fone, the sense of presence increased and Bill focused on it, slowly getting a clearer picture. One of vastness, strangely enough, feminine.

"Hello", Bill tried a little apprehensively, " Is there someone there?"

After a long pause, although he had no idea how long, there was no sense of time passing, a feeling separated from his internal thoughts. It had taken him a while to notice, to separate it from his own thoughts, his own internal monologue until it became clear it was something external, something foreign.

Bill waited, focusing on the presence quietly, somehow sure it would resolve itself eventually.

Afer some interminable time, the feeling turned into a sense of welcome, of greeting almost.

"Hello", Bill tried again. Less unsure this time. More directed.

Now the presence seemed to focus and clarify. After some time the words formed in his head.

"Hello Bill"

Whoah. Although he'd been expecting it in some way, this was a complete rewiring of his entire world view. All the impossible things he'd ever heard or read about suddenly became possible. The idea of mind-to-mind communication was the underpinning of all the ideas of "powers". ESP. Mind Powers. Extra-terrestials. With a wrench, Bill stopped his spiralling thoughts.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Who are you? How do you know my name?"

Now there was a faster response, a clearer sense of the presence and slowly starting to bleed through were emotions. Amusement. She, because whatever else she was, she was clearly female, was amused. For a second Bill was offended, then shrugged that off. Not only was it petty and irrelevant, but he was also acting the fool.

"May I know who you are?" Bill had made the almost unconscious decision to be deferential. This wasn't the time or place for making mistakes. Close Encounters came to mind. First Contact. All the movies and books that he'd read, all rushing to the forefront.

After a pause, there was a shift and suddenly Bill felt the presence withdraw slightly, and instead words started forming.

"I've spent some time observing you and learning how to communicate with you. It's been a very long time since I've done so with humans. You can probably best think of me as Gaia."

"Gaia! Some sort of Goddess?" Bill thought to himself. He was immediately proven wrong. It seemed he didn't have a "himself" to think to.

"I'm not exactly what you think of as a Goddess, although many others have made that same mistake. I'm more, natural than supernatural. In some ways I AM nature."

"Oh". Bill was really struggling with this conversation. He had so many questions but was so nervous about making a mistake that he couldn't think of a single one to ask.

"Don't worry. I understand what my presence can do to a human brain. I've been somnolent for many years but woken recently. There are many more people around now than there were before. In spite of that, I have had trouble finding just the right type of person, with the right type of brain, to communicate with. Then you spent time here and I had time to make a connection with you."

I was flattered and a little scared at the same time. What made me the person suited for this?

"May I ask what it is that you want? I mean not to be rude or anything ... "

I got amusement again.

"It's good that you are exactly who you are. Sceptical, tough, flexible. It's exactly what I need."

"Ok, that's great to hear. Really flattering too, but what exactly is it that you need?"

"I'm in pain."

"Pain? I'm trying to figure out where you are, what you are. If you feel pain, does that mean you have a body?"

"I can see I owe you a fuller explanation. I get the sense that it will be a lot easier now than it was in previous years because of the discoveries that you have made, you humans I mean. You understand that silicon is a material that under certain conditions can be used to store and move information?"

"Yes, you mean like a computer?"

"Exactly. My consciousness, my mind if you will, is only possible because of the vast amounts of silicon and other materials. You can think of me as a giant computer, what computers would become if they had the resources that I have."

I took a few moments. This wasn't something easy to process. "The World, the whole world, is your body/mind?" I concluded eventually.

"Yes. And humans are destroying it. They have destroyed the balance. I have to reset the balance. I've done it before, but this time I hope not to have to destroy almost all the sentient life..."