Science Fiction: Welcome to my Worlds

Leonides behavior was still an open wound, but the other was probably one of those who felt strongly women should be kept as cattle. He would be a problem even if Herophilus decided to keep silent.

Herophilus noticed her gaze on the guard. “I will speak nothing of your secret, little one.” He raised his voice and a steely note of threat crept in. “Neither will they, if they don’t wish to become the next subjects on my dissection table.” They didn’t move physically but their expressions changed to blank masks and Calixte could feel them cringe inside. She could feel Herophilus’ gaze on her again. “Perhaps you should move along now. You wouldn’t want to be tardy for your appointment with Tellus.”

Grateful for the escape, Calixte moved quickly down the hall away from Herophilus and the stench of his experiments. She had never met anyone she’d felt so ambivalent toward. It was probably stupid of her but she preferred bad people to be just plain bad.

The Archive was beginning to come alive now as others woke and resumed their studies or research in the tunnels below the main library. Several times she noticed things of interest in rooms along the way. One had wooden models of buildings and odd machines—she recognized a sort of catapult—and she was sorely tempted to stop and investigate, but she vigorously resisted the impulse and kept going. She had an idea of what Tellus looked