“You tell that bastard that if he doesn’t come to Loki’s Breastplate, I’ll ground him so that anyone who transports him will not just be prosecuted but fined and punished. He has to get here now!”

Gage heard Benediction screaming on the other end of Tuton’s communication link.

“As you can hear, his lordship is quite desperate for your return, Gage,” Tuton said, adopting a more formal pattern of speech for the head of the Church of Voynich.

“Huh. Yeah, I hear that. Let me just talk that over with my compatriots,” Gage replied before turning off his comm device.

“I hate that guy, even more than this guy,” Heretic said flatly while pointing a thumb at Testament.

“I’m inclined to face it,” Gage said. “I hate this, all of this, but I could have turned away when I saw the tunnel, but I didn’t because I wanted to stop this horrible cycle. I still want to do that, so I’m inclined to go back to the crack and explain our sides of the story. What do you guys think?”

“I think Benediction is at the heart of all this and if we go back, we’ll learn that, but somehow we’ll end up back in that underground hell hole. They’ll gas us or something and we’ll all wake up on the carpet with sore heads,” Heretic voiced. “So I’d rather you dropped me off here and I wandered the sands of Io until my face becomes as pink as that girl’s and no one wants me anymore.”

“Testament?” Gage asked.

“I think it’s Leviticus and if we leave we’ll miss the sweet moment where old Levi gets his just desserts. We should go back,” Testament said smoothly.

“I am willing to drop you off here if you want,” Gage offered Heretic, who was in the front passenger seat while Testament squished himself between the seats to make himself heard. “For my own part, I want all this to be over and if I can’t leave Io, it can’t be over. Mummify yourself for all I care.”

Heretic cursed. “Just go. Let’s just go and see what the hell is wrong with all of us.”

Gage lifted the Danger Zone into the air and they rode in silence until a barrage of speculation escaped their lips.

When they finally reached Loki’s Breastplate, Gage opened the side hatch as quietly as he could. He did not want Iona trapped inside if anything should happen to them. “Can you hear me?” he whispered to Iona.

“Yes.”

“Then make sure to listen to what is said so you know when we’re close to leaving.” Gage stepped away from the Danger Zone and stood in a line with Heretic and Testament.

Benediction had Leviticus stretched across the fissure in exactly the same manner Iona had been, except this time, the crack was wide open and only his head and his ankles were on the rocks. The rest of him hung over open space. It was even funnier because they were bracing the crack open and wreckers were going in and out of the space beside Leviticus. He put his feet on the ledge and pushed his head up higher.

“Okay,” Benediction said, bending over the hanging Leviticus. “Now let me try asking you a few questions.”

Leviticus looked horrible. The bags under his eyes were the size of waterskins, his face was gray and his eyes were bloodshot.

Benediction started his questioning. “Why did you say that Apostate killed Testament and Heretic? They are both here and Apostate has a perfect alibi. Explain!”

“I was told that was what happened,” he refuted, his voice hoarse.

“By whom?” Benediction continued.

When Leviticus didn’t reply, Benediction kicked him. “Wanna try that again?”

“Raylynn,” he rasped, and the moment he did an electric shock buzzed through his body starting at his ankles.

“He’s wearing a slave anklet,” Gage observed dryly. “We need to cut it off him.”

Benediction snapped his fingers and a few of his soldiers leaped into action pulling up Levitucus’ pant legs and untying his boots only to find no such anklet.

“If it’s not an anklet, it’s the size of a coin under his skin. You’re going to have to dig it out,” Gage observed dryly.

Benediction was on the other side of the crack from Gage and the others. He leaned over Leviticus and said harshly. “Theology and I both have licenses to help you get your electric plug out. Would you rather have me cut it out or him?”

“Gage!” Leviticus screamed. “Don’t cut it out. It’ll trigger a reaction. I’ll lose my foot and it will blow up in your face.” He received another shock.

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“Then you will have to answer our questions while receiving the shocks. If you answer well, I will see that you are released from slavery. We don’t do that here on Io.”

“Don’t ask me any more questions!” Leviticus screamed with tears streaming down his face. “I might lose my foot anyway.”

Gage bent over and pulled off Leviticus’ sock. His entire foot was much blacker than Gage’s hand had ever been. How many electric shocks had he taken over how many years?

“Wait a second,” Gage said, feeling in Leviticus’ ankles. “He has two in both ankles.”

“Two?” Benediction barked, disbelievingly. “In worlds where slavery is legal, only one shock bracelet with one shocking device is allowed.”

“Yeah, he shouldn’t have four. Tuton?” Gage called, looking around for the wrecker.

He came up quickly. “Do you have a utility knife on your belt?”

“Yeah.”

“Give it to me.”

“You can’t do that!” Benediction hollered. “He’ll get an infection.”

“He’ll get an infection,” Gage mimicked meanly, taking the knife from Tuton. “Don’t strap people to rocks on a volcano that are likely to be ripped apart and then cry about an abundance of white blood cells. It’s stupid.”

Benediction looked down at Gage like he could kill him, but said nothing.

Gage continued. “I have a device under the skin in my wrists that scrambles the circuit boards on these kinds of battery packs. My hands close to his ankles should help me remove the devices without the risk that they’ll explode and take off his feet. Relax.”

“I’m stretched over a hole. How do you expect me to relax? How do you even expect me to stay still?” Leviticus whined.

Benediction seemed to grab a brain and ordered a stretcher placed under Leviticus to help him stay steady as Gage ran a lighter under the blade of the utility knife.

He caught Leviticus’ eye and looked at him pointedly. “This is what I’m going to do. I’m going to make a single cut over each device and then I’m going to pull it out. And you,” he said to Tuton. “Halt your boys from going back and forth for a minute. The things may explode once they lose proximity to the devices in my wrists.”

Tuton made the order and everyone backed off, except for the boys holding the stretcher in place. Benediction ordered the man at Leviticus’ head to clear off and he took his place.

“Do you know very much about Io?” Gage asked Leviticus softly.

He shook his head.

“Slavery is illegal here. Once I cut these out, you will be free.” He made the first incision.

Leviticus stayed still, obviously because he was used to extreme amounts of pain in his ankles and what Gage was doing to him was nothing new.

Gage pinched the skin and the silver coin-shaped device slid out like Gage had popped the nastiest zit in the world. He held it in his blood-coated fingers for a moment as he tried to think of what he ought to do with it. His first inclination was to throw it into the sand, but it might be linked to the other three. He knelt there stupidly for a second until Testament came up and ripped a pocket out from inside his white satin house coat.

“Put it in there,” Testament said, handing him the pocket and pulling the belt of his robe free from the loops. When it was loose he tied it around Leviticus’ calf, just above the ankle.

“Thank you,” Gage said as he slid the device into the pocket that he now held in his hand.

“Talk to him,” Gage advised Benediction as he turned over Leviticus’ ankle, so he could see the other side.

A quick cut there and the second device was out. Testament had already ripped the shoulder off his robe and was lashing the fabric around Leviticus’ bleeding ankle.

A minute later, all of them had been removed. Testament blotted the blood on the second ankle with his other sleeve and Gage used a loose thread to coil around the opening in the pocket. When it was secure, he threw it as far as he could into the desert.

It exploded.

“Are there any more devices in you?” Gage asked seriously.

“There are filters in my nose and throat,” he winced.

“Obviously. I put them in,” Gage replied, standing and wiping his bloody hands on his clothes. Gage motioned for Benediction to follow him as he moved closer to the Danger Zone. “You should unbind him and take him back to your mansion where you can give him antibiotics and bandage him properly. He should be a lot easier for you to question now. As for me, Benediction, there’s no story here for me. You know my story. I came here with Iona. We crashed. I went to Sleeping Beauty Inc. to try to find a way off-world, you took her for a gravity trial and I fell in the crack. I found those guys and Tuton fished us out. I went to Sleeping Beauty Inc. for something I had left here. It’s in a backpack on the Danger Zone. I want to leave. If you’ll let me leave with my backpack, I’ll be more than grateful.”

“What about Iona?” Benediction asked, chasing after Gage.

“What about her?” Gage asked back, his voice innocent.

“You’re just going to leave? I thought you said you loved her. How can you just leave if you love her?”

“Who said anything about leaving her? She’s at your place, right? She can travel with me if she likes. If she wants to stay here and be the queen of Io, or the goddess of Io, or the queen of Voynich. I forget which, she’s welcome to. I would never stand between her and what she wants.”

“Her face is messed up,” Benediction said. “I don’t think she’ll want to see you until she’s better.”

Gage laughed. “The Iona I know is so open about how badly she wants down my pants that I don’t think a chemical burn will keep her from what she wants. I wouldn’t sleep with her when I was her slave. Thanks for paving the way, buddy.”

Benediction went quiet.

Gage waited with bated breath while Benediction thought over what Gage said. The words Gage said to Benediction were planned. They were perfect for gauging his true intent.

Finally, the other man smiled and said, “Can you stay until after Leviticus has been questioned? I may need you to fill in some blanks.”

“Fine. There’s a recycling ship I was going to get on the day after tomorrow. If we can finish up before then, I can’t see any problem with that.”

“Great.”

Gage shook hands with Benediction and left a bloody smear on the other man’s hand.

Benediction looked at the bloody handprint in disgust.

“Sorry, I forgot about that,” Gage said cheerfully.