The entire crew of the whaling ship “Princess” is overtaken by a deadly strain of in influenza. They barely make it into a cove of a small Micronesian island before the Captain and First Mate pass out. When they wake days later they find they are weak but miraculously cured of their deadly disease. They all go on to live very long lives and remain free of any sickness at all, even the common cold. The natives on this island were known as healers. They used the nematocysts of the giant Medusa jellyfish. The sting of the Medusa only paralyzes its prey and contains chemicals to protect the prey from any disease until the Medusa can consume it. The cure-all discovered by these ancient Micronesian priests was lost, however, from the world when they and their entire civilization was wiped out by the Europeans.
Jumping ahead to modern day NUMA is called in to find out what happened to a very large undersea lab that simply disappeared. The lab had been working feverishly on a vaccine for a deadly form of influenza that the Chinese government were attempting to hold in check. If this virus managed to spread it would kill millions around the world with the disastrous potential of wiping out mankind entirely.
As the story develops and Kurt Austin digs around we find that an evil Chinese pharmaceutical company with branches worldwide in many other industries had developed this as a synthetic virus. Their intent in loosing it in China was to cause massive chaos and revolt by the people. When hundreds of thousands had died the company (“Triad”) would step in and offer the cure. The Triad would then take over the power of the country and all of its wealth. They then would be able to use the virus to blackmail the rest of the world and dominate all wealth and power worldwide.
Kurt and Joe Zavala, two of NUMA’s best, discover the ex-soviet nuclear submarine that the Triad used to tow the lab away. They dive to the 300 foot depth of the lab break in and save the scientists who had been forced at gunpoint by Triad thugs to continue their production of the vaccine for Triad. Kurt and Joe overpower the guards and free the scientists. Next the two agents dive to the submarine and manage to get onboard through the escape air locks. The enlist the help of the soviet crew who had been forced at gunpoint to use the vessel for the Triad. The crew and two agents overpower all the guards and take over the submarine.
Finally, Kurt takes on the task of ridding the world of the three triplet Chinese evil leaders of the Triad. Each is put out of business. Kurt and Joe return to the civilized world where they have each earned the affection of a beautiful woman with whom to celebrate.
Another fine Cussler production, I give Medusa a 9 of 10 on the Weaver meter.
