A new energy source holds the promise to change the world. If it doesn't kill it first. It's called zero point energy, and it really exists - a state of energy contained in all matter everywhere, and all but unlimited. Nobody has ever found a way to tap into it, however. Until one scientist discovers a way. Or at least he thinks he has. The problem is, his machines also cause great earthquakes, even fissures in tectonic plates. One machine is buried deep underground; the other submerged in a vast ocean trench. If Kurt Austin, Joe Zavala and the rest of the NUMA team aren't able to find and destroy them - and soon - the world will be on the threshold of a new era of catastrophe and unchecked volcanism.

Clive Eric Cussler (born July 15, 1931 in Aurora, Illinois)is an American adventure novelist and marine archaeologist.