Deacon Synapse, a youthful scientist of unprecedented genius, has gone missing and his associate, Dr. Sinnae Mensch, has gone insane, confined to a giant asylum on the inhospitable planet of Tonto. Both of the scientists were engaged in a maverick, highly secretive research project, and now the authorities want Synapse - and whatever he has discovered - in their grasp. Millions of lives are at stake, or so the Government says...

Once again Max is called upon his to use his superlative skills in deductive resoning to track down the absconded genius, and once again Max finds himself with an unexpected companion in the form of the universally famous and exquisitely beautiful actress, Rose Saturn. What, they woner, is the mysterious Deus Crystal that is somehow implicated in the whole affair and where in the universe can the elusive Deacon Synapse be?