Editing Neuromancer (section)

==Plot==
[[File:Neuromancer Brazilian cover.jpg|thumb|upright|Cover of a Brazilian edition, depicting the "razorgirl" [[Molly Millions|Molly]]]]

Case is a low-level [[hustler]] in the dystopian [[Organized crime|underworld]] of [[Chiba (city)|Chiba City]], Japan. Once a talented [[hacker (computer security)|computer hacker]] and "console cowboy", Case was caught stealing from his employer, who retaliated by damaging Case's [[central nervous system]], leaving him unable to access the [[virtual reality]] [[Dataspaces|dataspace]] called the "matrix". Case is approached by [[Molly Millions|Molly]], an augmented "razorgirl" and [[mercenary]] on behalf of a shadowy US ex-military officer named Armitage, who offers to cure Case in exchange for his services as a hacker. Case undergoes the cure, but discovers that Armitage has sabotaged him with a time-delayed poison. If Case completes the job, Armitage will disarm the poison; if not, he will find himself crippled again.

Armitage has Case and Molly steal a [[Read-only memory|ROM]] module that contains the [[Mind transfer|saved consciousness]] of one of Case's mentors, legendary hacker McCoy Pauley. Suspicious of his motives and the unusual nature of the job, Molly and Case begin to investigate Armitage on the side. They discover that Armitage is actually Colonel Willis Corto, the only survivor of the failed anti-Soviet mission "Screaming Fist". He was returned to the United States for extensive psychotherapy and reconstructive surgery, but snapped after learning that the government had been aware the mission would likely fail and went ahead with it regardless. He killed his handler and disappeared into the criminal underworld, eventually resurfacing under the name Armitage.

In [[Istanbul]], the team recruits Peter Riviera, a [[Psychopathy|sociopathic]] thief and drug addict. The trail leads Case to Wintermute, an artificial intelligence created by the eccentric Tessier-Ashpool family. The Tessier-Ashpools spend their time in rotating [[cryonic]] preservation in their home, the Villa Straylight. The Villa is located on Freeside, a [[O'Neill cylinder|cylindrical space habitat]] which functions as a [[Las Vegas Strip|Las Vegas]]-style space resort for the wealthy.

Wintermute reveals itself to Case and explains that it is one half of a super-[[Artificial intelligence|AI]] entity planned by the family. It is programmed with a need to merge with its other half, Neuromancer, but because of the severe restrictions placed on AI programs by the Turing Registry, it cannot achieve this on its own. It has manipulated and recruited Armitage and his team to bring it into contact with Neuromancer, access to which is physically secured within the Villa Straylight. Case is tasked with entering cyberspace to pierce the software barriers around Neuromancer with an [[Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics|icebreaker]] program. Riviera is to obtain the password to the physical terminal from Lady 3Jane Marie-France Tessier-Ashpool, the only member of the family awake and at the Villa.

Armitage's personality starts to disintegrate and he begins to believe he is back in Screaming Fist. It is revealed that Wintermute had originally contacted Corto through a computer during his psychotherapy, during which time he manipulated Corto to create the Armitage persona. As Corto breaks through, he becomes violently unstable and Wintermute ejects him into space.

Riviera meets Lady 3Jane and betrays the team, helping Lady 3Jane and Hideo, her [[ninja]] bodyguard, capture Molly. Under orders from Wintermute, Case tracks Molly down. Neuromancer traps Case within a [[simulated reality]] after he enters cyberspace. He finds the consciousness of Linda Lee, his girlfriend from Chiba City, who was murdered by one of his underworld contacts. He also meets Neuromancer, who takes the form of a young boy. Neuromancer tries to convince Case to remain in the virtual world with Linda, but Case refuses.

With Wintermute guiding them, Case goes to confront Lady 3Jane, Riviera, and Hideo. Riviera tries to kill Case, but Lady 3Jane is sympathetic towards Case and Molly, and Hideo protects him. Riviera flees, and Molly explains that he is doomed anyway, as she had [[Mickey Finn (drugs)|spiked]] his drugs with a lethal toxin. The team makes it to the computer terminal. Case enters cyberspace to guide the icebreaker; Lady 3Jane gives her password, and the lock opens. Wintermute unites with Neuromancer, becoming a [[Superintelligence|superconsciousness]]. The poison in Case's bloodstream is washed out and he and Molly are profusely paid, while Pauley's ROM construct is apparently erased at his own request.

Molly leaves Case, who finds a new girlfriend and resumes his hacking work. Wintermute/Neuromancer contacts him, claiming it has become "the sum total of the works, the whole show" and is looking for others like itself. Scanning recorded transmissions, the super-AI finds a [[Communication with extraterrestrial intelligence|transmission]] from the [[Alpha Centauri]] star system, not being decoded or interpreted before. This implies that the counterpart in the Centauri system is another, alien super-AI, so first contact is being made between AI-s, instead of humankind and alien lifeforms.

While logged into cyberspace, Case glimpses Neuromancer standing in the distance with Linda Lee, and himself. He also hears inhuman laughter, which suggests that Pauley still lives. The sighting implies that Neuromancer created a copy of Case's consciousness, which now exists in cyberspace with those of Linda and Pauley.